@rui.branco/revit-mcp 1.0.3 → 1.0.5

package/README.md

@@ -3,31 +3,34 @@
 [![Revit](https://img.shields.io/badge/Revit-2025%20%7C%202026%20%7C%202027-006666)](https://www.autodesk.com/products/revit/overview)
 [![Platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/platform-Windows-0078D4)](#installation)
 [![Node.js](https://img.shields.io/badge/node-%E2%89%A518-339933)](https://nodejs.org)
-[![Tests](https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-507%20passing-success)](#development)
+[![Tests](https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-521%20passing-success)](#development)
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue)](LICENSE)
 
 **Drive Autodesk Revit from Claude.** Query the model open on your desktop, edit
 it, and produce a full drawing set in plain language — levels and elements,
 sheets and schedules, views and PDF exports.
 
-**Windows · Revit 2025, 2026 or 2027.** The add-in ships precompiled — nothing
-to build, no .NET SDK. The Claude Desktop extension needs no Node.js either; the
-Claude Code route uses `npx`, so it wants Node 18+.
+**Windows · Revit 2025, 2026 or 2027 · Node.js 18+.** The Revit add-in ships
+precompiled and installs itself on first run — nothing to build, no .NET SDK,
+and nothing to copy by hand.
 
 ## Installation
 
 ### 1. Register the server
 
-Same plugin either way. Type both lines into the chat box, one after the other.
+Same plugin either way, but the two apps add it differently.
 
-**Claude Desktop** — in any chat:
+> It has to be the **Windows machine Revit runs on**. The server reaches Revit
+> through a listener bound to `127.0.0.1`, so a cloud session or another
+> computer cannot see it.
 
-```
-/plugin marketplace add rui-branco/revit-mcp
-/plugin install revit@revit-tools
-```
+**Claude Desktop** — through Settings, not the chat box:
 
-**Claude Code** — in the CLI:
+1. **Settings → Plugins → Add ▾ → Add marketplace → Add from a repository**
+2. Enter `rui-branco/revit-mcp`
+3. Install **revit** from the marketplace that appears
+
+**Claude Code** — slash commands in the CLI:
 
 ```
 /plugin marketplace add rui-branco/revit-mcp
@@ -45,8 +48,8 @@ claude plugin install revit@revit-tools
 </details>
 
 That is the whole step. The plugin updates itself from this repo, so there is
-nothing to re-download when a new version ships; `/plugin update` pulls it
-early if you do not want to wait.
+nothing to re-download when a new version ships; in Claude Code,
+`/plugin update` pulls it early if you do not want to wait.
 
 <details>
 <summary><b>Other ways to install</b></summary>
@@ -93,12 +96,22 @@ arguments and needs no environment beyond the optional
 
 </details>
 
-### 2. Install the Revit add-in
+### 2. Install the Revit add-in — automatic
+
+Nothing to do. The server installs the add-in itself the first time it starts:
+it looks for `RevitMcpBridge.addin` in
+`%APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<version>\` and, when no Revit has it, copies
+the bundled add-in and its manifest into place for every Revit it finds. That
+runs in the background on Windows, so it never delays or breaks the server, and
+once the add-in is there it does nothing at all.
+
+**If it is turned off or fails**, ask Claude to **install the Revit bridge**.
+That runs `revit_install_bridge` — the same installer, on demand. Revit need not
+be running, and re-running is safe. Auto-install is off whenever
+`REVIT_MCP_NO_AUTO_INSTALL` is set; see [Configuration](#configuration).
 
-Ask Claude to **install the Revit bridge**. That runs `revit_install_bridge`,
-which copies the add-in and its `.addin` manifest into
-`%APPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\<version>\` for every Revit it finds. Revit
-need not be running, and re-running is safe.
+Either way the add-in is only on disk at this point. Revit does not load it
+until it restarts, which is step 3.
 
 ### 3. Restart Revit and approve the add-in
 
@@ -408,6 +421,7 @@ Two habits worth keeping:
 | `REVIT_MCP_URL` | `http://localhost:48884/revit-mcp` | Bridge base URL. Change it for a second Revit instance. |
 | `REVIT_MCP_TIMEOUT` | `30000` | Per-request timeout, in milliseconds. |
 | `REVIT_MCP_BRIDGE_TIMEOUT_MS` | `30000` | Read by the add-in: how long a request waits for Revit's main thread. Clamped to 1–600 s. |
+| `REVIT_MCP_NO_AUTO_INSTALL` | unset | Set it to `1` to stop the server installing the add-in on startup. `revit_install_bridge` still installs it on demand. Either way, Revit must be restarted before it loads. |
 
 ## Unattended operation
 
@@ -484,7 +498,7 @@ npm install
 npm test
 ```
 
