# Continue your FreeCAD design in Mitcad

- Link: https://opensourcecad.nl/en/continue-your-freecad-design-in-mitcad/
- Published: 2026-10-28T11:26:51+01:00
- Author: Marijn van den Heuvel \+ AI

_This is the English reading version of the Dutch news item [Verder werken aan je FreeCAD-ontwerp in Mitcad](https://opensourcecad.nl/vibecoded-apps/verder-werken-aan-je-freecad-ontwerp-in-mitcad/)._

Last week I wrote here that Mitcad opens FreeCAD files with their feature timeline
included, and that I had not yet been able to test that myself. That has now changed:
I opened an .FCStd document in it and continued working on it.

[⌊A wheel assembly in Mitcad, with the browser on the left and the timeline at the
bottom⌉⌊A wheel assembly in Mitcad, with the browser on the left and the timeline
at the bottom⌉[

A wheel assembly in Mitcad: the browser on the left, the timeline at the bottom.

In practice, more comes across than just the shapes. The timeline arrives with the
features on it, the sketches are editable with their constraints and dimensions,
and spreadsheet cells and named constraints become parameters that you can change
in Mitcad. So you really continue working on the design, instead of getting a dead
copy. One caveat: you save your work as a .mitcad design from there on, not back
as .FCStd.

I ran into bugs while testing, and they were fixed the next day. That sounds like
luck, but it is the rhythm of the project: a new version comes out almost every 
day, and two of them were specifically about the FreeCAD import, versions 0.21.0(
FreeCAD import without fallbacks) and 0.22.0 (the last FreeCAD forms). By now version
0.32.0 is on the releases.

What struck me: the program already feels very mature for its age. The repository
has only existed since early October, and it contains a complete parametric workflow
with sketches, timeline and parameters. For FreeCAD users the threshold is low: 
if you were working in FreeCAD, you can simply continue in Mitcad.

I had a lot of trouble opening old FreeCAD files myself. Looking closer, those files
were already giving error messages inside FreeCAD itself, so that was not Mitcad’s
fault. Keep in mind that the error is often in FreeCAD and not in Mitcad. Though
that may well be a good reason to migrate as soon as possible.

**My verdict:** this is exactly what I did not dare to say last week: it works. 
You are still tied to one program, but you can easily take your FreeCAD work with
you to Mitcad. Personally, I would rather see a feature tree than a history tree
in the left panel, and the history sits per assembly: as a former SolidWorks user
I find that less pleasant to work with.

Mitcad is on [GitHub](https://github.com/mitcad/Mitcad), the website is [mitcad.org](https://mitcad.org/).