SOMA hits 1,000 downloads: Claude Code designs a bookshelf in CAD, self-checks its work
Lazar988 · reddit · 2026-11-04
SOMA: A CAD app driven by Claude Code
The author released SOMA a few weeks ago on Reddit—an app where Claude Code does the CAD directly. It has now passed 1,000 downloads, and he published a proper 9-minute tutorial in response to community requests.
The tutorial walks through one complete project end to end:
- One prompt for a bookshelf, then modifications made by drawing directly on the 3D view
- Parameter tweaks and a FEM check on how much weight a shelf holds
- Generation of a technical workshop drawing
- A phone stand built with the 3D-printing skill (the drawing took Claude about 6 minutes)
Why it works: Claude checks its own work
The key mechanism is that Claude verifies its own output: after building the model, it measures, renders pictures, and looks at them before declaring the task done. Skills can be off, on-demand, or always on, so it only reads the rules it needs.
The development approach is itself worth studying
- Most of SOMA was written by Claude Code (Opus 5.5), with the author deciding what to build, reviewing, and testing. Stack: Electron + TypeScript on top of a Python library and CLI wrapping CadQuery
- Maintains a CLAUDE.md with project rules, code principles, and a decision log, so Claude understands why things are the way they are across sessions
- The test suite launches the real app and drives the UI; Claude takes and inspects screenshots after every change—the same self-check pattern used for CAD models in SOMA
- Even the tutorial video was made with Claude Code: scripting the app to record scenes, writing the voiceover (local AI voice), and cutting the video
Download at somacad.app for Windows/macOS/Linux; it uses your own Claude Code subscription with no extra API key.
Related event: SOMA, a Claude Code-Powered CAD App, Surpasses 1,000 Users(3 posts)→
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