# Where swx stands in the ecosystem

**swx v0.3.0** measured against the Adom **Fusion 360 bridge v1.9.341** (the gold standard we mirror)
and against every public SOLIDWORKS MCP server we could find · written 2026-09-03

## Executive summary

- **swx is the only SOLIDWORKS implementation here with a published live-run record.** Three runs
  against a real *SOLIDWORKS Design Professional for Makers 2026* install (22-aborted, 120/9, then
  **125 passed / 5 failed**), 19 verbs proven end to end, with measured p90 timings. One competitor
  (SolidPilot) also claims live validation and is credible about it; the other three are explicit that
  most or all of their tools are unvalidated, mock, or hobby-grade.
- **On raw modeling breadth we are behind SolidPilot** — its sketch/feature/assembly/drawing surface is
  deeper than ours and it is the most mature project in this space by a wide margin.
- **On safety we are ahead of all five, and alone.** No other project has a write gate. swx writes are
  deny-by-default at a single choke point, enforced *independently* at two layers, hardened over eight
  adversarial review rounds, and the posture held through every live run — three times the bridge failed
  CLOSED rather than touch the wrong document.
- **Our other unique strengths:** BOM-first and configuration-aware design (BOM aggregates per
  *(file, configuration)* pair — nobody else models this); native GLB with no optimisation service;
  an action ledger plus measured per-verb timings; census-not-dismiss dialog etiquette with
  `neverAutoAnswer` classes; and real host-ecosystem integration (Adom Bridge verbs, the user's
  Activity Log, a shipped skill) where every competitor is a bare MCP server for Claude Desktop.
- **Our real gaps, stated plainly:** no cloud/3DEXPERIENCE document access (21 Fusion verbs; a separate
  OAuth project of roughly the size of the Fusion bridge's APS work); assemblies-with-components,
  drawings and 2D exports are mock-only because the Makers edition would not let an assembly be
  populated; and there is no in-process scripting host — a typed JSON DSL stands in.
- **Launch was our headline "cannot", and that changed today.** `CoCreateInstance` returns
  `CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE` on the Connected editions, but a sanctioned launch path via the
  3DEXPERIENCE shortcut chain (`CATSTART.exe` → `SWXDesktopLauncher`) was discovered 2026-09-03.
  Implementation is in progress and **not yet live-proven**.
- **Scripting has a second route now too:** SOLIDWORKS `RunMacro2` for `.swp` VBA macros, VSTA, and C#
  add-ins are **under investigation** — with the caveat that the Makers edition restricts third-party
  add-ins while still running macros. Four of the five competitors already lean on VBA; we do not yet.
- **Licensing is simple and decision-relevant:** exactly **one** copyleft player — SolidPilot is
  **AGPL-3.0** with a paid commercial option — and everything else, ours included, is **MIT**. We can
  read and learn from SolidPilot; we must not vendor its code.
- **Electronics is not a gap.** 51 of the Fusion bridge's 132 verbs are Fusion Electronics, EAGLE
  libraries, or Autodesk-specific plumbing. SOLIDWORKS has no concept to bridge to, and no competitor
  attempts it either.

## How to read the cells

| Mark | Means |
|---|---|
| **✓ live** | Executed against a real, licensed CAD install and observed to do what it claims. |
| **✓** | Built and shipped, or claimed by the project's own README. Evidence level is stated per row. |
| **⚠ mock** | Built and mock-tested only; never executed live in any form. |
| **partial** | Some of the capability, materially incomplete. |
| **✗** | Absent. |
| **n/a** | No concept exists to bridge to in that product. |
| **WIP** | Route identified, implementation in progress, not yet proven. |
| **?** | Could not be determined from the repository. |

Evidence discipline: for **Fusion bridge** and **swx**, cells come from source we hold — the Fusion
bridge's own `describe.py` catalog (133 entries, 132 real verbs) and `docs/FUSION-PARITY-REPORT.md`.
For every competitor column, cells are **read-from-README** unless the row note says otherwise. Nobody
in the competitor set was installed or run. Licences and star counts were verified against the GitHub
API on 2026-09-03, not read off a badge.

