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MVP v0: Review Companion for CAD and Drawings

Source files: Architechture & Research/RapidDraft/Product Scope & PRDs/MVP Scopes and Problems.md, Architechture & Research/RapidDraft/Product Scope & PRDs/RapidDraft MVP v0 Review Automation and Collaboration.md, Architechture & Research/RapidDraft/Product Scope & PRDs/RapidDraft Product Requirements Documents.md Last synthesized: March 2026 Purpose: Complete specification of v0 scope, user journey, features, and key technical decisions.

One-Liner

RapidDraft v0 is a change-driven review system for NX/Teamcenter that automatically detects what changed between revisions, checks for common mistakes, and turns review findings into traceable, collaborative issues.

Target User

Mechanical design engineer or checker who: - Works in NX + Teamcenter workflows - Reviews designs/drawings weekly - Spends too much time understanding "what changed?" - Needs traceability ("why did we accept this?") - Wants to prevent manufacturing escapes

What v0 Does: Three Core Capabilities

1. Tells You What Changed Between Revisions

When you're working on Rev B of a part, RapidDraft compares it to the last released revision (Rev A) and summarizes:

  • What views/sheets changed in the drawing
  • What dimensions/notes changed (where detectable)
  • What title block and revision table fields changed

Output: A visual Change Summary that highlights exactly what's different, so you don't have to manual detective work.

2. Checks the Drawing/Model for Common Release Mistakes

RapidDraft runs a deterministic checking pass and produces a punch list of issues:

Drawing Release Readiness Checks

  • Title block/metadata consistency — part number, revision, material, finish, units, scale, drawing status
  • Dangling/unassociated dimensions — dimensions that no longer properly reference geometry
  • Missing or inconsistent tolerances — where drafting standards expect them
  • Notes and callouts hygiene — missing required notes, wrong format, inconsistent surface finish notes
  • View/sheet hygiene — wrong scale annotation, missing projection symbol, inconsistent section/detail labels
  • Revision table hygiene — rev table not updated, change description missing, wrong revision shown

CAD Model Hygiene Checks

  • Model readiness — missing/incorrect metadata (material, part number, units, mass properties)
  • Model validity — broken references, unexpected bodies, weird geometry states

Design for Manufacture (DFM) Checks

For a chosen manufacturing process (machining or sheet metal), RapidDraft flags typical manufacturability risks: - Machining: tool access, trapped features, too-thin walls, too-deep features, sharp internal corners - Sheet metal: hole-to-bend distance, bend radius rules, relief needs, minimum thickness

Output: A structured Findings Checklist with severity levels, linked to exact evidence (dimension, note, view, etc.).

3. Captures Review Decisions as Traceable Issues

Instead of review notes getting lost in emails or meetings, RapidDraft provides a lightweight "review room":

  • Create issues from findings (one-click) or manually
  • Assign to owner and track status (open → in progress → resolved / accepted as-is)
  • Comment and discuss with full context (the evidence stays linked)
  • Capture rationale when closing issues (why we accepted or fixed this)
  • Carry forward open issues to the next revision so nothing falls through the cracks

Output: An Issue List + Decision Log showing who decided what, when, and why.

Implementation status (April 2026): Manual issue creation, owner assignment, status tracking, threaded comments with markdown + @mention, and explicit Resolve / Reopen with resolvedBy / resolvedAt capture all shipped on branch codex/dfm-injection-molding-rules-bar-refinement-comments at commit 8a61fd3. One-click "create issue from finding", carry-forward across revisions, and the supervisor-facing define -> edit -> rerun rule-editing loop (with Required vs Recommended tiers) are still open work items.

User Journey

  1. Engineer opens RapidDraft → selects Project
  2. Selects Teamcenter Item/Revision (or uploads local files)
  3. Clicks "Start Review Session"
  4. System runs extraction → takes a snapshot of CAD/drawing
  5. Sees Findings and Change Summary → presented side-by-side
  6. Converts key findings into Issues → assign to team members, add comments
  7. Generates Report → summary of all checks, findings, and decisions → attaches to Teamcenter or exports as bundle
  8. Next revision arrives → new session automatically compares + carries forward open issues

Scope: What's In and Out

In Scope (MVP v0)

Automation Track - NX plugin that exports snapshot of drawing and CAD model to schema-versioned JSON - Rule-based checking engine (15–25 initial checks) - Revision diff comparing baseline vs. current snapshot - Categorized change summary (added/removed/modified) - Report generator producing HTML/PDF from structured results

Collaboration Track - Projects and workspaces to organize reviews - Issues (create from findings or manually) - Issue fields: status, assignee, due date, severity, tags - Threaded comments and issue history - Immutable activity log for audit trail - Carry-forward logic: attempt to map open issues to new revisions, with manual rebind for failures

Shared Core - Artifact identity (Teamcenter ItemRev or local upload) - Snapshot extraction and versioning - Evidence pointers (stable references to what's being discussed) - Review sessions (timestamped runs tied to artifact + snapshot)

Out of Scope (NOT in v0)

