The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division has developed a software tool, the Channel Analysis and Design Evaluation Tool (CADET), to aid in determining the operational depth of an entrance channel to commercial ports. CADET is a set of computer programs that use probabilistic risk analysis techniques to evaluate the accessibility of a series of channel depths for multiple vessel geometries and loading conditions. The operational depth is governed by many factors, including the geometry of the channel, local environmental conditions, and the hydrodynamic characteristics of the types of vessels that transit the channel. Shallow water vertical motions and the underway squat and trim are included. The wave environment is described using a climatology of local waves. The climatology includes the percent occurrence of combinations of significant wave height, modal period, and peak direction. These values are then converted into directional wave spectra and used to generate the ship motions for that wave condition. The accessibility of the channel for each project depth is then determined through calculating the risk of the ship impacting each project depth and the persistence of that wave condition at the channel. The CADET software distribution includes a MS Windows based program that provides a graphical user interface to the ship and project databases, the analysis software tools, and the results of project studies supporting design alternative analysis. This document provides a short summary of the theory upon which CADET is based, and instructions on how to use CADET.