## The master table

35 capability rows × 7 implementations. Verb counts: Fusion bridge **132**, swx **60**,
SolidPilot ~**46 tools**, vespo92 ~**30+**, bartels **122**, Schildkraut **~16 tools + 100+ VBA
templates**, alisamsam **22**.

| # | Capability | Fusion bridge | **swx v0.3** | SolidPilot **(AGPL-3.0!)** | vespo92 (MIT) | bartels (MIT) | Schildkraut (MIT) | alisamsam (MIT) |
|---:|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Session lifecycle — attach, stop, kill | ✓ | **✓ live** attach · ⚠ mock stop/kill | ✓ attach | ? | ✓ attach | ? | ✓ attach |
| 2 | Launch the CAD application (and install it) | ✓ launch + silent install | **WIP** — refused by SOLIDWORKS; 3DEXPERIENCE chain found 2026-09-03 | ✓ claims COM launch | ✗ | ✗ needs SW already open | ? | ✗ needs running instance |
| 3 | Requires an in-app add-in | yes (3 verbs to manage it) | **no — out-of-process COM** | no (C# COM server) | no | no | no | no |
| 4 | Open a local file · disk discovery | ✓ open · ✗ discovery (cloud-native) | **✓ live** open · **✓** `find_files` | ✓ open · ✗ | ✓ (untested) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ open · ✗ |
| 5 | Create a new document | ✗ (docs arrive from cloud/import) | **✓ live** | ✓ part + assembly | ✓ (untested) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ part + assembly |
| 6 | Save / Save As **with overwrite protection** | ✓ cloud save · ✗ overwrite guard | **✓ live** save_as · **✓ overwrite guard (unique)** | ✓ save · ✗ guard | ✓ (untested) · ✗ guard | ✓ · ✗ guard | ✓ · ✗ guard | ✓ · ✗ guard |
| 7 | Cloud document store — search, list, open, up/download | ✓ 21 verbs (APS Data Management) | **✗ lacking** — `swx_cloud_status` returns the honest probe | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 8 | Cloud / vendor sign-in + OAuth | ✓ 9 verbs (incl. 2FA, web sign-in) | ✗ lacking | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 9 | Parametric modeling — sketch → feature | ✓ (Python script in-process) | **✓ live** typed DSL (50×30×20 solid, p90 10.2s) | **✓ live** — deepest surface here | partial (basic ops only) | ✓ claimed | ✓ via VBA templates | ✓ basic |
| 10 | In-process scripting host (arbitrary code) | ✓ Python `eval` inside Fusion | **adapted** — typed JSON DSL, validated pre-COM; `swx_com_eval` escape hatch | ✗ by design (deterministic compiler) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ `execute_python` in SW context |
| 11 | Macros / VBA — generate, record, execute | n/a (Fusion has no VBA) | **WIP** — `RunMacro2` / VSTA / C# add-in under investigation | ✗ explicitly unsupported | partial (gen works, exec untested) | ✓ | **✓ strongest** (record/export/execute + 100+ templates) | ✗ |
| 12 | Assemblies — insert components, mates | ✓ via script | ⚠ mock — `AddComponent5` returned Nothing on this edition | **✓ live** insert + mate + diff | ✗ | ✓ claimed | ✓ via VBA | partial (create doc only) |
| 13 | Drawings — create, views, dimensions | ✗ no drawing verbs | partial — creation **✓ live**, views/dims not built | **✓ live** 9 tools; 9 real drawings reconstructed | ✓ (untested) | ✓ claimed | ✓ via VBA | ✗ |
| 14 | Import neutral CAD (STEP etc.) | ✓ | **✓ live** (p90 7.8s) | ✓ via 3D Interconnect | ? | ? | ? | ✗ |
| 15 | Export 3D — STEP/IGES/STL/3MF/SAT/Parasolid | ✓ 8 formats | **✓ live** 6 proven; 17 formats in table; OBJ refused by SOLIDWORKS | ✓ STEP/IGES/STL | ✓ (untested) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ none |
