Skip to main content

Connect AutoCAD

The AutoCAD add-in puts Structured AI inside AutoCAD and Civil 3D as a docked palette. Chat with the agent about the drawing you have open and let it make approved changes without switching windows.

Use case: ask which layers the title-block text sits on, move the stray entities to the right layer from chat, and undo the whole change with one Ctrl+Z if it isn't what you wanted.

Pilot

The AutoCAD add-in is in pilot. To join the pilot, talk to us. This page is the install and usage guide for pilot users.

Installing the add-in​

Requirements​

  • Windows with Autodesk AutoCAD 2026 or Civil 3D 2027 - the two setups certified so far. One installer covers every supported year on the machine.
    • AutoCAD 2027: the add-in loads; full certification is still in progress.
    • Civil 3D 2025 or 2026, AutoCAD 2025 and other AutoCAD-based products (such as Map 3D): the add-in should load, but these are not yet certified.
    • Installed before Civil 3D support? Close AutoCAD and run the installer below once more. Automatic updates replace only the add-in itself, not the file that tells Civil 3D and other AutoCAD-based products to load it.
  • The Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime (installed with Windows 11 and with Microsoft 365; the palette is a web view)
  • An active Structured AI account. The add-in requires sign-in: without an account it installs, but the palette shows only the sign-in page.
  • Internet access from the AutoCAD workstation

  1. Close AutoCAD (and Civil 3D, if you use it). AutoCAD can keep running in the background after its last window closes, so check Task Manager → Details and end any acad.exe still listed.

  2. Download StructuredAI.AutoCAD.msi

  3. Run it. The installer is per-user - no admin rights needed - and automatically detects every supported AutoCAD year on the machine (Civil 3D included), installing the matching build for each. If it finds no supported AutoCAD, it says so and installs nothing.

  4. Start AutoCAD. AutoCAD may ask whether to load the Structured AI add-in; choose Always Load. A Structured AI tab appears in the ribbon.

    Video / photo coming soon

    AutoCAD asking whether to load the Structured AI add-in, with Always Load

  5. Click Structured AI on that tab (or type STRUCTUREDAI at the command line). The palette opens docked on the right and shows the sign-in page.

  6. Click Sign in with your browser. Your default browser opens so your saved passwords and SSO work. Approve Authorize AutoCAD Add-in there and the palette continues on its own. This links the add-in to your organization's projects.

The installer is signed by STRUCTURED SOFTWARE, INC. - that is the publisher Windows shows if it asks before running it. If Windows SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC" (it can for recently released installers), click More info → Run anyway after confirming the publisher name.

The add-in keeps itself up to date automatically - no need to reinstall for updates. It never overwrites an existing Structured AI sign-in on the machine.

IT-managed install​

For centrally managed workstations there is a per-machine variant, StructuredAI.AutoCAD-AllUsers.msi, intended for deployment by IT. It requires elevation (run it as SYSTEM or as an administrator, for example msiexec /i StructuredAI.AutoCAD-AllUsers.msi /qn) and installs into C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins, which AutoCAD and Civil 3D load for every user on the machine. It detects AutoCAD years the same way and takes the same FORCEACAD2026=1 / FORCEACAD2027=1 flags.

A machine-wide install does not update itself: it stays on the build IT deployed, and pushing a newer AllUsers MSI is how you move it forward. Before deploying it, remove any per-user copy (Structured AI for AutoCAD in Settings → Apps, or one installed with the script below). If both are present, AutoCAD runs only one of them, and it may be the per-user copy. The machine-wide install appears in Settings → Apps as Structured AI for AutoCAD (All Users).

The per-user MSI above is the other option. It installs into the signed-in user's profile and keeps itself up to date, and it refuses ALLUSERS=1, because the add-in would otherwise land in the wrong user profile. IT can deploy it centrally, as long as it runs as the AutoCAD user, not elevated or as SYSTEM:

  • Intune: add it as a Win32 app with Install behavior: User.
  • Configuration Manager (SCCM): set the deployment type to run as the user (Installation behavior: Install for user).
  • Silent install: msiexec /i StructuredAI.AutoCAD.msi /qn
  • Install for one AutoCAD year without detecting it: add FORCEACAD2026=1 (for 2025-2026) or FORCEACAD2027=1. Pass the same flag again when you deploy a newer MSI.

A per-user copy keeps itself up to date like any other install, so you don't need to push a new MSI for each release. If a user installs a new AutoCAD year later, deploy (or run) the latest MSI again; if it offers Repair/Remove instead of installing, remove it first, then install again.

Both download links always serve the newest release.

Alternative: one-line install script​

If you'd rather not run an MSI, close AutoCAD, open PowerShell (no administrator rights needed) on your AutoCAD workstation and paste:

iwr https://api.getstructured.ai/api/autocad/plugin-download/install.ps1 | iex

It installs exactly what the MSI installs: the matching build for each supported AutoCAD year it finds (Civil 3D included), into %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\StructuredAI.AutoCAD.bundle for 2025-2026 and StructuredAI.AutoCAD2027.bundle for 2027. AutoCAD loads add-ins from that folder automatically. The script stops if AutoCAD or Civil 3D is running, because they hold the add-in's files open. That includes an acad.exe still running in the background with no window open: the script says so, and you end it in Task Manager → Details before running the script again. Then continue from step 4 above.

Uninstalling​

Installed with the MSI: close AutoCAD, then remove Structured AI for AutoCAD from Windows Settings → Apps, like any other program.

