The Problem with Revit Add-ins

Traditional Revit customisation requires a .NET add-in:

Why pyRevit?

Architecture Overview

Key Concepts

pyRevitTools.extension

The default extension ships 200+ tools organised into panels:

Community Extensions

Install any Git-hosted extension with one command:

# Install a community library extension
pyrevit extend lib MyTools https://github.com/yourorg/my-pyrevit-tools.git

# List all installed extensions
pyrevit extensions

# Update all extensions
pyrevit update

Extension Folder Structure

MyTools.extension/
├── MyTools.tab/                  ← Ribbon tab
│   └── Sheets.panel/             ← Ribbon panel
│       ├── RenameSheets.pushbutton/
│       │   ├── script.py         ← Main script
│       │   ├── icon.png          ← 32×32 button icon (optional)
│       │   └── bundle.yaml       ← Metadata (optional)
│       └── SheetIndex.pushbutton/
│           └── script.py
└── lib/                          ← Shared Python modules
    └── myutils.py

Bundle Anatomy

Every button in the ribbon is a bundle — a folder with a specific suffix:

# bundle.yaml
title: Rename Sheets
tooltip: >
  Batch rename sheets by
  find & replace pattern
author: Roman Golev
highlight: new
context: zero-doc
engines:
  - iron-python-27
  - cpython-385

Script Example

import clr
clr.AddReference("RevitAPI")
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import FilteredElementCollector, BuiltInCategory, BuiltInParameter

doc = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document

walls = FilteredElementCollector(doc) \
    .OfCategory(BuiltInCategory.OST_Walls) \
    .WhereElementIsNotElementType() \
    .ToElements()

for wall in walls:
    vol_param = wall.get_Parameter(BuiltInParameter.HOST_VOLUME_COMPUTED)
    if vol_param:
        vol_ft3 = vol_param.AsDouble()
        vol_m3 = vol_ft3 * 0.0283168
        print("{0}: {1:.3f} m3".format(
            wall.get_Parameter(BuiltInParameter.ELEM_TYPE_PARAM).AsValueString(),
            vol_m3
        ))

pyRevit forms Module

Rich UI dialogs without writing WPF / XAML:

from pyrevit import forms

# Simple alert
forms.alert("Operation complete!")

# Yes / No confirmation
if forms.alert("Delete elements?",
               yes=True, no=True):
    # proceed with deletion
    pass

# Text input
text = forms.ask_for_string(
    prompt="Enter prefix:",
    default="XX-"
)

from pyrevit import forms, revit, DB

# Select from a list
selected = forms.SelectFromList.show(
    ["Option A", "Option B", "Option C"],
    title="Choose option",
    multiselect=True
)

# Select Revit elements
doc = revit.doc
sheets = DB.FilteredElementCollector(doc)\
    .OfClass(DB.ViewSheet).ToElements()

picked = forms.SelectFromList.show(
    sorted(sheets, key=lambda s: s.SheetNumber),
    title="Pick sheets",
    multiselect=True,
    name_attr="Name"
)

Transactions

from pyrevit import revit, DB

with revit.Transaction("Set Parameter"):
    elem.LookupParameter("Comments") \
        .Set("Reviewed")

from pyrevit import revit

with revit.TransactionGroup("Batch Ops"):
    with revit.Transaction("Step 1"):
        wall.get_Parameter(
            DB.BuiltInParameter.ALL_MODEL_MARK
        ).Set("A")

    with revit.Transaction("Step 2"):
        wall.get_Parameter(
            DB.BuiltInParameter.ALL_MODEL_INSTANCE_COMMENTS
        ).Set("Updated")

Prompt Engineering for pyRevit

Use AI to generate scripts — provide context for better results:

## Task
Write a pyRevit script that calculates and prints the volume
of all walls in the active Revit document.

## Environment
- Autodesk Revit 2025
- pyRevit (latest)
- IronPython 2.7 (IPY27)

## Requirements
- Calculate the total volume of all walls in the project
- Print the result as a single sum in both cubic meters and cubic feet

Agent: OpenCode or any AI coding assistant

Magic Keys

Hold modifier keys when clicking any pyRevit button:

Resources

Key Takeaways

• PyRevit turns Revit into a scriptable platform — no C# required
• Hot-reload means seconds per iteration, not minutes
• The forms module eliminates WPF boilerplate for 80 % of UI needs
• Event hooks let you enforce model standards automatically
• Git-based distribution makes team rollout trivially reproducible