# Quickstart: your first model in the browser > Everything here happens in the web app — no install, no coding, and no account needed to solve. Open a worked example to see the whole flow in one click, then build your own model by working through the Data Workspace tabs in order. Source: https://ferscloud.com/docs/quickstart Last updated: 2026-09-04 ## Fastest route: open an example The quickest way to get a feel for FERS is to solve something that already works. From the [home page](https://ferscloud.com/), pick **Simple Shed** or **Solar Rail** and press **Calculate**. You get displacements, axial/shear/moment diagrams and reactions on a model that is known to be correct, so you can learn the interface without also debugging your own geometry. The [examples library](https://ferscloud.com/examples) has more, including a [portal frame](https://ferscloud.com/portal-frame-analysis-example) and a full [EN 1993-1-1 steel member check](https://ferscloud.com/eurocode-3-steel-beam-check-example) with a per-clause hand-calculation trace. > Prefer to start from a form rather than a 3D model? The [free 2D frame calculator](https://ferscloud.com/free-2d-frame-calculator) and the [beam calculators](https://ferscloud.com/calculators) solve with the same engine and need nothing set up at all. ## Build your own model Work through the Data Workspace tabs in this order. Each step depends on the one before it, which is why the tabs are arranged this way. 1. **Materials** — E-modulus, density and yield stress — for example S235 steel. Everything downstream references a material, so this comes first. 2. **Sections** — Cross-section properties (area, `i_y`, `i_z`, `j`), each referencing a material. Bending about the strong axis uses `i_z` — see [conventions and units](https://ferscloud.com/conventions) before you type a second moment of area. 3. **Nodes** — The X, Y, Z coordinates of your structure's joints. Y is up. 4. **Nodal supports** — Boundary conditions. A pinned support fixes Ux/Uy/Uz and leaves rotations free; assign the support to a node from the Nodes tab once you have defined it. 5. **Members** — Connect two nodes with a section. A member is a 2-node beam element with six degrees of freedom per node. 6. **Load cases and loads** — Create a load case (for example "Permanent"), then add nodal, distributed or surface loads to it. Directions are global X/Y/Z, so `(0, -1, 0)` is straight down. 7. **Calculate** — Run the analysis from the top bar. Results appear in the Results tabs and in the viewport. > The welcome tour walks through the same interface interactively — replay it any time from **Help (?) → Show welcome tour**. ## Read the results After a solve, the Results tabs carry nodal displacements, member internal forces, reactions and — if you added them — unity checks. The viewport draws the deflected shape and the diagram you select. Diagrams are exact rather than interpolated: member displacements are sampled from the solved element, so a fixed-fixed beam under a uniformly distributed load reports the true wL⁴/384EI sag rather than a straight-line approximation between end values. Before trusting a large model, solve a single-span case whose closed-form answer you know and compare. The [accuracy benchmarks](https://ferscloud.com/benchmarks) and the [NAFEMS benchmark set](https://ferscloud.com/nafems) do exactly this, in the browser, with the target-versus-FERS error shown for each. ## Save and export Your model can be exported as JSON from the **Download** menu at any point — that file is the same format the Python package and the REST API consume, so a model started in the browser can be finished in a script. Saved cloud storage is part of the Pro plan; on the free tier you keep models as local JSON. The free tier solves models up to 100 members, Pro up to 10,000. ## Where to go next - [Install the Python package](https://ferscloud.com/docs/installation) to drive the same solver from a script. - [Use it from JavaScript](https://ferscloud.com/docs/javascript) — the solver is published as a WebAssembly npm package that runs in the browser with no server round-trip. - [Call the REST API](https://ferscloud.com/docs/rest-api) from any language, or import the OpenAPI spec into a client generator. - [Connect an AI agent](https://ferscloud.com/mcp) — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code can drive FERS over MCP. - [Keyboard shortcuts](https://ferscloud.com/docs/keyboard-shortcuts) for the modelling tools once you are past the first model. ## Frequently asked questions **Do I need an account to solve a model?** No. Solving runs in your browser and needs no account and no API key. An account is only needed for cloud model storage, API keys and the agent channel. **How big a model can I solve for free?** Up to 100 members. Beyond that the solver returns a LimitExceeded error; Pro raises the ceiling to 10,000 members. **Does my model leave my machine?** Not when you solve in the browser. The solver is a WebAssembly build of the same Rust engine, so the model and the results stay on your device unless you explicitly save to the cloud or share it. **Which units does FERS use?** SI base units throughout the model JSON: metres, newtons and pascals. Angles in the JSON contract are degrees. The full set of axis and sign conventions is on the [conventions page](https://ferscloud.com/conventions). **Why is my beam bending about the wrong axis?** Almost always because `i_y` and `i_z` are swapped. In FERS the strong bending axis is the local z axis, so a beam bending in its usual plane uses `i_z`. See [conventions and units](https://ferscloud.com/conventions). **Can I import a model I built somewhere else?** You can import the FERS model JSON format directly. There is no native import for other vendors' file formats; the practical route is to generate the JSON from a script — see [the Python API](https://ferscloud.com/docs/python-api). ## Related - https://ferscloud.com/docs/installation - https://ferscloud.com/docs/keyboard-shortcuts - https://ferscloud.com/docs/javascript