Installation

Requirements#

• Rhino 8, version 8.0 or higher, on Windows or macOS.
• A Wrengler account. The plug-in presents a sign-in wall on open and runs no study without a session: the gate applies to Rhino commands typed at the prompt as well as to the panel.
• An internet connection at first launch, to load the panel and sign in.

The compute engine runs GPU-first, but every study also runs on the CPU on any machine, so every study works without special hardware.

Your account#

Once you have access, sign in from the panel with email and password or with GitHub. GitHub opens your system browser and returns to Rhino on its own. An account created through GitHub has no password, so use the same button next time.

After you sign in, Wrengler checks your account online while you work. The sign-in renews itself in the background, and every study checks your subscription before it runs, Free or Pro. A check is reused for about ten minutes while you work, so you only notice it after a pause.

There is no offline mode. Without a connection, studies wait until Wrengler can check again. When the connection comes back you carry on where you were, without signing in again. A machine that has never signed in cannot run a study, and there is no air-gapped or trial mode.

Your model is not part of any of this: analysis runs locally on your own machine and no geometry is uploaded to be analyzed.

Install on Windows#

During the preview, the Windows plug-in is provided as part of a pilot. Once released, it installs from Rhino's Package Manager:

1. In Rhino 8, go to Tools → Package Manager and search for Wrengler.
2. Click Install, then restart Rhino when prompted.
3. Type Wrengler in the command line. The panel opens, typically docked on the right, and asks you to sign in.

Updates arrive the same way: Update in Package Manager, then restart. Uninstall is Uninstall in the same place.

On Windows, studies run on the CPU today. Support for NVIDIA GPUs is in progress, so an NVIDIA card does not speed studies up yet.

Install on macOS#

During the preview, the macOS plug-in is provided as part of a pilot. Ask about a pilot. On Apple Silicon, studies run on the GPU and fall back to the CPU on their own.

Verify#

Type Wrengler in the command line. The panel should appear, docked, showing the sign-in form (or the interface, if you are already signed in).

"An internet connection is required": the panel is a web app the plug-in loads over the network, and it could not be reached. Check your connection or proxy and reopen the panel; nothing is wrong with the install. The engine on your machine is unaffected, but a study still needs a session, so studies stay blocked until the panel loads and you sign in.

Panel won't open, or shows blank: restart Rhino, then check the command history (_CommandHistory) for errors.

Asked to check your connection, or to sign in again: Wrengler renews your sign-in in the background while you are online, and could not reach the server. Reconnect and it carries on by itself; you only need to sign in again if you signed out, or your password or access changed.

A study says Wrengler could not check your subscription: every study checks your plan online first, Free or Pro. Reconnect and run it again.

Runs slower than expected: check the backend diagnostics to see which backend was selected, and update your GPU drivers. This only affects speed; every backend returns the same answer.

Next#

First steps: run your first study.