A real command line
Type L, press Enter, click or type points. Over 200 command names and short aliases (L, C, PL, TR, O, F…) have step-by-step prompts and options familiar to experienced CAD users.
Project
OpenDraft
A free 2D CAD application for Windows and Linux, written in Rust. It has a ribbon, a command line with the standard drafting command names, and it opens your DXF and DWG drawings.
Early release
OpenDraftDownloadOverview
If you draft for a living, for your workshop or for your own projects, you should not need a subscription to open and edit a drawing. OpenDraft is one small native program, with source you can read, build and change.
Where it stands. Early development. It already covers a large part of everyday 2D drafting, but features and the native .odx format can still change between releases. Keep a DXF copy of anything you care about.
| Built with | Rust and egui, one native executable |
|---|---|
| Platforms | Windows 10/11 (64-bit), Linux (X11 and Wayland) |
| Reads | DXF, DWG (AutoCAD 2010 to 2018), native .odx |
| Writes | DXF, PDF, SVG, prints to paper, native .odx |
| Tests | 3,300+ automated tests, run on Windows and Linux in CI |
| Licence | GPL-3.0-or-later |
What it can do
Draw and modify
Line, circle, arc, ellipse, rectangle, polygon, polyline, spline and hatch. Move, copy, rotate, mirror, scale, stretch, trim, extend, offset, fillet, chamfer, join, break, arrays and more, with grips and object snaps.
Annotate
Single-line and multiline text, fields that fill in from your drawing properties, dimensions with styles, leaders and multileaders, and blocks with editable attributes.
Layouts and plotting
Paper-space layouts with viewports. Plot with Ctrl+P to PDF, SVG or a printer, with paper, scale and area settings and a preview. Printing is new, so tell us how it goes on your printer.
Opens your drawings
Reads DXF and DWG files (saved by AutoCAD 2010 to 2018) and writes DXF. There is no DWG export yet. The DWG reader is a separate crate that other projects can reuse.
Undo, autosave and crash recovery
Every change is one undo step, saves are atomic, and autosave and crash-recovery copies help protect your work.
See it in action
Real recordings of OpenDraft 0.2.0 on Windows, driven from the command line. The bracket is drawn from typed coordinates, dimensioned and offset.
Try it in 30 seconds
Open OpenDraft and click on the command line. The command names and shortcuts will be familiar to experienced CAD users. F8 toggles ortho and F3 toggles object snaps.
Command: L ← Enter, or just press the space bar
Specify first point: 0,0
Specify next point or [Undo]: @100<30 ← typed polar coordinates
Specify next point or [Undo]: <click> ← or pick with the mouse
Command: O ← Offset it
Specify offset distance: 5
Command: TR ← Trim. Fillet is F, Chamfer is CHA …AI assistants (experimental)
There are two early, optional ways to let an AI assistant work with your open drawings. Both are off until you turn them on, and every change an assistant makes is one Undo step. Neither is needed to use OpenDraft.
- An MCP server (opendraft-mcp) lets an assistant you already use, one that speaks the Model Context Protocol, inspect and draw in your open drawings. It talks to OpenDraft through a local socket only your user account can reach. It is read-only until you allow more, and files stay inside folders you approve.
- An in-app Assistant panel (View > Palettes > Assistant) is an early experiment. It uses your own Mistral API key, which you can keep in your system’s credential store. When you use it, your messages and the drawing information it needs are sent to Mistral’s service. It asks before it changes anything, at the approval level you choose, and can undo what it did.
Privacy
OpenDraft has no telemetry and no account. It makes no network requests unless you allow it. Two features can reach the network, and both are off by default:
- The update check. You choose whether OpenDraft may ask GitHub once a day which versions exist. The request carries the version number and, as any web request does, your internet address. No drawings or personal details are sent, and nothing is downloaded or installed for you.
- The in-app assistant, described above, which needs your own API key.
What it cannot do yet
These are known gaps. The full plan is on the roadmap.
- DWG export (DWG is read-only), and external references (xrefs).
- Associative arrays (ARRAY makes plain copies today) and spline editing such as trim, extend and join.
- Dynamic blocks, 3D, a cloud or collaboration layer, and a macOS build.
- A plugin system for third-party commands.
- A stable .odx format. Until it is declared stable, a drawing saved by one version may not open in a later one. Save a DXF copy too (File > Save As, DXF).
- Code-signed Windows builds. Windows may warn about an unknown publisher.
Download
Latest release v0.2.0, published 3 Nov 2026.
- OpenDraft-0.2.0-linux-amd64.deb 16.5 MB
- OpenDraft-0.2.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage 16.2 MB
- OpenDraft-0.2.0-linux.tar.gz 16.6 MB
- OpenDraft-0.2.0-windows-x64.msi 14.3 MB
- OpenDraft-0.2.0-windows.zip 13.5 MB
- SHA256SUMS 1 kB
Builds are not code-signed yet, so Windows may show an unknown publisher warning.
Install
Download from the releases page. The Linux programs are built on Ubuntu 22.04, so they need glibc 2.35 or newer. For libraries, file dialogs and troubleshooting, see the Linux page.
On Windows the builds are not code-signed yet. If SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC”, and you trust the download (check it below), choose More info, then Run anyway.
| System | File |
|---|---|
| Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) | windows-x64.msi installer (per user, no administrator needed), or windows.zip portable |
| Debian, Ubuntu, Mint | linux-amd64.deb. Adds the menu entry, icons and the .odx file type |
| Any Linux distribution | linux-x86_64.AppImage, one file, no root. Or linux.tar.gz |
| Arch, Flatpak | Build files are in the repository but not yet published to the AUR or Flathub |
Check your download
Each release has a SHA256SUMS file. Compare your file’s SHA-256 with it.
Get-FileHash .\OpenDraft-<version>-windows.zip -Algorithm SHA256 # Windows
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing # LinuxBuild from source
You need a recent stable Rust toolchain.
git clone https://github.com/JamesHodgkins/OpenDraft.git
cd OpenDraft
cargo run --release -p od-appRoadmap
- DoneEarly releases for Windows and Linux, with installers
- DoneLinux tested in CI on six distributions — On virtual displays. Real machines are the next step.
- DonePlotting and printing to PDF, SVG and paper — Released in 0.2.0.
- DoneBlock attributes, fields and single-line text — Released in 0.2.0.
- In progressTest on real Linux machines — Real GPUs, GNOME and KDE, Wayland input, file dialogs and printers. Reports from users are how this gets covered.
- PlannedTrust in files: fuzzing, rendering tests and interoperability checks — Open OpenDraft’s DXF in LibreCAD, QCAD and FreeCAD, and fuzz the DWG, DXF and .odx readers.
- PlannedProve the plots on real fabrication and print workflows — Laser and cutter software, and printing at 1:1 on paper.
- PlannedTemplates and a first-hour tutorial
- PlannedCode-signed Windows builds — Removes the unknown publisher warning.
- PlannedDeclare the .odx format stable — So a saved drawing keeps opening in every later version.
- PlannedDWG export, associative arrays, spline editing, xrefs — Depth for small professionals, after the items above.
Licence and trademarks
Source on GitHub. Licence: GPL-3.0-or-later.
AutoCAD, DWG and DXF are trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. OpenDraft is an independent project, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Autodesk. The names are used only to describe file and command compatibility.