cadcraft/docs/roadmap.md

CADCraft roadmap detail

Last reviewed: 2026-10-24 · Last updated: 2026-10-24 · Change: minor (re-audit against main 41d9b5e95: alpha-gate evidence, CI gate, beta checklist states, open-PR and catalog counts; percentages and hours not re-scored; previously: re-audit against main e707ab4d: alpha-gate evidence, beta checklist states and milestone notes; percentages and hours not re-scored) · Target: Autodesk AutoCAD 2027

Forward-looking plan: milestones with status, the current focus, and what comes next with estimates. The summary is ROADMAP.md; the work items behind every line are in gaps.md; numbers come from target-app-parity.md. Hours are Opus 5.5 agent-hours.

Current focus

1. Gate and land. (cargo fmt on main is fixed, and ci.yml runs cargo xtask ci on every pull request since #1987.) Review and land the 450 open PRs (2026-10-24), most of them community bug fixes (S3). ≈ 15–25 h.
2. Stop losing data on save (FF1, FF2, FF7) and save DWG/DXF at a chosen version (FF3). ≈ 30–45 h.
3. A real-file corpus and a check of our output in AutoCAD (FF5, needs the owner).
4. Precision input: object snap tracking, extension/parallel snaps, FROM/M2P/TK, typed snap overrides, editable dynamic input (U1–U4). Done (#379, #393, #441, #60, #519); U4 and the grip and selection leftovers (U5, U6) remain.
5. Unstub the prompt options of the most-used commands (F1). Done (#397, #408, #547, #558, #559); the stubs left are listed in F1.
6. Autosave, recovery, AUDIT, RECOVER (F4). Done on the desktop (#406, #416); F4 lists the web-build leftovers.
7. The rest of the alpha gate: block editor and REFEDIT, xref attach (F2, F3), and plot styles with a plot dialog and preview (F14) landed (#824, #818, #525, #410, #160, #186); left: the precise-drafting gaps (approximate ellipse and spline intersections, prompt options that still print "not available yet"; U4, F1), dynamic-block authoring, editing an xref in place (F2, F3), and printing beyond files (F14, H3). ≈ 50–80 h.

Items 2 and 7 are the open alpha gate rows.

Alpha gate

The core workflows a typical AutoCAD professional does every day. CADCraft is pre-alpha because four of the five fail the gate; the failing rows are the alpha checklist. Main platform: macOS.

Core workflow	Works end to end?	Evidence	Hours to pass
Draw and modify precisely with object snaps and tracking	partial, blocking	Running snaps, polar, ortho, coordinate entry, object snap tracking, extension, parallel and apparent snaps (#379), FROM/M2P/TK and typed snap overrides, TRIM/EXTEND, OFFSET and ROTATE options (#397) work; ellipse/spline intersections approximate; a few prompt options still print "not available yet" (ui-parity.md, gaps.md U4, F1)	35–50
Dimension and annotate	partial, not blocking	All core DIM types, associativity, DIMSTYLE variables (43 of ~80), TEXT/MTEXT, MLEADER (with MLEADEREDIT/ALIGN/COLLECT, #816), tables and the in-place MTEXT editor (#792) work; no DIMSTYLE dialog, MLEADER styles thin, no fields (F7, F9, F10). A drafter can dimension a sheet end to end	0 for the gate (beta work)
Use blocks (insert library blocks, edit them, attributes, xrefs)	partial, blocking	Static BLOCK/INSERT/attributes, ATTSYNC, BATTMAN editing, xrefs (#525), the Block Editor (BEDIT/BSAVE/BCLOSE: every reference updates), REFEDIT (#818: a block reference is edited in place), XCLIP and XCLIPFRAME (#2354) and dynamic block references (visibility, distances, stretch and move actions, lookups, grips; #838–#883) work; an xref can't be edited in place, no dynamic-block authoring (F2, F3)	35–55
Layers, layouts and plotting a sheet	partial, blocking	Layers, layouts, viewports, page setups, PDF output, plot styles (CTB/STB, #410), the Plot dialog (#160), Plot Preview and PUBLISH (#186) and plotter devices (#564) work; printers only via PDF/PNG/SVG files (F14, H3)	15–25
Save DWG that AutoCAD opens without loss, and reopen others' DWGs	no	DXF keeps what we don't model (#528) and writes native MULTILEADERs (#459, not yet tested through DWG); through DWG, acadrust drops custom-class entities and objects and some foreign data (ACIS data of solids is kept, #781; damaged DWGs open partially, #859); never checked in AutoCAD; no real-file tests; a 10 MB DWG failed after ~2 min (#57) (FF1–FF6)	40–60 + owner (real-file corpus, AutoCAD check)
To alpha			≈ 125–190

Ready for real work is ≈ 38%, also under the ~40% alpha bar; closing the gate rows lifts it past 40%.

Beta checklist

Beta means: close to feature complete for mainstream 2D work, opens and saves DWG reliably, remaining gaps are known bugs and edge features (≈ 75% ready for real work).

