What's new

We have shipped two large sprints worth of improvements over the past three weeks. This post bundles the user-facing changes you can use right now.

Workshop-grade precision

Every cutting plan now respects three new physical-shop realities:

• Kerf tolerance (±mm) — Free+. The optimizer first tries an exact-fit placement; only when nothing fits does it allow up to ±tolerance of give. Useful when your blade jitters between 3.0 and 3.2 mm or when imported demand sizes have rounding noise.
• Start / End trim (mm) — Free+. The effective length of every bar or sheet is reduced by start_trim + end_trim. The damaged clamped edge stops being treated as offcut material, so your scrap reports match what the workshop actually keeps.
• Cost per cut (€) — Pro+. Each piece adds 1 cut (1D) or 2 cuts (2D) to the project total, multiplied by your blade-and-time cost. The new “Cuts” and “Cut cost” stat cards make the trade-off between a tighter layout and an extra blade pass visible.

All three settings travel with the project. The dedicated Kerf tolerance article walks through a 5-step measurement protocol and a workshop-tolerance reference table (CNC 0 mm → hand-fed bandsaw 2–3 mm).

Workshop-grade exports

• DXF + SVG export is now a stand-alone Pro feature on the landing page. The DXF target is R12, so it opens in AutoCAD LT, Inkscape, OnShape, Fusion, and every mainstream CNC post-processor without conversion.
• SVG files now include an xmlns declaration and an <?xml ... ?> prologue so the downloaded file opens correctly in Inkscape and any standalone SVG viewer.
• CSV files prepend a UTF-8 BOM so Excel automatically detects the encoding — no more garbled diacritics.
• Filename pattern is unified across PDF / CSV / DXF / SVG: <company-slug>-cutting-plan-<timestamp>.<ext>.

Saved offcuts go cross-device

Pro and Business users no longer lose their offcut inventory when they switch browsers. The “Saved offcuts” list now lives in the database (/api/offcuts-inventory), with a one-time silent migration from your existing localStorage on your next visit. Free users keep their browser-local storage as before.

Settings audit + 5 real bug fixes

We audited the entire /app Settings sidebar against the running optimizer code. Five settings looked like they did something but actually had no effect on the result:

• Stock prioritization (★ icon per row) now actually sorts the stock list before optimization.
• Min. offcut size advanced inputs (W / H / L) are now actually consulted by the inline optimizer.
• Cost minimization mode now sorts stock by _price ascending — pick the cheapest sheet first.
• Cut type and Unit (mm/cm) selects were phantoms — the code never read them. They have been removed. Cut type stays guillotine for now; nested layout is on the roadmap. Unit stays in millimetres; cm / inch is planned for v2.

Faster perceived UX with skeleton loading

We added a reusable Skeleton placeholder and wired it into five async paths so you no longer stare at empty space while data loads:

• The optimization run paints a stats-and-sheet skeleton before computing, so the layout shift is gone on big jobs.
• The PDF dropdown shows a busy state while jsPDF lazy-loads.
• The dashboard billing-history list, project-delete card, and Pro offcut inventory load all show structured placeholders during their network round-trip.

Login and accessibility polish

• Show / hide password toggle on Login + Register, with a Caps Lock warning.
• Inline per-field validation with role="alert" for screen readers.
• Public accessibility statement is now available in all 8 languages — see accessibility.

What’s next

Sprint 6 picks up Feature Pack 2 Phase 2 (P1): off-cut auto-include, assembly groups, and a richer Material Library. Sprint 7 brings the first Pillar A2 export (G-code).

Have a feature request or hit a bug? Reply to any CutOptim email or use the contact form.