# Where CADCraft falls short of AutoCAD

> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-10 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-11 · **Change:** minor (object snap tracking, Extension, Parallel and Apparent Intersection landed, #379: top-10 row 3 and U1 narrowed) · **Target:** Autodesk AutoCAD 2027

Every known shortfall, one row each, ranked within each section by user impact. This is the work
list: agents pick from here (top of a section first), and remove or update a row in the same PR
that closes it. Numbers and weights live in [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md); hours
are Opus 5.5 agent-hours, calibrated as explained there. "Est." means a judgement from the cited
evidence. Rows marked **[alpha blocker]** are what fails the [alpha gate](roadmap.md#alpha-gate);
do them first.

## Top 10 across everything

| # | Gap | Why it ranks here | Est. | Doc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **[alpha blocker]** **Saving drops whatever we don't model** (Unknown entities, IMAGE, layer states, block descriptions, true colours, MULTILEADER written as LEADER+MTEXT, groups, named views/UCS, foreign xdata) | Opening a colleague's DWG and saving it silently deletes content: the one thing a CAD user can't forgive | 15–25 | [file formats](file-format-parity.md) |
| 2 | **[alpha blocker]** **No real-file test corpus and no check in AutoCAD** | All 36 file tests are synthetic; nobody has verified a CADCraft DWG/DXF opens cleanly in AutoCAD | 10–15 + human | [file formats](file-format-parity.md#tests) |
| 3 | **Tracking leftovers** (object snap tracking, Extension, Parallel and Apparent Intersection landed, #379): polar angles relative to the last segment, PolarSnap, temporary tracking point | Small now; ranks lower at the next review | 3–5 | [ui](ui-parity.md#tracking-polar-ortho-grid-and-snap--70) |
| 4 | **[alpha blocker]** **DWG always saves as R2000; DXF only R2000 ASCII; no code pages** | Can't exchange at 2018 format; pre-2007 CJK/Cyrillic files are garbled | 10–15 | [file formats](file-format-parity.md) |
| 5 | **[alpha blocker]** **Stubbed prompt options** in SPLINE, MTEXT, MLEADER | Scripts and muscle memory hit "not available yet" in the most-used commands | 15–25 | [features](#features) |
| 6 | **Ellipse and spline geometry is tessellated** (intersections, offsets, closest points; polyline offset ignores bulges) | Coordinates are subtly wrong; offsets of ellipses come out as polylines | 30–50 | [geometry](geometry-parity.md) |
| 7 | **[alpha blocker]** **No xrefs, block editor, dynamic blocks or groups** | Most production drawings use them | 80–120 | [features](#features) |
| 8 | **No autosave, crash recovery, AUDIT or RECOVER** | Work is lost if anything goes wrong; damaged files can't be repaired | 10–15 | [features](#features) |
| 9 | **Dynamic input lacks grip input; no TK; grip options ignored** (FROM, M2P/MTP, point filters, `*` and `<a` landed, #392) | Precision entry at the cursor is how AutoCAD is taught today | 12–20 | [ui](ui-parity.md) |
| 10 | **No CI runs the Rust tests on pull requests** (`cargo fmt` on main is fixed) | open PRs land without a gate; regressions go unseen | 2–3 | [stability](#stability) |

