AXLEKEYSBETAA model doesn't have to stay trapped inside one workspace. It begins as private Studio work, becomes structured and verified, and then leaves in two directions: outward to anyone with a browser, as its own page on axlekeys.com or a live configurator embedded on your own site — and downward to the shop, as drawings, cut lists, and fabrication files.
Larger public spaces — Exhibition for discovery, Showroom for branded product lines — are still being built. What's on this page below that heading is marked accordingly.
The same model serves two audiences who never meet: a buyer configuring it in a browser, and a shop cutting it on a machine. Both come from the one model, which is the point.
Create or import a model, shape the geometry, expose parameters, organise parts, attach reference files, assign materials, validate against the dimensions you asked for, and prepare output.
Studio is where the object is made understandable.
Open Studio →Give a model or an assembly its own page at axlekeys.com/models/… — its name, picture, size, materials, and parameters, readable by people and by search engines. Or publish a live 3D configurator and embed it on any website: visitors adjust the parameters you exposed and see the real model rebuild, with no login and no AI at runtime.
These are the public surfaces that ship today.
How visibility works →Dimensioned shop drawings as SVG, PDF, or DXF. Cut lists nested onto real sheet stock. 3D exports in STEP, STL, and DAE. Assembly animation and video for showing how it goes together.
The output a shop builds from, not just a render.
See the outputs →Not every model goes through every stage. Some stay private. Some are only examples. Some move all the way to fabrication outputs. The value is that the path exists.
A model may begin from a request to your own agent, a sketch, a reference image, a client request, an existing CAD file, a product idea, a shop standard, or a piece of model code. The first step is understanding what kind of object is being created and why.
Before the model becomes useful, it needs context. That context comes from a System — a structured way to create a family of physical objects. The System tells Axle Keys what kind of object the model is becoming.
View Systems →Studio is where the model begins as a working project: selected System, model code, 3D geometry, project files, references, parameters, parts, materials, validation reports, and version history. Private by default. This is where the messy work happens.
Read Studio docs →A model becomes more valuable when its structure is visible — named parts, dimensions, editable parameters, material assumptions, relationships between parts, System rules, and output logic. A 3D object can be viewed. A structured model can be configured, reviewed, reused, and prepared for output.
A configurable object exposes useful controls — width, height, depth, material, finish, shelf count, layout choices, hardware options. The goal is not to expose everything. The goal is to expose the decisions that matter while protecting the technical relationships underneath.
Before a model moves forward: did it build? Are there geometry errors? Are parameters valid? Are parts named clearly? Are materials assigned? Is the model public-ready, customer-ready, or fabrication-ready — or only conceptual? Validation is a structured review step, not a guarantee.
The model becomes something other people can use: published as a live 3D configurator and embedded on your own site. Visitors change the parameters you exposed and watch the real model rebuild in their browser — no login, no AI at runtime, no per-view cost. It is one of the two public steps that ship today; the other is the model's own page at axlekeys.com/models/…, which publishes the model — or an assembly — itself rather than a configurator of it.
Beyond your own site, two hosted spaces are planned: Exhibition for public discovery, and Showroom for branded product lines with customer inquiry. Neither is live yet — the sections further down describe what they're intended to be.
See the roadmap →Some models move toward fabrication or production outputs — CAD exports, part lists, material lists, cut lists, assembly views, drawings, configuration records, job outputs. Output depends on the System and model maturity. Export does not mean automatic fabrication approval. Physical objects still need review.
The end of one model can become the beginning of another. A model may be duplicated, remixed, used as an example, turned into a template, improved by agents, refined into a stronger System, or used as project knowledge for future work. This is where Axle Keys becomes more than a modeling tool — the work becomes reusable.
A model may move forward, loop back, branch, or stop at any stage. Axle Keys is designed for this kind of movement — physical design work is rarely one straight line.
Every model and assembly is private until it is published. Publishing gives it its own page at axlekeys.com/models/…. You set visibility in the Publication facet, the last facet in the inspector after Parameters.
Three settings
What a page shows
Model code is never published, and neither are your files. Nothing has a price on it.
The name, description, and story you write are published as written. Keep client information and private details out of them.
Assemblies
An assembly publishes the same way, at the same kind of URL. Its page shows the overall facts — size, the materials its parts use, parameters — and the names of its parts. It never shows a part's own id or code. Publishing an assembly changes nothing about the models inside it: each of them stays private until you publish it on its own.
When your agent publishes
An AI agent connected with your key can publish on your behalf. Each time it makes a model or an assembly public, you get a note in your Notebook with the page's link and how to undo it.
Updating a published page
There is no separate public copy to update. The page reads the model as it is now, so edits you make in Studio appear on it, and it does not stay pinned to an earlier version. The dimensions come from the last successful build of the current code; if the code has changed since, the page states a size from the parameters or none at all.
Unpublishing
Set it back to Private and its page answers 404 straight away. A copy that a browser or a search engine already fetched may linger for a short while, and that copy is outside Axle Keys' control. Read Legal →
Not live yet. This describes what Exhibition is intended to be. Track it on the roadmap.
Exhibition will be the public browsing space — where configurable objects can be shown, studied, shared, and eventually remixed. It stays focused on one job: make public models useful, understandable, and discoverable. The models come first — not a marketplace, not a social feed.
Before publishing, review
"Open in Studio" — the key action
Opening a public model in Studio lets it become a working project — not just something to look at. Depending on ownership and licensing, that may mean:
Not live yet. The engine already ships — you can publish a model as a live configurator and embed it on your own site today. Showroom is the hosted, branded version of that. Track it on the roadmap.
Where Exhibition asks "what interesting models exist?", Showroom answers "what does this person, shop, or business offer?" It's the customer-facing side — configurable products presented to buyers, with clear parameters, an inquiry workflow, and owner admin controls. A Showroom page is where repeated work becomes a public offering.
What Showroom is for
Five steps from Studio to Showroom
Most Showroom products begin in Studio. The model needs stable geometry, useful parameters, clear parts, correct System, public-facing controls, and reviewed outputs.
Read Studio docs →The System gives the product structure. Open Design, the live base, for flexible custom objects; the named Systems in development — Cabinet for closets, built-ins, and casework, T-Slot for frames, carts, fixtures, and modular structures — as they ship.
View Systems →Expose only the options that make sense for customers — opening width, height, finish, shelf count, drawer count. Not internal formulas, part IDs, or construction offsets.
Explain what the product is, what can be configured, what is included, what is not, and what information is needed for an inquiry. Clear and customer-facing — not technical documentation.
After review, publish to your Showroom. Check page title, model loading, parameter controls, inquiry button, mobile layout, limitations, and related products. Test as a public visitor would see it.
The inquiry workflow
Showroom doesn't need to process full e-commerce orders immediately. A practical first workflow is inquiry-based: the customer configures, then gets in touch.
The owner receives a saved configuration record — the exact parameter values, a generated preview, contact information, and notes — so they can review precisely what the customer configured before responding.
The owner is responsible
A Showroom product may look customer-ready, but physical objects still require review. Owners are responsible for product claims, measurements, material choices, fabrication decisions, installation details, pricing, lead times, fulfillment, and safety requirements.
Axle Keys provides the platform and model workflow. The owner remains responsible for the real-world product and customer relationship.
Read Legal →It's where models move — from private work to structured object to public artifact to customer-facing product to reusable knowledge. That path is the difference between a modeling tool and a platform.