ParaCruxDocs
Learn it on a copy. Then do it for real.
Short lessons in plain English. Each one has a simulator that runs in this page, so you can try the words before you try the part. Every feature below carries its real status.
Learn it in this order.
21 lessons, about 106 minutes end to end. Nothing here touches your files.
Start here Set up, then your first questions.
Install the app and activate it
From an empty account to a licensed workstation, in three moves.
Activate by signing in from the app
Approve this computer in your browser instead of copying an activation code.
Ask about the open model
Ask a question in plain English and the Agent reads the answer from the model open in SOLIDWORKS. Reading never changes anything.
Write design intent and instructions
Tell the Agent what must change, what must stay true and how you want it to work. It keeps both up to date as you talk.
Everyday The jobs you will do most.
Find a standard structural section
Ask for a tube, angle or beam in your own words and get real catalogue sizes back, with their standard.
Put cited materials into SOLIDWORKS
Find a grade in the Materials tab, check where each value comes from, then add the whole library to SOLIDWORKS' Edit Material in one export.
Install standard sections as weldment profiles
Write all 306 standard sections into SOLIDWORKS as weldment profiles, each checked as a 1 m member, then pick them in Structural Member.
Use your design library
Keep house rules, tolerances and material notes in a library the Agent searches before it works.
Teach the Agent your company's practice
Capture a preferred material, standard detail or lesson from a finished design, approve it once, and the Agent cites it when it applies.
Create a simple part from a brief
Describe a block with all three sizes and get a checked native part and STEP file. Leave a size out and it asks.
Change a dimension on a copy
Propose a new value, run it on a copy, check the result independently, then accept or reject. Your original is never touched.
Change two dimensions, with a volume limit
Change several dimensions in one reviewed run and state a measurement the result must meet. If it misses, you can't accept it.
Work offline with a checked-out seat
Check out your seat before you lose the connection, and return it when you are back.
Licence a computer with no internet
Carry two signed files between an offline computer and a connected one, so an air-gapped workstation can hold a seat.
Update, and read what changed first
Updates arrive signed. Read the notes before you install, and save your work first.
Get help from support
Open a request from your account or the app, choose what to attach, and follow replies. It works with or without an active subscription.
Deeper What is sent, what it costs and why it stops.
Decide what the Agent can send
Design context stays on your computer until you allow it. See what goes, choose where it is processed, and switch it off again.
How a job spends AI credit
What leaves your machine, how each step reserves its cost, and where a job always stops.
Run the Agent with a local model
Point the Agent at a model server on your own computer or network, so design context never leaves your site.
When the Agent stops or asks
Why a job stops, what each message means and what to do next. It stops rather than guess, and never retries a CAD step on its own.
Cancel, or ask for a refund
Stop the next renewal from My account, know what keeps working until the end date, and how refunds and AI credit are handled.
When something goes wrong.
66 messages the app and website show, each quoted exactly, with what it means and what to do. Paste the one you see.
From the lab.
What we are building, with the recordings that show it. None of it is for sale yet, and each page says what is missing.
Parts built feature by feature
In our lab, an AI agent models parts the way an engineer would, then changes them through their own dimensions and variables.
Drawings that follow a change
In our lab, an engineering change carries through from the part to its drawing and a new revision, and the original is kept.
Review against a named standard
In our lab, an AI agent checked a play tower against BS EN 71-8 and Eurocode 5, redesigned it, and checked the new model again.
Stress checks against your standard
In our lab, an AI agent ran SOLIDWORKS Simulation on a copy of a part, judged it against a written standard, then changed it until it passed.
How requests will be routed
A separate typed model picks a fixed route for each request, or abstains and leaves the call to you. It runs in shadow mode today.
Everything, indexed.
If it says Lab, you can't buy it yet. Reviewed 2026-10-01.
28 features shown
Your account and seats
Buying, activating, updating and getting help.
- Customer accountAvailable
Register with your email, sign in and recover your password.
Where My account (/dashboard)
- Seats and subscriptionAvailable
Buy seats monthly (£39) or yearly (£390); each seat runs on one computer at a time.
Where Pricing, then My account → Subscription
- Install and updateAvailable
Download the Windows app; it checks for signed updates on launch and every four hours.
Where Download page; in the app, Settings → General
Lesson: Install the app and activate itLesson: Update, and read what changed first
- Activate a computerAvailable
Generate a code for each product in your account and paste it into the app; it takes a seat automatically whenever one is free and you are online.
