Twinwright Studio

CAM, simulation and the controller’s own firmware, in one program.

Every alarm, every error code and the controller's timing of a feed hold come from the controller firmware the MC-1 ships with. Around it, Studio simulates the machine — motors, spindle, cutting, switches and wiring — and its CAM writes programs that have already run in that twin.

Download Studio Browse all examples

Windows 11 (x64) · Linux x86-64 · Studio 1.2

The Run workspace during a job: the program with its structure by layer, the gauges, the cut figures, and the machine bar with the E-stop on F1.

Firmware in the loop

The machine's firmware, not an imitation

The twin runs Twinwright's controller firmware — the code the MC-1's controller runs — on a deterministic virtual clock. The planner, the step timing, homing, probing and every error path are the firmware's own. A run replays bit for bit, on Windows or Linux.

Speaks the Grbl serial protocol: senders such as bCNC, CNCjs, gSender and UGS connect to the twin as to a machine
Motion alone runs from a few dozen to about 100× faster than real time, depending on the computer and what else it is doing; with material removal usually several times faster
The same $ settings configure the twin and the MC-1

Check mode in the Program workspace: the controller refuses three lines of a bracket program, and the check against the setup finds a rapid move into the workpiece.

See the cut

See the cut, not just the path

The workpiece is a height map with a top and a bottom for every cell, so slots, pockets and undercuts come out as they would. Colour it by deviation from your CAD, by feed, force, chip thickness or chatter margin — click any spot to jump to the line that cut it.

Resolution down to 0.01 mm
Export the machined part as STL or a height-map PNG
Compare with a design part at your tolerance

The NEMA 17 motor mount plate (example e01), cut by its own program on its tape-and-MDF setup.

Workspaces

Six workspaces, one machine bar

Setup, CAM, Program, Run, Analysis and Diagnostics, each a key away (Alt+1–6). The machine bar at the bottom never moves: state, progress, the alarm with its one next step, the virtual clock, the machine keys and the E-stop on F1. Five levels from Demo to Researcher show only the workspaces that level needs.

Demo shows Run; Operator adds Setup and Program; Technician adds Diagnostics
Engineer adds CAM and Analysis; Researcher adds the Model and data card
A light “studio” look, or the dark shop mode with large coordinates and keys for the workshop
Panes resize by dragging; the 3D view draws at the screen's own refresh rate

Shop mode: dark, with large coordinates, knobs and machine keys for the workshop.

Failure training

Practise the bad day

Break a limit-switch wire, make a sensor glitch, trip a drive alarm, press E-stop mid-cut or pull the mains plug. Studio reproduces how the controller and the electrics of the MC-1 react, including the ones that are silent and dangerous — and the machine bar shows the one next step to recover.

Wire faults: open, short, intermittent, glitch
Drive alarms, VFD communication loss, power loss and cold start
Every consequence is from the firmware, not a script

A drive alarm: the machine bar names it and offers the one next step; the 3D view marks the drive.

Studio 1.2

What 1.2 does — all of it.

Machine control, CAM, inspection, the controller firmware and the AI tools around them. Each item says where you use it — in the window, through your AI assistant (which drives Studio’s engine) or from the command line — and which edition it needs.

Run the machine

One next step after an alarmThe machine bar names the alarm, its one next step and a button for it; the steps after that are listed with their reasons, and a restart from a line is previewed on a copy first.In the window
The spindle speed typed inDouble-click the reading, type the speed, press Enter — refused outside the machine’s range.In the window
Keys, handwheel, gamepadJog by key with stops on key-up and focus loss, an on-screen handwheel (×1, ×10, ×100), or an Xbox-type gamepad as the handwheel.In the windowWindows
The machine’s soundMotors, the VFD’s carrier, the cutting tone with its chatter and the room around it, following the 3D view.In the windowWindows
Light, dark, shop modeLight, dark or as the system; shop mode adds large numbers and keys for the workshop or a projector.In the window
Up to ×200 and FastestRun the twin at up to ×200 or as fast as the computer can, or compute to the end; the results are the same at any speed.In the windowThrough your AI assistant

Set up and probe

Room above the blankThe setup checks every tool’s reach against the highest clamp and warns under 5 mm, naming the tool that does not clear.In the window
The probe panelEdge, corner, bore, boss, top face and ring-gauge calibration: the path shown in 3D and tried in the twin first; the work zero changes only with your OK.In the window
Materials by any standard’s nameEN AW-6061, C45, SUS304, 1.4301 and more, read as the nearest of 17 materials with the cutting data that goes with it.In the window
37 standard tools22 metric and 15 inch cutters, H7 reamers, thread mills and the touch probe, ready for the tool table.In the window