  • Full automatic drawing generation/modification (will be v1)
  • Rich 3D pin markup system (like professional review platforms)
  • Multi-CAD support (NX-only for MVP)
  • Deep requirements management or workflow approvals
  • Cloud-first dependency (local-first preferred for initial MVP)
  • Full FEA/simulation integration

Key Features

Drawing Review Features

Feature Description Output
Change Summary Compare Rev A vs Rev B, identify what changed Visual summary + re-check list
Drawing Checks Validate title blocks, dimensions, notes, views Punch list with severity
Dangling Dimension Detection Find dimensions no longer associated with geometry Flagged with location
Revision Hygiene Check revision table, change descriptions Issues listed
View/Sheet Validation Ensure scales, labels, projections are correct Consistency report

CAD Model Features

Feature Description Output
Model Readiness Check metadata, validity, expected properties Status + warnings
DFM Review (Machining) Tool access, wall thickness, sharp corners, feature depth Manufacturability findings
DFM Review (Sheet Metal) Bend radius, hole-to-bend distance, thickness rules Process-specific warnings

Collaboration Features

Feature Description Output
Issue Creation One-click convert findings to issues, or manual entry Issue with linked evidence
Assignment & Tracking Assign to team member, track status, set due date Issue list visible to team
Comments & Discussion Threaded comments on each issue Decision history
Carry-Forward Open issues auto-map to next revision Reduced lost context
Decision Log Immutable record of who decided what Audit trail + traceability

Report Generation

  • Change Summary — what changed since last released revision
  • Finding Summary — categorized by severity (critical, major, minor)
  • Drawing Check Results — structured list with evidence pointers
  • Model Readiness / DFM Findings — if CAD is involved
  • Issue/Decision Log — open and closed items with rationale
  • Format options — HTML (interactive), PDF (archive-friendly), or Teamcenter attach-back

Data Model

Minimum data objects required:

  • Artifact — source (Teamcenter|Local), itemRevId, datasetRefs, hash
  • Snapshot — schemaVersion, extractedAt, entities[], metadata{}
  • EvidencePointer — hierarchical reference to exact entity being discussed (e.g., "Sheet 1 / View Front / Dimension D12")
  • ReviewSession — timestamped run; tied to artifact and optional baseline for diff
  • Finding — ruleId, severity, evidencePointer, message, parameters
  • Issue — status, assignee, dueDate, evidencePointer, linkedFindingId, comments[]
  • Comment — issueId, author, body, createdAt
  • ActivityLog — immutable event stream for audit trail

Technical Architecture (High-Level)

Components

  • NX Plugin (NXOpen) — Extracts stable JSON snapshot from drawing and CAD model
  • Backend (FastAPI) — Core logic for artifact management, rules, diff, collaboration
  • Database — SQLite for pilot; Postgres for multi-user scaling
  • Frontend (React) — Two main tabs:
  • Automation: view findings, diff, report
  • Collaboration: manage issues, comments, activity log

Key Design Decisions

Local-first approach: v0 prioritizes local operation (single-seat or small team) over cloud infrastructure, enabling faster deployment in regulated industrial environments.

Evidence-based linking: Every finding, issue, and decision references exact location in drawing/model via EvidencePointer, ensuring nothing gets lost or confused.

Immutable activity log: All changes to issues are recorded as events; decision history is permanent and auditable.

Snapshot versioning: The extracted snapshot is versioned to allow tool evolution without breaking old reviews.

What v0 Does NOT Claim

  • Does not replace NX drafting
  • Does not auto-design parts
  • Does not guarantee design is correct — guarantees coverage and consistency of the review process
  • Does not do full engineering validation (loads, fatigue, stress)
  • Does not make manufacturing decisions — flags risks for the team to evaluate

Known Problems and Mitigation Strategies

See Problems_and_Mitigations.md for detailed analysis of 8 hard problems in v0, including: 1. Reliable drawing understanding across real templates 2. Stable comment-to-feature linking across revisions 3. Change detection that's useful (not noise) 4. DFM that doesn't become hand-wavy 5. Drawing checks requiring semantics (GD&T) 6. Teamcenter integration that works in more than your lab 7. Collaboration adoption without too much overhead 8. Proof of fix (closing the loop)

Each problem includes concrete mitigation strategy, test method, and success metrics.

Success Criteria for v0

Pilot validation targets: - Cycle-time reduction: Review cycle 30–40% faster vs. manual process - Finding quality: ≥95% of flagged issues are actionable; <5% false positives - Adoption: ≥70% of target team uses collaboration features within 2 weeks - Carry-forward reliability: ≥80% of open issues auto-map correctly to next revision - Report utility: Pilot team confirms report is production-ready for Teamcenter attach

Next Steps (Transition to v1)

Once v0 is validated, v1 extends scope with: - Drawing generation — One-click NX drawing creation from CAD model - Vision-assisted DFM — Screenshots + LLM hints for quick DFM triage - Cost estimation — Rough manufacturing cost ranges tied to design parameters

See MVP_v1_Drawing_Generation.md and MVP_v2_Cost_Estimation.md for details.