Built for developers who work with CAD files.

DWG, DXF, and DWF are the dominant formats for engineering drawings and construction documents. They are also some of the most difficult file formats to parse programmatically. DWG is a proprietary binary format with no public specification. DXF is documented but complex. DWF is a published format but rarely supported outside Autodesk tools.

Every team that touches CAD data eventually writes a parser. They regret it. Months of engineering time go into reverse-engineering format quirks, handling version differences, and maintaining the parser as formats evolve.

CADLens is a single REST API endpoint. Upload a CAD file; receive a machine-readable description of its contents: entity geometry (lines, arcs, polylines, text, hatches), layer metadata, drawing extents, units, and a PNG preview.

The parsing infrastructure — licensed converters, format handling, coordinate normalisation, image rendering — runs on our end. Your application receives clean, versioned JSON.

• Formats supported — DWG (AutoCAD R14–2025), DXF (R12–2025), DWF
• Output — structured vector JSON, layer list, drawing metadata, signed PNG URL
• Delivery — async job queue with webhook callbacks or polling
• Authentication — API key per project, managed from the dashboard

CADLens is a developer-focused API service built for industries that rely on technical drawings: construction, manufacturing, engineering, and fabrication.

We built CADLens because we kept encountering the same problem — teams spending weeks on CAD parsing that should take an afternoon. The goal is to make that a solved problem, so developers can focus on what their product actually does.

We are transparent about what the API does and does not do, honest about limitations, and responsive to the teams using it. If something is broken or missing, email us at [email protected].

• Developer-first — the API is designed to be called from code, not from a UI. Clear error messages, versioned responses, predictable behaviour.
• Honest about limits — 3D geometry, external references, and encrypted files are not supported. We say so clearly rather than returning partial results.
• Data minimisation — uploaded files are deleted after processing. We do not index, train on, or retain your CAD data beyond what is necessary to complete the job.
• Async by default — large files are queued; small files can be processed synchronously with wait=true. Both paths return the same result schema.