## Features

| # | Gap | Evidence | User impact | Est. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | **[alpha blocker]** Prompt options print "not available yet": SPLINE Method, Knots, Object, Tangency, toLerance; MTEXT Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns; MLEADER options (TRIM/EXTEND, PLINE arc mode and Length, XLINE done (#397); OFFSET, ROTATE and FILLET options done earlier) | `cmd/draw.rs` (`SplineM`), `modify2.rs:594,783,806` | High: the commands people use most | 15–25 |
| F2 | **[alpha blocker]** No xrefs (XATTACH, XREF palette, REFEDIT, BIND, XCLIP, overlay, paths); DXF xref blocks read with an empty path | `dxf_read.rs:923` | High: multi-file projects | 30–45 |
| F3 | **[alpha blocker]** (block editor and REFEDIT; dynamic-block authoring is beta) No block editor (BEDIT) or dynamic blocks (parameters, actions, visibility, lookup); dynamic blocks from other files lose their behaviour | issue #185 offers help | High: standard libraries are dynamic | 50–75 |
| F4 | No autosave (SAVETIME), crash recovery files, AUDIT, RECOVER, drawing recovery manager | no SAVETIME anywhere | High: lost work | 10–15 |
| F5 | Arrays are not associative: no ARRAYEDIT; ARRAY/ARRAYRECT/ARRAYPOLAR edit the array in an option loop, then create plain copies (ASsociative, Levels, polar ROWs and grip editing print "not available yet") | `cmd/array.rs` | Medium-high | 8–12 |
| F6 | FILLET/CHAMFER/JOIN/LENGTHEN/EXTEND don't handle ellipses and splines; FILLET Trim/Multiple and polyline segment pairs; CHAMFER Angle/Method | [geometry-parity](geometry-parity.md#trim-extend-fillet-chamfer-break-join-lengthen--45) | Medium | 10–15 |
| F7 | Dimensions: no DIMSTYLE manager dialog; 43 of ~80 DIMSTYLE variables (DIMTOFL, DIMATFIT, DIMTMOVE, DIMLTYPE, DIMLWD, DIMFXL, DIMTOLJ, DIMALTU …); no smart DIM; no DIMJOGGED, DIMJOGLINE, DIMBREAK, oblique DIMEDIT, inspection; QDIM continuous only (SETVAR DIM* now become style overrides, #129) | `doc/src/tables.rs:223-266`, `annotate.rs:64,364` | High for detailers | 25–35 |
| F8 | No TOLERANCE (GD&T feature control frames) | menu "Dimension > Tolerance..." uncovered | Medium (mechanical) | 4–6 |
| F9 | MTEXT editor is a dialog box, not in place; no columns, bullets, numbering, tabs, indents; no fields (FIELD, UPDATEFIELD); no spell check (SPELL) | `ui-egui/dialogs.rs:188-240` | Medium-high | 30–45 |
| F10 | MLEADER: options ignored, no block content, no MLEADEREDIT/ALIGN/COLLECT; MLEADERSTYLE has 5 fields | `annotate.rs:1195-1230`, `tables.rs:417` | Medium | 10–15 |
| F11 | Tables: no cell styles, formulas, data links, table breaking | `cmd/table.rs` | Medium | 10–15 |
| F12 | Annotative scaling: the flag is stored, nothing scales; no scale list, no "Annotative Object Scale" commands | 4 uncovered menu items | Medium-high in layouts | 10–15 |
| F13 | Hatch: 23 patterns (AutoCAD ~85; ours must stay original); gradients render as a flat colour; associativity not updated when the boundary moves; origin always 0,0; island style always normal; no gap tolerance, separate hatches, hatch dialog, MPolygon | `doc/src/library.rs`, `render/lib.rs:430-437`, `cmd/hatch.rs:198,201` | Medium | 15–25 |
| F14 | **[alpha blocker]** Plot styles (CTB/STB) not applied; no plot preview, plotter devices, PUBLISH/batch plot; Print opens no plot dialog (#160, PR #200) | `palettes.rs:666` | High for sheet output | 25–35 |
| F15 | Viewports: no polygonal, object or clipped viewports; no viewport scale control in the UI | menu items uncovered | Medium | 6–10 |
| F16 | Groups (GROUP, GROUPEDIT, PICKSTYLE) missing; ACAD_GROUP written empty | `dxf_write.rs` | Medium | 4–6 |
| F17 | Attributes: BATTMAN lists only; no ATTSYNC, EATTEXT, global ATTEDIT | `blocks.rs:300` | Medium | 6–10 |
| F18 | Layer bugs: edits change geometry on locked layers (#87, PR #196); delete/purge removes layers used by blocks (#72, PR #189); rename misses paper space and blocks (#75, PR #191); linetype rename breaks assignments (#74, PR #195); rejected freeze changes colour (#71, PR #188) | issues | High (correctness) | 3–5 (PRs open) |
| F19 | MATCHPROP has no interactive picker or settings dialog; DRAWORDER front/back only; OVERKILL exact duplicates only | `props.rs:333`, `modify.rs:1258` | Medium | 5–8 |
| F20 | OPTIONS/Preferences dialog missing (#23) (UNITS has a dialog since #38) | — | Medium | 6–10 |
| F21 | MLINE is two polylines (no MLINE entity, MLSTYLE); REGION makes polylines (no region entity); HELIX is a polyline | `draw2.rs:116,123`, `hatch.rs:267` | Medium-low | 8–12 |
| F22 | Inquiry: MASSPROP approximate; COUNT counts model-space inserts only; no QuickCalc palette (CAL is an evaluator); no DWG Compare | `utility.rs:203,310-352`, `inquiry.rs:305` | Low-medium | 15–25 |
| F23 | No Sheet Set Manager, eTransmit, Share, Traces, Markup Import, Activity Insights | menu items uncovered | Low-medium (team workflows) | 40–70 |
| F24 | No 3D: UCS, 3D views, orbit, solids, surfaces, meshes, sections, visual styles, materials, lights, rendering (150 menu items) | [parity-checklist](parity-checklist.md) | Medium (3D users) | 300–450 |
| F25 | Constraint solver: no DOF report, Smooth not G2, no ellipse/spline/block geometry, no inference while drawing; DCANGULAR can succeed unsatisfied (#73, PR #190) | [geometry-parity](geometry-parity.md#constraint-solver--50) | Low-medium | 20–30 |

