Once an assistant is connected to CUTL (see Connect AI assistants), you talk to it in plain words and it picks the right CUTL tools. This page lists what each toolset lets it do, which tools cost coins, and fifteen worked examples of real requests.
You never type tool names: they are shown here in code because some assistants show them while they work. Every tool checks the same right the matching action in the web app needs, so the assistant can do only what your role allows.
Core
Address /mcp, 16 tools. For quoting 2D parts, e-mailing quotes, launching production, nesting, reports and production status.
| Tool | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
get_account | Who the connection acts as, the team's balance, the price of each billed action, the coin limits and what is left of them | Free |
find_reference | Looks up your materials, cutting modes, customers or organisations by text | Free |
search_projects | Finds projects by name, number, customer or creation dates, newest first, up to 20 | Free |
create_project | Creates a project. If the customer name matches none or several, nothing is created and the candidates come back | Free |
request_upload | Gets a one-file upload link | Free |
add_files_to_project | Adds up to 20 drawings (DXF, STEP, PDF) as parts, each with material and quantity; CUTL starts calculating them | Billed: one part calculation per part created |
get_quote | The project's parts with prices and totals, or why a part has no price and which tool fixes it; a 15-minute quote PDF link once every part is priced | Free |
update_part | Changes one part's material, cutting mode, quantity or comment and prices it again | Free |
explain_price | Why a part costs what it costs, and what it would cost in up to 5 other materials. Nothing is changed | Free |
send_quote | E-mails the quote PDF to the customer (default) or another address | Free, you confirm |
reorder | Copies a project with all its parts as a new project, ready to change and quote again | Billed: one calculation per part |
launch_production | Sends a fully priced project to production: it is locked for changes and shift tasks are created | Free, you always confirm on the confirm page |
run_nesting | Lays the project's parts out on sheets of a given size, per material (usual) or per part | Free |
nesting_result | The latest nesting: sheets, utilisation, offcuts and a link to each sheet's layout | Free |
order_status | With a project, its production progress per shift task; without one, today's shop floor | Free |
report | Material consumption, offcut analytics or shift execution for a date range: up to 50 rows and a 15-minute CSV link | Free |
Rules worth knowing:
- Parts can be added or changed only while the project is in the status CREATED, and only a CREATED project can be launched.
- A quote can be e-mailed or launched only when every part is priced.
get_quotesays why a part has no price: still calculating, calculation failed, the PDF holds several drawings and you pick which to quote (in CUTL), no material, no cutting mode for the material, or no price for the material or cutting mode. - A due date for production must be in the future.
- Adding or changing a part discards the project's nesting; run it again afterwards. See Nesting.
- In assistants that show them, the Core server also offers three ready-made prompts: Quote these files, Explain this quote to a customer (writes the text, sends nothing) and Morning production brief.
STEP and MBD
Address /mcp/step, 20 tools, all free. For the STEP viewer, PMI and the conversions.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
request_upload | Upload link for a STEP model, a DXF, or a PDF or QIF drawing |
create_step_review | Turns an uploaded STEP file into a STEP review; the same file gives back the team's existing review |
upload_step_version | Adds a changed model as the review's next version; comments stay |
list_step_reviews | The team's reviews, most recently active first, up to 20 |
step_review_summary | What the parsed model contains: counts, BOM, top-level assemblies with their #N refs, how much PMI, a thumbnail |
step_comments | The review's comment threads, newest first |
add_step_comment | Posts a comment or a reply; everyone following the review is e-mailed, so you confirm it in the chat |
resolve_step_comment | Marks a thread resolved or opens it again |
invite_reviewer | Invites a person by e-mail to one review, optionally hiding assemblies or parts, until a last day of access. Team admins only. You confirm in the chat, or on the confirm page for an address your team has not invited before |
archive_step_review | Archives a review; outside reviewers lose access. Team admins only, confirmed in the chat |
start_enrichment | Reads the dimensions, tolerances, datums and notes from the part's 2D drawings (PDF or QIF) into the 3D model; a person checks the readings in CUTL |
enrichment_status | Where an enrichment run is: working, waiting for a person, complete or stopped |
accept_enrichment | Makes a complete run's enriched model the review's next version, confirmed in the chat |
list_pmi | The PMI the model carries, up to 100 rows |
pmi_export | All the PMI as CSV or Excel, as a 15-minute link |
propose_pmi_change | Adds, edits or deletes PMI in the STEP file itself; the result is the next version, written in about a minute |
inspection_report | From a complete enrichment: ballooned drawing (PDF), inspection table (Excel), QIF, the enriched STEP or a certificate of conformity (PDF) |
convert_to_step | A 3D STEP model from a part set up in CUTL's part editor (folded at its bends), or from a plain DXF with a thickness (a flat plate with no bends). See DXF to STEP |
pdf_to_step | Rebuilds a PDF drawing's parts as STEP models in 10 to 30 minutes. See PDF to STEP |
conversion_status | Follows either conversion until it is done, waiting for a person, or failed |
Assemblies and documents
Address /mcp/assembly, 15 tools. For assembly quoting, routing and production documents.
