A knowledge based expert system for the design and analysis of composite laminated struts has been described in an earlier paper (Wu et al., Aeronaut. J., 95 (941) (1991) 1–20). This system is part of a COmposite Design EXpert (CODEX) system that not only performs analysis and design of composite laminated plates and struts, but also assesses competing designs. The analysis part of the system is based on a minimum weight optimisation that satisfies the buckling failure criteria of local and overall buckling, and a stress/strain failure from a choice of maximum strain, maximum stress Tsai-Hill or Tsai-Wu failure criteria. The present paper extends the strut optimisation expert system to incorporate bolted joints analysis. Examples of strut design are carried out and assessed using this system.