Give Claude Code access to Revit

Claude Code has a terminal. bim lives in that terminal. Together they can read schedules, write parameters, export sheets, and run Revit API logic — while you describe the work in plain English.

Setup

Two steps. Under five minutes.

Step 1 — paste into Claude Code

Install bim-cli on this Windows machine and then use it.
Step 1 — install. Run this exactly:
  powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iwr -useb https://bimcli.com/install.ps1 | iex"
The installer is per-user (no admin), idempotent, and prints `BIM_INSTALLED_OK <version> <path>` as its final line on success.
Step 2 — refresh PATH in your current session:
  bash:  export PATH="$PATH:$LOCALAPPDATA/bim-cli"
  pwsh:  $env:Path += ";$env:LOCALAPPDATA\bim-cli"
Step 3 — orient:
  bim doctor --json     # environment readiness; each failed check has a fix field
  bim describe --json   # full driver/verb/arg schema; each driver has a docs URL
After describe + doctor, summarize what's installed and wait for my task.

Step 2 — open Revit

Open Revit with your model. The bim-revit add-in loads automatically alongside it.

That's it. Tell Claude Code what you need.

What you can ask

Tell Claude Code in plain language. It handles the commands.

Export a schedule to a spreadsheet

"Pull the door schedule from this model and write it to a spreadsheet." Claude Code exports the data as structured rows and pipes it straight to Excel — no dialog boxes, no copy-paste.

Bulk-edit parameters

"Set the Assembly Code on all structural walls to match this Excel file." Claude Code reads the file, finds the elements, and writes the values back into the model — across hundreds of elements at once.

Export sheets to PDF

"Export all architectural sheets to PDF, named by sheet number." Done in one command, without you opening the Export dialog.

Check model warnings

"How many warnings does this model have? List them in a spreadsheet with element IDs." Claude Code queries the model and writes the results — no clicking through Revit dialogs.

Run arbitrary Revit API logic

"Rename all views that start with 'WORKING -' to remove that prefix." Claude Code writes and runs the C# directly against the live model.

How Claude Code knows what's available

After install, Claude Code runs:

bim doctor --json     # checks environment, one fix command per problem
bim describe --json   # full driver/verb/arg schema + docs URL per driver

From describe output alone, Claude Code knows every command it can run, every argument each command accepts, and where to find detailed documentation. No extra prompting required.

No MCP server needed

Revit 2027 ships with a built-in MCP server. bim works with Revit 2024, 2025, and 2026 — no upgrade required, no server process, no config file.

Claude Code calls bim from its bash tool the same way it calls git, curl, or any other command-line program. The setup overhead is zero.