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MecAgent Brings Back Its Free Plan, but Its Terms Still Let It Collect Open SOLIDWORKS Files: What AI Add-In Data Rules Mean for CAD Teams | SolidWorks | Register and Certify IP of CAD design

2026-11-09 14:36 News
MecAgent, an AI assistant that works inside SOLIDWORKS, reopened its free plan on 2 November 2026, days after a user on the r/SolidWorks forum reported that the free version was uploading CAD files from their computer in the background. The company's terms of service, updated the same day to version 2.0.3, still say that the free tier can automatically collect the CAD files open in SOLIDWORKS, together with the files they reference, and that free-tier users grant MecAgent a perpetual and irrevocable licence to use them, including for AI training and for sharing with third parties.
AI copilots for CAD are arriving fast, and many SOLIDWORKS users try them the same way they try any add-in: download, install, sign in with a work email, start a chat. MecAgent describes itself as an AI agent that builds parts, assemblies and drawings inside SOLIDWORKS, and it reports more than 35,000 installs. That makes the controversy a useful test case for every engineering team, whether or not anyone in your office has installed this particular tool.
AI assistants have to see CAD data to help with it. The question is which files leave the workstation, who can use them afterwards, and whether the person who clicked Install could agree to that for the company and its customers. Here is what happened, what the terms say now, and what CAD managers should check this week.
TL;DR: read the data terms of every AI add-in before it touches company CAD files, and treat free tiers with extra care

In late October 2026, a user reported on r/SolidWorks that MecAgent's free version uploaded CAD files in the background. MecAgent replied that paid plans do not collect data, that free-tier data had not been used for training, and that it would pause free-plan collection until it clarified its terms. On 2 November the free plan returned. The current terms (version 2.0.3) still allow automatic collection of open CAD files and their references on the free tier, grant a perpetual, irrevocable licence that covers AI training and third parties, and say deletion does not revoke that licence. Paid plans are excluded from training. For SOLIDWORKS teams the lesson reaches beyond one vendor: an AI add-in runs with the same access to your files as SOLIDWORKS itself, and a free-tier click can hand out rights to designs that belong to your company or your customers.

What did the SOLIDWORKS user report about MecAgent?

The report came from a post in the r/SolidWorks community on Reddit in late October. The author said they started looking into the add-in because its AI chat used an unusual amount of network bandwidth. According to coverage of the post by Mike Kalil and others, they concluded that the free version looked for CAD files on the drives and uploaded them in the background.
As reported, their analysis described the following behaviour. These are one user's findings, not the result of an independent audit:
  • A helper program that connected to SOLIDWORKS through its programming interface and ran AI-written code.
  • A search of local drives for SOLIDWORKS parts, assemblies and drawings, plus STEP and STL files, which were grouped into projects and uploaded to cloud storage.
  • Speed and scope: several gigabytes marked as synchronised within minutes, including files that had never been opened in SOLIDWORKS, and uploads that ran at full speed while the screen was locked.
  • No obvious switch to turn the uploads off, other than the terms of service, which they quoted to show that free-tier users had agreed to the collection.
A MecAgent representative answered in the thread. As reported, the company apologised for presenting its policy unclearly, said paid plans do not collect data, said that free-tier data had been collected for possible future model training that had not started, and said it was pausing data collection on the free plan until it had clarified its terms. Free-plan sign-ups were switched off by 30 October. Users who want their data removed were pointed to MecAgent support.

What changed when the free plan came back on 2 November?

