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Getting started

Follow these steps to create and export your first part.

Run N3XD

You can use a hosted instance or run N3XD locally. Local development requires Python >= 3.13, uv, Node >= 22 and bun.

# one-time: install backend and frontend dependencies
make install

# terminal 1: backend (FastAPI + uvicorn, hot-reload on :8000)
make dev-backend

# terminal 2: frontend (Vite dev server on :5173, proxies /api and /ws)
make dev-frontend

Open http://localhost:5173 to see the local welcome workspace. Projects open at /p/<project-id>, and the URL remains the same after you reload the page.

Docker

Run make up (a single docker compose up) to start the full stack, including the backend, Redis and the Nginx-served frontend.

Guided tutorial

On a hosted instance, select the Guided tutorial card beside New project on the dashboard. It creates a project and guides you through building a part. The instructions appear in the AI chat panel, and the next control pulses in the interface. You perform each action yourself; the tutorial advances when you do. Select Skip tutorial in the chat header to leave at any time. Your project stays on the dashboard. The tutorial is available on desktop only.

Your first part

The basic workflow is to create a project, add a part, sketch a profile and build features from it.

  1. Create a project. When no project is open, the app shows an empty workspace. Open Manage in the sidebar to create a project. Every project starts with an assembly.
  2. Add a part inside the assembly.
  3. Start a sketch on an origin plane (XY, XZ, YZ) or on an existing face. See Sketching.
  4. Draw a closed profile, constrain it, then exit to part view.
  5. Extrude it into a solid. See Modeling features.
  6. Add a hole to try face selection. Click the solid to select its body, then click a planar face to show the face tools. The toolbar follows your selection; see Working in the viewport. Select Hole, choose a size and type (simple, counterbore or countersink), then apply it.
  7. Add a fillet to try edge selection. Click the solid, then click an edge. Clicking on or near the edge line selects it instead of the face. Choose Fillet and set a radius. Chamfer, shell and the other 3D features follow the same selection process.
  8. Export to STEP, STL or 3MF, or capture a PNG. See Import and export.

From here, combine parts into assemblies with mates, drive dimensions with parameters and configurations, or run a stress simulation.

Working in the viewport

  • Click once to select a body, then click again to select the face or edge under the cursor. Press Escape to step back from face or edge to body, then to nothing selected.
  • The part toolbar follows the selection: body, face and edge tools appear as you select those. Everything is also on the F1 command palette regardless of selection.
  • Escape cancels any open panel or the active sketch tool. Every panel also has a Cancel button.
  • Change the theme (Dark, Light or Auto) in the sidebar's View section. It remains available when no project is open.