OneCAD/docs/control-protocol.md

Control protocol

solidcraft --control PORT (or SOLIDCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT=PORT) listens on 127.0.0.1:PORT for JSON lines. Each request is one line {"id": …, "method": "…", "params": {…}}; each reply is one line {"id": …, "ok": true, "result": …} or {"id": …, "ok": false, "error": "…"}. Requests are handled on the UI thread between frames; pointer and keyboard input is injected as real egui events, one pointer event per frame.

Token

Every connection must authenticate. At start the app makes a random 256-bit token for this launch and writes it, as one line of hex, to a file only the user can read:

System	Token file
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/solidcraft/control/PORT.token (~/.local/share/solidcraft/control/PORT.token)
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/SolidCraft/control/PORT.token
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\SolidCraft\control\PORT.token

On Unix the folder is 0700 and the file 0600; on Windows the file's inherited permissions are replaced by a single entry for the user. SOLIDCRAFT_CONTROL_DIR moves the folder. The file is removed when the app exits, and the next launch writes a new token. The token file's path is printed to stderr at start-up.

The first request on a connection must carry the token as a top-level "token" member ({"id": 1, "method": "ui.inspect", "params": {}, "token": "…"}); later requests on the same connection may leave it out. A first line without the right token is answered with {"ok": false, "error": "unauthorized: …"} and the connection is closed, without running anything. Tokens are compared in constant time.

solidcraft-cli mcp --connect 127.0.0.1:PORT reads the token file for that port by itself (--token T or SOLIDCRAFT_CONTROL_TOKEN give one explicitly). For a test harness, or a sandboxed package whose data folder the client can't see, start the app with SOLIDCRAFT_CONTROL_TOKEN set to at least 32 hex characters (for example openssl rand -hex 32) and the app uses that token instead of making one; the file is still written. A one-line client in Python:

token = (Path.home() / ".local/share/solidcraft/control/7878.token").read_text().strip()
sock.sendall((json.dumps({"id": 1, "method": "ui.inspect", "params": {}, "token": token}) + "\n").encode())

Limits

The channel is untrusted input. A request line may be at most 16 MiB; a longer one is answered with {"ok": false, "error": "request too large"} and the connection is closed, as are connections that send eight lines that are not JSON. At most 16 connections are served at once (further ones get {"ok": false, "error": "too many connections"}), at most 64 queued requests run per frame so a flood cannot starve drawing, and a request that the UI thread has not answered within 60 seconds (3600 seconds for engine.batch) is replied to with {"ok": false, "error": "timeout"}. The same 16 MiB line limit applies to the MCP server.

Any request's params may carry allow_paths: ["/abs/folder", …]: every file that request reads, writes or deletes (command paths such as file.export's path or doc.recovery_*'s dir, ui.render, ui.screenshot) must then lie inside one of those folders after .. and symlinks are resolved, or the request fails with … outside the folders this agent may use …. The app adds its own recovery folder and, when it lies safely inside the home folder and not in a hidden folder, the open design's folder (whose hidden files stay out of reach). The bridged MCP server sends its folders this way on every request (mcp.md). Without allow_paths file paths are not limited: a client holding the token can do what the user can.

Engine

Method	Params	Result
engine.execute	command: command id, params: JSON object	the command's result
engine.script	commands: [{command, params}, …]	results, stops at the first error
engine.batch	commands: [{command, params}, …] (at most 10 000), rollback?: bool (default true)	{completed, results, undone}, plus failed: {index, command, error} when a step fails. Runs the steps in one request, so within one frame, each as engine.execute runs it. The first failure stops the batch, and with rollback the design goes back to how it was before it (undone: the steps taken back). Refused before anything runs, with an error starting engine.batch unavailable, while the agent cursor is shown or when a step loads a file (doc.open, file.insert_step, file.insert_mesh). Send such steps one by one. Answered when done, for up to 3600 s
engine.commands	—	every command: id, label, tab, panel, icon, shortcut, params doc, enabled
document.inspect	measure?: bool	parameters, timeline (errors, timings), bodies, sketches, selection

Commands never open dialogs when run this way. solidcraft-cli commands prints the same registry.

Product images use render.preflight/start/status/cancel/export through engine.execute. Keep the returned session-scoped job ID for subsequent calls; status does not block or render. See render jobs for capture, cancellation and export semantics.

While an interactive native file picker is open, ui.inspect reports file_picker_busy: true. Engine commands, ui.file and ui.home requests wait for its answer; window resizing, inspection and screenshots remain available.