## UI/UX

Detail and evidence: [ui-parity.md](ui-parity.md).

| # | Gap | User impact | Est. |
|---|---|---|---|
| U1 | Tracking leftovers: polar angles relative to the last segment (POLARMODE 1), PolarSnap, temporary tracking point (TT), Extension from ellipse and spline ends, the tracking options in Drafting Settings (object snap tracking, Extension, Parallel and Apparent Intersection landed in #379) | Medium | 3–5 |
| U2 | Dynamic input: grip dimensional input, lock icons, DYNPROMPT options menu (pointer boxes with Tab and relative entry landed in #60) | Medium | 3–5 |
| U3 | **[alpha blocker]** TK (temporary tracking, comes with object snap tracking, U1). FROM, M2P/MTP, `.x/.y/.xy` point filters, the `*` WCS prefix and the angle override `<a` landed at every point prompt (#392) | High | 1–2 |
| U4 | Tab snap cycling offers the closest snap of each mode, not every candidate; the snap menu has no Temporary track point (comes with U1). Typed snap overrides (`END`, `MID` … `NON`), the Shift/Ctrl+right-click snap menu and Tab cycling landed (#393) | Low | 1–2 |
| U5 | Hot-grip options (Base point, Copy, Undo, Reference) are shown but ignored; multiple hot grips; multifunctional grip menus (Add/Remove Vertex, Convert to Arc) | Medium-high | 6–10 |
| U6 | Selection keywords W, C, WP, CP, F, BOX, AU, SI, M, G; lasso (press-drag windows landed in #63); selection cycling; SELECTSIMILAR; ISOLATEOBJECTS/HIDEOBJECTS | Medium-high | 6–10 |
| U7 | Right-click context menus (canvas, selection, command, command line, palettes, tabs) | Medium-high | 6–10 |
| U8 | Snaps missing on some objects: MID on circles/ellipses/splines; NOD on dimension points; INS on ATTDEF/MLEADER; TAN on ellipses/splines; GCEN on splines | Medium | 4–6 |
| U9 | Polar: additional angles, relative to last segment, PolarSnap; isometric snap/grid and ISODRAFT (dead toggle) | Medium | 4–6 |
| U10 | UNDO Mark/Back/BEgin/End/Auto; SETVAR coverage (~60 of ~1,000 variables) | Medium | 6–10 |
| U11 | Zoom Realtime and Dynamic, ZOOMFACTOR; named views (VIEW); tiled model viewports | Medium | 6–8 |
| U12 | Workspaces, navigation bar, CUI customisation, alias editor, ViewCube drag (#7) | Low-medium | 15–25 |
| U13 | Window controls misaligned on macOS (#161); `.dxf` from Finder fails to open (#158) | Medium | 2–4 |

## File formats

Detail: [file-format-parity.md](file-format-parity.md).

| # | Gap | User impact | Est. |
|---|---|---|---|
| FF1 | **[alpha blocker]** Round-trip what we don't model: keep Unknown entities and objects, foreign xdata, extension dictionaries; write IMAGE (with IMAGEDEF), VIEW/UCS/VPORT tables, groups, layer states, block descriptions, true colours (#201, #204, #208, #209, #213, #223); WIPEOUT and gradients done (#147, #162) | High | 12–20 |
| FF2 | **[alpha blocker]** Native MULTILEADER objects (read and write) | High | 6–10 |
| FF3 | **[alpha blocker]** Write DXF 2004–2018 and binary DXF; save DWG at a chosen version (2018 default) instead of always R2000; SAVEAS version choice (PR #198 adds DWG to the dialog) | High | 8–12 |
| FF4 | Code pages (`$DWGCODEPAGE`, ANSI_932/936/949/950/125x) when reading pre-2007 files | Medium-high (Asia, Eastern Europe) | 3–5 |
| FF5 | **[alpha blocker]** Real-file corpus (`storytold/cadcraft-corpus`), open → save → reopen tests, black-box check in AutoCAD | High | 10–15 + human |
| FF6 | **[alpha blocker]** DWG throughput: a 10 MB DWG took ~2 min to fail (#57) | High for real projects | 6–10 |
| FF7 | `*D` dimension blocks duplicate on re-save; handles regenerate every save | Medium | 3–5 |
| FF8 | SHX fonts (shape and big fonts) not read | Medium-high (text metrics differ) | 8–12 |
| FF9 | Templates (DWT), user `.lin`/`.pat` files, `.ctb`/`.stb`, `.pc3`, `.pgp` | Medium | 20–30 |
| FF10 | PDF: text as real fonts, layers (OCG), multi-sheet; PDF import and underlays; raster image attach | Medium | 30–50 |
| FF11 | DWF/DWFx, DGN, WMF, EPS, ACIS/STL and other exchange formats | Low-medium | 50–100 |
| FF12 | DWG in the web build | Medium | 6–10 |
| FF13 | R12 binary DXF, pre-R13 DWG | Low | 10–20 |

