Steel & Profile Cutting Optimization API
Yes — there is an API for steel and profile cutting. Cutting steel or aluminium profile, bar, angle or section to length is a 1D cutting-stock problem, and the same engine that powers the CutOptim app is callable over HTTP. Your ERP, estimating or production software sends the cut list and the available stock lengths as JSON and gets back the optimized cut plan, the number of bars and the yield.
This is live today — the CutOptim engine already runs 1D optimization in production for the app; the Engine API exposes the same solver over HTTP, so a steel detailing or ERP tool can price and plan a job without a browser.
POST /v1/optimize/1d
{
"parts": [
{ "length": 1450, "qty": 12, "meta": { "profile": "IPE-140" } },
{ "length": 3100, "qty": 6 }
],
"stock": [{ "length": 12000, "qty": 40, "price": 58.0 }],
"options": { "kerf": 3, "minimizeCost": true }
}- — Live today on POST /v1/optimize/1d — the same engine as the app.
- — minimizeCost ranks plans by total stock price, not just bar count, and returns totalPrice.
- — Free validation: POST /v1/validate/1d checks a job with no key and no quota.
- — Attach a meta object (profile designation, order line) and it comes back on every cut.
Why steel fabricators need it
Structural steel and aluminium profile is bought in long bars and cut to many lengths. Cutting in list order wastes a published 15–30% of the stock; a 1D optimizer rearranges the cuts across bars to cut that sharply. Inside an estimating or ERP workflow, the API does it on every job automatically instead of by hand.
What you send and what comes back
Send the part lengths and quantities and the available stock bar lengths and prices as JSON. The response returns the cut plan bar by bar, the bar count, the yield, the total length sawn, and the usable off-cut on each bar. Attach a meta object — your profile designation or order line — and it comes back on every placed cut, so the plan reconciles with your system.
Deterministic — reproducible for quotes and audits
The same request always returns the same cut plan. A quote built from an API call is reproducible for an audit or a repeat order, and results can be cached and diffed in tests — the property a quoting workflow needs.
A two-page summary — the problem, what you send and get back, a request and response, and how to build on the engine. Print-ready, with a QR back to this page.