CAM

Fits to ISO 286Ø8 H7, 6 N9: cut to the middle of the tolerance zone with a finishing pass of their own, spring passes where the twin predicts deflection, a reamer where it is the right tool.Through your AI assistant
Threads by nameM8, 1/4-20 UNC, G1/4, and tapered NPT and Rc pipe threads milled on their cone.Through your AI assistant
Up to eight setupsTurn the part over and keep its zero: front and back in one job.In the windowMaker
NestingParts on a plate, small ones inside the holes of large ones, with tabs.In the windowPro
Versions and replayEvery version of a job kept, with undo and the AI’s marked; the toolpath replayed layer by layer.In the window

Inspect and report

Inspect the finished partPockets, contours, holes, bosses, chamfers and V grooves measured with the probe against the design, judged by ISO 2768 or ISO 286, beside the twin’s estimate.Through your AI assistantPro
ReportsCSV and PDF in English, Chinese and Japanese, regenerated byte for byte and chained in the audit log.Through your AI assistantPro
Setup sheetsOne printable page per job: blank, fixture, tools, zero, room above the blank, operations and times.Through your AI assistantPro
The part libraryEach cut part kept with its program version, work zero, blank, set-up and measurements — export it, or set the machine up to make it again.In the windowThrough your AI assistant

The controller firmware

Beyond GrblCutter compensation (G41/G42), path blending (G64 P), O-word subroutines and loops, expressions, a 32-tool table, arcs on the true circle.In the window
Stops where others carry onThe job stops 0.1 s after the sender is lost; an alarm when the spindle drive stops by itself; glitch-filtered probe and homing switches.In the window
Checked26,701 random programs compared with a reference engine; 51 motion scenarios step for step the same on Windows and Linux.
Shadow mode (preview)Studio between your sender and the machine, the twin running the same lines, a guard holding back a predicted crash. Not yet run on a real machine.Command line

AI and MCP

47 toolsMachine, setup, CAM jobs, probing and inspection, programs, runs and results, the part library, the window's settings and this manual — every result names the machine it came from.Through your AI assistant
Any assistant, local or cloudAnthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM, LM Studio or Ollama; keys stored encrypted on your computer.In the window
Asks before it actsChanges to your machine wait for your OK; the AI is never part of a safety function and only reads a real machine.In the window

Interface, languages, trust

Six workspaces, five levelsSetup, CAM, Program, Run, Analysis and Diagnostics — from Demo to Researcher, each level showing what it needs.In the window
Six languagesEnglish, Chinese, German, French, Japanese and Spanish, switched while running; Japanese kanji in their Japanese forms; a screen reader on Windows.In the window
Numbers as you write themA “reads as” preview, a decimal comma, inch fractions, and a cost estimate at your machine-hour rate.In the window
Several machinesEach keeps its own world — workpiece, tool, offsets, temperatures — where you left it.In the window
Nothing goes out on its ownStudio itself contacts us only to start a trial and to activate and renew a licence, and — for a report you send with Help > Report a problem — to send it and, while it is open, to ask for our replies; crash reports stay on your computer unless you attach them to a report. The AI assistant sends your messages and what you attach to the service you choose, with your key — or use a local model and everything stays on your computer.
Help > Report a problemSend a problem, a question or an idea from Studio; the replies come under Help > My reports and in your account.In the window

The free Learning edition has everything not marked Maker or Pro.

Workspaces

From the first step to the recovery.

Setup walks you from power-on to the cut, Diagnostics shows the electrics and lets you break them, and after an alarm the machine offers one step at a time.

Setup: the steps from power-on to the cut, the setup in 3D and the tool table.

After a drive alarm: every recovery step, why it is needed, and its key.

Diagnostics: the power chain, the input signals and fault injection.

Also in Studio

Plan the part here. Let an AI help.

Studio is also where programs are planned, written, debugged and made faster — by you or by an AI assistant working on a twin.

CAM · 2.5 and 3 axes

CAM that knows the machine

Toolpaths from drawings, text or meshes, cutting data estimated from the twin's physics, and a trial run in the twin before you see the program.

CAM →Editor · debugger · optimizer

An editor that knows the machine

Per-line times, 15 static rules, breakpoints on force or chatter, restart from any line, versions and an optimizer.

Programming →MCP server · assistant · audit log

AI on twins, never on the machine

One click connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or LM Studio; or chat in Studio with your own key. Every call is in a hash-chained log.

