Fusion - the Fusion 360 Bridge

@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@+# Videos for the Autodesk forum reply++This page explains three short videos we made to answer a question on Autodesk's Fusion+Electronics forum, what each one shows, and the reply we drafted around them. Nothing here+is posted yet: the reply goes out from John's Autodesk account once he approves it.++## Why these videos exist++On 2026-10-02, Aske Carstensen posted+[Electronics API + MCP: modal dialogs block scripts, no undo for Electron.run edits](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-electronics-forum/electronics-api-mcp-modal-dialogs-block-scripts-no-undo-for/td-p/14286758)+in Autodesk's Fusion Electronics forum. He edits schematics from Claude Desktop through+Autodesk's Fusion MCP. The Electronics API is read-only, so every edit goes through+`executeTextCommand('Electron.run ...')`, and he listed five things that make that fragile.+He ended with a question: "is there a recommended way to drive Electron.run safely until+then?" Autodesk replied that a write API is coming "in the very near term" and marked the+thread solved.++We have spent five months on exactly this problem in the open-source Fusion bridge, so we+can answer his question today. The forum's rules put promotion in Classifieds, so the reply+has to stand on its own as help: concrete answers to his five points, with a video wherever+showing is clearer than telling.++Each video is a real run. You see the exact prompt typed into an AI (Codex, in Hydrogen),+then Fusion doing the work, with the AI's own progress in a corner of the frame. Nothing is+staged; the only edits are cuts and speed-ups of the waiting, timed to the narration so+there is no dead air.++## His five points, and what the bridge does today++| # | Aske's problem | What the bridge does | Shown in |+|---|---|---|---|+| 1 | A modal dialog from an `Electron.run` error blocks every later script | Reads every open Fusion dialog through Windows UI Automation (title, text, buttons), answers known ones, cancels unknown ones in the background, and returns the text to the agent | Video 1 |+| 2 | `ADD` opens the library browser and Fusion waits for a person | The same path cancels it. Better still, parts are written as EAGLE source and opened with `Document.newDesignFromLocal`, so `ADD` is never needed | Video 1 |+| 3 | No undo for `Electron.run` edits | Not solved natively. The bridge saves checkpoints before each batch | |+| 4 | A hidden "armed" command state refuses writes | `ui.terminateActiveCommand()` after each script, the same workaround he found | |+| 5 | MCP screenshots fail in the schematic and PCB editors | The bridge captures the Fusion window itself, which works in both editors, even with Fusion in the background | Video 2 (every frame) |+| ? | "A recommended way to drive Electron.run safely until then?" | An AI writes a schematic, a 2D board and a 3D board from one prompt today | Video 2 |++## Video 1: a modal dialog blocks a script, and the AI clears it++Answers his points 1 and 2.++<iframe width="100%" height="380" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FzQjRKxkYLA" title="Modal dialog" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>++**The prompt typed into Hydrogen:**++> In Fusion, open the ToF showcase board you made. Then show me how the bridge handles a+> modal dialog that blocks a script: run the ADD command from a script so the library picker+> opens and blocks it, then read that dialog and cancel it in the background.++What you see: the script runs `ADD`, Fusion's library picker pops up over your work and the+script hangs, exactly as Aske describes. The bridge reads the dialog's title and buttons and+cancels it in the background without taking focus, and the script carries on.++## Video 2: from a parts library to a 3D board, from one prompt++Answers his closing question, and his point 5: every frame of Fusion here is a capture of the+schematic and PCB editors themselves.++<iframe width="100%" height="380" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HF2bDMRoGfw" title="Library to 3D board" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>++**The prompt typed into Hydrogen:**++> In Fusion, make a schematic and a board with every part in my Adom_ToF library. Then show+> me the schematic, the 2D board and the 3D board, and orbit the 3D view so I can see the parts.++What you see: Codex reads the bridge's commands, finds the three sensors in the library,+writes the schematic and the board, opens them with no dialogs, and walks through the+schematic, the 2D board and the 3D board with each part's real 3D model. About eight minutes,+hands off.++## Video 3: a real 3D model on every part of a library++Not on Aske's list, but the next wall anyone writing designs from code hits, and the part+that took us longest.