clearspanSkills, Tools, and MCPs: How AI Goes From Chatbot to Co-worker
How skills, tool use, and the Model Context Protocol extend what AI can do — and why the combination matters for engineering workflows.
Blog
Insights from clearspan
Structural engineering guides, design examples, and insights to help you build with confidence.
Featured
Monday, May 25, 2026
How skills, tool use, and the Model Context Protocol extend what AI can do — and why the combination matters for engineering workflows.
clearspan
Monday, May 25, 2026
What large language models actually are, how they're trained, and where they fit in structural practice, explained for practicing engineers.
clearspan
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Anthropic's labor market data shows structural engineers have one of the largest gaps between what AI could do and what it's actually being used for. Here's why, and a different approach.
clearspanclearspanclearspanLLMs for Structural Engineers: How AI Language Models Actually Work
What large language models actually are, how they're trained, and where they fit in structural practice, explained for practicing engineers.
clearspanWhy AI Adoption Lags in Structural Engineering
Anthropic's labor market data shows structural engineers have one of the largest gaps between what AI could do and what it's actually being used for. Here's why, and a different approach.
clearspanHow Long Does Engineering Take for a Beam?
The traditional beam engineering process takes about 2-3 weeks from first call to stamped deliverables. Here's where all that time goes, and how clearspan compresses it to just days without cutting corners on code compliance.
clearspanWood Beam Design Example: NDS Bending, Shear, and Deflection Checks (Breyer 6.18)
Complete NDS wood beam design example: adjustment factors, bending, shear, deflection, and bearing checks for a 2x6 Douglas Fir-Larch rafter. Compared against Breyer Example 6.18.