Set up CADOS

Overview

CADOS connects an AI assistant to SOLIDWORKS on your own computer. There are three parts:

• Your AI assistant, such as Claude or ChatGPT. It calls the CADOS tools.
• The CADOS gateway, a hosted service. It signs you in, knows your computers, checks each command and routes it.
• CADOS for SOLIDWORKS on your Windows computer: the CADOS add-in, a native SOLIDWORKS add-in with a CADOS tab, menu and task pane, and the KEVOS Companion, a small tray app. The Companion holds a secure outbound link to the gateway and hands each command to the add-in, which runs it in SOLIDWORKS.

Nothing connects in to your computer, and SOLIDWORKS always runs there, with your licence and your files.

Requirements

• Windows 10 (version 1903 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit, with .NET Framework 4.8 (included in Windows).
• SOLIDWORKS 2022 or later, 64-bit.
• A CADOS account. Ask your administrator for an invite, or use an early access code if you were given one.
• Administrator approval on the computer once, for the installation.
• An AI assistant that supports MCP connectors.

Supported SOLIDWORKS versions

One add-in serves every SOLIDWORKS version installed on the computer.

Run the self test once on each computer and SOLIDWORKS version you use.

Install

1. Download the installer

   Sign in with your CADOS account and download CADOS-for-SOLIDWORKS-x64.msi. Each release also lists a SHA-256 checksum you can compare.

2. Close SOLIDWORKS

   Save your work and close SOLIDWORKS before you install.

3. Run the installer

   Open the file and follow the steps. Windows asks for administrator approval once. The installer adds the CADOS add-in and the KEVOS Companion, registers the add-in with every SOLIDWORKS version on the computer and starts the Companion when you sign in to Windows. There are no files to copy and no registry to edit. It does not change your CAD files.

IT teams can install silently and set the service address for everyone:

msiexec /i CADOS-for-SOLIDWORKS-x64.msi /qn GATEWAY_URL=https://bizomat.ai/cad

Pair a computer

Pairing adds the computer to your account. After an interactive install the KEVOS Companion opens its pairing window by itself. You can also open it from the tray icon: Pair this computer.

1. Check the address and the name

   Check the CADOS service address (https://bizomat.ai/cad unless your organisation runs its own) and the name for this computer.

2. Enter your CADOS email and password

   Use the same email and password you sign in to CADOS with, then choose Pair. The computer is added at once.

3. Or confirm in the browser

   Leave email and password empty and choose Pair: your browser opens CADOS. Sign in, check that it shows the same code as the Companion, and choose Add this computer.

The Companion makes a key for this computer in the Windows key store. The key cannot be copied to another computer, and no password is stored on the computer.

Use CADOS in SOLIDWORKS

Open SOLIDWORKS. The CADOS add-in loads by itself and connects to the Companion. It is listed in Tools > Add-Ins as CADOS, and adds:

• a CADOS tab on the CommandManager and a CADOS menu;
• the CADOS task pane: the connection state, prompts to copy into your assistant, the confirmation setting, live activity and links to your dashboard and help;
• a CADOS: confirm window whenever your assistant asks for a destructive change.

Your AI assistant does the work: CADOS runs no AI of its own. Ask in Claude, ChatGPT or another connected assistant, and follow the work in SOLIDWORKS and in the task pane.

Connect your AI assistant

The CAD Assistant page shows your connector address. It ends in /mcp. Add it to your assistant once.

Claude

1. Open Settings > Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
2. Give it a name, such as CADOS, and paste the connector address.
3. Choose Connect. CADOS opens: sign in and choose Allow.

ChatGPT

Where your plan allows custom connectors, add a connector with the same address and sign in when CADOS asks. Your workspace administrator may need to allow custom connectors first.

Other assistants and Claude Desktop

Any client that supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP can use the connector address. If a client cannot sign in, use the private address in Settings. Treat the private address like a password.

Authentication

Verify the connection

Your CADOS Home shows the state of each part: Connected, Disconnected, Checking connection, Installation required or Connection error. It updates every few seconds while the page is open.

Then ask your assistant:

It calls sw_status and tells you which computer and which SOLIDWORKS version it reached.

Run the self test

Run the self test once on each new computer. Ask your assistant:

It makes test parts, an assembly and a drawing in a selftest folder under your Documents, one step at a time, and reports each step as ok, check or failed with the reason. Close or delete the test files when it is done.

Several computers

Install and pair each computer the same way. Each one gets its own key. The SOLIDWORKS page lists them: set a default or remove one. When more than one is online, tell your assistant which to use, for example "on DESK-02".

New or lost computer: remove the old one on the SOLIDWORKS page. It stops working at once. Then install and pair the new one. Nothing needs to be copied.

Update and uninstall

• Update: the KEVOS Companion offers new versions published on your CADOS service and installs one only after you agree. You can also run a newer installer over the old one. Settings and the pairing are kept.
• Repair: Windows Settings > Apps > CADOS for SOLIDWORKS > Modify > Repair.
• Uninstall: Windows Settings > Apps > CADOS for SOLIDWORKS > Uninstall. To also take the computer off your account, first use Start > KEVOS > Remove this computer from CADOS, or remove it on the SOLIDWORKS page.

Versions up to 0.11 were called KEVOS Bridge. CADOS for SOLIDWORKS upgrades them in place.

Troubleshooting

Start with the tray icon: right-click it, choose Status, then Copy diagnostics. The diagnostics hold no passwords or keys.

Still stuck? Contact support with the diagnostics.

Security

• Outbound only. The computer connects out over HTTPS. It opens no ports.
• Signed both ways. The computer signs each request with its own key. The gateway signs each command, and the computer checks it before SOLIDWORKS sees anything.
• Local pipe. The Companion and the add-in talk over a named pipe that only your Windows user can open. Remote connections are refused.
• Confirmation. Deleting features, undoing, overwriting a file, replacing a drawing or removing a variable asks you in SOLIDWORKS first. No answer within two minutes means no.
• Updates. The Companion installs an update only after checking its hash, signature and publisher, and only when you agree.
• What passes through the gateway. Commands, results and short-lived geometry copies used to check and measure your model. Your model files are saved on your computer. See the privacy notice.

Install without the installer

For development, or a computer where you cannot run the installer: download the add-in package from the SOLIDWORKS page (Direct link and manual installation), unzip it, run the setup program in the folder and choose Install for me. It installs the same CADOS add-in for your Windows user only. Then, in SOLIDWORKS, open CADOS > Status and paste the address and the add-in key from Settings. This route links one SOLIDWORKS session directly, without the Companion.

Where SOLIDWORKS does not list add-ins installed without administrator rights, the package also writes a launcher macro in your Documents folder (the setup program shows where). It is not the add-in: it only starts the installed CADOS add-in from Tools > Macro > Run.

Individual macros

CADOS does not offer macro downloads. Everything CADOS does runs through the add-in.