| 16 | Export **native GLB** (web 3D) | ✓ but needs an optimisation service | **✓ live, direct — unique** | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 17 | Export 2D / document — PDF, DXF, DWG | ✓ DXF/DWG · ✗ PDF | ⚠ mock all three (refused for a part; untested from a drawing) | ✓ PDF/DWG/DXF | ✓ (untested) | ✓ | ✓ PDF | ✗ |
| 18 | BOM | ✓ assembly + electronics BOM | ⚠ mock — **but per *(file, configuration)*, the richest design here** | ✗ on the roadmap | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ table insertion | ✗ |
| 19 | Mass / physical properties | ✓ | **✓ live** (aluminium, 81 g agreeing) | **✓ live** (verified ≤1%) | ✓ (untested) | ✓ claimed | ✓ claimed | ✗ |
| 20 | Design-health — interference detection, rebuild census | ✗ neither | partial — interference ⚠ mock (object confirmed live), `rebuild_check` built | partial (`analyze_model`/`verify_state`; no interference) | ✓ (untested) | ✗ explicitly not yet | ✓ via VBA | ✗ |
| 21 | Parameters / dimensions — read **and drive** | ✓ read | **✓ live** — drove a dimension to 25 mm, model moved | ✓ `modify_dimension` | ✓ (untested) | ✓ claimed | ✓ equations | ✗ |
| 22 | Custom properties (file and per-configuration) | partial (buried in the attribute model) | **✓** `props_get`/`props_set` | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | ✗ |
| 23 | Configurations / design tables | ✗ no equivalent concept | ✓ configuration-aware (BOM, properties) · ✗ design tables | ✗ | partial (`vba_configurations`, untested) | partial | **✓ strongest** (design tables + SQL) | ✗ |
| 24 | Pack and Go — collect a design + all references | ✗ | ✓ built (gated), ⚠ mock | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | partial (batch ops) | ✗ |
| 25 | PDM / vault integration | n/a | ✗ not built | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | **✓ only one** (5 tools) | ✗ |
| 26 | Application preferences — read and write | ✓ incl. driving the settings modal | **✓ live** (written, then read back) · modal driving declined by design | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | partial (`set_units`) |
| 27 | Screenshots + window management | ✓ | ⚠ mock (delegated to ab; SKIPPED in live runs) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 28 | Blocking-dialog handling | ✓ dismisses them | **adapted — censuses by default**; `neverAutoAnswer` classes never closed | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 29 | Electronics — schematic, PCB, Gerbers, CPL, design rules | ✓ 15 verbs | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 30 | Component libraries / 3D packages (EAGLE `.lbr`) | ✓ 23 verbs | n/a | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 31 | Vendor MCP-server proxy | ✓ 6 verbs (Autodesk ships one) | n/a — Dassault ships none | n/a (is itself an MCP server) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| 32 | Bridge infrastructure — self-describe, shipped docs, guided demo, uninstall | ✓ all four | ✓ describe/docs/uninstall · ✗ demo (deferred v0.4) | partial (13 MCP resources) | ✗ | partial (docs audit) | partial (resource registry) | ✗ |
| 33 | **Action ledger + measured per-verb timings** | ✓ ledger, verb times, live feed, alerts | **✓ ledger + timings recorded live** | ✗ (dev log only) | ✗ | ✗ logging only | partial ("enhanced logging") | ✗ |
| 34 | **Deny-by-default write gate** | ✗ no gate, no confirm/reason in its catalog | **✓ live — unique. Two independent layers, 8 adversarial rounds, held in all 3 live runs** | ✗ | ✗ | partial ("adapter safety wrappers") | partial (macro exec needs permission) | ✗ |
| 35 | Host-ecosystem integration (Adom Bridge, Activity Log, skill) | ✓ native | **✓ native** | ✗ MCP clients only | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |

