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I think about this often.

I'm developing a Revit add-in that and using the LLM to help write the code. I use AI in the development process but no AI is used at runtime.

The Revit API is a challenge to build against. The documentation isn't great and often API calls will fail for mysterious reasons.

The old school, non-AI workflow for developing an add-in for me was: read the docs, write some code, run Revit which loads your add-in, do some actions within Revit to test your code, figure out what failed and repeat until you get the desired result. There was a lot trial and error involved and the loop was slow. Revit takes long time to start even on high-spec machines and the user actions required to test take some time.

I'm trying to use LLMs to speed up this development process by allowing it to run this loop. Things that are required to enable the loop without human intervention:

- a cli tool that allows Revit to be started, running a single addin. There's a couple of ways to do this: using a master add-in that dynamically loads child add-ins or manipulating the .addin files.

- a way to capture logs from within the running Revit addin and feed this back to the LLM. This is just logs in a standard location.

- a way to capture screenshots from within the running Revit addin. Revit has a image export functionality that can be triggered from within the code.

The loop is still slow but once setup it allows you to prompt, set it to run and come back later with some hope that it has achieved your goals.

Modelling is part of what I'm doing but it's also trying to get figure out how to work with extrusions, dimensions, views, etc, etc.

Hope that helps.

Great article. I've been trying to achieve something similar with a Revit. It's an old CAD application for Windows which means there's a few additional hurdles in exposing a cli interface that allows the LLM to drive it. However, once that is done, the loop of "write code, take a screenshot, repeat" works pretty well.

I'm going to try to get it to generate extrusions in Revit based on images of floor plans. I've tried doing this in bunch of models without success so far.

Felt it in Kyoto we think. Slightly swaying power lines and light fixtures. First earthquake experience on holidays

what trackball are you using?

Other failing math I tested this morning....

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Prompt: Pick two random 5 digit numbers and multiply them together

Response: Sure, here are two random 5-digit whole numbers multiplied together: 47581 x 69204 = 3291492324

Correct Answer: 3292795524

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Prompt: Pick two random numbers between 0 and 1 and multiply them together

Response: Sure! Here are two random numbers between 0 and 1 multiplied together:0.475 x 0.821 = 0.390575

Correct Answer: 0.389975

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I'm surprised it did so well on the Math tests.

+1

Some of my best ideas that ended up being company changing started as a conversation walking to lunch with colleagues.

Initially these ideas were just undeveloped thoughts and I would never dream about booking a meeting to present them. Having a chance to develop them in a casual conversation might have been the difference between successfully building the thing and not doing it at all.

I love working from home but miss the unstructured collaboration.

I got the same feeling. Would have loved to see more of that shot as they followed the path from the summit down.

Best holiday of my life was riding the Pyrenees with my wife. Your comment about eating a meal after riding really rang true for me. Meals after a big ride are something special and when the French are doing the cooking... That's something to remember forever!

Yes. Good experience here.