Item	State	Est.
DWG/DXF: nothing lost on save; MULTILEADER native; version choice; code pages; real-file corpus green; verified in AutoCAD	partial (DXF lossless #528, MULTILEADER #459, version choice #421, code pages #505 landed; corpus and AutoCAD check not started)	50–75
2D geometry exact for ellipses and splines; polyline offset correct; relative tolerances	not started	50–80
Precision input at AutoCAD level (tracking, dynamic input, overrides, point modifiers, grips, selection keywords, context menus)	partial	90–140
Every Draw/Modify prompt option works; associative arrays	partial	40–60
Annotation depth: DIMSTYLE manager and variables, missing DIM commands, in-place MTEXT, fields, MLEADER editing, annotative scaling, tables	partial	90–130
Xrefs, block editor, dynamic blocks, groups, attribute tools	partial (xrefs, Block Editor, REFEDIT, groups, attribute tools and dynamic block references landed, XCLIP included; authoring and in-place xref editing not started)	90–135
Plot styles, plot preview, PUBLISH, non-rectangular viewports	partial	30–45
Autosave, recovery, AUDIT/RECOVER, Options dialog, templates, SHX, user .lin/.pat	partial	40–60
AutoLISP core subset and SCRIPT	done (AutoLISP #758, SCRIPT #693); Visual LISP, DCL and reactors to come	30–50
Catalog plus AutoCAD for Mac's languages	partial (eighteen catalogs shipped, six of AutoCAD for Mac's seven other languages; Japanese and the catalog extension not started)	30–45
Stability: CI gate, issue backlog, command smoke sweep, geometry fuzzing	partial	30–50
Platforms: web open/save, Windows/Linux runtime checks; performance at 1M entities and large DWG	partial	20–35
Total to beta		≈ 600–930

About 70% of this parallelises across 4–6 agents (one per row), so elapsed time is roughly 150–250 hours.

Milestones

Status re-scored on 2026-10-10 by depth, not presence (the 2026-10-07 percentages, reported by the agents that built each milestone, are in the progress log of ROADMAP.md).

#	Milestone	Status	Remaining (h)
M0	Skeleton and vertical slice: workspace, AutoCAD-style UI, command line, draw/modify basics, DXF, CLI, MCP, web	done	—
M1	Drafting core: every 2D Draw command and option, dynamic input, object snap tracking, snap overrides	≈ 55% (percentage from 2026-10-10 and not re-scored: tracking, dynamic input and overrides have landed since)	35–55
M2	Modify: grips, PEDIT, SPLINEDIT, LENGTHEN, BLEND, ALIGN, associative arrays, trim/extend for all curves, MATCHPROP UI	≈ 50%	45–70
M3	Layers and properties	≈ 70% (open layer bugs #71–#75, #87)	10–15
M4	Annotation: DIM*, DIMSTYLE manager, MLEADER, in-place MTEXT, fields, tables, annotative scaling, SHX	≈ 40%	90–130
M5	Hatch and blocks: hatch depth, block editor, dynamic blocks, xrefs, groups, attributes	≈ 30%	105–160
M6	Layouts and plotting: viewports, page setups, plot styles, preview, PUBLISH	≈ 35%	35–50
M7	Files: DWG/DXF fidelity and versions, RECOVER/AUDIT, templates, autosave, ETRANSMIT, underlays	≈ 30%	170–280 (incl. other formats)
M8	Inquiry and utilities, OPTIONS, customisation	≈ 25%	45–70
M9	Parametric	≈ 50%	20–30
M10	Performance: 1M entities at 60 fps, large DWG loads	≈ 60% (internal numbers only)	20–40
M11	3D: UCS, orbit, visual styles, solids, surfaces, meshes, sections, rendering	≈ 2%	300–450
M12	Automation: AutoLISP, SCRIPT, action recorder, sheet sets, Express Tools	≈ 15% (percentage from 2026-10-10 and not re-scored; MCP, CLI, control channel, AutoLISP core #855 and SCRIPT #693 done)	130–220
M13	1.0 polish: preferences, workspaces, localisation, accessibility, signed packages, docs	≈ 15% (signed packages for every platform exist; themes done; string catalog with eighteen languages, live language switching, #36; percentage from 2026-10-10 and not re-scored)	110–170
—	Geometry precision (cross-cutting, see geometry-parity.md)	≈ 40%	70–110
—	AI features	≈ 0% in-app	40–80
	Remaining to full parity		≈ 1,300–2,100

Milestone rows overlap a little with the cross-cutting rows; the total is the dimension sum in target-app-parity.md, not the column sum.

After beta

3D foundations (UCS, 3D views, orbit, then solids per plan/adr/0001), sheet sets, the full AutoLISP surface, AI features with openly licensed local models, and every remaining language.

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-10-24	minor	Re-audit against main 41d9b5e95: alpha-gate evidence, CI gate (#1987), beta-checklist states, open-PR and catalog counts re-checked against main 41d9b5e95; percentages and hours not re-scored
2026-10-13	minor	Re-audit against main e707ab4d: alpha-gate evidence for drafting, annotation, blocks and DWG rows; beta-checklist states for DWG/DXF, blocks and languages; current-focus items 4–7; milestone notes M1, M12, M13; percentages and hours not re-scored
2026-10-12	minor	Block Editor for static blocks landed: "Use blocks" evidence updated; status and hours unchanged (REFEDIT and dynamic blocks remain)
2026-10-11	minor	Alpha-gate evidence refreshed for merged work (#459, #525, #528, #160, #186, #564); statuses and hours unchanged
2026-10-10	minor	Merged main: fmt fixed, Ukrainian catalog noted in M13, ready for real work 38%
2026-10-10	minor	Alpha gate added (5 core workflows, 4 failing); stage pre-alpha
2026-10-10	major	Created from the old ROADMAP's milestone table and current focus; milestones re-scored by depth; beta checklist added