## Hardware

Detail: [hardware-parity.md](hardware-parity.md).

| # | Gap | Est. |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse (needs the device and 3D views) | 6–10 + human |
| H2 | Multi-monitor: floating palettes on other screens, per-monitor DPI (PR #110 for Windows 11 DPI) | 4–6 |
| H3 | Plotters and system printers (PC3 devices) beyond PDF files | 6–10 |
| H4 | Pen tablets / digitizer (TABLET) | 3–5 + human |
| H5 | Screen magnifier tracking (#39, PR #187) | 1–2 |

## Localization

Detail: [localization-parity.md](localization-parity.md).

| # | Gap | Est. |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | Catalog covers the UI (936 rows, #36) but not engine diagnostics, CLI/MCP replies or command history | 4–6 |
| L2 | AutoCAD for Mac's 7 other languages (zh-Hans, es, fr, ja, de, ko, it) plus pt, hi, ar, id, vi from the standard's list | 40–60 + native review |
| L3 | Complex-script shaping (Arabic, Devanagari) and bidi/RTL in drawing text and UI | 30–45 |
| L4 | IME fixes on every platform (PRs #110–#119); vertical text styles | 6–10 |

## Stability

| # | Gap | Evidence | Est. |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | No CI runs `cargo xtask ci` on pull requests (only packaging lint and release builds) | `.github/workflows/` | 2–3 |
| S2 | ~~`cargo fmt --check` fails on main~~ fixed on main (8fceaaf) | — | 0 |
| S3 | 47 open PRs, many community bug fixes awaiting review | `gh pr list` | 10–20 |
| S4 | Open correctness issues: extents union far-apart geometry (#166), lines not visible mid-command (#44, PR #56), browser save/plot deliver nothing (#133, #134), closing a tab switches drawings (#76, PR #192) | issues | 6–10 |
| S5 | No smoke test of every command through the UI (PR #42 proposes one) | — | 6–10 |
| S6 | No property-based or fuzz tests for geometry; hostile-input tests cover parsing only | [geometry-parity](geometry-parity.md#tests) | 4–6 |

## Platforms

| # | Gap | Est. |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | Web build: File > Open does nothing (#55, PR #199), saves don't download (#133, PR #193), plot shows raw PDF bytes (#134), no DWG | 6–10 |
| P2 | Windows and Linux get little runtime testing; Linux Mint mouse delay (#25); Windows magnifier (#39) | 6–10 |
| P3 | macOS file associations: opening `.dxf` from Finder fails (#158) | 1–2 |

## Ecosystem and automation

| # | Gap | Est. |
|---|---|---|
| E1 | AutoLISP interpreter (safe subset first: `defun`, `command`, `entget`/`entmod`, selection sets, `getpoint` …), APPLOAD, `acad.lsp` startup | 60–100 |
| E2 | SCRIPT command reading `.scr` files (scripts run today through CLI/MCP/control only) | 1–2 |
| E3 | Express Tools equivalents (TXT2MTXT, BREAKLINE, BURST, NCOPY exists, SUPERHATCH, Move/Copy/Rotate) | 30–50 |
| E4 | Plug-in API (owner decision: Rust/WASM plug-ins rather than ObjectARX/.NET) | 30–50 |
| E5 | CUI customisation and alias (`.pgp`) editor | 15–25 |

## AI features

| # | Gap | Est. |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | Smart Blocks equivalents (placement suggestions, replace, detect and convert, search), using local open models | 25–50 + model licensing |
| A2 | An in-app assistant (AutoCAD has Autodesk Assistant); CADCraft's MCP server already lets any agent drive it | 10–20 |
| A3 | Markup Assist (import markups from PDFs/images) | 10–20 |

## Revision history

| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Object snap tracking, Extension, Parallel and true Apparent Intersection landed (#379): top-10 row 3 and U1 narrowed to the leftovers |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Merged main: closed or narrowed rows for the Ukrainian catalog, UNITS dialog, shortcut display, dynamic input pointer boxes, press-drag windows, SETVAR DIM*, WIPEOUT and gradients, fmt |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Alpha blockers marked (rows failing the core-workflow gate) |
| 2026-10-10 | major | First gaps list: ranked top 10 and every known shortfall by dimension, with evidence and estimates |