Every sketch.* command that changes a sketch adds created: {points, curves, constraints, dimensions} to its result (and wires for 3D curves): the ids of what it added, in creation order, next to whatever else the command returns (curves, sides, corners…). Sketch ids are stable and never reused, even after a delete (l1, l2, then l3 once l2 is gone; only undo rolls the numbering back with the design), so they can go straight into later commands:

{"id":7,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"sketch.line","params":{"points":[[0,0],[40,0]]}}}
→ {"curves":["l1"],"created":{"points":["l1.start","l1.end"],"curves":["l1"],"constraints":["k1"],"dimensions":[]},…}
{"id":8,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"sketch.dimension","params":{"entities":["l1"],"value":50}}}

A bare numeric value given to sketch.dimension (from the control channel, scripts or MCP) is read in the design's units, exactly as if it were typed into the dimension box: in an inch design "value": 2 makes the line 2 in (50.8 mm) long. Point coordinates stay in millimetres. To pin a unit regardless of the design, pass an expression with one: "value": "50 mm" or "value": "0.5 in". Angles are degrees unless the expression says otherwise.

UI

Method	Params	Notes
ui.inspect	—	UI state, pending file picker (file_picker_busy; compatibility alias file_dialog_open, no path), what is hidden (visibility: bodies, origin and construction items, sketches, joints (hidden_joints, joint ids); set it with the browser.visibility command), viewport rect, camera, active tool/dialog, the status line (status: text and whether it is an error), hover, renderer, timings, live preview (active, busy, error, ms, bodies it stands in for)
ui.set	any UiState field (tab, perspective, showGrid, dark, …), and hiddenBodies, hiddenOrigin, hiddenSketches, shownSketches, hiddenJoints (whole lists; browser.visibility changes single items)	dark: false switches to the light theme
ui.view	view: front, back, top, bottom, left, right, iso, home, fit; animate (bool, default false: snap)
ui.camera	target?: [x, y, z] (mm), yaw?, pitch?, roll? (radians), distance? (mm), fov?, up?; fit?: true, false or [occurrence id or name…] (root: the bodies outside every component)	the viewport's orbit camera: it looks at target from distance away; yaw 0 looks along +Y (from the front), pitch is the elevation (±π/2: straight down or up), roll turns the image. Fields given are set first (the others keep their values), then fit frames the listed occurrences (or everything), keeping the direction. The reply, passed back, sets the same view again, so a framing can be stored and replayed. fov and up follow the perspective setting (ui.set) and the up axis preference (ui.prefs) and can't change here; a refused field changes nothing
ui.start	command, params?	like a toolbar click: starts the sketch tool or dialog for the command. params sets what the dialog opens on, and nothing runs until OK: joint.drive takes joint (id or name; without it, the joint picked in the browser, else the first joint that moves) and values (numbers in degrees or millimetres, or expressions). A command that takes no params is refused before it starts; a param the dialog doesn't take is refused and the dialog closes
ui.click	x, y (screen points), button?: left/right/middle, shift?, ctrl?, double?	real pointer input
ui.move	x, y, shift?, alt?, ctrl?, cmd?	pointer movement without a button; modifiers apply until the next synthetic move/click; a move with omitted modifiers releases them. With nav: "touchpad", Shift pans and Alt/Option orbits.
ui.drag	x0, y0, x1, y1, button?, shift?, ctrl?, steps?, hold?, hold_end?	press, move, release; a left drag on the model is a box selection (left to right: window, right to left: crossing); with OpenSCAD navigation, plain left-drag on empty space orbits, Shift+left-drag box-selects, and drags starting on sketch geometry edit it; hold keeps the button down that many frames first (a right press-and-hold opens the marking menu, releasing over a direction picks it), hold_end that many frames at the end (a sketch drag shows its snap)
ui.menu	x?, y?, target?, close?	with a point: open a context menu there as a right-click would (the viewport's marking menu, or a browser menu with target: {"type": "body", "name"} | {"type": "sketch", "id"} | {"type": "component", "id"}); without: the open menu (radial and items: id, label, shortcut, enabled)
ui.menuPick	item: id or label	runs an item of the open menu, as clicking it does
ui.selectOther	x?, y?, pick?, add?, hover?, close?	Select Other: with a point, list everything pickable there (as holding the left button does); pick: select row pick (add: as Shift-click; with a dialog open, into its active input); hover: light a row up; without: the open list (open, at, total: everything under the cursor, rows: label, icon, sel, at most 20 per kind, nearest first)
ui.rename	text?, commit? (default true)	finishes the rename box a Rename item opened
ui.selection		the selection, the open dialog's inputs, the hovered item, and the active sketch's drawn dimensions (dimensions: id and text centre, dimension_selected, dimension_editing)
ui.worldToScreen	points: [[x, y, z]…] world points	their screen points
ui.triad		screen points of the 3D sketch move triad's handles (x, y, z, plane)
ui.sketchToScreen	points: [[x, y]…] in active-sketch coordinates	their screen points (null when behind the camera)
ui.dialogInput	index	what clicking an input's Select chip does: picks go to that input
ui.at	world: [x,y,z] | sketch: [x,y] | plane: "XY" | axis: "Z" | dimension: "d1" (its value text) | handle: "arrow" (a manipulator handle, see scenario::publish_handle)	the screen point (a scenario step's target; see crates/ui-egui/src/scenario.rs)
