Archi Automate

The Work Between the Tools: Archi Automate Grows from 4 Connections to 12

August 26, 2026

Late in a coordination meeting, the missing answer is rarely in the model already on screen.

The site constraint is in QGIS. The option under discussion started in Forma or Rhino. The current building model is in Revit or Archicad, the structure is in Tekla, and the exchange model is an IFC. Before the issue can be closed, somebody still has to find the right information, check that it is current and publish the result to Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Every application may be doing its job. Time disappears in the relay between them.

On 17 June 2026, Archi Automate connected four parts of that relay: Revit, Archicad, Rhino and openBIM/IFC. By 25 August, it connected twelve, adding AutoCAD, Tekla Structures, SketchUp, Blender, QGIS, Vectorworks, Autodesk Forma and Autodesk Construction Cloud/BIM 360.

The useful story is what happens between those names.

One task, several applications

The twelve connections cover a recognisable path through an AEC project.

QGIS and Forma bring site context and early studies into reach. Rhino and SketchUp cover exploratory modelling. Revit, Archicad, AutoCAD and Vectorworks sit closer to authoring and documentation. Tekla adds the structural model. IFC provides a vendor-neutral route for checking and coordination, while Blender supports scene building and visualisation. Autodesk Construction Cloud is where project folders, files and versions are managed and delivered.

Archi Automate does not merge these applications into a universal model or synchronise them behind the scenes. Each request names an application and a document. The assistant can retain the objective, constraints and findings while it works through the relevant connections, but the handoffs remain explicit.

Take a site review. The QGIS connection can clip nearby building footprints and sample terrain from the layers already loaded in the project. That context can be inspected in the local 3D viewer or used for a solar study before the team checks the design deliverable as IFC and uploads the approved file to Autodesk Construction Cloud. A person still decides what should happen and approves changes. They do not have to explain the task from zero at every application boundary.

These twelve connections are the current scope. Archi is continuing to add AEC applications and support more of the handoffs that teams still manage manually.

A hard case: moving Revit cloud models

Cross-hub migration sounds like a file-copying job until Revit cloud models enter the picture.

A Revit cloud model is not just an .rvt file in a folder. Autodesk’s cloud service gives it its own identity. Copying the visible file to another project produces a file, not a working cloud model at the destination.

Archi Automate treats ordinary files and cloud models differently. Folder structures and ordinary project files move through the Autodesk Construction Cloud connection, with an integrity check for each file. Revit cloud models take a route through an interactive, signed-in Revit session: the published model is brought into Revit and saved to the target project as a new cloud model. The workflow can also be used between US and EMEA hubs.

The word published matters. Autodesk Docs can download the published state of a Revit cloud model; that state may be older than the latest changes synchronised to the cloud central. Teams should publish current models before migration and confirm the published version at the source.

This is a guided content migration, not a complete project clone. Ordinary files move in their selected version, while a Revit cloud model moves from its selected published state. Source version history does not travel. Issues, markups, permissions and other project data are not recreated. Revit links must be inspected and may need to be relinked after the move. Keep the source project as an archive until the destination has been checked.

Autodesk’s own regional-storage guidance describes the same boundary. Autodesk says an entire project cannot be migrated between regions. Its Replication Tool can copy files and folders, but it does not carry versions, issues, markups or permissions.

That is less magical than “one-click migration,” but far more useful than pretending a cloud model is an ordinary file.

More access needs clear limits

Archi Automate uses one policy across its connections, with controls applied where they are relevant to the application and operation. A team can start in Read only, allowing inspection without model changes. Preview changes provides a dry run where supported. Allow changes enables writes when the team is ready.

For model operations, the policy can block deletion and cap the number of elements affected by one action. The audit log records every request on the local computer. Forma and Autodesk Construction Cloud act with the signed-in user’s Autodesk access; connecting them does not grant a new set of project permissions.

Prompts and responses are handled by the AI client and model provider the firm chooses, under that provider’s terms. A production review should therefore cover the provider’s retention, training and data-residency settings as well as Archi Automate’s local controls.

Those limits are part of the workflow. A useful sequence is to inspect first, preview a supported edit, approve the write and then verify the result in the application that owns the model.

Release record

For teams that need the exact rollout:

5 July 2026, version 27.11: Blender.
11 July 2026, version 27.12: AutoCAD, SketchUp, QGIS, Tekla Structures and Vectorworks.
9 August 2026, version 27.16: Autodesk Forma.
25 August 2026, version 27.20: Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360.

Support inside several connections also widened. Archicad now covers versions 27, 28 and 29. AutoCAD covers 2025, 2026 and 2027 from one installer. In an interactive, signed-in session with the required Autodesk entitlement and project access, Revit can save an opened local workshared or non-workshared model to a target Autodesk Docs folder as a new cloud model.

What should an AEC team test first?

Do not begin with “automate the project.” Choose one handoff that repeatedly makes people stop and reconstruct context.

For example:

Check site information before a design decision.
Inspect an authoring model and its IFC deliverable in sequence.
Prepare model content for visualisation without beginning again in Blender.
Move a controlled set of project files — including one current, published Revit cloud model — to another Autodesk hub.

Record what still requires human judgement, what must be verified at the destination and how much re-explaining or manual export work disappears. That will tell you more than the connection count.