Install in 5 minutes
- Download AutoGADSetup.exe (button above), close AutoCAD and run the installer. No admin rights needed.
- Paste your Claude key. A key takes a minute to create on the Anthropic site (console.anthropic.com → API keys); the installer asks for it. It is stored encrypted on your computer. You can use ChatGPT instead of Claude — an OpenAI key goes in the same way.
- Start AutoCAD. An AutoGAD tab appears on the ribbon; the Chat button opens the palette. Open a drawing and ask: "How many blocks of each type are in the drawing?"
For a whole department there is an all-users installer — also in the GitHub releases.
Your first five requests after installing
- "How many blocks of each type are in the drawing?" — confirms Claude sees the drawing.
- "Check the schedule on sheet 2 against what is drawn and show the differences."
- "Calculate the load of panel DB-1 and pick breakers for the outgoing lines."
- "Replace the project code with K2.AHP-3.2025 everywhere: title blocks, leaders and tables." — a confirmation window lists every replacement.
- "Remember: I size cables for 380 V, cos φ 0.95." — no need to repeat it on the next project.
What Claude does in AutoCAD
You open a drawing, open the AutoGAD palette and write to it like to a colleague. Claude sees the open drawing and:
- Answers questions about the drawing. "How many fixtures of each type are on the plan?", "Which layers are frozen?", "What is in the schedule on sheet 3?"
- Calculates. Panel load, design currents, breakers per outgoing line — with formulas and the source data from your tables.
- Checks schedules and bills of materials. Compares table quantities with what is actually drawn, finds missing items and inconsistent tags.
- Checks against codes and standards. It knows them and can look up the current edition online; your company standards it remembers and applies on the next projects.
- Changes text across the whole drawing at once. Project code, title block, leaders, table cells: "Replace K2.AHP-2.2025 with K2.AHP-3.2025 everywhere".
- Manages layers and drawing properties. On, off, freeze, lock; set file properties.
- Remembers. Your rules ("I size cables for 380 V, cos φ 0.95") and the specifics of each project — no need to explain next time.
- Draws from a description. "Draw a 6000×4000 mm room plan, 200 walls, a 900 door in the left wall, a 1500 window opposite, add dimensions" — Claude computes the coordinates itself and draws in the drawing's units: walls, doors, windows, dimensions, labels, hatches, each on its own layer. Repeated symbols (fixtures, sockets) become blocks placed at a pitch.
- Turns a photo, scan or sketch into a drawing. Paste the picture into the chat (📎 button, Ctrl+V or drop the file). A dimensioned sketch is redrawn exactly from the numbers; a photo or scan without dimensions is traced into polylines right on your computer, then Claude cleans it up and adds dimensions and labels. The same tracer is a separate Trace button — no AI, with a live preview.
- Edits what is drawn. Move, copy, rotate, mirror, offset, erase, change layer — whatever you selected or what it drew itself.
Nothing enters the drawing without you: before every edit Claude shows exactly what will change and waits for your "Allow". Plain Undo (Ctrl+Z) reverts any edit.
What it does not do
- It does not replace a survey: a photo without dimensions gives a trace of what is in the pixels, perspective and shadows included; a sketch is redrawn exactly as accurately as its numbers can be read.
- It does not sign for the engineer. Codes and standards it knows and can check against the current edition online, your company standards it remembers; the final check and the signature stay with a person.
- It does not run in AutoCAD 2024 or older, or in AutoCAD LT.
What it costs
The plugin is free, permanently: open source, AGPL-3.0, every version on GitHub. You only pay for the model itself through your own key — usually a few cents per question. The cost of every answer is printed under it, so there are no surprises.
Where your drawing goes
The DWG file is never sent anywhere. Claude receives only a short description of the drawing (layers, blocks, table text) and your messages. Nothing is sent to the plugin author.