scad-ts

Generate OpenSCAD solid models with TypeScript.

import { cube, cylinder, difference } from 'scad-ts';

const model = difference(cube(20, true), cylinder(30, 6).rotate_x(90));

console.log(model.serialize({ $fn: 60 }));

$fn = 60;
difference() {
  cube(size = 20, center = true);
  rotate(a = 90, v = [1, 0, 0]) {
    cylinder(h = 30, r = 6);
  }
}

Every shape is a plain object with a type, its params and, for transformations, its children. serialize turns that tree into OpenSCAD source; the chainable methods (translate, rotate, color, linear_extrude, the modifiers debug/disable/root/background…) return new nodes, so a model is just an expression you can build with functions.

Install

pnpm add scad-ts

ESM only

From 1.0.0 this package ships ES modules and nothing else — the CommonJS build is gone. require('scad-ts') still works on Node 22.12 and newer, which loads ES modules from require; on anything older, and on bundlers that only read CommonJS, it fails. Stay on 0.3.0 if that is you.

The openscad command

The package installs an openscad binary that runs your local OpenSCAD:

pnpm exec openscad model.scad

It looks at $OPENSCAD, then at OpenSCAD.app (macOS keeps the binary inside an app bundle, off the PATH), then at openscad on the PATH. It never installs anything; if nothing is found it tells you and exits 127.

Relationship to scad-js

This is a fork of scad-js by 20lives, rewritten so the types can be inferred from the shape of the code. Upstream declined that restructuring, so the two have diverged for good and this is not a drop-in replacement.

Development

The source of truth is a private monorepo; this repository is a mirror, so its tooling (build, tests, TypeScript config) lives upstream and is not replicated here. Issues and pull requests are welcome all the same.

Acknowledgements

scad-js, and the projects that inspired it: farrellm/scad-clj, OpenJSCAD.org and tasn/scadjs. And OpenSCAD itself.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.