Strata: versions and history for FreeCAD

Strata gives FreeCAD the product data management engineers expect from modern CAD. Every save is recorded and described in plain language, milestones become versions, ideas live in workspaces, and any point in time can be viewed, compared or restored. Git does the storage underneath; you never see it.

Install Strata · Five-minute quick start · Source on GitHub

The Versions and history panel next to an assembly in FreeCAD

What you can do

  • Automatic history
    Every save becomes an entry such as Edited Base plate: Length 10 mm → 12 mm. Nobody writes commit messages.

  • Versions
    Named, permanent snapshots of the whole project for milestones: V2 – Prototype sent to supplier.

  • Workspaces
    Try a design alternative without touching Main, then merge it back when it is ready.

  • Go back in time
    Open any point as a read-only copy, or restore it. Restoring never deletes anything.

  • Compare
    See every feature and parameter that changed, and overlay both states in 3D with the volume change.

  • Releases
    Part numbers, revision letters, an optional approval step and an obsolete state.

  • Team sync
    Share through a network folder, a synced drive or any Git server. Works offline.

  • Everywhere in FreeCAD
    One panel, toolbar, Tools-menu entries and keyboard shortcuts in every workbench, light and dark themes.

Where to start

  • Installation
    Requirements and installing with the Addon Manager or by hand.

  • Quick start
    Turn on version control, save, create a version and go back in time.

  • Key concepts
    Projects, history, versions, workspaces, releases and sync in one page.

  • Tutorials
    Step-by-step guides for every task, with runnable examples.

  • Keyboard shortcuts
    All keys at a glance.

  • Python API
    Script Strata or build it into your own tools.

Why Strata

Strata implements the proposal discussed in the FreeCAD forum thread Proposal for Integrated Version Control in FreeCAD for PLM/PDM Functionality. It answers the objections raised there:

  • History lives beside your files, not inside them, so .FCStd files stay ordinary FreeCAD files. FreeCAD rewrites the archive on every save and drops entries it does not know, so a repository inside the file could not survive.

  • A project is a folder, so assemblies and the parts they link to are always versioned together.

  • Geometry stored as BREP text is versioned too, so imported solids such as STEP imports restore exactly.

  • It works completely offline; a server is only needed if you choose to share.

  • The engine has no FreeCAD or Qt dependency, so it can be scripted and connected to other systems.

Strata is free software under the LGPL-2.1-or-later, the same licence as FreeCAD.