Why Are Commands Treated Differently in AutoCAD’s CUI Editor? Design Choice or Legacy Debt?

[wilkn]

I’ve been exploring AutoCAD’s CUI Editor in detail and ran into something puzzling. Commands seem to live in their own separate section, while other UI components — tabs, panels, workspaces — form a clear hierarchy.

As someone with a background in both software architecture and UX design, this feels like a leftover from earlier internal structures — possibly a form of legacy technical debt?

From a user’s perspective, it adds complexity and inconsistency to customization. From a dev perspective, I wonder if there was a compelling reason to isolate commands rather than treating them as reusable building blocks within the tree — just like panels or tabs.

Is there a deeper technical rationale here? Or has this been kept due to inertia and backward compatibility constraints?

Would love to hear from both power users and Autodesk insiders — and happy to share a deeper write-up I posted elsewhere if helpful.

Akash Dixit, PhD (Aerospace, Georgia Tech)
Educator • Engineer • CAD Simplifier
Ex-Professor – Graphic Era University
Scholar | Website

[Simon_Weel]

I remember switching from MNU to CUI wasn't a joy. The MNU files where plain text files, pretty well defined and pretty easy to maintain. The graphics introduced in AutoCAD release 9 made things more difficult. You had to create Slide Libraries and icons and stuff and tie it all together, which made things a bit messy. And since there was no command reference, you had to use the same menu code over and over for all different menu sections. The CUI editor took care of this. But also complicated things. Like no more 'bulk' operations to copy / paste menu sections from point A to B. The CUI Editor is not exactly intuitive to use either. And it's pretty much the same today as it was upon introduction. So I guess we learned to live with it?

[jskalaXDDX5]

Some history here:

https://www.cadnauseam.com/2017/01/20/33-years-of-autocad-upgrades-rated-part-3/

I remember reading somewhere else that the addition of the Ribbon took focus away from CUI improvements...I never used anything before so I can't question the logic of how it works, but I do wish it was easier to read...copy/paste from Notepad gets old...

[wilkn]

Great reflection — and yes, “we learned to live with it” might be the most AutoCAD-user sentence ever.

CUI was supposed to bring clarity and modularity. Instead, it introduced rigidity — sometimes helpful, but often just friction. The way commands behave differently across ribbons, palettes, and right-click menus isn’t flexibility — it’s inconsistency.

We need UI logic to evolve — not stagnate.

I’d love to see a reboot of the CUI editor that:

• Brings back bulk operations

• Treats commands uniformly

• Enables structured palettes like it does ribbons

If only Autodesk would let me overhaul it — I’d do it with a sigh... and a screwdriver. 😉

Akash Dixit, PhD (Aerospace, Georgia Tech)
Educator • Engineer • CAD Simplifier
Former Professor – Graphic Era University.
Scholar | Website

[wilkn]

Thanks for the link — that’s a solid throwback. And yes, the Ribbon seems to have hijacked the focus for years, leaving the CUI editor stranded in its clunky, pre-modern state.

It’s ironic — the whole point of the CUI was to simplify things, but the end result often feels like an archaeological dig. Especially when we’re still copy-pasting out of Notepad just to manage UI logic.

One day, Autodesk might just let me rework the CUI editor. 🙂

Akash Dixit, PhD (Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech)
Educator • Engineer • CAD Simplifier
Ex-Professor – Graphic Era University
Scholar | Website

[Simon_Weel]

Being ZIPped XML files, I remember unpacking the cui files, make some 'bulk' modifications in Notepad++ and zip it back.

At the time, I was hoping for someone to come up with an alternative CUI editor, but as far as I know, there's none.

AutoCAD is no longer our primary program, so we no longer make extensive modifications to the menus.

[AVCPlugins]

I'm surprised. So I'm not the only one who regularly edits CUI files in Notepad++ 😀