| Tool | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
request_upload | Upload link for a STEP model | Free |
start_assembly | Makes an assembly (sub-assemblies and parts, each make or buy) from a STEP review or an uploaded STEP file | Free |
assembly_detail | The tree with quantities, make or buy, part class, material, price status and route | Free |
reanalyse_assembly | Brings the tree up to date with the review's current model | Free |
set_assembly_quantities | Sets up to 3 quantity breaks from 1 to 1,000,000, and the most likely one | Free |
quote_assembly_parts | Prices the sheet and tube parts to make through the cutting calculation; a part already priced is not charged again | Billed: one part calculation per part started |
assembly_quote | The quotation as PDF or Excel, internal or customer variant, for a number of pieces | Free |
request_supplier_offer | Makes a price link for one bought item. CUTL e-mails nobody: you send the link. Confirmed in the chat | Free |
get_route | One node's route: operations, equipment, times, outside work, unit cost | Free |
set_route | Replaces the hand-made lines of a node's route; one bad line changes nothing, an approved route is refused | Free |
copy_route | Copies one node's hand-made lines to up to 20 nodes of the same kind | Free |
drawing_pdf | Production drawings from a STEP review as one print-ready PDF (A4, A3, A2, A1 or A0) | Free |
route_card | The route card as a print-ready PDF: traveller (default) or GOST 3.1118 layout | Free |
assembly_lists | Purchase list, make list or kit list, up to 50 rows and a CSV link | Free |
erp_export | The assembly as CUTL's ERP document (BOM, routes, costing, blanks) in JSON or XML | Free |
Setup and knowledge base
Address /mcp/setup, 17 tools, all free. The assistant is told to ask you for a machine's hourly cost and never to invent prices.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
setup_status | What CUTL still needs before it can price parts. The place to start |
browse_catalogue | CUTL's built-in cutting catalogue: machine kinds and power bands, what each machine cuts, the materials with grade, thickness and known price |
add_from_catalogue | Creates the machine, the chosen materials, the cutting modes, standard sheet sizes and known material prices in one call; running it twice creates nothing twice |
list_materials, list_cutting_modes, list_equipment | The shop's materials, cutting modes and machines |
create_equipment, create_cutting_mode, create_material | Add a machine, a cutting mode or a material |
assign_cutting_mode | Sets the cutting mode a material is cut with |
add_sheet_size | Adds a sheet size to a material, for nesting and material cost |
update_material_price, update_cutting_mode | Change a material's price per m², or a cutting mode's prices or times. Parts priced earlier keep their price until priced again |
create_customer | Adds a customer, so quotes can be made out to them |
report_bug | Tells the CUTL team about something in CUTL that does not work. Your e-mail address is not included |
search, fetch | Search CUTL's documentation (up to 8 sections) and read one section in full. It never searches your projects or data |
Demo
Address /mcp/demo on the separate demo server, 6 read-only tools on a made-up shop: search_projects, order_status, explain_price (without comparing materials), report (at most 20 rows), find_reference and nesting_result. Nothing can be changed or charged. See the demo server.
What costs coins
Only three tools spend coins, exactly like the same action in the web app. Everything else is free.
| Tool | Charge |
|---|---|
add_files_to_project | One part calculation per part created |
reorder | One calculation per part copied |
quote_assembly_parts | One part calculation per part started |
All three can do a dry run first ("How much would that cost? Don't do it yet"), and all three are capped by your team's assistant coin limits. See Coins and billing and Assistant coin limits.
Worked examples
The examples use a made-up shop, Kramer Lasertechniek (team admin Anna Kramer), its customer Van Dijk Staalbouw and an example price of 100 coins per part calculation. Your numbers, names and prices will differ.
1. Quote three DXF parts
You say: "Make a project for Van Dijk Staalbouw called 'Brackets Q4' from bracket-a.dxf, plate-b.dxf and cover-c.dxf, S235 3 mm, 50 of each, and tell me the total."
The assistant checks your balance, creates project #000123 for Van Dijk Staalbouw BV and gives you three upload links. You drop each file and say "uploaded". It does a dry run ("Adding the three files will cost 300 coins. Go ahead?"), you say yes, and it adds the files and reads the quote. You get the total (EUR 1,284.00), the price per part and a quote PDF link. Cost: 300 coins.
2. One file needs a material choice
You say: "Add hinge.dxf to project 123, stainless 2 mm, 10 pieces."
The assistant finds the project, gets the file uploaded and finds two matching materials, so it asks: "Which stainless: AISI 304 or AISI 316L?". You answer "304" and it adds the part and reads the quote. Cost: 100 coins.
3. Compare materials, then change one
You say: "Why is plate-b so expensive? Would S355 or DC01 be cheaper?"
