Crease

Describe it. Print it. Put it together.

Website · Download for Mac · Formerly Print Studio.

A desktop studio for 3D printing. Tell the designer what you want ("a box with a lid that swings open"). It asks a couple of questions, designs the parts in OpenSCAD, checks they print and fit, slices them for your printer, and prints them once you say so. When a build has more than one part you also get a parts list and a step-by-step assembly guide like the one above. Everything stays an editable project on your computer.

Design and check	Put it together

What it does

• Design with an agent: the designer (Claude Code, Codex or Grok, on your own account) writes OpenSCAD, looks at its own renders, and asks you questions with a recommended answer. You can edit the code and parameters yourself.
• Check before printing: solid geometry, fits the bed, first layer, overhangs, thin/tall parts, colours, and moving parts swept for collisions.
• Assembly guides and shopping lists for multi-part builds, with hardware drawn at real size.
• Slice and print: OrcaSlicer does the slicing (single or multicolour); the app sends the file to your printer only after you confirm, then shows progress and the camera.
• Build packs: export a project as one .zip (source, STLs, guide, parts list, checksums) and open it on another install. See examples/.

Status: alpha

Built by one person with a team of coding agents, used on one real printer. Expect rough edges.

• One printer verified. Real prints: Creality SPARKX i7 (Klipper/Moonraker, CFS). Other Moonraker printers are simulated or untested; Bambu, Prusa, OctoPrint and Marlin can't be sent to yet (save the print file instead). Full matrix: docs/printer-support.md.
• macOS on Apple silicon is the only built installer (signed and notarized). Windows and Linux run from source only.
• The designer needs Claude Code (Anthropic's, free to install) plus an Anthropic API key, or your own Claude Code sign-in. It costs real money or plan usage per design; a simple part is cents, a multi-part build can be about a dollar on Sonnet.
• Known gaps and plans: GitHub issues.

Requirements

Computer	macOS 12+ on Apple silicon for the app; any OS with Node 22+ to run from source
OpenSCAD	free; a 2024-or-newer development snapshot (the 2021 release is too old)
OrcaSlicer	free; makes the print files
A designer	Claude Code (recommended), or the Codex or Grok CLI; free to install, not included in the app
Claude access	an Anthropic API key (billed per message by Anthropic), or your own Claude Code already signed in to your Claude plan
A printer (optional)	see supported printers; without one, use the built-in practice printer

Install (macOS, Apple silicon)

1. Download Crease-<version>-arm64.dmg from Releases, open it, drag Crease into Applications.
2. The setup screen checks Claude Code, OpenSCAD and OrcaSlicer and tells you how to fix each one. It finds the tools in /Applications, ~/Applications, Homebrew or your PATH (Claude Code also in ~/.local/bin); otherwise set the path in Settings.
3. Claude: paste an Anthropic API key (Add an API key). Already use Claude Code? Sign in to it yourself (open Terminal, type claude), press Check again, then Use my Claude Code sign-in to use your Claude plan instead. Crease never signs you in to Claude itself and never reads Claude Code's credential files; it asks claude auth status.
4. No printer yet? Pick the practice printer and print to it (simulated, nothing moves).

Update: replace the app with the new one. Uninstall: delete the app. Your projects stay in ~/Crease (~/PrintStudio if you used the app before it was renamed; delete the folder to remove them); app caches are in ~/Library/Application Support/printstudio; a saved API key is encrypted with the Keychain item "printstudio Safe Storage". (Those two keep the old name on purpose: renaming them would lock saved keys.)

Run from source

npm ci
npm run dev:electron   # desktop app (needs ports 5173/5174/7125 free)
npm run dev            # or: server + web UI at http://localhost:5173 + a fake printer on :7125
npm run check          # typecheck + lint + tests: must pass before every merge
npm run dist:mac       # build out/release/Crease-<version>-arm64.dmg

From source, the Agent SDK's own copy of the Claude Code binary (an optional npm dependency) runs the designer, so you don't need a separate install; PRINTSTUDIO_NO_BUNDLED_CLAUDE=1 makes it behave like the installer and use your own Claude Code. The .dmg leaves that binary out (it's Anthropic's proprietary software, see the licence inventory B2).

Code layout and conventions: CLAUDE.md. API contract: shared/api.md.

