MoreOpenSCAD

Overview

Framework agnostic TypeScript based package for generating STL files using commands similar to OpenSCAD. Distributable via NPM for inclusion in TypeScript projects.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Bun 1.0+
• TypeScript 5+ (for consuming projects that want type checking)

Installation

bun add @richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad
# or
npm install @richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad

Usage

Build a shape with a primitive, chain transforms onto it, then export it to STL.

import { cube, Vec3, toBinarySTL } from '@richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad';

const shape = cube(20, { center: true })
  .translate(Vec3.vec3(0, 0, 10))
  .rotateAxisAngle(Vec3.vec3(0, 0, 1), Math.PI / 4);

const stl = toBinarySTL(shape); // Uint8Array

Primitives

cube(size, options?), sphere(r, options?), cylinder(h, options?), and polyhedron(points, faces) (the arbitrary-mesh escape hatch) each build a Solid, matching OpenSCAD's semantics for the same primitive. See each function's JSDoc for its options (center, fn, r/r1/r2, etc.).

Transforms

Every Solid has chainable, immutable transform methods: translate, rotate (Euler angles), rotateAxisAngle, scale (uniform or per-axis), mirror, and multmatrix (an arbitrary 4x4 transform, for anything the named methods don't cover). Each call returns a new Solid — none of them mutate the original.

Boolean operations

union(a, b), difference(a, b), and intersect(a, b) combine two solids into a new one, matching OpenSCAD's union()/difference()/intersection():

import { cube, difference, Vec3 } from '@richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad';

const block = cube(20, { center: true });
const hole = cube(8, { center: true }).translate(Vec3.vec3(0, 0, 6));

const blockWithHole = difference(block, hole);

Neither input Solid is mutated; each call returns a new one. Combine more than two solids by chaining calls, e.g. union(union(a, b), c).

Exporting to STL

toBinarySTL(solid) returns a Uint8Array (the binary STL format); toASCIISTL(solid, name?) returns a string (the ASCII STL format). Neither writes to disk — this package stays framework-agnostic by handing back bytes/text and leaving file I/O to you:

Node.js:

import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
import { cube, toBinarySTL } from '@richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad';

writeFileSync('cube.stl', toBinarySTL(cube(20, { center: true })));

Browser (trigger a download):

import { cube, toBinarySTL } from '@richardmcquiston01/more-open-scad';

const stl = toBinarySTL(cube(20, { center: true }));
const url = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([stl], { type: 'model/stl' }));

const link = document.createElement('a');
link.href = url;
link.download = 'cube.stl';
link.click();
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);

Before exporting, isManifold(solid) checks whether a Solid is watertight (every edge shared by exactly two triangles wound in opposite directions) — useful as a sanity check that geometry is 3D-print-ready.

License

MIT

Copyright

(c) 2026 Richard McQuiston.

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