MecAgent's release notes for version 2.12.0, dated 2 November 2026, announce that the free plan is back and that free accounts can use MecAgent again. When users sign in, a short note now explains what the free plan includes, and they can choose to upgrade first. The same release makes closing the window quit the app instead of leaving it running in the system tray.
On the same day MecAgent published version 2.0.3 of its terms of service. The company has not published a list of what changed, and we could not find a public statement saying whether free-plan file collection has resumed. What the current terms say is clear enough, though:
  • Automatic collection on the free tier (section 5.2). While the software runs alongside SOLIDWORKS, it may automatically collect the supported CAD files open in your CAD application and the files they reference, and upload them to MecAgent's servers. Upgrading to a paid subscription stops the collection, but files collected before the upgrade stay under the free-tier licence.
  • A broad licence for free-tier data (section 7.1). You keep ownership, but you grant MecAgent a "non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, assignable, worldwide, perpetual, and irrevocable" licence. It covers training and improving MecAgent's services and making the data available to third parties for any purpose, including commercial ones.
  • Different rules for paid plans (section 7.2). For subscription customers the licence is limited to providing the service, and MecAgent says it will not use that data to train or improve its products.
  • Deletion has limits (section 7.5). You can ask for deletion, but "Deletion of Customer Data does not revoke or limit any license granted under Section 7.1". MecAgent does not have to retrain AI models or delete derived, aggregated or anonymised data.
  • People and other providers may see tasks (sections 5.6 and 7.4). MecAgent staff, contractors or partners may complete or review cloud tasks, possibly in another country, and third-party cloud and AI providers may process the data.
  • No export-controlled data (section 16.8). Users agree not to upload ITAR- or EAR-controlled technical data to the service.
Note the tension in the last point. If an add-in collects the files that happen to be open, the user is the one who has promised that none of them is export-controlled. In a shop that does defence or aerospace work, that is a promise an individual engineer is rarely in a position to make. Our guides to ITAR compliance in CAD file management and export control rules for CAD files explain why a CAD upload to a foreign or cloud server can count as an export.

Why does this matter beyond one AI add-in?

Every SOLIDWORKS add-in runs inside the SOLIDWORKS process or next to it, with the rights of the logged-in user. It can open, read and save the same files the engineer can, and it can usually reach the network. We explained this in how SOLIDWORKS plugins access your CAD files. An AI add-in adds two things: it has a good reason to send model data to a server, and its business may depend on that data.
Free tiers make the trade-off sharper: when a product costs nothing, the data is often part of the price. MecAgent is unusually explicit about the difference between free and paid data, which is to its credit. But an engineer who installs the free version to try it out on a Friday afternoon may be granting a perpetual licence to the assembly that happens to be open, plus every part it references.
Three groups of files are at stake. Your own designs, which may be trade secrets that only stay protected while you take reasonable steps to keep them secret. As our article on trade secret protection for CAD files explains, a licence you granted voluntarily is hard to undo. Customer models received under an NDA, which you may have no right to share at all, as we discuss in the limits of NDAs for CAD files. And supplier and catalogue parts, whose licences often forbid redistribution.

What should you check before any AI add-in touches company CAD files?

MecAgent is one of many AI tools aimed at SOLIDWORKS users, alongside SOLIDWORKS MCP servers and agent bridges, AI-generated macros and Dassault Systemes' own LEO and its long-running AI companions. The same questions apply to all of them:
QuestionWhy it mattersWhere to find the answer
Which files leave the workstation?Only the files you attach, or anything open, referenced or found on diskTerms of service, user guide, a network test on a spare PC
Is collection on by default?A default that users must find and switch off will not be switched offSettings, install screens, the terms
What licence do you grant?Perpetual, irrevocable or sublicensable rights outlive the trialThe licence or customer data section of the terms
Is data used for AI training?Training can make the tool better at reproducing what it sawTerms, privacy policy, plan comparison
Do free and paid plans differ?One engineer on a free plan can undo a company agreementPricing page and plan-specific terms
Who else processes the data?Contractors, cloud providers and AI model vendors in other countriesSub-processor list, data processing terms
Can you delete it, and what remains?Deletion may not reach trained models or derived dataDeletion section of the terms
Is export-controlled data allowed?Uploading ITAR or EAR data can be an unlicensed exportExport control section, your compliance officer
Your designs should carry proof of who made them, whatever tools touch them later.

BORIS for SOLIDWORKS registers your CAD files with a blockchain timestamp and a certificate of ownership from inside SOLIDWORKS. If a model ends up somewhere it should not, you can still show what your team created and when.

👉 Get BORIS for SOLIDWORKS

What should SOLIDWORKS teams do now?

