Getting Started

Ask Mode

Ask Mode lets you query an existing product without modifying it — perfect for measurements, sanity checks and design exploration.

Last updated Apr 26, 2026

What Ask Mode is

Ask Mode is a question-answer mode for an existing product. It reads the current revision and gives you an answer in the chat without touching the geometry. Because nothing changes, no new revision is created.

Ask consumes a small fixed credit amount per question. It costs less than a Build run but is not free.

When to use it

• You want a measurement, dimension or feature count without opening the viewer's measurement tools.
• You want to sanity-check whether a part will fit something (a PCB, a screw, a battery cell).
• You want suggestions or trade-offs before committing to a Build change.
• You want a plain-English summary of the current design.

How to switch into Ask Mode

Open an existing product, then in the chat input click the mode switcher and choose Ask. The placeholder will change to “Ask, learn, brainstorm”. Type your question and press ⌘ Enter (or Ctrl Enter).

Your mode preference is remembered per product, so if you stay in Ask mode for a session, the next prompt will default to Ask too. Switch back to Build whenever you want changes applied.

Example questions

"What is the bounding box of this part in millimeters?"
"How many through-holes are there and what diameters?"
"Will this enclosure fit a 100 x 60 mm PCB with 5 mm clearance on each side?"
"Is the wall thickness suitable for FDM 3D printing in PETG?"
"Suggest two ways to reduce the part's volume without weakening the mounting flange."

What it cannot do

• Ask cannot change the geometry. To apply a suggestion, switch to Build mode and send the change request.
• Ask is not available when creating a brand-new product — the very first prompt is always a Build.
• Ask answers reflect the current revision. If you switched versions in the Versions menu, Ask is answering against that one.

See Build vs Ask for a side-by-side comparison.