This workbench allows the user to interact with CADBase (upload and download parts) via the FreeCAD interface.
CADBase is a platform for publishing and sharing information about 3D components, drawings and manufacturers.
Important Note: To use the workbench, you must have an account on the CADBase Platform. You can also create an account via add-on, if the entered username is free, a new user will be created with the specified username and password.
The workbench is designed to use components (parts) from CADBase in the FreeCAD interface.
Component modifications contain sets of files for various CAD systems. This workbench will work with data from the FreeCAD set, without downloading documentation and data from other file sets.
Files uploaded to file sets are versioned, allowing you to restore earlier versions, get the old state they were in before the changes, review the changes, and find out who last changed something and caused the problem.
Favorite components are displayed at root level. After selecting and opening a component, a list of its modifications is displayed this Component level. These levels correspond to the location of folders in the directory that is specified in the Library path property. Files for FreeCAD will be downloaded through this add-on, files from kits for other programs will not be downloaded.
The data display can be divided into three levels, the first one is the root level (rl), this level displays all components from the local library, the second one is the component level (cl), it displays the list of modifications of the open component, and the third level displays the data of a set of files (fl). The folder for FreeCAD file set in local storage is created regardless of the presence of file set in the modification on CADBase platform, the file set will be created automatically when sending files.
-Library path # set in add-on (rl) ├── Vertical Pump (@lookme) # component folder (cl) │ ├── N1 # modification folder │ │ ├── FreeCAD # FreeCAD fileset (fl) │ │ │ ├── modification # technical data file │ │ │ ├── vertical Pump.FCStd # file of the FreeCAD fileset │ │ │ └── ... # files of the FreeCAD fileset │ │ └── ... # filesets for the modification (fl) │ ├── ... # modifications of the component │ └── component # technical data file ├── ... # local library components (rl) ├── cadbase_file_2018.log # stores logs and responses (optional) └── cadbase_file_2018 # technical data file
CADBaseLibrary is available through the FreeCAD Addon Manager:
It is called "CADBase Library" in the Addon Repository.
In menu Tools select Addon Manager, select the Workbenches tab find "CADBase Library" in the list and click Install.
Important Note: CADBaseLibrary needs FreeCAD v0.19 or above. CADBaseLibrary is not compatible with FreeCAD v0.18 and before.
It is also possible to install this workbench manually into FreeCAD's local Mod directory. This can be useful for testing local changes to the workbench, or to remove an old stale version of the workbench.
In this case, download the Github cadbaselibrary-freecad-master.zip archive from github.com/mnnxp/cadbaselibrary-freecad (see Links for more) to a temporary directory, and extract the Zip archive. Delete (or move) the CadbaseLibrary directory from the local FreeCAD Mod directory, if it exists. Then copy all items in the cadbaselibrary-freecad folder to the CadbaseLibrary folder in the directory containing all FreeCAD workbenches:
- for Windows:
C:\Users\******\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod - for MacOS:
~/Library/Preferences/FreeCAD/Mod/ - for Linux, FreeCAD version v0.19 :
~/.FreeCAD/Mod - for Linux, FreeCAD version v0.20 :
~/.local/share/FreeCAD/Mod/
Below is a method for those who like to install manually, but in a shorter way:
# Example for the Linux platform and FreeCAD versions above v0.20
git clone https://gitlab.com/cadbase/cadbaselibrary-freecad.git \
~/.local/share/FreeCAD/Mod/CadbaseLibrary/Please Note: You can see the current mod folder path through the Python console in FreeCAD. The method is described in the additional section.
To use this workbench to update files already in the CADBase storage, Blake3 must be installed.
# Install on Unix/macOS
python3 -m pip install "blake3"
# Install on Windows
py -m pip install "blake3"Please Note: The workbench will work without this Blake3 library, the only difference is that the files in the CADBase storage (cloud) that have already been uploaded will not be replaced.
After it is installed and restart FreeCAD, the workbench will be available in the workbench drop-down list.
Select the CADBase Library workbench from the workbench drop-down list.
On first run, the workbench will ask you for the location of your library. The CADBase cloud storage will be synchronized with this location, and technical files for the workbench will be created there.
This location can be changed in the workbench settings in the field "Library path".
In the "CADBase library" window, on the Options tab, click the Settings button for open "CADBase library configuration".
The local library location is specified in the Library path section field. When the location is changed, the data from the previous location will not be moved (it can be moved manually).
In the Server URL section you can set URL/IP for communication with the platform.
The Upload settings section allows you to set parameters to improve workbench operation in the absence of Blake3 and in case of necessity of forced updating of files on CADBase storage.
If you set Forcibly update files to True, the Skip calculate hash value will be ignored. The hash will not be calculated, as it is unnecessary.