-`npm test` is `node --test` over `tests/` — 507 tests. It touches no Revit and
+`npm test` is `node --test` over `tests/` — 521 tests. It touches no Revit and
 opens no socket: the HTTP layer is stubbed and the tools are exercised through a
 real MCP client over an in-memory transport.
 

package/index.js

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import { McpServer } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js";
 import { StdioServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "url";
+import { autoInstallBridge } from "./lib/auto-install.js";
 import { createBridge } from "./lib/bridge.js";
 import { registerReadTools } from "./lib/tools/read.js";
 import { registerWriteTools } from "./lib/tools/write.js";
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ async function main() {
   const transport = new StdioServerTransport();
   await server.connect(transport);
 
+  // Never awaited: the transport is already up, and a slow or failing install
+  // must not delay the handshake or stop the server from serving tool calls.
+  // It is startup only, so it stays out of createRevitServer().
+  autoInstallBridge();
+
   process.stderr.write("Revit MCP server running on stdio\n");
 }
 

package/lib/auto-install.js

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// Installing the bridge add-in without being asked.
+//
+// The add-in already ships inside this package, so a new user should not have
+// to ask for it to be copied into place: on startup, when no Revit has the
+// manifest, we run the very installer revit_install_bridge runs.
+//
+// Two rules shape everything here. Nothing is awaited and every failure is
+// swallowed — the MCP handshake must never wait on this, and a machine with no
+// Revit on it is not an error. And stdout belongs to the JSON-RPC channel, so
+// every byte written from here goes to stderr instead.
+
+import fs from "fs";
+import path from "path";
+import { runInstaller } from "./tools/install.js";
+
+// Set it to anything to never auto-install; revit_install_bridge still works.
+export const OPT_OUT_ENV = "REVIT_MCP_NO_AUTO_INSTALL";
+
+// Where install.ps1 puts the manifest, and what it calls it. Revit 2024 and
+// earlier load add-ins on .NET Framework 4.8 and the installer refuses them, so
+// a manifest under one of those years is not this add-in installed.
+const MANIFEST_FILE = "RevitMcpBridge.addin";
+const MINIMUM_REVIT_YEAR = 2025;
+
+export function isInstalled({ env = process.env, fsImpl = fs } = {}) {
+  if (!env.APPDATA) return false;
+
+  const root = path.join(env.APPDATA, "Autodesk", "Revit", "Addins");
+  let years;
+
+  try {
+    years = fsImpl.readdirSync(root);
+  } catch {
+    // No add-ins folder at all, so nothing is installed.
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return years.some(
+    (year) =>
+      /^\d{4}$/.test(year) &&
+      Number(year) >= MINIMUM_REVIT_YEAR &&
+      fsImpl.existsSync(path.join(root, year, MANIFEST_FILE)),
+  );
+}
+
+async function install(options, write) {
+  try {
+    const result = await runInstaller({}, options);
+
+    if (result.ok) {
+      write(
+        "revit-mcp: installed the Revit bridge add-in. RESTART REVIT to load it — Revit only scans the Addins folder at startup.\n",
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
+    write(
+      `revit-mcp: could not install the Revit bridge add-in automatically. ${result.explanation || result.message} Run revit_install_bridge to see the full result, or set ${OPT_OUT_ENV}=1 to stop trying.\n`,
+    );
+  } catch (error) {
+    write(
+      `revit-mcp: could not install the Revit bridge add-in automatically: ${error.message} Set ${OPT_OUT_ENV}=1 to stop trying.\n`,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+// Returns as soon as it has decided what to do. The install itself is
+// deliberately left running: its promise is never handed back, so no caller can
+// accidentally wait on it, and nothing it does can fail the server's startup.
+export function autoInstallBridge(options = {}) {
+  const {
+    env = process.env,
+    platform = process.platform,
+    write = (line) => process.stderr.write(line),
+  } = options;
+
+  if (platform !== "win32") return "not-windows";
+  if (env[OPT_OUT_ENV]) return "opted-out";
+  if (isInstalled(options)) return "already-installed";
+
+  install(options, write);
+  return "started";
+}

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@rui.branco/revit-mcp",
-  "version": "1.0.3",
+  "version": "1.0.5",
   "description": "MCP server for Autodesk Revit: read and edit the open model from an MCP client, via a bundled C# bridge add-in that runs inside Revit",
   "keywords": [
     "revit",