*(35 numbered rows; rows 29–31 are the N/A block that accounts for most of the Fusion verb-count gap.)*

## Per-competitor notes

### SolidPilot — eyfel/mcp-server-solidworks · **AGPL-3.0** + paid commercial · 265★ · C# + Python

The one to take seriously. Four-layer architecture: an AI planner emits a CAD-neutral **Feature Graph
IR**, a deterministic Python compiler lowers it to ordered tool calls, and a **single C# .NET 4.8
execution layer on one STA thread is the only code that touches COM**. ~46 tools, 13 MCP resources.
Its README makes verifiable-shaped claims — production parts round-tripped `analyze_model` → IR →
`rebuild_from_ir` → `compare_parts` to a `verified` match on exact topology and mass properties, nine
real manufacturing drawings reconstructed to ≤0.02% weight match. Deeper than us on modeling,
assemblies, sheet metal and drawings. Has **no** BOM (on the roadmap), no configurations, no custom
properties, no preferences, no screenshots, no macros (deliberately — the compiler replaces scripting),
no write gate, and no ecosystem beyond Claude Desktop. Its `ensure_ready` claims to launch SOLIDWORKS
via COM, which is plausible on a classic desktop install and would fail exactly as ours does on
Connected/Makers. **Evidence: README only. Not installed, not run.**

### vespo92/SolidworksMCP-TS — **MIT** · 222★ · TypeScript + `winax`

Second-most-starred and the most candid: labelled **"Alpha / Experimental"**, with the README stating
that *"most tools have not been validated against a live SolidWorks instance"* and that no real
integration tests exist. Its own coverage table grades Modeling "Partially tested" and Drawing, Export,
Analysis and Macro all **"Untested"**. Broad tool surface on paper (modeling, sketch, drawing, export,
analysis with `check_interference` and `get_mass_properties`, VBA generation, macro recording); no
assemblies, no BOM. Last pushed 2026-05. Useful as a naming/API reference, not as evidence that
anything works.

### andrewbartels1/SolidworksMCP-python — **MIT** · 67★ · Python

**122 tools** per today's README (the figure was 109 earlier — it is moving; pushed 2026-09-02), across
modeling, sketching, drawing, analysis, export, automation, templates and macros. Self-described
**"hobby/research product"** and "under active construction", and it ships an explicit mock warning:
*"Mock adapter output is simulated and should not be treated as engineering truth."* Runs in mock mode
unless started with `--real`, and `--real` **requires SOLIDWORKS to already be open** — the same
attach-only constraint we have, arrived at without comment. Explicitly does *not* do checkpoint-level
interference validation. Highest tool count in the field, lowest evidence-per-tool.

### Adam-Schildkraut/solidworks-mcp — **MIT** · 1★ · TypeScript · last push 2025-08

Small but oddly complementary: it is the **only** project with **PDM tools** (configure, check-in,
check-out, workflow, folder structure), the only one with **SQL-driven design tables** for
configurations, and it leans hardest on VBA — macro record/stop/export/execute plus a claimed **100+
VBA generation templates** covering part features, assembly mates and interference, drawing views and
tables, custom properties and batch/PDM operations. No validation statement of any kind, one star,
and its README's support links point at a different org (`vinnieespo/solidworks-mcp-server`), so treat
it as derived work of uncertain provenance. **The template library is the interesting artefact here,
not the server.**

### alisamsam/Solidworks-MCP — **MIT (verified)** · 108★ · Python · 22 tools

Task brief listed its licence as unknown; the GitHub API confirms **MIT**, 108★, last pushed 2026-03.
Deliberately minimal and honest about it: connect to a *running* instance, part/assembly documents,
six sketch primitives, extrude/cut/fillet/chamfer, list features, set units — and `execute_python`,
which makes it the only project besides ours to offer a scripting escape hatch into a live SOLIDWORKS
session. **It has no export tools at all**, no drawings, no assembly mates, no BOM, no properties. It
is a clean starter kit, not a competitor for real work.

## Licensing

**This is the section with a decision in it.**

**SolidPilot (eyfel/mcp-server-solidworks) — AGPL-3.0, dual-licensed commercially.** Verified from the
repository's own licence metadata, not a badge. AGPL-3.0 is the strongest common copyleft: it extends
GPL's obligations to network use, so **anything we distribute that links or incorporates AGPL code must
itself be released under AGPL, source included** — and under the network clause, even offering it as a
hosted service to users triggers the same obligation. For a bridge that ships inside Adom Bridge to
customers, that is not a licence we can absorb. The author offers a **paid commercial licence** as the
escape hatch. **Conclusion: read it, learn from its architecture — the Feature Graph IR and the
single-STA-thread C# COM boundary are both good ideas — and copy neither its code nor its files.** Any
IR-shaped work of ours must be independently written. If we ever want its code proper, that is a
procurement conversation, not an engineering one.