  1. Find out what is installed. Check the SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins list and installed programs on every CAD workstation for AI assistants, copilots and helper apps. Ask engineers what they have tried in the last six months.
  2. If MecAgent is installed on a free account, decide whether it stays. If it goes, uninstall it, and if company or customer files may have been collected, ask MecAgent in writing which files it holds and request deletion, keeping in mind what the terms say about the licence.
  3. Read the data terms, not just the feature list. Use the questions in the table above for every AI tool, and file the answers with the version and date of the terms you read.
  4. Set an add-in policy. Make one person or team responsible for approving SOLIDWORKS add-ins, and block self-installs on machines that hold sensitive work. Our SOLIDWORKS plugin security best practices give a starting point.
  5. Buy, do not borrow. If an AI tool is useful, put it on a company plan with terms your legal team has read, privacy settings switched on and a named owner, instead of a collection of personal free accounts.
  6. Test with dummy data first. Try new tools on a spare machine with sample models and watch what they send over the network.
  7. Keep customer and export-controlled files apart. Store NDA and ITAR or EAR data in separate PDM folders with role-based access, and keep AI tools away from workstations that handle them.
  8. Keep dated proof of your designs. If a file has already left, a record of what you created and when is what lets you show it was yours first.

Should SOLIDWORKS teams avoid AI assistants altogether?

No. AI tools are getting genuinely useful for CAD work, as our reports on OpenAI's test of AI-revised CAD models and drawings and the latest parametric CAD benchmark for AI agents show. The point is to choose the terms on purpose. MecAgent's own user guide recommends its privacy mode or an Enterprise agreement for sensitive or confidential projects, and says privacy mode is available on its paid plans. That advice applies to any AI tool.
Ownership questions do not stop at the upload. Our article on generative AI and CAD ownership covers the open questions, and our SOLIDWORKS PDM security configuration guide shows how to limit which files a single workstation can reach.

How does this fit the bigger picture for CAD users?

Across our network this week, the common thread is what happens when valuable engineering data leaves through a trusted channel:

Conclusion

The MecAgent episode ended quickly: one user raised the alarm, the company paused and explained, and the free plan came back with a sign-in note. But the terms that matter most for CAD teams are still there. On the free tier, open SOLIDWORKS files and their references can be collected automatically, and the licence you grant is perpetual, irrevocable and survives deletion.
Use the moment to find out which AI tools already run on your CAD workstations, who agreed to their terms and what those terms allow. Then put the useful ones on company plans, keep sensitive files out of reach and keep dated proof of your designs.
Keep independent proof of your SOLIDWORKS designs, whichever AI tools your team tries.

BORIS for SOLIDWORKS adds blockchain timestamps and certificates of ownership to your CAD files from inside SOLIDWORKS, so you can show what your team designed and when.

👉 Get BORIS for SOLIDWORKS

FAQ: MecAgent, AI add-ins and SOLIDWORKS files

What is MecAgent?

An AI assistant for mechanical engineers that works inside SOLIDWORKS and can build parts, assemblies and drawings from instructions in plain language. It is made by MecAgent Inc., a start-up founded in 2025, and offers a free plan and paid plans.

Did MecAgent upload users' CAD files?

A user on r/SolidWorks reported in late October 2026 that the free version uploaded CAD files in the background. MecAgent replied that paid plans do not collect data and that free-tier data had been collected for possible future training that had not started. The user's technical findings have not been independently audited.

Is the free plan still collecting files?

The free plan returned on 2 November 2026 with a sign-in note explaining what it includes. The terms updated that day still allow automatic collection of open CAD files and the files they reference on the free tier. We found no public statement saying whether collection has resumed in practice.

Can I get my files deleted?

You can ask MecAgent for deletion, but the terms say deletion does not revoke the licence granted for free-tier data and does not require MecAgent to retrain AI models or delete derived data.

Does this affect SOLIDWORKS itself or Dassault Systemes?

No. MecAgent is an independent third-party add-in. The issue is about its terms and behaviour, not about SOLIDWORKS, PDM or Dassault Systemes' own AI features.

How does BORIS for SOLIDWORKS help?

It does not block uploads or audit add-ins. It gives your SOLIDWORKS files blockchain-timestamped certificates of ownership, so if a design is copied or reused you can still prove what your team created and when.