FREECAD BUILD

command line tools for working with FreeCAD files, including visual mesh diffs and headless part export.

freecad-export is a standalone tool for converting FCStd files into a variety of formats including STEP, 3MF, and IGES

freecad-diff can display a visual diff between any two files supported by FreeCAD

freecad-difftool can be used to integrate visual diffs into standard git workflows

limitations

these tools have only been tested with Debian Trixie and FreeCAD version 0.21.2
sub-assemblies of an assembly are not currently included diffs or exports (this is on the roadmap)
if a part is modified but its parent assembly is not subsequently saved, the assembly diff will be skipped by git

install dependencies:

sudo apt install git rsync make freecad

clone and enter this repository:

git clone https://github.com/khimaros/freecad-build
cd freecad-build

install freecad-build tools:

sudo make install

uninstallation is also straightforward:

sudo make uninstall

check out freecad-build-template for an example of how to integrate this into your own project.

convert an FCStd file to a STEP file:

freecad-export path/to/my.FCStd path/to/my.step

show the differences between two STEP files:

freecad-diff path/to/left.step path/to/right.step

check the log output on the console, make sure there are no recompute errors.

inspect the Modified and Previous features to make sure they look as expected.

run the build in interactive mode, export INTERACTIVE=1 before invoking