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How can I import FreeCAD from the python console?

I'm trying to write a script that can manipulate a given FreeCAD file, but I can't even get FreeCAD imported into the python console on a system where FreeCAD is installed.

user@disp7637:~$ sudo dpkg -l | grep -i freecad
ii  freecad                                       0.19.1+dfsg1-2+deb11u1             all          Extensible Open Source CAx program
ii  freecad-common                                0.19.1+dfsg1-2+deb11u1             all          Extensible Open Source CAx program - common files
ii  freecad-python3                               0.19.1+dfsg1-2+deb11u1             amd64        Extensible Open Source CAx program - Python 3 binaries
ii  libfreecad-python3-0.19                       0.19.1+dfsg1-2+deb11u1             amd64        Extensible Open Source CAx program - Python 3 library files
user@disp7637:~$ 

user@disp7637:~$ python3
Python 3.9.2 (default, Feb 28 2021, 17:03:44) 
[GCC 10.2.1 20210110] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import FreeCAD
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'FreeCAD'
>>> import freecad
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'freecad'
>>>

I am running Debian 11

user@disp7637:~$ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 11 \n \l

user@disp7637:~$

How can I import FreeCAD in the python console?

Michael Altfield
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1 Answers1

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Ah, I think the post you're referring to is overselling things a bit when it says

There is also possibility to import FreeCAD as a Python module but this is more complex.

FreeCAD in itself embeds python to give access to its internal state to scripts running within in the FreeCAD process.

So, things like import order start to matter. Anyways, here we go:

Because the modules are so interlinked with FreeCAD, they're not installed to python standard module paths; instead, you will find them in /usr/lib/freecad-python3/lib on debian. So,

from sys import path as syspath
syspath.append("/usr/lib/freecad-python3/lib")
syspath.append("/usr/share/freecad/Mod/")

import FreeCAD
import Draft

By the way, other distros more stubbornly use architectural names for these subfolders, so on Fedora and related distros, the path happens to be /usr/lib64/freecad/lib64, at least on x86_64.

Michael Altfield
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Marcus Müller
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  • I used `import sys; sys.path.append()`, but it works! Any reason to use `syspath` instaed of `sys.path()`? – Michael Altfield Aug 16 '23 at 14:48
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    I thought it might be confusing to have different things called "path", as FreeCAD contains a `Path` module. – Marcus Müller Aug 16 '23 at 14:59
  • It wasn't in the question, but you'll also need to add `/usr/share/freecad/Mod/` to your syspath to add tools like the Draft workbench (eg `import Draft`). Would you mind adding this to your answer? – Michael Altfield Aug 17 '23 at 12:34