# 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.

Status: Available · Level: Start here · About 6 minutes · Canonical: https://paracrux.com/docs/write-design-intent

## You need

- The app activated
- Agent connection set to CueCrux Credits or OpenAI Subs (shown beside Send)

## You'll come away with

- A numbered project and design to work in
- Design intent the Agent reads with every message
- Standing instructions for how it should work

## Step by step

1. **Create a project and a design.** In the Solidworks Agent workspace, choose + next to Projects, give it a title and choose Create. Then choose + on the project's row to add a design. The first project is numbered 000 and its first design 000-001; change the pattern under Settings, Project numbering.
2. **Write the design intent.** Open the Design intent tab. In plain engineering language, say what should change and what must remain true. Choose Save. If you would rather start from a draft, choose Ask the agent to draft.
   Try saying: "The bracket must carry 2 kN at the tip. Keep the two M8 mounting holes and the 60 mm hole spacing. Plate thickness can change."
3. **Write the instructions.** Open the Instructions tab. This is how you want the Agent to work on this design: its role, units, checks and how to report back. Choose Save.
   Try saying: "Work in millimetres. State every assumption before modelling. Report mass and volume after each change."
4. **Let the Agent keep them current.** When you state or change a requirement in the conversation, the Agent rewrites the intent or instructions in full and says so; the conversation shows Updated Design intent. You can edit either tab at any time. Save your edits first: unsaved changes block Send.
   Try saying: "Change of plan: the holes are now M10."
5. **Check what the Agent sees.** On the Instructions tab, choose Preview to see the context the Agent receives with each message, including the intent and instructions.

## Walkthrough

A walk-through of one design. The tool names, tab names and labels are the app's own; the bracket and its wording are an example.

- **New design:** Project = 000 · Brackets; Design = 000-001 · Wall bracket; Tabs = Agent · Instructions · Design intent · Design context
- *Default numbering: three digits, a hyphen, designs restarting for each project.*
- Provenance: illustrative

- **You:** The bracket must carry 2 kN at the tip. Keep the two M8 mounting holes and the 60 mm hole spacing. Plate thickness can change.
- **Agent:** I've written that into the design intent.
- **Tool call:** `design_update_intent` {"intent":"Carry 2 kN at the tip. Must remain true: two M8 mounting holes at 60 mm spacing. May change: plate thickness."}
- **Design intent:** Status = Updated Design intent
- Provenance: illustrative

- **You:** Change of plan: the holes are now M10.
- **Tool call:** `design_update_intent` {"intent":"Carry 2 kN at the tip. Must remain true: two M10 mounting holes at 60 mm spacing. May change: plate thickness."}
- *The Agent writes the whole revised text, not a patch, so the tab always reads as one current statement.*
- Provenance: illustrative

- **Gate:** Edit either tab yourself whenever you like. Save before you send your next message.
- Provenance: illustrative

## What it won't do

- Instructions are capped at 6,000 bytes. Intent you type can be up to 12,000 bytes; the Agent writes shorter, about 7,000 characters at most.
- Only CueCrux Credits and OpenAI Subs can write these tabs. With OpenAI API you edit them yourself.
- Instructions shape how the Agent works; they cannot give it tools it does not have or lift its review rules.
- Once sharing is on, intent and instructions go with every message.

## Covers

- 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

- [Use your design library](https://paracrux.com/docs/search-your-design-library.md): Keep house rules, tolerances and material notes in a library the Agent searches before it works.
- [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.