Connections that use more steel than they need
Run each connection type through Calcs.com calculators and list the ones that pass, lightest first, so the engineer chooses with the steel weight in front of them.
Hackathons
Hackathon for your team's calc workflow.
We run a hackathon inside your firm, on the kind of problems your projects throw up. Tell us what your team would want to build, and we'll plan it with you.
Half a day minimum · Any tool that can call our API · Coding helps, but isn't required
10
builders
6.5
hours
5
working tools
9,000
calculations
Our own internal hackathon, September 2026.
Problems your team could take on
A structural engineering hackathon turns your backlog of hand work into tools your engineers built themselves. Here are a few problems a team could take on with Calcs.com calcs and our API.
The same connection, designed node by node
Group the nodes in a building that share geometry, sections and loads, so each group is designed once rather than one node at a time.
Base plates sized by trial and error
Lay the passing plate and rod options side by side with their fabrication cost estimates, and leave the choice with the engineer.
Analysis results and design checks in different places
Send the members of an analysis model to Calcs.com calculators and see each check result back on the model.
The same load lookup at the start of every project
Turn a US site address into its ASCE 7 wind, snow and seismic loads, ready for the project's design basis sheet.
Not knowing which input drives the design
Vary one input across a range and see which checks change, and by how much.
Want to see what a team can build? Browse the hackathon ideas from our own team.
What your firm gets
Working tools on the problems your projects throw up
Our team built five in 6.5 hours. One grouped 68 beam ends into 12 designs: 82% fewer calc sheets to set up and check.
Engineers who keep building
You don't need a software team. Our builders were structural engineers, our head of product and a growth marketer.
A shortlist worth funding
You see which workflows are worth building out before you commit budget to any of them.
Results your reviewers can check
Every engineering check traces to a calc sheet with its formulas, code references and utilization ratios.
How a hackathon at your firm works
A pilot takes months to scope. A demo shows someone else's problem. A hackathon puts your engineers on the kind of problems your projects throw up, with Calcs.com engineers in the room.
We ran one for our own team first. Five teams of two built working tools on our calcs and API in six and a half hours.
Every result can be checked. Teams build on calculators our structural engineers have verified, and every result shows its formula, inputs and referenced clause.
You bring the problems. We meet your team and choose the hand work worth automating: recurring tasks like the ones your projects throw up, not a made-up brief.
Your engineers build. They work in small teams with Calcs.com calcs and our API, CalcsConnect, in any tool that can call it, with Calcs.com engineers on hand.
We plan it around your firm. Tell us what your team would want to build, and we'll agree the format with you before anyone starts.
You take it further. You get a write-up of what was built and a recommended next step for each tool.
Why the results hold up
Anyone can build an interface in an afternoon now. Few of those builds can show their work.
AI drafts the model or the inputs. Calcs.com runs the check against the standard, in a real calc sheet. Your engineer opens it, changes an input and watches the checks rerun. The engineer stays accountable, and every result is there to review.
What your engineers build on
A request goes in, and the same calculation engineers open in Calcs.com comes back with every check it ran.
Request
POST/v1/projects
curl --request POST \
--url https://api.calcs.com/v1/projects \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer $CALCS_API_KEY' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"name": "Smith residence"
}'Replay of a real run. Nothing is sent from this page.
Response
Not sentSend the request to see the response
What your user sees
Floor joist J1
2x10 D.Fir-L No. 1 · 16 in o.c. · 14 ft span · 10 psf dead, 40 psf live
Create a project, then run the calculation.
Who it's for
Engineering firms
Your engineers build tools for the connection, member and load work they repeat on every job. You leave with prototypes and a team that knows how to build the next one.
Manufacturers
Run it for your own technical team to turn the sizing, selection and quoting work they repeat into tools built on your product calcs. Or host it for the engineers who specify you, so they leave using your products in their own design work.
Keep going with Calcs.com
CalcsConnect
The structural calculation API and MCP from Calcs.com, the one your engineers build on.
CalcsAI
It never does the math itself. Every number runs through your verified, deterministic calculators, and it shows the logic behind the answer.
AI workshops for your team
Half-day workshops that each end with something your team keeps: a prompt sheet, a draft AI policy, or a recurring task rebuilt.
Common questions
Plan a hackathon at your firm
Tell us what your team would want to build, and we'll reply to plan it with you.
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