HVAKR Revit Plugin

A Revit add-in that round-trips MEP spaces between Revit and the HVAKR cloud platform, so mechanical engineers can run load calcs and equipment sizing without re-keying the model.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (17.9+) or JetBrains Rider
• .NET 8 SDK
• Autodesk Revit 2025 or 2026 for runtime testing inside Revit
• Inno Setup 6 — only needed to package or locally install a release

Debug builds are portable on Windows and do not require Revit to be installed. The Revit API references come from pinned compile-only NuGet packages; Revit supplies the actual API DLLs at runtime.

Projects

Project	Purpose
HVAKR.Api	HttpClient wrapper around the HVAKR REST API — no Revit dependency
HVAKR.Api.Tests	xUnit integration tests (hit the real API — read token from HVAKR_ACCESS_TOKEN)
HVAKR.Revit	Revit add-in entry point — ribbon, dockable pane registration
HVAKR.Revit.UI	WPF pane + IExternalEventHandlers — the actual plugin UI
HVAKR.Revit.UI.Harness	Standalone WPF app that hosts the pane — develop here, not in Revit

Build & run

# Fast iteration for login/project-list UI — no Revit needed
dotnet run --project HVAKR.Revit.UI.Harness

# Compile the plugin
dotnet build HVAKR.Revit.sln -c Debug

# A normal Release build never installs or closes Revit
dotnet build HVAKR.Revit.sln -c Release

# Package an installer without installing it
dotnet msbuild HVAKR.Revit/HVAKR.Revit.csproj /t:BuildInstaller /p:Configuration=Release /p:VersionPrefix=0.1.0 /p:VersionSuffix=

# Refuses to continue while Revit is open, then installs silently
dotnet msbuild HVAKR.Revit/HVAKR.Revit.csproj /t:InstallLocal /p:Configuration=Release /p:VersionPrefix=0.1.0 /p:VersionSuffix=

# Tests (set HVAKR_ACCESS_TOKEN to run them; otherwise they no-op)
dotnet test HVAKR.Api.Tests

CI

GitHub Actions builds the full solution on windows-latest in Debug:

• restores NuGet packages
• builds HVAKR.Revit.sln
• runs HVAKR.Api.Tests

Pull-request CI also builds unsigned 0.1.0 and 0.1.1 test installers and verifies per-user installation, in-place upgrade, absence of Revit API assemblies, and complete uninstall. Revit behavior still needs manual validation in Revit 2025/2026.

The manually dispatched Release workflow accepts a strict major.minor.patch version and runs only from master. Its protected production job signs the plugin, updater, and installer with Azure Artifact Signing, publishes a GitHub Release and the public GCS objects, and writes revit/latest.json last.

Fresh installs are per-user under %LocalAppData% with manifests under %AppData%. Upgrades from the prior machine-wide installer preserve its all-users install mode and %ProgramData% manifests, avoiding duplicate add-ins while retaining the existing installation path.

Repository setup required before the first 0.1.0 release:

• Protect the production GitHub environment with required reviewers.
• Add environment secrets AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_TENANT_ID, AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID, GCP_WORKLOAD_IDENTITY_PROVIDER, and GCP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT.
• Add environment variables AZURE_ARTIFACT_SIGNING_ENDPOINT, AZURE_ARTIFACT_SIGNING_ACCOUNT, and AZURE_ARTIFACT_SIGNING_CERTIFICATE_PROFILE.
• Grant the Azure workload identity only the Artifact Signing Certificate Profile Signer role. Grant the GCP workload identity write access only under gs://hvakr-desktop-releases/revit/.

Release objects are public at revit/releases/X.Y.Z/HVAKR-Revit-Plugin-X.Y.Z.exe, revit/HVAKR-Revit-Plugin.exe, and revit/latest.json. Versioned installers are immutable; the stable alias and manifest use no-cache.

Testing in Revit

1. Run the explicit InstallLocal target after closing every Revit process.
2. Launch Revit 2025 or 2026. The HVAKR tab should appear on the ribbon.
3. Click Show to open the dockable pane. Paste an HVAKR API key to log in.

Installer

• Script: HVAKR.Revit/Installer/hvakr-installer.iss
• Fresh installs run without elevation in %LocalAppData%\Programs\HVAKR\Revit Plugin and write .addin manifests into %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\{2025,2026}
• Upgrades from the legacy all-users install retain its existing Program Files location and %ProgramData% manifests
• Packages the self-contained HVAKR.Revit.Updater.exe; update metadata and staging live under %LocalAppData%\HVAKR\Revit Plugin
• Local builds report 0.0.0-dev; release automation passes one version through assemblies, installer metadata, filenames, tag, and update manifest

Conventions

Coding conventions, Revit-API patterns, and the HVAKR wire contract live in AGENTS.md. Skills for AI collaborators are in .agents/skills/.

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0. "HVAKR" is a trademark of Flow Circuits, Inc.; see NOTICE.