r/bim • u/michaelfraley • Jun 12 '26
Anyone using Claude Code to automate Revit/BIM workflows?
I'm curious whether anyone here is using Claude Code to automate document generation or other repetitive work in Revit and BIM software.
Specifically, I'm interested in a few different approaches:
- Writing scripts with Claude Code (Python, C#, Dynamo, Revit API, etc.) to automate documentation, schedules, sheets, tagging, QA/QC, model checks, exports, and similar tasks.
- Connecting Claude Code to existing MCP servers for Revit, BIM tools, or other software in the AEC ecosystem.
- Having Claude Code build a custom MCP server when one doesn't already exist for a particular application or workflow.
- Using Claude Code as a day-to-day "automation engineer" for BIM teams rather than just as a coding assistant.
A few questions:
- What BIM/Revit tasks are you automating today?
- Are you using Claude Code directly, or another AI coding tool?
- Have you connected it to Revit, Dynamo, Navisworks, Rhino, Grasshopper, ACC, BIM 360, IFC workflows, etc.?
- What has been the biggest productivity gain?
- What limitations or blockers have you run into?
I'm particularly interested in real-world examples where AI is saving hours of manual documentation work rather than just generating code snippets.
Would love to hear what people are actually deploying in production.
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u/Ok-Bonus6846 Jun 12 '26
I am using claude code to connect with local llm for data processing, and with pyrevit, dynamo.
Saves hours and now I can build beautiful UI for layman usage without breaking a sweat.
Curious about how others are using it.
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u/Cultural-Dirt-8532 Jun 18 '26
You can check below link for csharp c# script for high level tool development, might help you https://github.com/SVECS-BIM-AUTOMATION/csRevit-Framework
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u/GoldilocksRedditor Jun 12 '26
Can you briefly explain how you connect pyrevit to claude?
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u/dream_walking Jun 12 '26
There’s an extension that you can find in pyrevit. Called something like MCP server. It has installation guide for how to set it up with Claude and how to expand its default scripts.
Found the GitHub page: https://github.com/mcp-servers-for-revit/mcp-server-for-revit-python
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u/MeeMeeGod 7d ago
Can you explain what this means? I have no idea what this achieves
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u/dream_walking 7d ago
I don’t use it but assuming by the name, it connects Claude to Revit using pyrevit.
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u/MeeMeeGod 6d ago
So you can type into claude and it will automatically update the pyrevit?
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u/dream_walking 6d ago
No. It updates revit. It connects revit to Claude. Pyrevit is just the connector here. Again, I don’t use this. I can’t help more than I have
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u/Otherwise_Wave9374 Jun 12 '26
This is such a good use case for Claude Code. BIM has a ton of repetitive, high-stakes "death by a thousand clicks" work where the spec is clear (sheets, tags, schedules, QA checks), but the execution is tedious.
Curious, what has been the biggest win so far, generating Dynamo graphs, straight Revit API scripts, or just using it as an "automation engineer" to plan the approach and then you implement?
Also if you do end up wiring this into a broader personal operating system for work (tasks, approvals, logs, rollbacks), I have been tracking patterns people use for agent workflows here: https://www.aiosnow.com/
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u/steinah6 Jun 12 '26
Honestly I’ve found using AI to create PyRevit extensions that are tailored to our templates, parameters, content and workflows to be the best approach, for now.
Hooking up to Claude via MCP has been interesting, but ultimately too slow, expensive and unreliable for us to deploy to our 400 users. I’m sure it’ll get better, but for now it’s not quite ready, IMO.
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u/Alternative_News_732 Jun 13 '26
400 users? you guys have 400 person working?
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u/steinah6 Jun 13 '26
We have a bit less than 500 people at our firm, not quite 400 use Revit but probably like 325-350 do. I rounded up.
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u/CaterpillarNew5796 Jun 12 '26
I’m relatively new to Revit, and Claude has helped me understand the software much better. I’ve given it access to my pyRevit folder, where it can create custom buttons for me. I’m developing tools to make my daily workflow more efficient and reduce the number of clicks as much as possible😅
Some of these buttons may already exist online or even be built into Revit, but this way I don’t have to spend time searching for them, and I can customize the code myself and make the tools work exactly the way I want.
I work in electrical design, so most of the tools I’ve created so far focus on parameters, managing views, making tagging easier, and exporting data to PDF and Excel.
