Note: This repository contains an automatic conversion of the FreeCAD wiki located at https://wiki.freecadweb.org to the markdown format. The conversion is done automatically through the migrate.py script located within this repository. The script downloads the wiki contents in XML format using the MediaWiki API and uses pandoc to convert between mediawiki and markdown formats. This is a work in progress towards a more usable version of the documentation. Check the TODO file for more explanation.
This is the documentation wiki of FreeCAD. There are several ways to use this documentation: by exploring the hubs, by following the manual, or by searching for a specific page. The Help menu entries from within FreeCAD also allow you to browse this documentation, online or offline. This documentation is a work in progress, written by the community of users and developers of FreeCAD. If you find information that is wrong or missing, please help!
This page contains documentation useful for FreeCAD users in general: a list of all the workbenches, detailed instructions on how to install and use the FreeCAD application, tutorials, and all you need to get started.
This page gathers documentation for advanced users and people interested in writing python scripts. There you will also find a repository of macros, instructions on how to install and use them, and more information about customizing FreeCAD to your specific needs.
This section contains material for developers: How to compile FreeCAD yourself, how the FreeCAD source code is structured, how to navigate the source code, how to develop new workbenches, and embed FreeCAD in your own application.
The manual is another, more linear way to present the information contained in this wiki. It is designed to be read like a book, and will gently introduce you to many other pages from the hubs above. ebook versions are also available, as well as a couple of translations in pdf format.
This documentation is fully translatable by users to other languages, and is in a continuous process of translation. Several partially or fully translated versions of this documentation are available:
There is plenty to do inside the FreeCAD project, if you are interested in helping us. Of course, there are programming tasks for C++ or Python programmers, but there are also many things you can do even if you cannot code, such as
- writing documentation and editing the wiki
- helping newcomers
- translating the application and documentation
- helping with the packaging of the latest release of FreeCAD for your favourite operating system
- helping other people around you to discover FreeCAD.
The help FreeCAD page describes it all with more details. Starting from 2016, FreeCAD also participates in the Google Summer of Code. The Contributors hub page is another effort to gather the possible ways to help and contribute to the FreeCAD project.
FreeCAD can be compiled on all platforms using CMake. The source code is LGPL-licensed and hosted on GitHub and mirrored on GitLab and CodeBerg. There are build instructions for Windows, Linux and MacOS. The source code documentation is hosted here, generated by Doxygen, and documented on the wiki.
Check the Development roadmap for news about what is being planned, the Changelog and Roadmap pages on the FreeCAD tracker to see the progress towards next release, or the Project statistics for even more information about the FreeCAD codebase. All the development communication happens on the forum, so be sure to visit it if you are interested in participating.