CAD Browser

CAD Browser turns any local engineering project folder into a searchable visual file browser.

Run one command inside a project and CAD Browser opens a private local website with a folder tree, thumbnails, previews, engineering metadata, document text, and desktop file actions.

Everything runs on your computer. Project files are not uploaded.

Quick start

Open a terminal inside the folder you want to browse:

cd C:\engineering\project
npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser

CAD Browser starts at:

http://127.0.0.1:6767

You can also pass a folder explicitly:

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser C:\engineering\project

Use the latest published version explicitly when needed:

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser@latest

What it provides

• Navigable project folder tree.
• Grid and list file views.
• Tile density from 4 to 15 columns.
• Search across filenames, paths, PDF text, Markdown, and TXT content.
• Filtering by CAD, PDF, text, image, or other file types.
• Sorting by name, modification date, size, or type.
• CAD and drawing thumbnails generated locally.
• Detailed file inspector.
• Open files in their default desktop application.
• Reveal files in Windows Explorer, macOS Finder, or the platform file manager.
• Copy project-relative paths.
• Rebuild cached metadata and previews.

Supported file types

| Type | Support | |---|---| | STEP / STP | Preview, bounding box, geometry, colors, model tree | | STL | Preview, bounding box, geometry, available colors | | 3MF | Preview, bounding box, geometry, available materials | | PDF | First-page preview, page count, extracted text | | Markdown (.md) | Content search, text preview, line/word/character counts | | Text (.txt) | Content search, text preview, line/word/character counts | | Images | Native thumbnail and preview | | Other files | Folder browsing, metadata, Open and Reveal actions |

Text indexing reads up to the first 256 KB of each Markdown or TXT file. The inspector indicates when a document was truncated.

Folder tree

The project tree follows standard file-manager behavior:

• Click a folder name to open that folder.
• Click the arrow beside a folder to expand or collapse its subfolders.
• Folders without subfolders do not show an expansion arrow.
• Opening a folder does not automatically change its expanded state.

File inspector

Select a file to open the inspector.

Depending on the file type, it can show:

• file size and modification time
• analysis status
• bounding-box dimensions and coordinates
• mesh, vertex, and triangle counts
• materials and face colors
• STEP model structure
• PDF page count and extracted text
• Markdown and TXT statistics and content

Inspector actions:

• Open — launch the file in its default application.
• Reveal — select the file in the system file manager.
• Copy path — copy its project-relative path.
• Rebuild metadata and preview — invalidate the current analysis and process the file again.

Double-clicking a file card also opens the file in its default application.

Search

Search covers the entire project, even when a subfolder is currently open.

It matches:

• filenames
• relative paths
• extracted PDF text
• Markdown content
• TXT content

Keyboard shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action | |---|---| | Ctrl/Cmd + K | Focus project search | | / | Focus project search | | Escape | Close preview, clear search, or close inspector | | Arrow keys | Move through visible files | | Enter | Open the selected preview | | O | Open the selected file | | R | Reveal the selected file |

Command options

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser [directory] [options]

| Option | Description | |---|---| | --port <number> | Local port. Default: 6767 | | --host <address> | Bind address. Default: 127.0.0.1 | | --no-open | Start without opening a browser window | | --help | Show command help |

Examples:

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser . --port 7000

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser C:\engineering\archive --no-open

Local cache

CAD Browser keeps generated metadata and previews outside the browsed project:

~/.cadcrawl/cad-browser/projects/

The selected project folder is not modified.

Cached data is reused while the file size and modification time match. CAD render files also use source-hash validation through @cadcrawl/cad-toolbox.

Delete the cache folder at any time if you want CAD Browser to recreate all local data.

Privacy

• Files remain on the local machine.
• The web interface is served locally.
• The default bind address is 127.0.0.1.
• No CAD files or document contents are uploaded by CAD Browser.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer.
• A supported desktop browser.
• Windows is the primary platform; macOS and Linux file actions are also supported.

Troubleshooting

The port is already in use

Choose another port:

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser . --port 7000

A preview is stale

Select the file and use Rebuild metadata and preview in the inspector.

npx uses an older cached version

Run the latest version explicitly:

npx @cadcrawl/cad-browser@latest

Explorer or the default application does not open

Confirm that the file still exists and that its extension has a default desktop application configured.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0