What it does and how it connects
IllusionForge is an AI-driven CAD workbench and coding agent for Windows, evolved from illusion-agent. It keeps that project's agent core (multi-provider LLM gateway, tools, sub-agents, context compaction, MCP, plugin, hook, and skill extensions, cron scheduler, and Feishu, WeChat, and QQ channels) and narrows the product to a web UI plus a Windows desktop app plus a CAD canvas workbench.
The workbench is a React Flow shared canvas with requirement cards, design-branch cards, 3D preview cards, snapshot storyboards, and parameter tables, where the user discusses design options with the AI, generates headless 3D previews, then connects SolidWorks for real modeling with live visualization. A dedicated STA COM host thread serializes 51 CAD tools covering sketches, features, assemblies, holes, appearance, motion, drawings, sheet metal, and weldments, visualized live through a snapshot stream and a mirrored feature tree.
It is Windows only, since SolidWorks COM automation exists only on Windows, and it is distributed as a Windows installer on GitHub Releases plus a source install, with no PyPI package. Headless 3D previews use a pure-Python geometry kernel without launching SolidWorks.
Alternatives
Compare side by side- Auto-SolidWorks
A local SolidWorks plugin that runs a four-step read, bind, compile, and model flow, rather than a full agent workbench with a shared canvas.
- claude-solidworks-review
Reviews SOLIDWORKS drawings through a VBA macro and Claude, rather than modeling live in SolidWorks from a shared canvas.
- Ark
An open-source parametric CAD kernel with its own Studio app, rather than a workbench that drives the user's installed SolidWorks.
- Text2CAD (MLYengineering)
A contract-gated agent pipeline that executes FreeCAD scripts headlessly, rather than a workbench with live SolidWorks modeling and visualization.
- Zoo
A C# SDK for the Zoo text-to-CAD API, rather than a Windows workbench with live SolidWorks modeling.
Recurring errors it addresses
Error Index entries this tool is built to reduce or work around.
- Saving an assembly can trigger rebuilds that break mates and randomly alter mate dimensions.Error Index
- Large assemblies can lock up on open with the feature tree failing to populate.Error Index
- Even simple save/check-in operations can take minutes on capable hardware.Error Index
- A SolidWorks MCP bridge returned success JSON and even a normal-looking PDF export while the live document was wrong: a sketch asked for the Right plane silently landed on Front, and a macro call reported success=False with zero errors while never running. Only visual inspection inside SolidWorks itself revealed it.Error Index
Sources
Not verified
- Pricing: none stated on the repo.
- Real user voices: the repo has 0 open issues, and no independent user post was found.
- A named individual builder beyond the repository owner handle YunTaiHua
- A standalone website: the repo homepage points to its own releases page.
Last verified November 6, 2026. Listings are informational. The evidence score measures public, verifiable evidence and is not an endorsement or a compatibility claim.