January 3, 2026
Code vs. Clicks: CAD Cage Match
GitHub – tomasf/Cadova: Swift DSL for parametric 3D modeling
Coders want 3D prints they can type—GUI fans push back
TLDR: Cadova lets you design 3D prints by writing Swift code instead of fiddling with files. Commenters are split between cheering a hybrid GUI-plus-code future, debating Swift’s clean C++ interop vibes, and demanding real-world examples—because if it works, reproducible, shareable designs get way easier.
Meet Cadova, a new code-first way to design 3D models in Apple’s Swift language, and the comments wasted zero time turning it into a code vs. clicks showdown. Fans cheered the dream of ditching clunky files for readable code you can version, reuse, and share. One early booster pitched a hybrid future—draw tricky shapes with a simple interface, but save everything as code so there are no mystery files or “XML piles” haunting your hard drive. The catch? Even they admit the hardest part will be keeping the interface and code perfectly in sync.
Swift nerds showed up hyped: one called Cadova’s techniques “very clean,” even wondering if this is the new way Swift talks to C++—translation: it’s slick. Skeptics weren’t throwing tomatoes, but they demanded receipts. A commenter bluntly asked for the source behind a complex example from the project’s wiki, basically saying: prove it.
Meanwhile, practical makers loved that it runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and that it’s aimed at 3D printing—with a GitHub repo ready to fork and a permissive MIT license. It’s still pre-1.0, so expect change, but the vibe is clear: if Cadova can marry code elegance with point-and-click ease, this could be the rom-com the CAD world’s been waiting for.
Key Points
- •Cadova is a Swift-based library for code-driven 3D modeling with an emphasis on 3D printing.
- •It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, with documentation available via a Getting Started guide, Wiki, and Examples.
- •Related projects include Cadova Viewer (a native macOS 3MF viewer) and Helical (a library for threads and fasteners).
- •Cadova depends on Manifold-Swift, ThreeMF, freetype-spm, and FindFont.
- •The project is pre-release (<1.0), maintains stability within minor versions, recommends upToNextMinor(from: "0.4.0"), welcomes contributions, and is MIT-licensed. A sample SPM manifest is provided.