grabcad.com APIgrabcad.com ↗
Search and retrieve 3D CAD model data from GrabCAD Community Library. Filter by software, keyword, and sort order. Get model details and file listings.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/c6dc175a-44c2-4d5c-a2e6-d4fcc8058524/search_models?page=2&query=fan&per_page=5' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search and list CAD models from the GrabCAD library with pagination. Filter by software type, sort order, and keyword query. Returns paginated results with model summaries including author info and download counts.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| page | integer | Page number (1-based) |
| sort | string | Sort order: 'recent', 'popular', 'trending', 'most_downloaded' |
| time | string | Time filter: 'all_time', 'this_week', 'this_month', 'this_year' |
| query | string | Search keyword to filter models (e.g. 'fan', 'gear') |
| per_page | integer | Results per page (max ~100) |
| software | string | Filter by software slug (e.g. 'solidworks', 'autocad', 'fusion-360') |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"page": "integer, current page number",
"models": "array of model summary objects with name, slug, preview_image, likes_count, comments_count, downloads_count, created_at, softwares, and author",
"per_page": "integer, results per page",
"total_pages": "integer, total number of pages",
"total_entries": "integer, total number of matching models"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"page": 1,
"models": [
{
"name": "Centrifugal fan with high overall efficiency",
"slug": "centrifugal-fan-with-high-overall-efficiency-1",
"author": {
"name": "wan wan",
"slug": "wan.wan-32",
"avatar": "https://grabcad.com/members/avatars/missing_feed.png"
},
"softwares": [
"SOLIDWORKS",
"Text file"
],
"created_at": "2026-05-13T01:26:35Z",
"likes_count": 0,
"preview_image": "https://grabcad.com/screenshots/pics/572d65c54f315d3f3691adeeb44dcc1f/card.jpg",
"comments_count": 0,
"downloads_count": 5
}
],
"per_page": 24,
"total_pages": 100,
"total_entries": 2400
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the grabcad.com API
The GrabCAD Library API gives developers access to millions of community-submitted 3D CAD models across 3 endpoints. Use search_models to query the full library by keyword, software slug, or sort order, then drill into any result with get_model_details for description, tags, categories, and author data, or get_model_files to list every associated file with its extension, CAD system, and viewability status.
What the API covers
The GrabCAD Community Library is one of the largest repositories of freely shared 3D CAD models on the internet. This API surfaces the library's catalogue through three focused endpoints: search_models, get_model_details, and get_model_files. Every response is structured JSON, so no parsing of HTML or binary formats is required.
search_models
search_models returns paginated model summaries. Key inputs include query (keyword search), software (filter by slug such as solidworks, autocad, or fusion-360), sort (recent, popular, trending, most_downloaded), and time (all_time, this_week, this_month, this_year). Each result object carries name, slug, preview_image, likes_count, comments_count, downloads_count, created_at, and a softwares array. The response also includes total_entries and total_pages so clients can implement pagination without guessing.
get_model_details and get_model_files
get_model_details accepts a model slug from search results and returns the full record: description, tags, categories, softwares, files_count, and an author object with name, slug, avatar, location, and models_count. get_model_files takes the same slug plus an optional extension filter (e.g. step, stl, sldprt) and returns a files array where each entry includes id, name, extension, system, created_at, updated_at, is_viewable, and thumbnail. This lets callers check file availability by format before directing end-users to download.
- Build a CAD asset search tool that filters models by software (e.g. SolidWorks-only) using the
softwareparam in search_models. - Track download popularity trends by querying search_models with sort=most_downloaded and different time windows.
- Enumerate all STEP or IGES files for a model by calling get_model_files with extension='step' to identify interchange-format availability.
- Compile author portfolios by extracting the author.models_count and author.slug fields from get_model_details responses.
- Index model metadata — tags, categories, and descriptions — for a domain-specific CAD search engine.
- Monitor new additions to the library by polling search_models with sort=recent and a per_page limit.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does GrabCAD have an official developer API?+
What does get_model_files return, and can I filter by file type?+
files array for the given model slug. Each file object includes name, extension, system (the originating CAD application), is_viewable, thumbnail, and both created_at and updated_at timestamps. You can pass an optional extension parameter — such as stl, step, or sldasm — to narrow the list to a specific format.Does the API return direct download URLs for model files?+
How does pagination work in search_models, and is there a hard limit on results per page?+
page, total_pages, and total_entries fields, so you can iterate through all results programmatically. The per_page parameter accepts values up to approximately 100 per request. For result sets larger than one page, increment the page parameter and continue until page equals total_pages.Are user comments or review text exposed anywhere?+
comments_count as a numeric field in search_models results, but the comment content itself is not covered. You can fork it on Parse and revise to add a comments endpoint if that data is needed.