Create a starter project

The bundled basic starter creates a design with two positioned plates and a typed width input. It is the quickest way to see the whole loop: declare, evaluate, inspect.

1. Create the project

machinewright project init indexing-table --starter basic
cd indexing-table
uv sync

project init creates a new directory and refuses to overwrite an existing one. Use --output-dir to choose the parent directory. The generated project pins Machinewright to the Git release tag that matches the version you ran, with a v prefix.

From a Machinewright checkout, uv run machinewright project init indexing-table --output-dir .. creates a sibling project.

2. Look around

indexing-table/
├── design.py            # parts, assembly and the machine template
├── inputs.json          # typed inputs for the template
├── machinewright.toml   # declares templates and input configurations
├── pyproject.toml
└── README.md

inputs.json holds the requirements the design reads:

{ "requirements": { "plate_width_mm": 40 } }

design.py defines a Requirements contract, a Plate part, a Machine assembly, and a machine_template function that ties them together:

class Plate(PartDefinition):
    material = MATERIALS["PLA"]

    def __init__(self, width_mm: float):
        self.width_mm = width_mm

    def geometry(self) -> cadquery.Workplane:
        return cadquery.Workplane("XY").box(self.width_mm, 20, 4)


class Machine(AssemblyDefinition):
    def __init__(self, width_mm: float):
        self.width_mm = width_mm

    def define(self, builder: AssemblyBuilder) -> None:
        builder.part("base", Plate(self.width_mm))
        builder.part("cover", Plate(self.width_mm), transform=Transform.translated(z=12))

3. Validate and evaluate

uv run machinewright project validate
uv run machinewright project evaluate indexing-table.main 0.1.0 inputs.json artifacts/

Evaluation writes an artifact bundle to artifacts/: STEP and STL geometry, a preview SVG, structured BOM (JSON and CSV), the canonical graph (JSON and Graphviz DOT), and a provenance manifest. Printed parts also produce a print-layout STL.

4. Change an input

Edit plate_width_mm from 40 to 60 and evaluate into a new folder:

uv run machinewright project evaluate indexing-table.main 0.1.0 inputs.json artifacts-wide/

Both plates widen, because both read the same input. Compare the two manifests: the graph digest differs, and the artifact hashes record exactly what changed.

5. Open it in the app

Open the macOS app, choose Open Project, and select the indexing-table folder. Select design.py to edit it, and use the Inputs panel to change values and see the viewport update. Panel edits last for the session; edit inputs.json to make them permanent.