> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.docs.forgeshipyard.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Forge Fits Your Existing Tools

> Forge sits around your current software, not in place of it.

<Note>
  **In plain terms:** Forge does not ask you to replace anything. Your CAD tools
  still draw the ship and your ERP still runs the yard. Forge is the intelligence
  layer that wraps around them.
</Note>

## Forge is the layer around your tools

Your yard already runs design and production software. Forge does not compete with
it:

| Your tool today                           | What it does                   | What Forge adds around it                                                    |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ShipConstructor, AutoCAD, CADMATIC, Rhino | Draw the ship and its 3D model | Reads the model's measurements and checks them against the rules             |
| NAPA and stability tools                  | Run engineering calculations   | Connects material changes to their effect on stability before purchase       |
| ERP and BOM spreadsheets                  | Track materials and the yard   | Links each material back to the design decision and source that justified it |
| ABS and USCG rule documents               | Define what is legal and safe  | Applies the right rule, with a citation, automatically                       |

The strategic principle is simple: Forge becomes the **CAD-aware intelligence
layer** that helps a yard know what is known, what is missing, what changed,
which rules apply, what evidence supports a decision, and what needs human
approval before a design moves into production.

## A phased rollout, not a rip-and-replace

No yard can halt production to overhaul its systems, so adoption is incremental.
It starts where the leverage is highest and the risk lowest, and each phase builds
the clean data and the confidence the next one needs.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Design and bidding">
    Start here. Speed up basic design and reuse of prior vessels. Highest payoff,
    lowest risk.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Procurement and compliance">
    Add automatic rule and clash checking so conflicts surface before steel is
    bought.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Cross-yard assembly">
    Add a shared live model so separate yards stay in sync down to the
    millimeter.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## It starts in observe-only mode

When Forge first arrives at a yard it runs in **observe-only mode**. The AI drafts
and proposes, but nothing it produces is treated as authoritative. This phase
lasts at least 90 days. It lets the system learn the yard's data and lets the yard
build trust before any AI output influences a real build.