Earlier this week, Autodesk announced the first-ever AI capabilities in Revit 2027 via the Autodesk Assistant. This same week, we also get access to the game-changing Revit MCP Public Server Tech Preview. In today's post, I will share how it works and a few quick examples of what you can do with it...
Big picture: connect your own LLM directly to the current Revit model.
In case you don't know, MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is a way to add additional context to your LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.). Giving AI access to your current Revit model is like dropping a few PDFs into a prompt as references. The Revit model, being a large database, provides your AI prompt with a lot of information to work with!
FYI: The toolset is limited to read-only operations at the moment - no Revit modifications are possible at the moment.
This new Revit MCP Public Server Tech Preview is meant for individual users. It is connecting to your current prompt-based AI workflow. By contrast, third-party software developers already have this with Revit APIs and LLM APIs.
Important detail: this only works with Revit 2027.
Since this is V1 of the tool, and a Tech Preview at that, use it with caution. Of course, as design professionals, we need to verify everything we stamp, whether it is provided by a consultant, a staff member, or an AI.
Fun fact: I was recently appointed to the AIA AI Task Force. We recently published this relevant article: Architects and AI: Practical guidance for a changing profession.
This workflow requires a download to be installed and properly configured from manage.autodesk.com under Extensions in the Revit product section.
Here is a link to the Help documentation, which includes inportant set up instructions: Revit Public MCP Server (Tech Preview)
Finally, here is how Harlan Brumm from Autodesk describes the tool's capabilities:
"This release includes read-only tools that are safe for you to engage with your model without risking changes. Generate reports, create connections to other MCP servers that use your Revit data to take your design further (like with AI visualization), ask your model questions or navigate your design. It’s available for Revit 2027 through Autodesk Accounts as a separate Addon to install."
Space Program Analysis
Once the Revit MCP Public Server Tech Preview was installed con fonfigured preoerly, I opened my Law Office model and asked for an interactive space program analysis and report that considered insustry stands for this use type.
Here is one image from the report. I decided to place the rest of the sample images at the end of this post for overall clairity.
Revit Model Health Dashboard
In another test, using the Autodesk sample model Snowden Towers, I first asked a simple question that can also be issued with the Autodesk Assistant in Revit 2027: summarize the levels. Here is what I got (click to enlarge images):
I then asked Claude to create a Model Health Dashboard. The result was an HTML file with pretty good info. The metrics it didn't have access to created an editable field where you could find the info and enter it manually. This could be just a test or PoC that may lead to something more sophisticated.
Scrolling down in the artifact results...
Looking at the actual number of warnings the model, we see there are only 90. As you can see two images above, Claude provided an editable field for Warning and randomly entered 250 as a placeholder.
I happen to know there is a lot of good stuff that can be scrapped from the Revit Journal file, so I asked Claude to look at that file and enhance the results.
Sucess.
It even enhanced the dashboard, now that it had more detailed information.
Keep in mind, I did all this in about 19 minutes, as you can see by the "generated" timestamp in the images!
During setup, you need to copy some MCP connector code into a Claude JSON file. Fun fact: Claude can edit the file for you. Importantly, any local edits made required you to give permission!
Law Office Space Program Report Images
Here are additional images for the space program analysis of my two-story Law Office developed in my Revit textbook by SDC Publications (click an image to enlarge it).
Fun stuff!
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