There is no operation in Lola3d that exists only in the interface. The tool rail, the REST API, the MCP tools and the in-app assistant all call the same 228 actions, validated by the same JSON schemas, committed through the same revisions and undo steps.
GET /api/studio/actions is the authoritative runtime schema — not a document that
drifts from the code, but the catalogue the application itself is built on. Anything in it can
be called with a session token or an API token.
Mutations carry expected_revision. A stale one is refused with 409 rather than
merged by luck, and a kernel error leaves the document byte-for-byte unchanged.
# Everything the modeler can do, with its schema curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \ https://lola3d.app/api/studio/actions # One edit, on the revision you hold curl -X POST https://lola3d.app/api/studio/actions/push_pull \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"model_id":"…","expected_revision":12, "args":{"target":"body1","face_id":"f7","distance":40}}' # A hundred commands as one revision and one undo step curl -X POST https://lola3d.app/api/studio/actions/batch …
A batch of commands cannot read the model between its own commands. That one limitation is what separates automating a click from generating a design — and it is what the Python console removes.
cad gives youcad.create_box(width=100, …) — any catalogue action, by name, validated by its own schemacad.actions() / cad.help(name) — the catalogue, from inside the scriptcad.document, cad.features, cad.find(name) — the model as it standscad.objects(), cad.bounds() — the visible bodies, their volume, area and extentsparams — the variables you passed; print(…) captured; result returneddry_run runs the whole thing and keeps nothing.
The restricted namespace — no open, no eval, no exec,
no dunder attributes, and only the numeric and structural modules — is a guard rail,
not a security boundary. CPython has never offered a real in-process sandbox and we
will not pretend otherwise.
What actually holds: the script runs in a geometry worker process with its
own memory and CPU ceilings, under a deadline the worker enforces on itself
(a busy loop stops itself rather than costing a worker), and behind a scope
— admin by default, because running a script is running code on the geometry
host. One setting widens it to every editor; another removes the action from the catalogue
entirely.
n = params["cells"] pitch = params["pitch"] strut = params["strut"] for i in range(n + 1): for j in range(n + 1): cad.create_box(width=strut, depth=strut, height=n * pitch, position=[i * pitch, j * pitch, 0]) print("struts:", len(cad.features)) result = {"struts": len(cad.features), "extent_mm": n * pitch}
# Nothing applied — so this costs no revision at all. total = 0.0 for o in cad.objects(): print(f"{o['name']:<24} {o['volume']:>14,.1f} mm3") total += o["volume"] box = cad.bounds() size = [round(box["max"][i] - box["min"][i], 2) for i in range(3)] result = {"bodies": len(cad.objects()), "bbox_mm": size}
The MCP endpoint exposes the catalogue as tools, held to the same read and write scopes as any other caller. An agent with a read token can measure, inspect and export; one with a write token can model.
It can also work the way a colleague does: preview a change without writing anything, or propose one. A proposal draws a ghost of itself in your viewport with the two buttons that answer it, and an approval applies every command as one edit with one timeline group over what it created — or rejects it leaving nothing behind.
POST /mcp X-API-Key: ign_… # scope: ai {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "propose_changes", "arguments": { "model_id": "…", "title": "Lighten the web by 18%", "commands": [ {"action": "shell", "args": {"target": "web", "thickness": 2.4}} ] }}}
| Format | Import | Export | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEP (.step) | Yes | Yes | Exact B-rep. Assemblies arrive as components. |
| IGES (.iges) | Yes | Yes | Surfaces sewn where watertight. |
| BREP (.brep) | Yes | Yes | The kernel's own exact form, with names and colours. |
| STL (.stl) | Yes | Yes | Sewn into a solid when watertight, kept as faces when not. |
| OBJ (.obj) | Yes | Yes | Exported with its MTL, in a zip. |
| 3MF (.3mf) | Yes | Yes | Colours preserved. |
| glTF / GLB | Yes | Yes | For the web and for renderers. |
| Collada (.dae) | Yes | Yes | The way in and out of SketchUp, which has no open .skp format. |
| IFC (.ifc) | Yes | Yes | IFC4; bodies as proxies, components as assemblies. |
| DXF / SVG | Yes | Yes | In as sketch entities; out from a sketch, a section cut or a drawing. |
| — | Yes | Drawing sheets. | |
| JSON | Yes | Yes | The editable document itself, frozen geometry included. |
| G-code | — | Yes | GRBL, LinuxCNC, Fanuc or a post you describe yourself. |
Sign in, create an API token in Settings, and the whole modeler answers to curl. Then write the script that would have taken you an afternoon of clicking.