The agent supports CAD preparation, simulation setup, physics analysis and results review through natural-language prompts.
SimScale, a cloud-based engineering simulation platform, announced the launch of the SimScale Engineering AI Agent within PTC’s Onshape cloud-native CAD and product data management platform. The announcement was made at IMTS 2026 in Chicago. The agent allows engineers to initiate simulation workflows through natural-language prompts without leaving the Onshape environment. It can propose simulation setups, prepare CAD geometry for simulation, run physics-based analyses and explain results using engineering terminology.
The agent is available as an integrated application through the Onshape App Store. Onshape users must enable the application before accessing it in their workspace, following the process used for other Onshape applications.
Engineering simulation workflows often involve exporting CAD models, opening separate simulation software and relying on specialists to configure the analysis. The SimScale Engineering AI Agent is designed to support these tasks within the design environment. It can recommend applicable physics, prepare geometry for meshing and propose boundary conditions before running a simulation.
The Engineering AI Agent integrates SimScale’s simulation capabilities into Onshape. It operates on SimScale’s physics platform, which supports computational fluid dynamics (CFD), thermal analysis, electromagnetic (EMag) simulation and finite element analysis (FEA). From a single prompt, the agent can work with a CAD model, including geometry that requires preparation, propose a simulation setup, generate a mesh, run the analysis and return results within Onshape. Engineers can review or modify the setup, change boundary conditions and examine assumptions during the workflow before allowing the agent to continue.
SimScale introduced the launch as part of its approach to integrating AI agents into engineering workflows. The approach focuses on enabling agents to perform simulation-related tasks within the environments where engineers make design decisions, rather than requiring users to move between separate applications.
The agent operates through the SimScale Agent API, which provides access to run information and supports automated computing resource provisioning. The API is designed to support auditability and data governance within the customer’s existing environment, allowing users to review agent activities and data handling.
The platform is used by more than 900,000 engineers for CFD, FEA, thermal and electromagnetic simulation. Withings is among the companies using the platform and reduced its design-to-prototype cycle by seven times by moving simulation earlier in the design process. The Onshape integration is intended to make simulation capabilities available within the CAD workflow, including for engineers who do not work directly with dedicated simulation teams.
The SimScale Engineering AI Agent is available through the Onshape App Store. Onshape users need to enable the app before it appears inside their workspace.