ui.handles	prefix?	the handles drawn last frame, [{name, x, y}]: toolbar buttons and drop-down items toolbar:<command id> (the button alone: button:<command id>; a drop-down row: dropdown:<command id>, highlighted dropdown_hot:<command id>, its pin dropdown_pin:<command id>; Customize Toolbar's check boxes customize:<command id>), panel labels panel:<tab>:<panel>, browser rows row:<label> and fold arrows fold:<label>, manipulator handles; signed-axis tips axis_view:z, axis_view:-y; optional cube facets navigation_cube:top, navigation_cube:top_front_right, controls navigation_cube:control:home (and other actions), plus signed-axis aliases for visible cube faces; Preferences navigator picker prefs:navigator, options prefs:navigator:Signed axes and prefs:navigator:Cube
ui.editFeature	feature (id or name)	what double-clicking a timeline item does: rolls back to it and opens its dialog filled in (sketches open in sketch mode)
ui.scroll	x, y, delta?	wheel zoom at the cursor
ui.key	key (egui key name, Enter, Escape…), cmd?, shift?
ui.text	text	typed text
ui.screenshot	path?	PNG of the window (needs a presented frame)
ui.render	path, width?, height?, grid?, axes?	CPU render of the model with the current camera (no window needed), in the window's theme (light or dark; solidcraft-cli snapshot keeps the light colours); cut by the section the viewport shows (inspect.section, an open Section Analysis dialog's preview, a sketch's Slice), with the cut face capped. The ground grid and the origin's axes are drawn as the window shows them (ui.set showGrid and showOrigin, hiddenOrigin); grid and axes (booleans) say otherwise for this render
ui.confirm	accept?: bool	answers the Delete confirmation (shown when a delete takes other features with it or makes some fail); without accept, what it lists
ui.documents	action?: new, switch, close, quit; index?; force? (close without asking); answer?: save, dont_save, cancel (answers "save changes?")	the open designs (tabs): names, unsaved flags, the active one, a pending "save changes?" prompt, whether a quit is asking
ui.file	path; insert?: bool	starts an interactive background Open or Insert; poll ui.inspect.file_busy for completion; the window stays responsive
ui.home	open?: bool; sample?: index	the start page: show or hide it, open a built-in sample (once built); returns open and the recent designs
ui.shortcut	command, key?, replace?	a command's key, or rebinds it ("" clears; a key another command uses is refused unless replace)
ui.help	item?: about, shortcuts (read only), report (opens a report draft for review), crashes (the Crash Reports window)	the version, commit, build date and diagnostic text
ui.prefs	any of default_units, nav (fusion, solidworks, inventor, alias, blender, tinkercad, openscad, touchpad), zoom_reverse, zoom_to_cursor, smooth_wheel_zoom (default true), trackpad_pan (default true: two-finger scroll pans, except Touchpad always zooms; pinch zooms), orbit_around (view_centre (default: what Pan moves and Fit frames), origin (the world origin stays still on screen), cursor (the model point under the pointer when the drag began); the older orbit_cursor boolean still sets cursor when true), look_at_anim, look_at_speed, middle_double_click (home (default), fit, off), msaa, length_decimals, angle_decimals, theme (dark, light, system), language (en, ja, de, fr, ko, ru, uk, zh; see localization), ui_scale, up_axis (z, y), offer_stand_up, color_vision (off (default), protan, deutan, tritan: colour vision modes, #778), check_updates (default true; updates); open (a page: General, Navigation, Keyboard Shortcuts, Design, Graphics, Sketch, Selection, AI) opens the Preferences dialog there; button: ok, cancel, apply, defaults; stand_up: true stands up a just-opened Y-up file	sets preferences (kept between runs), returns them all plus dialog (the open page or null), dark and stand_up_offer
ui.capture	action?: capture, revert, cancel	answers the Capture Position question (asked when a command starts or the design is saved while components were moved without capturing); without action, what waits
ui.window	action: minimize, maximize, restore, toggle, close	what the title bar's caption buttons do (on Windows and Linux the application bar is the title bar); close asks about unsaved designs first
ui.agent_cursor	show (bool), speed: a number from 1 to 5 (times the normal speed) or "instant" (no animation: the command runs at once and the pointer jumps to where it acted), follow_camera (bool); all optional	the settings. While the cursor is shown, engine.execute first glides to the command's toolbar button and to each pick, then runs and replies; later requests wait their turn. "animate": false on a call skips it
ui.agent_chat	features?, toolbar_button?, permissions? (ask, edits, all), add_agent? ({name, kind: acp or api, command or base_url + model}; no keys), default_agent?, agent? (the conversation's agent, by id), mode? (the agent's own mode), open?, side? (left, right), minimized?, width?, picker?, refresh?, connect?, stop?, send?: text, attach_view?, permission?: an option id or "cancel" (the newest question of the agent's own), approve?: true, false or "always" (the oldest request held for Allow/Deny), cancel?, undo? (the last message's changes)	the chat's state: features, agents (found and added), currentAgent, state (off, starting, ready, busy, auth, exited), agent, modes, mode, authMethods, toolsPort, pid, waiting, turn, detection and the conversation (items). With features off only the settings apply. Desktop only; see Agent chat
ui.resize	width, height
app.quit	force? (quit without asking about unsaved designs)	quitting (the window closes), asking (a "save changes?" prompt is open)

