Build Revit and Tekla plugins without Visual Studio – one PowerShell script

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GitHub - anis-ammar/bim-plugin-builder: Build Revit, Tekla, AutoCAD plugins without Visual Studio — one PowerShell script, any version · GitHub

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anis-ammar

bim-plugin-builder

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Folders and files<br>NameNameLast commit message<br>Last commit date<br>Latest commit

History<br>3 Commits<br>3 Commits

BASE_Ruban.cs

BASE_Ruban.cs

BASE_TeklaPlugin.cs

BASE_TeklaPlugin.cs

CMD_Connecter.cs

CMD_Connecter.cs

CMD_MonOutil.cs

CMD_MonOutil.cs

LICENSE

LICENSE

README.md

README.md

TeklaPlugin.cs

TeklaPlugin.cs

compile_revit.ps1

compile_revit.ps1

compile_tekla.ps1

compile_tekla.ps1

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BIM Plugin Builder

Build Revit, Tekla and AutoCAD plugins without Visual Studio — one PowerShell script, any version.

By a building architect from Tunisia — as a hobby.

The Problem

I spent two months trying to develop a Revit plugin using Visual Studio.

Two months of installation, configuration, templates, NuGet packages, and endless frustration.

I gave up.

Then one evening, I tried a completely different approach.

In one day I had a working Revit plugin — custom ribbon, multiple buttons, multiple commands — deployed on Revit 2020 and Revit 2025.

No Visual Studio. No IDE. No template. No solution file.

Just Notepad++, dotnet CLI, and a PowerShell script.

What You Need

Notepad++ — or any text editor

.NET SDK 8 — ~200 MB vs 10 GB for Visual Studio

Revit / Tekla installed

That's it.

The Concept

Treat the .cs file like a Python script.

Write .cs → Run PowerShell script → Plugin deployed

Exactly like pyRevit — but compiled native C#, no runtime dependency, full API access.

How It Works

Change one line — everything follows automatically.

$plugin = "iCAD"<br>$version = "2025" # ← change this only

✅ Right framework selected (net48 or net8.0-windows)

✅ Correct DLLs referenced

✅ .csproj generated

✅ Plugin compiled

✅ Deployed to the right folder

File Structure

MyProject\<br>BASE_Ruban.cs ← ribbon definition<br>CMD_Command1.cs ← command 1<br>CMD_Command2.cs ← command 2<br>compile_revit.ps1 ← the script

The .csproj compiles all .cs files in the folder automatically.

Add a new command — create a new CMD_xxx.cs and add one line in BASE_Ruban.cs.

The One Rule

namespace in .cs == $plugin variable in the script

If $plugin = "iCAD" then namespace iCAD in every .cs file.

Supported Software

Software<br>Versions<br>Framework

Revit<br>2020 → 2026<br>net48 / net8.0-windows

Tekla Structures<br>2020 → 2026<br>net48 / net8.0-windows

AutoCAD<br>2020 → 2026<br>net48

Navisworks<br>2020 → 2026<br>net48

Rhino<br>net7.0

Same concept for all. Change the DLL paths and the deploy folder.

Why Nobody Did This Before

Every BIM developer comes from the Visual Studio world.

Nobody thought to remove the IDE to simplify.

The dotnet CLI has been free and built into Windows for years.

The tool was always there.

The real bottleneck was never C#.

It was never the Revit API.

It was Visual Studio.

License

MIT — free to use, modify, distribute.

Anis Ammar — Tunis, Tunisia 🇹🇳

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Build Revit, Tekla, AutoCAD plugins without Visual Studio — one PowerShell script, any version

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MIT license

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C#<br>79.6%

PowerShell<br>20.4%

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