Installing

Beta. During the private beta, the install command comes with your beta invite. If you'd like to join, email contact@communitycad.dev.

Use at your own risk#

The plugin comes with no warranty. Files on CommunityCAD are made by other people and aren't checked, and a file made for another printer can damage yours. You're responsible for your printer. Please read Safety before you install. The installer shows the same notice and asks before changing anything.

Before you start#

You need:

• A printer running Klipper with Moonraker and either Mainsail or Fluidd, for example MainsailOS on a Raspberry Pi.
• nginx with the sub_filter module. It's included in nginx-core and nginx-full, which MainsailOS and KIAUH installs use. nginx-light on Debian 11 doesn't include it; the installer checks and tells you if so.
• An SSH session to the Pi, as the user that runs Klipper (usually pi).
• For on-printer slicing (optional): 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS / Debian 12 or newer, a Pi 4 or Pi 5, and about 1 GB of free memory while slicing. OrcaSlicer has no 32-bit build, and older boards don't have the memory.

Installing#

1. Download the plugin to the Pi using the command in your beta invite.

2. In that folder, run the installer:

   ./scripts/install.sh
   

   It shows a short notice (the plugin comes with no warranty and you're responsible for your printer) and asks you to type y.

3. Reload Mainsail or Fluidd in your browser. A CommunityCAD entry appears in the navigation.

If you run several printers on one Pi with KIAUH, the installer asks which instances to install for.

What the installer changes#

The installer only adds files; it never edits Mainsail or Fluidd. Specifically, it:

• adds an include line and two small snippet files to the nginx site that serves your interface, then tests the config with nginx -t and rolls back automatically if the test fails;
• adds a [communitycad] section to moonraker.conf and links the plugin's component into Moonraker, then restarts Moonraker;
• creates ~/communitycad (the plugin) and ~/printer_data/communitycad (its settings and your link token);
• backs up every file it changes.

At the end it checks that the interface loads with CommunityCAD in it.

Adding on-printer slicing#

Slicing is a separate, optional step, because it downloads OrcaSlicer (about 135 MB) and installs a few system libraries with sudo apt. From the plugin's folder, run:

./scripts/install-orca.sh

The download is checked against a fixed checksum before it's unpacked to ~/communitycad/orca. See Slicing, materials and profiles.

Updating#

Release installs add an entry to Moonraker's update manager, so the plugin updates from the Update panel in Mainsail or Fluidd, like Klipper itself. If CommunityCAD needs a newer plugin, the plugin shows Update available, and only the actions that would fail are blocked.

Checking an install#

If something looks wrong after an update of Mainsail, Fluidd or KIAUH, run this from the plugin's folder:

./scripts/healthcheck.sh

It catches the known ways an install can silently break. See Troubleshooting.

Uninstalling#

1. Unlink first: in the plugin's Settings, choose Unlink, or disconnect the printer on CommunityCAD (your profile → Printers). Uninstalling doesn't remove the printer from your account.

2. From the plugin's folder, run:

   ./scripts/uninstall.sh
   

It removes the Moonraker section, the nginx changes and OrcaSlicer, then checks that your interface is back to exactly what it was before.

It keeps your files: models and projects you saved, materials.cfg, print_profiles.cfg, and the plugin's settings folder (so a reinstall doesn't need re-linking). Delete ~/printer_data/communitycad yourself if you want those gone too.