Community Guidelines

Last updated: October 2026

CommunityCAD is a place for makers and engineers to share designs, help each other make things, and credit the people who made them. These guidelines keep it useful and welcoming. They're part of the Terms of Service.

1. Share what's yours to share#

  • Only upload work you made, or have permission or a license to share.
  • Respect licenses: if you remix someone's model, follow its license and credit the original creator with a link.
  • Don't upload paid or proprietary models, manufacturer files you don't have the right to distribute, or anything confidential.
  • Don't remove credits, watermarks or license notices from others' work.

2. Be honest and useful#

  • Describe models accurately: what it is, what it's for, and its known limitations. Say if a model is untested.
  • Use real images, or clearly labelled renders. Don't use images of a product you didn't model.
  • Rate honestly and only what you've used or checked. Don't rate your own models, trade ratings, or ask others to rate dishonestly.
  • Comments should help: questions, tips, results, constructive feedback.

3. Be decent#

  • No harassment, bullying, threats, hate speech or slurs, and nothing that demeans people for who they are.
  • Disagree with ideas, not people.
  • Don't post anyone's personal information (address, phone number, private photos, and so on) without their consent.

4. Photos and print posts#

  • Post photos and videos of your own prints and projects.
  • Don't include people who haven't agreed to be shown, and never post images of children.
  • Make sure nothing private is visible in the background: documents, screens, addresses, licence plates.
  • Keep captions about the print. Don't use posts to advertise unrelated things.

5. 18+ content#

CommunityCAD is for sharing designs freely, and that includes some things not everyone wants to see. If your content is for adults, mark it 18+ (the checkbox when you upload or edit). It's required for:

  • adult or sexual content, including nudity;
  • firearms, firearm parts and firearm accessories, functional or not, where sharing them is legal for you;
  • graphic violence or gore.

18+ content is never shown to anyone under 18 or to signed-out visitors, and adults see it blurred unless they choose otherwise. It never carries ads or a donation button. Unmarked 18+ content gets marked or removed by moderators, and repeatedly leaving it unmarked can cost you upload privileges.

Firearm files: the laws on sharing and downloading them differ between countries and US states, and following the ones that apply to you is your responsibility. We remove firearm files when we receive a valid legal notice.

6. Content that isn't allowed#

Marked 18+ or not, in models, images, descriptions, comments or posts:

  • Sexual content involving minors, or anyone who appears to be a minor (we report it to the authorities).
  • Intimate images of a real person shared without their consent.
  • Explosives and destructive devices, and instructions for making them.
  • Anything else illegal to distribute under US federal law, or that facilitates a crime.
  • Content that encourages self-harm.
  • Malware, or files designed to damage computers, printers or machines.
  • Dangerous designs presented as safe: don't present a part as fit for safety-critical, medical, load-bearing or high-voltage use unless you clearly say how you tested it and its limits.
  • Spam: repetitive or low-effort uploads, keyword stuffing, unrelated advertising, link farms, or mass-uploading others' work.

7. Accounts and the API#

  • One person, one account. Don't use extra accounts to get around limits, bans or reviews.
  • Don't impersonate people or companies, or claim a connection to a company you don't have.
  • Give your real date of birth. Lying about your age to see or post 18+ content gets the account closed.
  • Use the API and plugin as intended, without scraping or sharing tokens. See the Terms.

8. Reporting and enforcement#

See something that breaks these guidelines, or 18+ content that isn't marked? Use Report on it. For copyright, see the DMCA policy.

Depending on how serious and repeated it is, we may:

  • remove the content;
  • block uploads or comments for a period;
  • suspend the account, temporarily or permanently;
  • report illegal content to the authorities.

Model creators may also hide print posts and print profiles on their own models.

We try to be fair and to explain our decisions. If you think we got it wrong, email contact@communitycad.dev.

These guidelines will evolve with the community. The date at the top shows the last change.