We're introducing two things that work together.
The first is the CalcTree desktop app for Windows. It is the same CalcTree you use in the browser, with the same workspaces and pages, running on the same computer as your engineering software.
The second is connections. Turn one on for your workspace and your calculations can read data from that software and write values back, and CalcTree AI can work with the files you have open. We are adding new connections all the time; the current list is at the end of this post.
These belong together because they're two halves of the same idea: CalcTree as a first-class part of your engineering software, not a web app you have to tab over to.
The desktop app is a free download, included on every CalcTree plan. If you'd like help setting connections up across a team, we'll do that with you. Setup and a guide to each connection are in the desktop app docs.
What changes about your day
If you've used CalcTree before, the workflow is the same, just connected.
Analysis workflow. Your analysis model produces results. A connection node reads the results you choose straight into your CalcTree page. Your calculation runs the code checks and the report shows the outcome. Change the model, re-run the analysis, click Run sync, and every check on the page updates. No CSV exports and no copy-paste.
Spreadsheet workflow. Your spreadsheets stay where they are. The cells your team has spent years tuning don't move. A connection node reads values into your page and writes page values back into the sheet. One sync does both in order: write the inputs, let the spreadsheet recalculate, read the results back.
Across your software. One model provides the analysis output, a spreadsheet provides the firm-specific inputs, and CalcTree holds the calculation, the documentation and the report. Each link is a connection node on the page, and one click re-runs the lot. The workflow is the artefact, not a folder full of stale CSVs.
CalcTree AI, working in your software
With connections on, CalcTree AI in the desktop app knows which connected software you have open. Ask it to work with that software and it can look inside the open file to see what is there, make a change you ask for, add a connection node to your page, or fill in the reads and writes on one you already have.
It never touches your software without asking. Each script it wants to run is shown to you first, and nothing runs until you approve it.
And the workflow becomes reusable
Connected pages save as templates.
Build a connected check once and save it as a template. On the next project, open the new model or file, point each connection node at it, and run. The new project lead provides the inputs, and the template does the rest. The new hire on the team learns the firm's approach by running it, not by being walked through it.
This is the bit that turns connections from a productivity feature into a knowledge-capture feature. Your firm's best workflows stop living in one senior engineer's head, or one Python script that breaks the day they leave. They become documented, shareable IP the firm owns.
It's the answer to a problem most engineering teams have lived with for so long they've stopped noticing: the difference between a firm that knows things and a firm where individual people know things.
How connections work
A workspace admin turns on the connections the team uses. From then on, any page can hold connection nodes.
A connection node is a block on your page tied to one open file. It holds a list of reads (data from the software brought into a page variable), a list of writes (a page variable sent back to the software) and, if you need it, a Python script for anything the mappings can't express.
Values that come in become ordinary page variables, so they appear in the page's dependency graph and flow into every calculation, check and report that uses them.
Most engineering software runs on your own computer, so the desktop app runs there too and talks to it directly. That is why connections need the desktop app. In the browser, colleagues see the values from the last sync, read-only.
The connections guide walks through turning a connection on, adding a node, syncing, scripting and building templates.
What we don't do
- We don't compete with the tools we connect to. CalcTree is a calculation platform. We're not building a parametric modeller, an analysis engine, or a CAD tool. The tools you currently use stay best-in-class at what they do. Connections just let data move between them and CalcTree cleanly.
- No training on your data. Data passing through connections is workspace-scoped and not used to train any model. Same policy as Knowledge Base.
- Your software stays in charge of your files. CalcTree reads and writes only what you map or approve. It doesn't save your files or re-run your analysis for you.
Available now
- ETABS
- Excel
Coming soon
- More CSI software: SAP2000, SAFE and CSiBridge
- SPACE GASS
- Bentley software: STAAD.Pro, RAM Concept and PLAXIS
Each available connection has its own guide in the connections docs.
Getting started
The Windows download is coming in the next few days. When it lands, you'll find it in the desktop app guide, along with setup and your first connection.
If you'd like to roll it out across a team, or tell us what to connect next, book a call.
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