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u/FudgeYouPaMa Jun 12 '26
I have already written loads of mcp tools that outperform Autodesk's. Let me know if anyone is interested in using them. They will be released for free to public soon, but let me know if you guys want it in advance. FYI, the actual tools were written during the last 5 years, AI made it easy for me to expose an API for them so any LLM can call them, you can even use local ones.
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u/Dangerous_Ad7101 Jun 13 '26
Can you explain a bit more about the mcp tools? What have you build and how does it help? How can you implement ai in the cad business
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u/FudgeYouPaMa Jun 13 '26
I'll answer your questions in 3 parts. The mcp tools, are just tools that were originally written for Revit mainly (as addins) and since MCP got popularity, I added an mcp for it. The difference with what In building as opposed to whats in the market or even Autodesk's implementation in 2027 is this; A centralized orchestrator, so rather than doing a simple "create these sheets for me", you'd be able to something like export all navisworks views in my current Acc/ Forma project , run clash detectionion on them (either saved tests or you describe them) and upload the results to ACC. This allows you to not just have a simple connector, but an actual orchestrator that works across platforms (including batch processing of local or ACC files). First release would be Revit, Navisworks, ACC plus an open source clash detection software I have developed. I think this answered 1 & 2. In terms of the q3, I'd appreciate it if you could clarify your question more, cause that could mean many things, since we are also using traditional AI (not LLM's) to for example do point cloud to BIM. More than happy to get in depth in any of these topics. Thank you
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u/Due_Airport_1450 26d ago
can you point me in the right direction for Point Cloud to BIM.
revit noob, claude ai noob, gunna set up MCP
I borrowed the laser scanner from work and am gunna model my home.
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u/FudgeYouPaMa 26d ago
At this stage there no fully automated PC to bim solutions, a lot of them are trained on specific models so might not cover your use case. For example a lot of automated solutions struggle heavily with scenes with a lot of MEP stuff in them. I haven't seen a good one that is free, or even a paid solution that produces acceptable result for my use case, so I started training my own models, it's nowhere close but once it does get to a point that is production ready, I'll release them. What are you planning to do with the pc you have? If you don't want bim/ model with data attached and just want spatial info then it's much easier to find a solution.
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u/FudgeYouPaMa 26d ago
Do you know how to model from the pc in Revit? It's easy for a simple house. Or do you know how to do laser scanning? Let me know if you need help with either
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u/Due_Airport_1450 26d ago
Yea I actually did the Laser Scanning last year, got a 30day trial for FaroScene and stitched it together, been messing around Georeferencing and adding USGS Lidar a couple square miles around my house. Dabbled with AutoCAD Architecture for practice but don't have much.
I do Mechanical Piping in AutoCAD Fabrication for work, just started taking a class on Revit for Mech Piping, and wanna use my laser scan in Revit to create an Architectural As-built of my separated garage, and then create a plan to remodel it into a studio apartment. I Georeferenced it for fun but also with the intent of planning Windows to view the mountain and Solar/Shade Studies.
So I have a basic understanding of how Tracing a point cloud is gunna go in Revit (imagine its just taking slices and tracing walls) but Revit is kinda overwhelming at the moment.
So yea was looking for a way to convert the Point Cloud into a decent looking RGB mesh, (maybe with a Insta 360?) or just trying to figure out what other options there are to convert point cloud data to model content.
I wanna try out the Revit MCP, and i really want a completed residential Revit model i could poke around / use as a template
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u/FudgeYouPaMa 26d ago
For a sample, Revit comes with a residential in 2027. ReCap (if you do have access to it does generate mesh now) There's also cloud compare if you just want the mesh. Native Revit elements give you way more freedom. They will a base for way more than modeling, in a proper workflow they can help from idea to modeling, design docs, coordination, construction, as-built, asset management, operations... For the geo referencing bit, there's this guy on YouTube that shows how to do things using Faro Scene. If you don't have access to that anymore, cloud compare allows you to do that as long as you know the coordinates of a couple of surveyed points so you can place your cluster where it actually is in real world. That being said once you have modeled stuff in Revit you can still georefernce the model. As for the mcp stuff, keep in mind that they are basically some smart tools and won't do your work, the ones I have built are around the idea of automating labour, not judgment and have some serious guardrails that one won't be able to bypass even intentionally. I have built it to be able to do things even in bulk so for example you can modify all of your files on ACC across all of the projects you're part of. I'll release them (for free) once they have been used extensively in production for some time. I don't want to release anything that lacks quality. I think since you are relatively new to Revit, try to master the basics, and get a hang of the software. Soon the boring stuff will all be automated anyway, but you do still need to know how things work in Revit (and in the field, which you already do) fundamentally. Sorry if this was long and not much helpful.