Signing and notarization

Without the steps below, npm run dist:mac makes an ad-hoc signed app: it runs on your Mac, and other Macs warn (right-click > Open). To make a release that opens with no warning, sign it with a Developer ID and notarize it. You need a paid Apple Developer account. Do steps 1 to 3 once per Mac.

1. Create the certificate. Your Apple ID must have the Account Holder role (only that role can make a Developer ID certificate). In Xcode: Xcode > Settings > Accounts, pick your team, Manage Certificates…, +, Developer ID Application. Xcode puts it and its private key in your login keychain.

2. Check it. In Terminal:

   security find-identity -v -p codesigning
   

   One line must read "Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)". TEAMID is your 10-character team ID (also on developer.apple.com > Account > Membership details).

3. Save the notary password in the Keychain. Make an app-specific password at account.apple.com > Sign-In and Security > App-Specific Passwords. Then run this and paste that password when it asks (it is never stored in this repo):

   xcrun notarytool store-credentials crease-notary --apple-id [email protected] --team-id TEAMID
   

4. Build, sign and notarize. CSC_NAME is the certificate name from step 2 without the Developer ID Application: prefix (electron-builder refuses it with the prefix):

   CSC_NAME="Your Name (TEAMID)" APPLE_KEYCHAIN_PROFILE=crease-notary npm run dist:mac
   

   Notarizing uploads the app to Apple and waits, usually a few minutes. If the profile is in a keychain other than the login keychain, also set APPLE_KEYCHAIN=/path/to/that.keychain-db.

5. Verify.

   spctl -a -vvv -t exec out/release/mac-arm64/Crease.app   # "accepted", "source=Notarized Developer ID"
   xcrun stapler validate out/release/mac-arm64/Crease.app  # "The validate action worked!"
   

   The .dmg itself is left unsigned (electron-builder's default); it opens without a warning because the app inside is notarized and stapled. spctl -a -vvv -t install checks installer packages and signed disk images, so on this unsigned .dmg it reports "no usable signature"; check the app as above instead.

Other ways to notarize, instead of APPLE_KEYCHAIN_PROFILE: APPLE_ID + APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD + APPLE_TEAM_ID, or an App Store Connect API key (APPLE_API_KEY = path to the .p8, APPLE_API_KEY_ID, APPLE_API_ISSUER). A .p12 certificate works too (CSC_LINK + CSC_KEY_PASSWORD, for CI). The bundle id is ventures.plausible.crease (override with CREASE_APP_ID for your own builds); released builds must never change it. Details: electron-builder.config.cjs.

Privacy

Crease keeps your designs, prompts and files on your Mac. It can send anonymous usage reports, but only if you say yes (setup asks once; change it any time in Settings > Usage reports). Until then nothing is sent.

A report says which features you use and whether they worked, never what you made:

• App opened: app version, OS, chip type
• Setup finished or skipped
• Each design request: designer (Claude, Codex, …), model family, done/failed/stopped, a rough time
• Designer errors: the kind only (failed, budget, sign-in)
• Renders and checks: worked or not, a rough time, an issue count
• Slices: worked or not, one colour or more
• Prints: approved or not, practice or real printer, how it ended, your rating
• New projects and build pack exports: a count

Never sent: your designs, prompts or chat, file or project names, paths, error messages, printer addresses, keys or costs. Reports go to Google Analytics with a random install ID (in telemetry.json in your data folder; saying no deletes it). The exact list is SCHEMA in server/telemetry.ts. CREASE_TELEMETRY=0 turns reports off whatever the setting says.

Contributing

Bug reports, printer reports and design-quality reports are very welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md (including the safety rules for real printers) and SECURITY.md for vulnerabilities. Please follow the Code of Conduct.

Licence

Crease is licensed under the Apache License 2.0; see also NOTICE. Contributions are accepted under the same licence (see CONTRIBUTING.md).

Third-party components keep their own licences (inventory, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt). In particular:

• resources/slicer-profiles/ is AGPL-3.0, not Apache-2.0 (printer profiles derived from OrcaSlicer; see its SOURCE.md).
• Claude Code is Anthropic's proprietary software. Crease doesn't include it; it runs the copy you installed. The Claude Agent SDK library the app loads is also Anthropic's, used under Anthropic's terms.

Crease is an independent project. It is not made or endorsed by Anthropic, Creality or the OpenSCAD and OrcaSlicer projects.