**vespo92/SolidworksMCP-TS — MIT.** Verified. Permissive; we could vendor or adapt code with attribution.
Given the project's own "most tools not validated" disclaimer there is little worth vendoring, but its
tool naming is a fair reference.

**andrewbartels1/SolidworksMCP-python — MIT.** Verified. Permissive. Same caveat: mock-simulated output
by default, so its value is as a map of the COM surface rather than as working code.

**Adam-Schildkraut/solidworks-mcp — MIT.** Verified. Permissive, and the **VBA template library is the
one asset in the whole survey that MIT actually makes attractive to us** — if the macros route
(`RunMacro2`) proves out, 100+ MIT-licensed VBA templates are a legitimate head start. Provenance is
murky enough that we should check the templates' own headers before reusing them.

**alisamsam/Solidworks-MCP — MIT.** Verified (previously unknown to us).

**swx — MIT** (`bridge.json`, `LICENSE`). We are on the permissive side of the field with everyone
except SolidPilot. Exactly one copyleft player; everything else MIT.

## Additional items we can pull off

Capabilities **nobody** in this field has, which swx could add at low cost, roughly in order of
value-per-effort:

1. **Drawing-sheet outputs — PDF + BOM tables from a `.slddrw`.** Our DXF/DWG/PDF exports are already
   built and refused for a part, which is the expected behaviour; the drawing is their real story and
   it is untested. SolidPilot builds drawings but does not ship a BOM; Schildkraut inserts BOM tables
   but has no evidence. **A live-proven drawing → PDF-with-BOM path would be unique in this field.**
2. **Sanctioned launch via the 3DEXPERIENCE chain** (`CATSTART.exe` → `SWXDesktopLauncher`, found
   2026-09-03). Closes our loudest documented "cannot", and no competitor has solved launch on a
   Connected edition — bartels and alisamsam simply require the app to be open already.
3. **A macros bridge** (`RunMacro2` for `.swp`, then VSTA / C# add-ins). Buys back most of the
   in-process-scripting gap and would let us reuse an MIT template corpus. Caveat to settle first: the
   Makers edition restricts third-party add-ins but does run macros — which is precisely why macros,
   not add-ins, are the first move.
4. **Configurations as a first-class surface.** We are already configuration-aware in BOM and
   properties; enumerating, activating and diffing configurations is a small step, and Fusion has no
   equivalent concept at all. Design tables (Schildkraut's SQL trick) are the stretch goal.
5. **Pack and Go, proven live.** Built and gated already; it needs an assembly with references to
   exercise. Nobody else has it.
6. **The action ledger and measured verb timings as a product feature, not plumbing.** We have p90s from
   real hardware (`run_script` 10.2s, `new_document` 9.2s, `import` 7.8s, `save_as` 2.7s, all far inside
   budget). No competitor can tell a user what an operation will cost.
7. **Wiki / molecule integration.** Native GLB export already works live; the pipeline from a
   SOLIDWORKS part to a published molecule is ours to connect and is not even conceivable for a bare
   MCP server.
8. **Ship the deny-by-default posture as the marketed differentiator.** It is the single strongest
   claim we have and it is *evidenced*: eight adversarial rounds, two independently-enforcing layers,
   and three live runs in which the bridge refused to touch the user's own open document — including
   one abort where it removed every file it had written. Every competitor in this survey will, on
   request, write to a path the user owns with no confirmation and no record.
9. **Per-component mass properties** — small, and blocked only on being able to populate an assembly.

## What is still unproven, and where

Nothing above changes the standing recommendation: **run `tools/live-smoke.py`** once SOLIDWORKS is
back up, started from the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. It is what converts the ⚠ mock cells in column B into
✓ live — or finds the next bug, which is what happened all three previous times. The assembly verbs
(`swx_bom`, `swx_interference`, per-component mass properties) need a real multi-component assembly or a
classic desktop install; the 2D exports need a real `.slddrw`. And no competitor cell in this table is
better than read-from-README, because none of them was installed or run.