The parameters affect only the uploading of data to the server. When downloading data, existing files will not be overwritten regardless of the settings.
To specify username and password to access CADBase, you need to click on the Authorization button to open the "Authorization on CADBase" window.
To obtain a token for an existing account or create a new account to access CADBase, you must provide a username and password. After entering these data to receive the token need pressing the OK button.
Please wait until you receive the token. This data will be saved and available after restarting FreeCAD.
Important Note: If the access token has expired, you need to repeat these two steps (username and password are already saved):
- Click on the Authorization button
- Click on the Ok button
Add target components to bookmarks (favorites) on the CADBase site.
In FreeCAD will only display components that the user has bookmarked on CADBase, as well as those that have been previously downloaded.
Clicking Update components only updates the list of components from bookmarks active user, without downloading component modifications and files.
Double-clicking on a components folder to get a list of modifications for component.
Getting files of a file set for FreeCAD occurs after double-clicking on a modification folder.
The Create component button is used to create a new component on the CADBase platform. Сlicking on the button opens a modal window in which ability create a new component (part, project, etc.) with a given name.
Select the modification from which you want to load the files. You can select either the modification folder or the FreeCAD file set folder. In the first case the workbench will define the FreeCAD file set itself. Only files from FreeCAD file set will be loaded to CADBase storage.
Click the Upload files button to process data and display information about detected changes between local and remote storage. The local storage (library) is considered to be the reference storage.
The Commit message section can optionally contain a message that allows users to better understand what has changed in this update. The message will be associated with all files that were added or changed in this update and can be viewed on the platform's website.
Files affected by the update will be displayed in the table under the Commit message section. In addition to the file names, the type of changes is indicated:
new- the file is not detected in the remote storage and will be uploaded as a new onemodified- the file exists in remote storage and will be updated to the new revisiondeleted- the file no longer exists locally and will be deleted from remote storage in this update
Click the Ok button for upload local files of select modification folder to CADBase storage (cloud).
Information about the download process will be displayed in the active window (widget) and log.
After the files are uploaded, the window (widget) will close and a message will appear in the log with information about the number of successfully uploaded files.
In FreeCAD, you can find your user "modules folder" by typing or pasting App.getUserAppDataDir()+"Mod" and the user "macros folder" by typing App.getUserMacroDir() in the Python console (found under View->Panels menu).
Please don't use cadbase_file_2018 and cadbase_file_2018.log as file or folder names in the CADBase library folder. These files store server responses and logs, if you use these filenames for your data, you may lose them.
If you need to save logs to a file (for example, for debugging, study, or other purposes), you need to create a cadbase_file_2018.log file in the local library folder.
In the component folders, a component file is created with the technical data about the component.
In the modification folders, a modification file is created with the technical data about the component modification.
To avoid losing local data when downloading from CADBase storage (from the cloud), files already in local storage are skipped.
In general check is skipped and previously uploaded files (already in remote storage) are updated unless off force upload in settings.
As an option (Blake3 is needed), before uploading files to CADBase storage (remote storage) the add-on can check for existing files in the remote storage and excludes files from the upload list if their local and remote storage hashes match.
Workbench development happens in this repository (GitLab).
Mirrors on GitHub and Codeberg.
Videos about the workbench (on YouTube)
v2.0.0 2025-01-25 * Implemented preview of changes before sending update, added deletion of old files from remote storage, updated server API.
v1.0.3 2024-12-04 * Fixed URL link to README, corrected description, updated illustrations.
v1.0.2 2024-10-01 * Fixed compatibility with FreeCAD 1RC2 and added FreeCAD ID when creating a user.
v1.0.1 2024-06-05 * More functionality:
- Possibility to create an account (on CADBase platform) via workbench;
- Possibility to create a component (on CADBase platform) via workbench;
- Saving login and password for quick retrieval of a new token.
v1.0.0 2024-04-07 * Support for working with one local library from different programs. Changes:
- In modifications, separate folders are created for FreeCAD file sets;
- Changed the folder naming for components, it now looks like "Component Name (@user-owner)";
- Authentication moved to a separate window;
- Corrected typos in the log and comments.
v0.3.0 2023-09-21 * Changed type add-on from macro to workbench. Other changes:
- Fixed window name display;
- Disabled deletion of old versions of files;
- Added interface translation;
- Reversed log this release notes.
v0.2.0 2023-02-02 * Added the ability to upload files to the CADBase storage. Added comparing local and cloud-stored files using Blake3 hash.
v0.1.3 2022-11-13 * Bugs fixed. Added check to skip a file if it already exists in local storage.
v0.1.2 2022-11-11 * Changed URLs for Wiki and Web, code split into files, updated interface: added descriptions for settings
v0.1.1 2022-10-15 * bugs fixed and code optimization
v0.1.0 2022-06-13 * first release