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Installation

Installation

CAD Sketcher is published on Blender's own extensions platform, so Blender installs it and offers updates without any setup.

  • Open Blender and go to: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions
  • Search for "CAD Sketcher"
  • Press "Install"

Every release lands there, and the listing is also browsable at extensions.blender.org.

A build is published for every commit, which is worth having if you want fixes and new tools as they land rather than at the next release. Add it as a remote repository and Blender updates it in-app like any other.

  • Open Blender and go to: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions
  • Open the repositories drop-down (arrow in the top right corner) and choose "Add Remote Repository"

  • Paste the URL below, enable "Check for Updates on Startup" and confirm

    https://hlorus.github.io/CAD_Sketcher-extensions/latest/index.json

  • CAD Sketcher now appears in the extensions list, press "Install"

These builds are whatever was last committed, so they see far less testing than a release. Keep a release install around if you are working on something you care about.

To test builds that bundle open pull requests (not yet merged), see the community-maintained CAD_SketcherPR project (tracked in issue #551).

  • Download the ZIP for your platform from the latest release
  • Open Blender and go to: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > Extension Settings (Arrow in the top right corner) > Press "Install from Disk..." button
  • Browse to the location of the ZIP and select it, then press "Install from Disk"
  • Download the ZIP archive from github (ensure it's a ZIP Archive, on Mac you might have to repack as it gets unzipped automatically)
  • Open Blender and go to: Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Press "Install..." button
  • Browse to the location of the ZIP and select it, then press "Install Add-on"
  • Enable the addon by pressing the checkbox

You can get the latest state of the addon and easily update it with git

  • Get Git
  • In Blender, add the scripts-path under Preferences->File Paths->Script Directories->Add (e.g. ~/blender_scripts)

  • Open your scripts_folder

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    cd ~/blender_scripts

  • Create an addons folder 

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    mkdir addons
cd addons

  • Clone the addon repository 
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    git clone https://github.com/hlorus/CAD_Sketcher.git
  • Blender will now automatically load addons from that path

Dependency installation

CAD Sketcher heavily depends on the solvespace python module and won't be functional without it. When installed as an Extension the module ships bundled as a wheel, so there's usually nothing to do here.

Python version compatibility: the bundled solver provides wheels for Python 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13 — the versions embedded in official blender.org builds. If Blender reports something like "This Python version (3.14) isn't compatible with (3.11)" on install, it's running a newer system Python (common with distribution-packaged Blender on rolling distros such as Arch/CachyOS). Fix it by using an official build from blender.org — the 5.2 LTS is a safe choice — instead of your distribution's package. Python 3.14 is not yet supported (waiting on an upstream slvs release).

The module is bundled with the extension, so there is nothing to install by hand: if CAD Sketcher enables without an error it is there. Only a Python version the bundled wheels don't cover (see above) prevents it from loading.

Extra step on Mac OS:

Due to an ongoing Blender bug, Mac OS users with Metal need to change their GPU Backend to OpenGL: Edit > Preferences > System > GPU Backend > Select "OpenGL". Remember to restart Blender after this.

Installation fails

There are multiple reasons why the installation might fail. Try the following:

  • If you're on windows start blender as administrator when installing the dependency
  • If you've installed blender through a package manager try again with a version from blender.org
  • Check the application's output in the system console for any warnings or hints to find out why it's failing
  • Blender can be installed through package managers, installing external python packages with such installations might not be possible. Try to use the extension with Blender installed from the official website.
  • Ask for help

Updating

Installed from the Blender extensions platform or from the latest-builds repository, CAD Sketcher updates itself: Blender offers the new version under Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.

For a ZIP or legacy addon install:

  • Delete the old version from the addons/extensions list under Edit > Preferences > Add-ons/Get Extensions
  • Simply redo the installation steps with the latest addon version

If you've cloned the addon with git you can easily update it:

  • Open the addon folder in a terminal 
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    cd ~/BLENDER_SCRIPTS_PATH/CAD_Sketcher
  • Pull the changes 
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    git pull