KetchUp is a free open-source Rust 3D modeler for woodworking and furniture design

KetchUp, a free and open-source 3D modeling application written in Rust, has reached the Hacker News front page, where it was billed as an alternative to SketchUp. Its target audience is deliberately narrow: woodworkers, furniture makers, and DIY builders who want to plan a shelf, table, or cabinet in 3D with exact measurements before making the first cut.

Where it runs and how it works

According to the project's site, KetchUp ships as a native app for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and also runs directly in a desktop browser. The browser version requires hardware acceleration plus WebGPU or WebGL2 support, and the interface is built around a mouse and keyboard rather than touch input.

The modeling workflow follows the pattern SketchUp popularized. Users draw two-dimensional outlines with lines, rectangles, circles, or freehand strokes, then use a Push/Pull tool to extrude faces into solid forms. Geometry can then be moved, scaled, offset, and painted. Precision features include snapping to geometry and axes, typed exact lengths, dimension annotations, and a tape measure, while groups, reusable components, and tags help keep larger assemblies organized.

The onboarding is intentionally minimal: the project's getting-started guide describes drawing a rectangle, giving it depth with Push/Pull, and orbiting around the result as the full path to a first model.

Local-first storage, no account

KetchUp keeps work on the user's machine. Models autosave within the browser on that device, and the File menu exports a portable .ketchup project file. The project states there is no cloud storage and no account to create, and warns that clearing browser data erases autosaved work, so designs worth keeping should be downloaded.

Interoperability is partial but aimed squarely at switchers. The app imports SketchUp .skp geometry, with all processing handled locally, though the project acknowledges that SketchUp textures, scenes, and certain model features do not carry over. Export goes to Wavefront OBJ, geometry only and without materials — enough to continue a design in another 3D tool, but not a full round trip back into SketchUp.

Open source under MIT

The code lives on GitHub under the MIT license, alongside a user guide, and the project invites contributions. The name itself, a near-homophone of the commercial app it positions itself against, is a conspicuously bold choice for a free tool, though the project's material makes no mention of any trademark considerations.

Why it matters

Quick, measurement-driven 3D sketching of the kind KetchUp offers has long been associated with SketchUp, and the Hacker News posting framed this release explicitly as a free stand-in. For hobbyist woodworkers, an MIT-licensed app with no subscription, no account, and no cloud dependency removes most of the friction in trying that workflow.

The implementation is also worth noting on its own terms. A Rust codebase rendering through WebGPU or WebGL2 delivers a native-feeling, CAD-adjacent experience inside a plain browser tab, which says a lot about how far in-browser 3D tooling has progressed. And while the .skp import is lossy, it gives existing SketchUp users a way to evaluate the app with their own models rather than starting from a blank canvas.

What KetchUp lacks today — material export, scene support, and presumably the maturity that comes with years of development — defines the gap it still has to close. As a free, inspectable, cross-platform starting point for furniture design, it is already a release the maker community can build on, in both senses.