AI & MCP →

Verification

Find the problem before the machine does.

A Studio run is an audit of your program on this machine.

Syntax and static rules

the controller's check mode, line by line, plus 15 rules for what it accepts but should not

Rapids into material

G0 moves that would cut, found by look-ahead

Spindle not running

cutting with the spindle stopped or still ramping up

Collisions and near misses

tool, shank and holder against vise, clamps, table and tool setter

Soft limits

moves outside the travel, before they raise an alarm

Chatter

stability margin for every cut, with a better spindle speed

Overload

spindle load, VFD current and drive torque against their limits

Part deviation

the finished workpiece against your STL, cell by cell

Five levels

The interface grows with you.

Demo	Load an example, press cycle start, watch: the Run workspace only.
Operator	Adds Setup and Program: workholding, tools, zero, the program and its check.
Technician	Adds Diagnostics: the power chain, signals, drives, the VFD and fault injection.
Engineer	Adds CAM and Analysis: toolpaths, curves, per-line profile, stability chart.
Researcher	Everything, plus the Model and data card: how many model values are assumed, from the literature or calibrated.

Automation

Script it, record it, branch it.

A lockstep API gives programs full control of virtual time; a standard-library Python package wraps it. From the command line, record any session and play it back on a timeline, read the recording with the official mcap tools (MCAP) or sigrok (step pulses as VCD), or branch a new run from any moment of an old one.

Research & labs AI & MCP

Python · lockstep session

from mc1twin import Twin

with Twin(drive="L1") as t:                # the MC-1 with closed-loop drives
    t.home()
    t.setup(shape="block", size=[60, 40, 10], material="6061-T6",
            fixture="vise", at=[100, 75])
    t.tool("flat 6 n3 L20")
    t.job(open("bracket.nc").read(), start=True)
    t.until("job", timeout=900)             # virtual seconds, runs far faster
    print(t.compare(0.02))                 # deviation from the design part
    print(t.summary()["hash"]["all"])       # identical on every machine

System requirements

Operating system: Windows 11, 64-bit; Linux on x86-64 with glibc 2.38 or later (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39 and newer), X11 or Wayland
Graphics: Windows: Direct3D 11 (feature level 10.0 or later), software rendering (WARP) as a fallback. Linux: OpenGL 4.1 or later
Screen: 1280 × 720 or larger
Processor and memory: Any x64 CPU from the last ten years; 8 GB of memory or more
Disk: About 62 MB for the program on Windows and 58 MB on Linux, plus your programs and recordings
macOS and Linux: Linux: Studio 1.2.1, as an AppImage or a .tar.gz. macOS: not yet
Interface languages: English, Simplified Chinese, German, French, Japanese and Spanish built in, switched while running; more languages as language packs

What Studio does not do (yet)

It simulates the MC-1. Twins of other machines are on the roadmap.
Three axes. A fourth axis will follow the hardware.
The CAM covers 2.5 and 3 axes on one setup. For four or five axes, turning or STEP files, use another CAM — Studio checks and simulates its G-code like any other program.
Model values are design and literature values until the first machines are measured; the Researcher level counts how many are assumed, from the literature or calibrated.

FAQ

Is Studio free?

For learning and personal projects, yes, for good: the whole twin, the CAM for everyday parts, the editor and the AI connection. Maker and Pro add commercial use and the advanced CAM — see Pricing. Every MC-1 comes with Pro for that machine.

Do I need the MC-1 to use Studio?

No. Studio is a complete simulator on its own. Most people will only ever use the twin.

How close is the twin to the real machine?

The controller firmware is the same code by construction (the board's own drivers are modelled in the twin); its run on the real board is checked when the first machines are built. The mechanics, spindle and cutting models use design data and published values today, so what they show is an estimate; each is to be calibrated against measurements on the prototype machines, and every production MC-1 is to ship with a twin profile set to its own measurements (the procedure and tools are written and tested on the twin; no machine has been built yet).

Can I use my own CAM?

Yes. Use a post-processor for Grbl; Studio reads plain G-code files, and its check names every line this controller would refuse or run differently than intended. Studio's own CAM is there when you want it.

Can an AI assistant use Studio?

Yes. Studio has an MCP server built in: switch AI on and connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or a local model with one click — see AI & MCP. The AI works on twins, never on a real machine.

Can Studio simulate my Shapeoko, 3018 or other machine?

Not yet. Twins of other machines are on the roadmap; tell us which machine you have.