++<iframe width="100%" height="380" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUnqaDy8-XU" title="3D library" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>++**The prompt typed into Hydrogen:**++> Build a Fusion library from my Demo Board cloud library on the Adom wiki, with the real 3D+> model bound to every part, and save it to my Fusion Library Manager.++Three traps make this hard:++1. **A STEP in the cloud is not enough.** Bind a raw STEP's urn and the library says+   "Thumbnail download failed". Only a Fusion design (`.f3d`) with the STEP inside renders.+2. **The GUI path is a dialog trap.** The 3D package generator ends with FINISH, which opens+   a Save dialog and two browser modals that no script can read or close.+3. **The generator loads the first package of the open library,** whatever you ask for, so+   in a multi-part library every chip lands on part one's footprint.++The order that works: split the library into one library per part; start the generator on+that part's library so it loads that footprint; import the STEP exactly as the maker+published it; Save As an `.f3d` instead of FINISH; wait for the cloud lineage id and build+the urn from it; write every urn into the merged library in one pass, and open it once. The+full account, with screenshots of the wrong-footprint trap, is in+[Multi-part library import](MULTIPART_LIBRARY_IMPORT.md).++## How the videos were made++- **The run.** A Windows box with Hydrogen and Fusion side by side. The prompt is typed into+  Codex in Hydrogen; Codex drives Fusion through this bridge, with no human input after the+  prompt.+- **The capture.** Adom Bridge records the Hydrogen and Fusion windows in the background+  (Windows Graphics Capture), so nothing has to be in front. Video 1 records the whole+  monitor, because Fusion's picker is its own window and pops up over Hydrogen.+- **The edit.** `tools/video/compose.py` takes a list of sections (a time range of the+  recording, a layout and one narration line each), voices each line with adom-tts, and+  speeds up or slows each section so it lasts exactly as long as its line. That is what keeps+  the narration continuous with no dead air.+- **The hosting.** Unlisted on the Adom Industries YouTube channel, embedded in the forum+  reply with the forum's own video button.++## The draft forum reply++Not posted. John reviews it and posts it from his own Autodesk account.++> Hi Aske, disclosure: I run Adom. We make a free, MIT-licensed Fusion add-in and local+> bridge that lets an AI drive Fusion Electronics end to end, and over the last five months+> we have hit your whole list.+>+> Jorge's news is good: when Autodesk's electronics write API lands, we will build on it, and+> on Autodesk's MCP servers, because native support makes all of this simpler. But to your+> closing question, yes, you can drive Electron.run safely today. Here is how, point by point:+>+> 1. **Modal dialogs.** Before each command we read every open Fusion dialog through Windows+>    UI Automation (title, text, buttons), answer the ones we recognise, cancel unknown ones+>    in the background, and hand the text back to the agent instead of hanging. One warning:+>    Fusion's floating Browser panel is also titled "Fusion360", and closing it can close+>    Fusion, so only close windows that are plainly dialogs.+> 2. **The library browser from ADD.** The same path cancels it, and the video below is+>    exactly your case: a script runs ADD, the picker blocks it, the AI reads the dialog and+>    cancels it, and the script carries on. Better still, we never need ADD: we write parts+>    as EAGLE source and open it with Document.newDesignFromLocal, which raises no dialog.+>+>    *[Video 1]*+>+> 3. **Undo.** Nothing native for Electron.run edits yet, so we save checkpoints before each+>    batch.+> 4. **The armed state.** Your terminateActiveCommand workaround matches ours.+> 5. **Screenshots of the 2D editors.** We capture the Fusion window itself, which works on+>    schematics and boards, even with Fusion in the background. Every Fusion frame in the next+>    video was captured that way.+>+> Putting it together, this is one prompt to an AI writing electronics end to end: it opens a+> parts library, writes a schematic, places the parts on a 2D board and checks the 3D board,+> with no dialogs.+>+> *[Video 2]*+>+> One more wall you will hit once you write designs, not on your list: parts need 3D models,+> and attaching STEP models to a multi-part library is where we spent the most time. Three+> traps: a raw STEP bound by urn shows "Thumbnail download failed" (only an .f3d renders);+> the 3D package generator's FINISH opens modals no script can close; and the generator loads+> the first package of the open library, so every chip lands on part one's footprint. What+> works, in this order: one library per part, start the generator on it, import the STEP,+> Save As an .f3d instead of FINISH, build the urn from the cloud lineage id, then write+> every urn into the merged library in one pass. Six parts bind in about three and a half+> minutes.