Zoo Design Studio and its Zookeeper agent help your engineers model mechanical parts. Flux designs the complete device: the board, the mechanical parts that fit it, and the firmware, in one live project in your browser.
Flux is your team's autonomous hardware engineer. Give it a requirement. It plans the design, picks the parts, draws the schematic, routes the board, designs the mechanical parts, and writes the firmware. It checks its own work in simulation and design rule checks, and hands your engineers files ready to manufacture.
Zoo Design Studio is CAD software from Zoo, built on its own geometry engine. It combines point-and-click CAD, code-based CAD in the KCL language, and Zookeeper, a conversational CAD agent.[1]
Zoo Design Studio is a desktop application for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and it also runs in a web browser. A Free plan is available, and paid plans add Zookeeper reasoning time.[2]
Engineers switch between point-and-click tools, KCL code, and prompts to Zookeeper in one workspace.[3]
Zoo creates boundary-representation geometry, not meshes, and Zookeeper generates fully editable CAD models.[3]
Zookeeper researches, reasons, and gives manufacturing-aware feedback while it designs.[4]
Zookeeper designs mechanical parts in Zoo Design Studio. Flux designs the complete device. Describe the product in plain words. The Flux AI engineer writes the requirements, draws the schematic, routes the board, models the enclosure and the mechanical parts around the real board, and writes the firmware. It runs stress, thermal, and airflow simulation, checks the board with design rules, and gets quotes from fabricators. Your engineers review and edit everything in one live project in the browser.
| Feature | Flux | Zoo Design Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements and specification | The AI engineer turns your idea into requirements and a product specification, and checks the design against them. | Zookeeper designs around the intent in your prompt.[3] |
| What it is | AI hardware engineer with its own design tools | AI-native CAD software with a conversational CAD agent[1] |
| Where it runs | In your web browser. Nothing to install. Your projects live in the cloud. | Desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux, or a web browser. Modeling needs an internet connection.[2] |
| Who does the design work | The Flux agent. Your engineers review and edit. | Your engineers model, with help from Zookeeper.[3] |
| How a part is made | You describe the part. The AI engineer writes the parametric model. Your engineers review and edit it. | Point-and-click, KCL code, or a prompt to Zookeeper[3] |
| Mechanical CAD | Built in, kernel agnostic. From an enclosure to a complete robot arm. | Built in[1] |
| CAD kernel | Kernel agnostic: OpenCascade, NVIDIA SMLib, and Siemens Parasolid on request. The AI engineer picks the kernel for each part. | Zoo's own geometry engine[1] |
| Mechanical simulation | Finite-element stress, thermal, and airflow simulation | Zoo lists analysis as a next step for its platform.[3] |
| Mechanical manufacturing | STEP, STL, and 3MF files, plus quotes for 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal, and laser cutting | Zookeeper evaluates manufacturability as you design.[3] |
| CNC toolpaths and G-code | The AI engineer writes the toolpaths, the G-code, a toolpath preview, and a setup sheet for the parts that it designed. | Zoo lists toolpaths and production as a next step for its platform.[3] |
| Quotes and orders | Quotes and orders for boards, 3D printing, CNC machining, and wire harnesses, from the project. | No built-in quoting or ordering workflow.[3] |
| Versions, branches, and merges | Full change history. The AI engineer forks a design into a second version, keeps both, and merges the changes that you pick. | Projects in a local folder or in Zoo Personal Cloud, with sync across devices[2] |
| Tool licenses | Included in your Flux plan: the editor, mechanical CAD, parts data, simulation, and manufacturing files. Nothing else to buy. | Free plan. Paid plans add Zookeeper reasoning time.[5] |
| And electronics as well | ||
| Schematic and parts | Built in. Picks from 734,000+ public parts. | Not in Zoo Design Studio[1] |
| Board layout and routing | Built in | Not in Zoo Design Studio[1] |
| Parts and sourcing | 734,000+ public parts, with live prices and stock from distributors | No electronics parts library[1] |
| Simulation and design rule checks | SPICE, power delivery network, full-wave electromagnetic, signal integrity, thermal, and mechanical simulation, plus design rule checks | No circuit simulation[1] |
| Firmware | Writes firmware for the board it designed | Not in Zoo Design Studio[1] |
| Wiring harnesses | Built in. Flux designs the wiring harnesses between the boards: connectors, pinouts, and wires, in the same project. | Not in Zoo Design Studio[1] |
| Manufacturing files | Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, bill of materials, pick-and-place, and more; Flux can check the files before you order, including copper gaps, silkscreen, board outline, BOM, and pick-and-place files. | No board manufacturing files[1] |
Flux designs single parts and complete assemblies, from a bracket or an enclosure to a complete robot arm. It brings every part together in one model.
Flux fits each part to the real board: its mounting holes, connectors, and cutouts. The agent can change the board and the mechanical parts together.
Chips and connectors, devices that are not on the board, and mechanical hardware such as screws and standoffs are in one library for the whole product.
Flux saves each part as a STEP file and as editable CAD code. Your engineers can review the code and change it.
Load your mechanical parts as STEP files. Tell Flux in plain words how to change them. Then have the parts made.
The request, as typed in Flux
“The holder must cover a much taller power supply. Make the bent side flange 40 mm deeper. Keep the 4.4 mm hole in the flange where it is. Then cut five 5 x 30 mm vertical vent slots in the new part of the flange, 15 mm apart and centered on the flange width.”