Where My account → Activation; in the app, Licensing
- Offline seat checkoutAvailable
Check a seat out for offline use for a set number of days, then return it when you are back online.
Where In the app, Licensing → Offline checkout and manual seat controls
- Managed AI creditAvailable
Each paid seat includes £5 of AI credit per UTC month; optional £10, £25 and £50 top-ups carry forward.
Where My account → Credits; rates in the app under Settings → Agent API
- Support ticketsAvailable
Open a ticket from your account or from the app, attach screenshots, logs or a report of the current Agent session, and follow replies.
Where My account → Support; in the app, status bar → Get help, Crux Plus → Get help, or Settings → General → Help & support
- Release notesAvailable
Read what changed in each version, on the website or in the app before you update.
Where Release notes page; in the app, Settings → What's new
- Cancel and refundsAvailable
Stop renewal at any time; refunds follow the published policy.
Where My account, Billing & cancellation; the Refunds & cancellation page
- Sign in from the appAvailable
Activate a computer by approving it in your browser, with no code to copy.
Where Licensing, Sign in with your ParaCrux account; paracrux.com/activate
- Offline licence filesAvailable
Licence a computer that is never online by carrying signed files to and from a connected computer.
Where Licensing, This computer has no internet; paracrux.com/offline
The SOLIDWORKS Agent
Asking about your models and making reviewed changes on copies.
- Ask about the open modelAvailable
Ask in plain English and the Agent reads the model open in SOLIDWORKS: features, dimensions, mass, properties and eight more read-only views.
Where Solidworks Agent workspace, in a design conversation
- Reviewed dimension changesAvailable
Pick up to 16 driving dimensions, set new values, run the change on a copy and check the outputs before you accept.
Where In the app, Worksheets tab
Lesson: Change a dimension on a copyLesson: Change two dimensions, with a volume limit
- Projects, designs and intentAvailable
Keep each piece of work in a numbered project and design, with the intent and instructions the Agent follows.
Where Home → Solidworks Agent (Open project workspace)
Lesson: Ask about the open modelLesson: Create a simple part from a briefLesson: Write design intent and instructions
- Create a simple box partAvailable
Ask for a rectangular block with all three sizes and get a native part and a STEP file, both checked.
Where Solidworks Agent workspace, in a design conversation
- Standard section searchAvailable
Find sizes among 306 standard structural sections in seven families, with their source standard.
Where Solidworks Agent workspace, in a design conversation
- Design library searchAvailable
Search the references and notes you have saved, privately per design or shared across your workspace.
Where Solidworks Agent workspace, in a design conversation
- What leaves your workstationAvailable
Model files stay local; design context is sent only after you allow it in Agent settings, and you can preview it first.
Where In the app, Settings → Agent API; Instructions → Preview
Lesson: How a job spends AI creditLesson: Decide what the Agent can send
- Job limitsAvailable
One tool call per step, at most eight steps and £2 per job; credit is reserved per step and unused credit returned.
Where Every managed AI job
Lesson: How a job spends AI creditLesson: When the Agent stops or asks
- Materials library exportAvailable
Search 1,010 cited materials in 12 families and export them to SOLIDWORKS as one material library.
Where In the app, Home → Materials
- Weldment profile exportAvailable
Write all 306 standard sections as SOLIDWORKS weldment profiles, each checked as a 1 m member before the folder is registered.
Where In the app, Home → Profiles
- Typed request routingLab
A separate model picks a fixed route for each request, or abstains below 80% confidence. Shadow mode only.
Where How it decides page
Lesson: Create a simple part from a briefLesson: When the Agent stops or asks
- Feature-by-feature partsLab
Parts built with fully defined sketches and named features, as in the connecting rod recording.
Where See us build
- Drawings on your sheet formatLab
Drawings linked to the part's properties, updated through an engineering change and its revision.
Where See us build
- Review against a standardLab
Check a design against a named standard, redesign, and check again. Prepared, not certified.
Where Play tower case study
- Stress checksLab
Linear static studies judged against an engineering standard, with lighter options suggested.
Where Con rod stress case study
- Local model connectionAvailable
Run the Agent with a model server on your own computer or network; nothing is sent to CueCrux or OpenAI.
Where Agent settings, Connect using, Local model · offline
- Company knowledgeAvailable
Capture a preferred material, standard detail or lesson from a past design, approve it once, and the Agent cites it when it applies.
Where Design context, Company knowledge
Can't find what you need? Ask support. We'll tell you plainly if it isn't supported.