# 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.

Status: Available · Level: Start here · About 6 minutes · Canonical: https://paracrux.com/docs/ask-about-your-model

## You need

- The app activated
- Agent connection set to CueCrux Credits or OpenAI Subs (shown beside Send)
- Design-context sharing allowed (see How a job spends AI credit)
- SOLIDWORKS running as the same Windows user, with a part open

## You'll come away with

- Know the thirteen read-only views the Agent can take of your model
- See which read answered you
- Know why a change request goes to a worksheet instead

## Step by step

1. **Open a design conversation.** From Home, choose Solidworks Agent, then Open project workspace. Pick a project and design, or add them with the + buttons, and stay on the Agent tab.
2. **Ask a question.** Type what you want to know, the way you would ask a colleague, and press Enter (Shift+Enter starts a new line). The Agent picks one of thirteen read-only views of the open model and runs it. The call and its result appear in the conversation, so you can see what answered you.
   Try saying: "What features are in this part?"
3. **Ask about weight and size.** The mass read gives mass, volume, area, density and centre of mass for the active configuration.
   Try saying: "How heavy is it?"
4. **Check what is under defined.** The sketches read lists each sketch, the plane or face it sits on, its segment count and how fully defined it is.
   Try saying: "Which sketches are under defined?"
5. **Ask for a change.** Reading cannot change anything. Dimension changes go through a worksheet that you review before anything runs; the lesson on changing a dimension shows how.
   Try saying: "Make the plate 12 mm thick."

## Try it

In the app the AI model picks which read answers your question; each example shows one likely pick, and you can run any read directly. The thirteen reads are the tool's own list. Replies come from a sample 60 × 40 × 10 mm steel plate, calculated for this page. The interactive simulator is on the web page.

- "What's open in SOLIDWORKS?"
- "What features are in this part?"
- "How heavy is it?"
- "List the dimensions"
- "Which sketches are under defined?"
- "What's the part number?"
- "Make the plate 12 mm thick."

## What it won't do

- Reading never changes, rebuilds, saves or closes anything in SOLIDWORKS.
- It needs SOLIDWORKS already running as the same Windows user.
- What a read returns is sent to the AI model as part of the conversation.
- With OpenAI API (your own API key), the Agent gives advice and dimension proposals only; it cannot run reads.

## Covers

- Ask about the open model (Available): 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
- Projects, designs and intent (Available): 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)

## Next

- [Change a dimension on a copy](https://paracrux.com/docs/change-a-dimension-safely.md): Propose a new value, run it on a copy, check the result independently, then accept or reject. Your original is never touched.
- [Find a standard structural section](https://paracrux.com/docs/find-a-standard-section.md): Ask for a tube, angle or beam in your own words and get real catalogue sizes back, with their standard.