Import complete projects, part libraries, and 3D models. Schematics, parts, and placement come across, and routing from most formats.
Imported designs are ready to edit right away. Ask "move the USB cutout 3 cm left" or "make the enclosure tighter", and Flux does the work.
Flux hands you the files that your manufacturer needs: Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, bill of materials, and pick-and-place for the board, and STEP, STL, or 3MF for the mechanical parts.
Kernel-agnostic CAD
Traditional CAD tools are locked to one geometry kernel, and every part inherits its limits. Flux is kernel agnostic, the same way it is model agnostic. The AI engineer picks the right kernel for each part, switches kernels when one cannot build a feature, and brings every part together in one model.
Exact, standard geometry that CAM and other CAD tools read cleanly. Strong for machined parts and multi-part assemblies.
Smooth, curvature-continuous surfaces for hand-held and consumer products.
The kernel inside SolidWorks, NX, Solid Edge, and Onshape, for native-quality exchange with those tools.
Surface quality you can see. Zebra stripes, curvature maps, and curvature combs show that every surface is smooth before the part goes to tooling.
Verification lab
Flux doesn't stop at generating designs. The AI engineer simulates and checks its own work with professional-grade solvers, and it shows you the results.
Finite-element stress analysis of brackets, enclosures, and mounts.
Flux runs PCB thermal analysis of the routed board at stated operating powers, plus heat and airflow simulation of the enclosure, before you build.
Airflow and cooling through the enclosure, so vents, fans, and heat sinks work before the first prototype.
SPICE simulation of analog, power, and mixed-signal circuits, with Monte Carlo, temperature sweep, and noise analysis, run and read by the AI engineer.
Full-wave simulation of the routed board: signal integrity, power integrity, impedance, S-parameters, crosstalk, and antennas.
Electrical and manufacturing rule checks on every schematic and board.
Reads the datasheet of every part and checks the design against its pinouts, ratings, and limits.
Manufacturing
Flux gets quotes directly from the fabricators for circuit boards and assembly, 3D printing in plastic and metal, CNC machining, sheet metal, laser cutting, injection molding, casting, and wiring harnesses. The AI engineer compares price and lead time, checks the design against each fabricator's rules, keeps the quote current as the design changes, and places the order when you confirm.
Craftcloud 
JLC 3D printing 
PCBWay 3D printing 
Shapeways 
OSH Cut 
SendCutSend JLCPCB PCBWay 
OSH Park 
AISLER 
MiniProto An AI CAD tool makes mechanical parts. Flux designs the board, the mechanical parts, the firmware, and the wire harnesses in one project. It fits each part to the real board: its mounting holes, connectors, and cutouts.
Flux does not need a desktop CAD license to work. The CAD and EDA editor, the parts data, simulation, and manufacturing files are built in and included in your plan. Flux runs in your browser.
Flux runs stress, thermal, and airflow simulation on the parts that it designs. It runs circuit and electromagnetic simulation and design rule checks on the board.
Flux gets quotes for 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal, and laser cutting, and for boards and wire harnesses, from the project.
Chips, connectors, and mechanical hardware such as screws and standoffs are in one library of 734,000+ public parts, with live prices and stock from distributors.
Electrical, layout, mechanical, and firmware engineers work in the same live project with the AI engineer. Share a project with a link.
One platform
Flux is not a collection of disconnected CAD applications. It is one AI-native engineering platform where every discipline shares the same project, the same data, and the same AI engineer.
Requirements, part research, schematic capture, and simulation.
Ask Flux to route a complete board or selected nets. Refine differential pairs, trace lengths, widths, and layers through chat. Placement, stackups, design rule checks, and wire harnesses stay in the same project.
Firmware for the board Flux designed, for example on Arm Cortex-M, RISC-V, AVR, or Pico, then built, analyzed, and unit tested.
Model-agnostic AI
Flux pairs frontier AI models with a state-of-the-art agent harness built for CAD and EDA. The models bring reasoning. Flux brings the engineering tools, project context, and workflows that turn that reasoning into working hardware.
Adaptive splits every engineering job into tasks and gives each task to the model that does it best for the price. Hard design decisions go to frontier models. Routine work goes to fast, low-cost models. Independent tasks run in parallel, so complete devices come together faster. Your team works with one AI engineer, and Flux handles the delegation behind the scenes.
Work with the frontier models your team already trusts, inside Flux.
Every model gets Flux's specialized engineering tools, project context, and workflows.
When a better model ships, your team gets it without switching engineering platforms.
Avoid depending on any one model provider for your engineering capacity.
Adaptive matches each engineering step to the model that does it best, from deep design decisions to routine checks.
See current pricing
Trial terms depend on your current offer.
See current pricing
Trial terms depend on your current offer.
See current pricing
Trial terms depend on your current offer.
See current pricing
Teams subscriptions start paid.
Eligible individual plans include a free trial. Teams subscriptions start paid; trial and pricing terms depend on your current offer. See all plans
Use Zoo Design Studio when your engineers want to model mechanical parts themselves, with an AI agent in the CAD tool. Choose Flux when the deliverable is a complete device: a board, the mechanical parts that fit it, and firmware, ready for manufacturing.
Explore individual plan offers, or book a demo with our team.