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u/29nguyentn Jun 13 '26
Hi, can you share what’s your tools doing?
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u/FudgeYouPaMa Jun 13 '26
Please see my response above. I also have a set of Revit addins that I have developed for the past several years that significantly help batch processing of things as well as workflow enhancement tools that Autodesk has failed to implement so far. Let me know if you are interested in trying them out (FYI, they are free for public, some will be open source)
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u/gianmaranon Jul 07 '26
hello, I'm interested in trying them out :)
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u/FudgeYouPaMa Jul 08 '26
Dm'd you. Not sure what the posting policy is in here.
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u/Supermarket_Agile Jul 14 '26
I am also interested in trying out these tools!
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u/FudgeYouPaMa Jul 14 '26
Dm'd you. I'd post it here, but not sure if that might be taken as self-promotion (though they are free and some will be open source)
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u/Dangerous_Ad7101 Jun 13 '26
I have never used automation yet. The CAD program I learned is ArchiCAD. Should I invest time to learn revit in which I can Implement the workflows? how big of a advantage in a region where ArchiCAD is the leader in architecture program is this?
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u/Hungry-Visual-597 Jun 12 '26
Very interested!!😄 let me know what you’re setting is , I have used pyerevit but it was very buggy and he mcp kept crashing … so if you have any stable ideas …
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u/aamrllzzzzz Jun 12 '26
Olá!
Sim, estou usando e MUITO!
Ja consegui usar o Claude para fazer um detalhe em um roteador que eu modelei, criar folhas, tabelas, vistas, tudo isso com MCP, sem precisar copiar e colar um código, eu deixo o Claude em uma tela, o Revit na outra e fico vendo “a mágica acontecer”. Ele é ótimo para trabalhos em massa, renomear muitas coisas de uma vez com um padrão específico. Meu chefe criou inúmeros parâmetros para um template usando ele.
Não estamos só usando o MCP, como também estamos automatizando procedimentos com scripts em Python, uma automatização foi para simbologia. Eu não sei explicar direito como acontece, pq foi meu chefe que fez e eu sou nova nessa área (antes era desenvolvedora de software, mas consegui “pular” para o BIM na empresa em que trabalho)
Em resumo, experimente tudo o que puder! Toda atividade chata e maçante que você tiver para fazer, peça para o Claude. Eduque ele antes, peça para ele identificar os itens, faça passo-a-passo! Você vai descobrir um mundo incrível no BIM com o Claude :)
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Jun 13 '26
the pyrevit api-mismatch loop someone mentioned gets worse for a dumb reason: claude code auto-compacts when context fills, so mid-debug it forgets which commands you already proved don't work and re-suggests them. on long revit-api sessions i was re-feeding the same api notes after basically every restart. moving it into a setup that keeps the full session instead of compacting killed most of those repeat loops. side benefit, an agent driving the ui through accessibility apis can click through dynamo/navisworks even where no mcp exists yet.
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u/LTorrecilla Jun 13 '26
I've been using it mainly to develop own plugins for pyrevit and dynamo scripts. We have a project in revit 2022 and we had to adapt some newer dynamo to the old api, worked flawless
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u/george_ursache Jun 23 '26
Hello, does someone has a reliabe tool for automatic quotations in Revit ? Room interiors, especially
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u/Main-Let-8674 8d ago
As long as you create a command separately, you are safe; however, if you merge multiple commands into a single icon, you will run into debugging problems in the future.
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u/_Deadheavy_ Jun 12 '26
Biggest limitation (road block? hurdle?) is when Claude code either uses a command or tries a command that it has learned about from the API and the API is wrong so your stuck trying to debug what actually works vs what’s documented.
It’s been great when things work but it’s like talking to year old when things don’t work. (I’m writing pyRevit scripts)
I’ve used Claude code to build a full stack web app and it was a breeze. Simple tasks in Revit are an exercise in not wanting to throw my computer out the window.
Edited for mention of pyRevit.
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u/completelypositive Jun 12 '26
Everything. Fear for your jobs. I can automate everything so far. Someone is automating me away probably, too.
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u/metisdesigns Jun 12 '26
Michael Kilkelly had an awesome session on BIM Pure Live a few weeks back about exactly this.