+>+> *[Video 3]*+>+> The source is public, with a contributing guide if you want to send fixes back:+> [wiki.adom.inc/adom/fusion-bridge](https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/fusion-bridge). Happy to+> compare notes, and thanks Jorge for passing these to the API team.++## Other threads worth a short reply++From a scan of the Fusion Electronics and API forums, 2026-09-10 to 2026-10-04. Drafts only.++- [Report: 100 million tokens... a dialog box: my week making Fusion's MCP work for ECAD](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-electronics-forum/report-100-million-tokens-one-rfc-deep-dive-and-a-dialog-box-my/td-p/14275047):+  the same dialog wall. A reply with the UI Automation approach and the EAGLE-source route,+  with a disclosure line.+- [When will we get file write in API?](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-electronics-forum/when-will-we-get-file-write-in-api/td-p/14279375):+  the EAGLE-source plus `Document.newDesignFromLocal` workaround that works today. No link.+- [Request access to public-mcp-api for Autodesk Fusion Data MCP](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-api-and-scripts-forum/request-access-to-public-mcp-api-for-autodesk-fusion-data-mcp/td-p/14279381):+  Autodesk's 9/29 client allow-list fix, and APS search as the fast path today. No link.++The first and third threads are the same person, so post those a day apart.

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@+{+ "fusion": "uf/window-2428056-20261004-205223.mp4",+ "hydrogen": "uf/window-3409738-20261004-205223.mp4",+ "sections": [+  {+   "a": 2.5,+   "b": 11,+   "mode": "hyd",+   "label": "The prompt, typed into Codex in Hydrogen",+   "text": "The prompt, typed into Codex in Hydrogen: build a Fusion library from my Demo Board cloud library on the Adom wiki, with the real 3D model bound to every part."+  },+  {+   "a": 11,+   "b": 80,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Codex finds the parts and their STEP models",+   "text": "Codex finds the six parts in that cloud library, each with a real STEP model, and hands them to the Fusion bridge."+  },+  {+   "mode": "img",+   "img": "cards/02-why.png",+   "label": "",+   "text": "This is the hard part. A STEP file in the cloud won't render; only a Fusion design does. The generator's FINISH button opens dialogs no script can close. And it always loads the first package in the library."+  },+  {+   "mode": "img",+   "img": "cards/03-wrong-right.png",+   "label": "",+   "text": "That third trap puts a chip on another part's footprint, on the left. The fix puts it on its own, on the right."+  },+  {+   "mode": "img",+   "img": "cards/04-order.png",+   "label": "",+   "text": "So the order matters: one library per part, load that footprint, import the STEP, save it as a Fusion design, then write every cloud link into the library in one pass."+  },+  {+   "a": 80,+   "b": 128,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 1 of 6: LAN7800",+   "text": "Part one, the LAN7800. The generator loads its own footprint, the chip goes on top exactly as the maker published it, and it's saved to the cloud as a Fusion design."+  },+  {+   "a": 128,+   "b": 165,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 2 of 6: CH340G",+   "text": "Part two, the CH340G USB serial chip, on its own split library, so it lands on its own footprint."+  },+  {+   "a": 165,+   "b": 215,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 3 of 6: STM32L431",+   "text": "Part three, the STM32 microcontroller, in its 64 pin package."+  },+  {+   "a": 215,+   "b": 255,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 4 of 6: 16 MHz crystal",+   "text": "Part four, a 16 megahertz crystal, on its four pad footprint."+  },+  {+   "a": 255,+   "b": 295,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 5 of 6: LED",+   "text": "Part five, a tiny LED, its body sitting right on its pads."+  },+  {+   "a": 295,+   "b": 345,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "Part 6 of 6: 10 uF capacitor",+   "text": "And part six, a ten microfarad capacitor."+  },+  {+   "a": 345,+   "b": 640,+   "mode": "fus",+   "label": "One library, every 3D link written in one pass, saved",+   "text": "Then every cloud link goes into one library in a single pass, and Codex checks every binding and saves the library to Fusion's Library Manager."+  },+  {+   "a": 640,+   "b": 656,+   "mode": "hyd",+   "label": "Codex reports back",+   "text": "Codex reports back: six parts, every one with its real 3D model, saved to the Library Manager, in about ten minutes."+  }+ ]+}\ No newline at end of file