# User guide

The user guide covers one task per page, in the order a simulation flows through femforge. Start with [Concepts](<https://docs.femforge.io/overview/concepts/index.md>) for the whole pipeline on one page.

- [Geometry and tags](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/geometry/index.md>): tag the bodies of the STEP file, in your CAD or in a build123d script.
- [Materials](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/materials/index.md>): the material models, their property functions and units.
- [Conditions and physics](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/conditions/index.md>): body forces, boundary conditions and the physics presets femforge solves.
- [Mesh](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/mesh/index.md>): element sizes, gmsh options, deterministic meshing and the mesh backends.
- [Frames](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/frames/index.md>): solve the model in 3D or as an axisymmetric 2D section.
- [Driver and runs](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/driver/index.md>): how the driver stages, reuses and records each run.
- [Results](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/results/index.md>): load results, read forces and fields, and validate them.
- [Artifacts and retention](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/artifacts/index.md>): the artifact store, reuse across processes and the retention policy.
- [Telemetry](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/telemetry/index.md>): the logs, run indexes and sweep progress femforge records.
- [Workbench](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/workbench/index.md>): launch the workbench and inspect runs and fields in its panels.
- [Optimization](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/optimization/index.md>): parameter sweeps and the root-finding searches over expensive solves.
- [Elmer: native and Docker](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/elmer/index.md>): run Elmer from a native install or from the femforge image.
- [CLI](<https://docs.femforge.io/user-guide/cli/index.md>): the `femforge` and `femforge-workbench` commands.