ui.workspace {workspace?: "design" | "render"} reads or changes the active workspace. Entering Render requires finishing the current modelling operation; returning restores the Design camera. See the integrated Render workspace.

Continuous camera motion

Continuous camera motion is also available through engine.execute with command view.navigate: pass camera (from ui.inspect) and motion: "pan" | "orbit" | "zoom". Pan and orbit take delta: [dx,dy] in screen points (each within ±10000); pan also requires viewport: [width,height] (each 1..1000000). Orbit accepts a world-space pivot with the viewport size. Zoom takes factor (0.05..20, below 1 zooms in) and an optional world-space anchor. The returned camera is applied immediately by the UI, without animation, document edits, undo steps or a success-log entry per movement.

MCP

solidcraft-cli mcp --connect 127.0.0.1:PORT bridges an MCP client (an AI agent) to this channel; see mcp.md.

Example

{"id":1,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"sketch.create","params":{"plane":"XY"}}}
{"id":2,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"sketch.rectangle.two_point","params":{"p0":[0,0],"p1":[40,30]}}}
{"id":3,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"solid.extrude","params":{"distance":20}}}
{"id":4,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"solid.fillet","params":{"edges":[[0,0,10]],"radius":3}}}
{"id":5,"method":"ui.screenshot","params":{"path":"/tmp/part.png"}}

Preferences → Navigation → View navigator offers Signed axes (the original default) and Cube. This choice is saved independently of the mouse preset. The control channel selects it with ui.prefs {"navigator_style":"axes"} or ui.prefs {"navigator_style":"cube"}. Existing settings without this field keep signed axes. Signed-axis tips choose principal views; clicking an aligned tip again reverses the view.

Hold Shift during an orbit gesture to snap to the nearest standard or diagonal view. This applies to right-drag, the Orbit navigation tool, and dragging either view navigator. Under the default preset, Shift+middle also orbits with snapping; middle alone pans. Cube faces choose principal views, and corners choose isometric views. The middle of each cube edge belongs to its face. Face names follow the up-axis preference; the small X/Y/Z triad shows world axes. Clicking the same face keeps that view. The inward-pointing arrows orbit by 90 degrees; the curved arrows at the upper right roll the view by 90 degrees. The Home button at the upper left returns to isometric and the lower-right circle fits the model.

The cube is subdued while idle. Hovering its area brightens the cube and navigation bar and reveals the surrounding controls; the picked face or corner gets a pale blue fill and blue outline. Moving away restores the subdued state. Navigation-bar controls also brighten when hovered or when a navigation tool is active.

The cube has six face targets and eight corner targets, with no edge targets. Corner picking regions lie on the six flat faces, preserving sharp corners with no permanent subdivision lines. Hovering a corner highlights its parts on the adjacent visible faces together.

The cube widget occupies a compact 112-point square in the viewport corner. A straight-on cube face is approximately 55 points wide; painting and picking scale together. Face labels are stretched vertically. View clicks ease through intermediate orientations when Navigation animated view changes is enabled (the default), at the configured animation speed.

The cube runs view.navigate through the command engine. Programmatic callers pass camera and either direction: [x,y,z] in the camera's up-axis frame or action (left, right, up, down, clockwise, counterclockwise, home, fit). The result contains camera and fit; UI callers apply the camera with their animation preference, without editing the design.

Shift-orbit snapping includes 45-degree edge views and isometric corner views, with a lightly damped spring transition and a small boundary margin to prevent flicker.