How CRAFT Works

CRAFT is a trusted automation add-in for AEC professionals that prioritizes reusing proven automations over generating new ones. Most of the time you just pick an action your team already trusts, preview what it will change, and run it locally inside your CAD host.

When nothing in your library fits, a guided form helps you build a new one. Either way, every automation passes the same mandatory safety preview before it runs — and only proven ones are ever shared with your team.


Two paths through CRAFT

Most users only ever take the first one. The second is for when something genuinely new needs to be built.

For everyone

1. Run an action

Open the Actions panel inside Revit or Civil 3D. Select something in your model. CRAFT suggests automations your team already trusts. Pick one, preview what it will change, and run it locally.

Steps 2–4 below.

For builders

2. Build a new one (only if nothing fits)

When the library has no match, a guided form helps you describe a new automation. CRAFT first re-checks for similar work to avoid duplicates, then creates a reviewable draft. You can save it for yourself or share it with the team after review.

Step 1 + 5 below.


1

Create Your Automation

Reuse-first: CRAFT checks your library before creating anything new. If an existing automation matches your task, you can run it immediately — no creation needed. If a close match exists, CRAFT suggests adapting it. New creation is the fallback, not the default. This keeps your team's library clean and builds on proven work.

When nothing in your library matches, the Quick Builder guides you through creating a new automation. Every path produces the same output: a reviewable draft.

The Guided Form (Quick Builder)

The Quick Builder collects your requirements through a structured form — host application, task type, entity filters, and output fields. CRAFT generates a reviewable draft from a matching template. Choose Quick Start (from a starting point) or Custom (full parameter flow) depending on how much control you need. You fill out the form yourself; AI runs in the background as an advisory ranking signal to help order the reuse candidates CRAFT shows you.

Where AI fits. AI reads your wording to help rank matches in your library and drafts candidate contracts for human review. It never writes the executable code, never modifies scripts, and never bypasses the safety preview. You always fill out the form and acknowledge the preview before anything runs. See the full AI scope.

Context-aware suggestions: When you open CRAFT, the Actions panel suggests relevant automations based on what you're working on. Select a corridor in Civil 3D and see corridor-related actions. Select walls in Revit and see wall audits, schedules, and parameter checks. On first use, CRAFT offers curated starting points to help you get productive quickly.

Three Save Paths

After the Quick Builder creates your draft and it passes the safety preview, you choose what happens next:

Run Once

Execute the automation immediately without saving. Good for one-off tasks where you don’t need to reuse the configuration.

Save Preset

Save the parameters locally for personal reuse. Presets are stored on your machine and don’t enter the shared library.

Save as Automation

Publish to your library for team reuse. Governed review and duplicate detection ensure quality before an automation reaches the shared library.


2

Review Your Draft

Everything starts as a draft that you review before it runs. This is not optional — CRAFT never takes autonomous action. Your draft shows you exactly what operations will be performed, what data is involved, and what will change.

Transparent Operations

See every operation the automation will perform — reads, writes, parameter changes, file outputs. Nothing is hidden. You can modify or discard the draft at any point.

Your Review, Your Decision

The draft is a proposal, not a commitment. Review it, adjust it, or start over. Only when you're satisfied does it move to validation.


3

The Safety Preview (we call it the Gate)

Before any automation executes, it passes through a mandatory safety preview. This is not optional — the safety preview is a hard requirement for every consequential operation: run, export, import, and publish.

Preview

See exactly what operations will be performed, what files will be read or modified, what host context is required, and what data (if any) would leave your machine — before anything happens.

Validate

Structural and semantic checks confirm the plan is well-formed, dependencies resolve, and required host context is available. Validation is strictly read-only — it inspects your environment but never modifies it.

What the Safety Preview Shows You

The safety preview produces a structured report with seven categories of information. All seven are always present, even when some sections report "nothing to disclose."

1. Dependencies

Every package and component the automation needs, with exact versions pinned for reproducibility.

2. Inputs and Outputs

What the automation reads (your parameters) and what it produces (reports, changes, exports).

3. CAD Environment Requirements

What your CAD application needs to provide — host version, active document, available object types.

4. What Will Change

A comparison showing what this run will modify versus current state.

5. Data Leaving Your Machine

Whether any data will be sent over the network, which destinations, and what types. Always shown, even when the answer is “nothing.”

6. Execution Status

Whether the automation is cleared to run or blocked. If blocked, there is no override — the issue must be resolved first.

7. Suggested Fixes

When an issue is found, actionable steps to resolve it. CRAFT does not apply fixes automatically.

Example: What You See Before Running

Safety Preview: Passed Layer Name Audit · v1.2.0 · Civil 3D 2024+
reads All layers in active drawing · Name, Color, Linetype
writes CSV report to user-chosen path
model changes None — read-only audit
leaves your machine Nothing — no network calls
integrity Cryptographically signed · Content hash verified · Trusted

Every automation shows this panel before execution. Nothing runs without your review.

Fail-Closed by Design

If the safety preview cannot prove that an automation is safe — because a dependency is missing, host context is unavailable, the license is insufficient, or a structural check fails — it blocks execution. There is no "proceed anyway" option. This is how CRAFT builds trust: you always know what will happen, and nothing runs unless it passes.


4

Execute Locally

Approved automations execute on your machine, inside your CAD environment. Execution is deterministic — the same inputs and host state produce the same outputs every time. This reproducibility is enforced by the integrity verification built into every automation.

There is no cloud execution path. CRAFT does not send your project files, model data, or execution results to external servers unless you explicitly configured it and acknowledged it in the safety preview.

Deterministic Outputs

Given the same task description, software version, and CAD environment, CRAFT produces the same plan, dependency set, and content hash. Every time.

Local Data Stays Local

By default, no data leaves your machine and telemetry is disabled. Your model data, file paths, and environment details remain on your machine unless you explicitly opt in per operation.


5

Share with Your Team

When an automation proves its value, you can share it from your personal drafts into your team’s library. Sharing is not automatic — it goes through reviewed promotion to ensure quality, prevent duplicates, and keep the library trustworthy.

Governed Review

Approvers review promoted automations before they reach the shared library. This prevents untested or redundant tools from proliferating.

Duplicate Detection

CRAFT detects near-duplicate automations and warns before publishing. Your library stays clean instead of accumulating 50 variations of the same task.

Version & Deprecate

Every published version is immutable and tracked. Outdated automations can be deprecated with clear migration paths for users.

Publishing requires safety preview approval. Before an automation is published to the registry, it passes through the same mandatory safety preview. Publishing is available on Pro, Studio, and Enterprise plans with team registry access.


Your Team's Shared Library

Published automations and components are stored in a shared registry as signed, immutable packages. The registry is a passive store — it serves automations for download and verifies signatures, but does not execute, interpret, or transform them.

Content-Addressed

Each artifact has a unique content hash that serves as its identity. Any modification invalidates the hash.

Cryptographically Signed

Every artifact is signed with a managed key lifecycle. The client verifies signatures locally before import.

Immutable

Once published, a version cannot be overwritten or modified. Updates require a new release number.

Try It Yourself

From describing a task to running it in your CAD host. Request early access and walk through it with guided onboarding from our team.

Request Early Access See Examples