Editor Setup

FluidCAD works with any text editor. It ships official extensions for VS Code and Neovim, and a CLI for everything else. All three options give you the same live 3D viewport — pick whichever fits your workflow.

VS Code

1. Install the FluidCAD extension from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Open your project folder in VS Code.
3. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) and run Show FluidCAD Scene.

A 3D viewport opens in a side panel. It updates live as you edit any .fluid.js file.

Neovim

Add the plugin with lazy.nvim:

{
  "Fluid-CAD/FluidCAD",
  config = function()
    require("fluidcad").setup()
  end,
  ft = { "javascript" },
}

Open a .fluid.js file — the server starts automatically. Run :FluidCadOpenBrowser to open the 3D viewport in your browser.

Any other editor (CLI)

From your project directory, run:

npx fluidcad serve

This starts a local server at http://localhost:3100. Open that URL in your browser (or pass --open to launch it automatically) to see the 3D viewport. Edit your .fluid.js files in any editor — the viewport refreshes on save.

To run from elsewhere, point -w at your project: npx fluidcad serve -w ./my-app.

note

Interactive features like region picking, trimming, and interactive bezier drawing are only available with the VS Code and Neovim extensions. The CLI mode provides a view-only viewport that refreshes on save.

Flag	Description	Default
-w, --workspace <path>	Path to your project	Current directory
-p, --port <port>	Server port — if it's already taken, the next free one is used	3100
--open	Open the viewport in your default browser when the server is ready	off

Beyond serve

The same CLI writes STEP, STL, and PNG files without opening the UI, and runs the MCP server that lets AI agents drive your workspace:

npx fluidcad export step                     # every shape → <entry>.step
npx fluidcad export png --view front --open

See the CLI Reference for every command and flag, or run npx fluidcad --help.