Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

github.com

1–10 of 31 posts

Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#1
I had a hard time figuring out CAD software like Fusion, OnShape, etc., and decided to go about making my own CAD modeling software that I can "program" my models similar to how I think about them in my head.

I used Cursor to write like 95+% of this, giving it my YAML examples and making it implement the actual code to make those work.

Currently 100% self-hosted, and it is just a static HTML/CSS/JS, so it might just work without running npm at all.

Very few features working currently, basically just modeling a few primitive solids, and boolean operations.

Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software
github.com

Re: Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#4
How does it compare to OpenSCAD, bitbybit, JSCAD, FreeCad, CadQuery, Curv, implicitCad, libfive, RepCAD, etc?

I mean it's nice that it exists, I guess, but there are already quite a few project (my list here isn't exhaustive) that seem (on the surface at least) equivalent beside the input format (YAML, but maybe some support that, I don't know).

So I don't want to imply that this has been vibe coded just to avoid searching what already exist, why they exist, why they don't support one specific feature... but still now that we are in this situation, namely 1 more item on the least, how can we compare it with the rest in order to know which one to use for our own needs?

Re: Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#5
post #2

This is really cool! All the best with this

Is it though? Looks and feels like AI slop on openscad

Indeed, and what worries me is that it might pull resources away from OpenSCAD or similar projects for something that, I imagine, won't be maintained.

Re: Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#8
I'm the author, so I will address everyone's comments in here:

> Why

To scratch an itch. I wouldn't have ever made this if /I/ had to make it. I wanted a way to express the primitive solids in a way that my autistic brain understands (through rigid object definitions in code). I have another neurodivergent trait called aphantasia which doesn't let me easily (at all really) conjure images in my mind, everything is described as text in my head... literally like reading a book, bringing up an "image" takes me multiple seconds while I read through all my brain comments about an image, especially if I'm supposed to focus on one feature. So I had an LLM build a tool for me (why it is called JermCAD and not something more professional sounding) that works how my brain does.

> How does it compare

100% doesn't. All of those tools are light years more advanced, and while I did try to use a CadQuery JS port, and another threejs CAD plugin, I couldn't get them to work, and I'm not a fan of python, so I stuck with what I knew font-end, web development.

> AI Slop

Yes. But again, this is a personal project that scratched an itch for me. It is a testament to how far you can get something in a few hours with an LLM, that would have taken months or years, but likely never would have happened, because who is going to invest months into redefining CAD to work the way that their specific neurodivergence works (Well maybe an autistic person hyperfixated on it, or me when I was 25 years younger).

---

This software as it is probably isn't useful to anyone except for myself. I originally shared it a few days ago to start a conversation, it got no traction. I am not saying that this or any vibe-coded, AI slop should ever be production software, but why not use it for a very specific implementation of something?

Re: Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#9
Very predictable amount of snark being aimed at this, but to me it’s incredible that something of this complexity is even possible with a few hours of effort. It is irrelevant in this moment whether this has bugs or is useful to others; what it signals is pretty significant. In a year this kind of effort will be able to yield something even better.

Re: Show HN: JermCAD – A YAML-powered, vibe-coded, browser-based CAD software

#10
post #2

This is really cool! All the best with this

Is it though? Looks and feels like AI slop on openscad

AI Slop, yes. OpenSCAD, no. You can read the package file and see the dependencies. It is based on three.js and a couple of boolean-related plugins, and then the LLM wrote a text-based STL export function.
Post reply on HN