The assistant explains the price without changing anything: "Per piece: material 6.1, cutting 3.4, piercing 0.8, 10.3 in all. The largest share is material." S355J2 would be 1.2 more, DC01 0.9 less. You say "Switch it to DC01" and it changes the part and gives the new total. Cost: free, nothing to confirm.
4. Send the quote to the customer
You say: "Send the quote to Van Dijk, copy to me."
The assistant shows a preview: to the customer's address, a copy to you, project #000123, 3 parts, EUR 1,284.00, the PDF and the language, and asks "Send it?". You confirm in the chat and it reports "The quote is on its way". Cost: free.
5. Send the quote to a new address
You say: "Also send it to their buyer, p.smit@vandijk-groep.example."
That address is neither the customer's nor yours, so the assistant gives you a confirm link. You open it, see To highlighted with Recipient: an address CUTL has not seen for this project, press Confirm, and tell the assistant "Confirmed". It sends the quote. Cost: free.
6. Launch production
You say: "Launch project 123, due 2 November."
Launching always needs the confirm page. The assistant gives you a link with a preview of the parts, 150 pieces in total, EUR 1,284.00 and the due date. You check it, press Confirm and say "go ahead". It reports "Project #000123 Brackets Q4 is in production with 3 shift tasks." Later, "How far is 123?" shows the progress per shift task. If you wait more than 10 minutes, it starts again with a new link. Cost: free.
7. Nesting
You say: "Nest project 123 on 3000 × 1500 sheets, 5 mm apart."
The assistant starts the nesting in the background and waits for it: per material, 2 sheets, 78 % utilisation, 3 offcuts and a link to each sheet's layout. Cost: free. See Nesting.
8. Reports and the shop floor
You say: "What's on the laser today, and what was our material deviation in September?"
The assistant lists today's shift tasks with pieces done and planned, then runs the material consumption report for 1 to 30 September: up to 50 rows, the total deviation in money and a 15-minute CSV link. Cost: free.
9. Copy last month's order
You say: "Van Dijk wants project 98 again. What would it cost to copy?"
The assistant does a dry run: copying #000098 (4 parts) would cost 400 coins. You say "Do it" and it creates the new project, open for changes, and reads its quote. Cost: 400 coins.
10. Set up a new shop from the catalogue
You say: "We have a 3 kW fiber laser and cut S235 and stainless 1 to 6 mm. Set CUTL up."
The assistant checks what is missing, browses CUTL's catalogue for the 3 kW fiber band and the carbon and stainless steels, then asks "What does an hour on the laser cost you?". You answer "75 euro" and it creates the machine, materials, cutting modes, sheet sizes and known prices in one go, then tells you what is still missing (for example the cost profile). Cost: free.
11. STEP review with an outside reviewer
You say: "Open housing.step as a review and invite our supplier Lisa Bos (l.bos@bos-plaatwerk.example) until 30 November, without the electronics module."
The assistant gets the file uploaded, creates the review and reads its summary (48 parts, with #17 Electronics module at the top level). The address is new to your team, so it gives you a confirm link. You check They will see: the model without #17 and Access until, press Confirm and tell the assistant. Lisa gets an e-mail with a one-time code. Inviting is for team admins only. Cost: free. See STEP viewer.
12. PDF drawing to STEP
You say: "The customer only sent flange.pdf. Make a STEP model of it."
The assistant gets the file uploaded and starts the conversion (10 to 30 minutes). Later it reports either that a person must answer a question about the drawing in CUTL (you answer it there), or that it is done, with links to the STEP files for 15 minutes. To look at one in CUTL, it uploads it again as a STEP review. Cost: free. See PDF to STEP.
13. Assembly quote with quantity breaks and a supplier price
You say: "Quote the frame assembly from housing.step for 10, 50 and 200 pieces, 50 most likely. The gas spring is bought: ask Hydro-Tech for a price."
The assistant builds the assembly (31 nodes, 12 can be priced, the gas spring is a buy item) and sets the three quantities. A dry run says pricing the 12 parts costs 1 200 coins; you say "OK". It prepares a supplier price link for the gas spring, you confirm in the chat, and it hands you the link: "Send this link to Hydro-Tech; CUTL does not e-mail it." Once all is priced, it gives you the customer quotation as a 15-minute PDF link. Cost: 1 200 coins. See Assembly quoting.
14. Drawings PDF and a route card
You say: "I need A3 drawings of the whole housing for the shop, and the route card."
The assistant makes the A3 drawings PDF (after a call or two), lists which parts were not drawn and why (for example bought parts), and makes the route card PDF. Both links work for 15 minutes; you open and print them. Cost: free. See Routing.
15. Documentation search
You say: "How does CUTL decide the price of a bend?"
The assistant searches CUTL's documentation, reads the best section and answers from it. This searches CUTL's documentation, never your projects. Cost: free.