Installed with the script: close AutoCAD, then run:

iwr https://api.getstructured.ai/api/autocad/plugin-download/uninstall.ps1 | iex

This removes the add-in bundles for every AutoCAD year and their update files. Your Structured AI sign-in (%APPDATA%\StructuredAI\config.json) is left in place because the Revit add-in shares it; deleting that file signs both add-ins out.

Updating the add-in​

The add-in updates itself: every time AutoCAD starts it checks for a newer build, downloads it in the background, and applies it the next time AutoCAD closes - so a routine update is just close and reopen AutoCAD. Each AutoCAD year keeps its own copy of the add-in and updates it separately.

The palette shows which build you are on (a small version chip in the bottom-right corner) and tells you when it is out of date (a banner at the bottom of the palette). Don't ignore the banner: an outdated add-in is the most common cause of otherwise-mysterious problems - sign-in that never completes, or drawing tools missing from chat.

To fix an outdated add-in, in order:

  1. Close and reopen AutoCAD. If an update was already downloaded, this applies it. Check whether the banner is gone.
  2. Still out of date? Close AutoCAD, remove Structured AI for AutoCAD in Settings → Apps, then download StructuredAI.AutoCAD.msi and run it. Your sign-in is kept. Installed with the script? Re-run the install command instead - it replaces the add-in in place.
  3. On an IT-managed install: a per-user MSI deployed by IT updates on its own, so closing and reopening AutoCAD is still the first fix. A machine-wide (All Users) install never updates itself: ask IT to push the latest StructuredAI.AutoCAD-AllUsers.msi.
  4. If none of that clears it, type STRUCTUREDAIDIAG at the AutoCAD command line (it prints the running version, the server it talks to and the log location), grab %APPDATA%\StructuredAI\debug.log, and contact support.

Signing in and access control​

Everything the add-in does - chat, reading the drawing, sending layouts, applying changes - runs through your Structured AI account:

  • On first use the palette shows the sign-in page. Once you sign in, the add-in stores a device-scoped access key for your account.
  • If you're not signed in (or your account is deactivated), the palette shows the sign-in page and nothing else - there is no offline or anonymous mode.
  • Sign-in is per device: one key per workstation, so signing in on a second machine doesn't sign you out of the first. Signing in again on the same workstation rotates that machine's key rather than adding another.
  • Logout in the palette's account menu signs you out of both the web session and the add-in on that machine.
  • Revoking a device's access is a support request today, not a self-service screen. If a workstation is lost or leaves the team, tell us and we'll revoke that key. Deactivating the person's Structured AI account also stops the add-in working on every device they signed in on.

Chatting with the drawing​

The palette hosts the same chat agent you use in the browser, connected to the drawing open in AutoCAD:

  • Ask about layouts, layers, blocks and attributes, text, entity counts and extents in the current drawing.
  • Cross-reference the drawing against the drawing sets in your Structured AI project.
  • When the agent names an entity, it is a link: click it and AutoCAD zooms to that entity and selects it.
  • Ask the agent to look at the drawing: it can capture your current view, a named layout, a drawing-coordinate window or a set of entities as an image and reason about what it sees.
  • Connect the open drawing to a project from the palette's home page: Connect to existing project, or Create project to start a new one. Save the drawing first; an unsaved drawing can't be connected. The project page then shows a Live drawing chip, the agent knows which DWG it is talking to, and Disconnect on the home page undoes it.
  • If you open a copy of a connected drawing (for example after a Save As), the home page suggests the project the original is connected to, so you can connect the copy in one click.
  • Civil 3D drawings. With Civil 3D running, the add-in gives the agent the names of the drawing's Civil objects - alignments, profiles, surfaces, corridors, pipe and pressure networks, point groups, feature lines, sites, parcels and sample line groups, plus the COGO point count - and lets it read them through the Civil 3D API (for example profile elevations, or a pipe network's inverts and slopes). A change to a Civil object waits for your approval like any other change, and importing LandXML, IMX or DEM files from chat is not allowed. In plain AutoCAD, Civil objects are opaque, and the agent tells you the data needs Civil 3D open.
Video / photo coming soon

The AutoCAD palette home page with Create project and Connect to existing project

Switching layout tabs is picked up automatically; the agent always knows which layout you are looking at.

Making changes from chat​

When the agent proposes a change to the drawing, it shows you what it wants to do and waits for you to click Approve & run before touching the drawing. Nothing runs without your explicit approval. Decline cancels the change, and Give feedback sends the agent a note without running anything.

All the changes the agent makes in one reply undo together: one Ctrl+Z reverts them, and one Redo puts them back. Anything you draw yourself in between stays its own undo step.

Video / photo coming soon

An approval card in the AutoCAD palette with Decline, Give feedback and Approve & run

While the agent works in the drawing, AutoCAD may pause for a few seconds and the palette shows a "Working in AutoCAD" notice. That's normal. Save your drawing (Ctrl+S) before a working session, as you would before any scripted change.

Sending a layout to the project​

Ask the agent to send a layout to the project, and it plots that paper-space layout to PDF and files it as a document in the connected project, after you approve the export. A few rules:

  • One layout at a time. Model space is not a layout and can't be exported this way.
  • Ask from the chat of the project the drawing is connected to. If the drawing isn't connected, or is connected to a different project, the export is refused.
  • The document appears straight away, but its pages take about a minute to become searchable.
  • Layout PDFs are capped at 16 MB. If a layout is over that, plot it yourself from AutoCAD and upload it.

What the add-in doesn't do yet​

  • Link to entities inside external references (xrefs). The agent can list a drawing's xrefs, but entities inside them can't be clicked through to.
  • Drawing-set tools (Overlay, Compare Versions, Compare Against Control, Comment Closure, Shop Drawing Review, Spec Audit, Board) are browser tools; open the project in the browser for those.