Automatic set-up
The easiest way: the CADshift installer finds the AI apps installed on your PC and connects the ones you tick. Nothing else to type.
During installation: “Connect your assistant”
- Close your AI apps first, Claude Desktop in particular. Right-click its icon in the taskbar’s notification area (next to the clock) and choose Quit. Claude Desktop rewrites its settings when it closes, so if it is open during the install it can undo the change.
- Close AutoCAD, then run the installer.
- The Connect your assistant page lists the AI apps found on this PC, ticked. Ticked apps get CADshift added to their settings; untick any you don’t want. The installer can connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf / Devin, LM Studio and AnythingLLM. Jan isn’t one of them: set it up in Jan.
- Using Microsoft 365 Copilot? Tick Use with Microsoft 365 Copilot on the same page. It is off unless you tick it, and it isn’t shown when your IT has turned the Copilot connection off.
- Finish the installer. The last page has one line per app, for example Claude Desktop: connected, then Next steps and details for each app are in setup.log (where the logs are). For Windsurf / Devin the line says 22 specialised tools are off: see why.
- If you ticked the Copilot option, the last page offers Sign in now. Click it and sign in with your work account in the browser; a message then tells you whether the sign-in worked. Your IT adds the CADshift app in the Teams admin center; see Microsoft 365 Copilot.
- Open the AI app again. CADshift is now in its tools.
An app that isn't installed yet
Which apps count as found
From version 0.1.1, an app counts as found only when the app itself is installed, for your Windows account or for all users of the PC. A settings folder left behind by an app you uninstalled doesn’t count. Most apps also need to have been started once, so that they have made their settings folder. If an app you have installed isn’t listed, start it once, then use Modify. An app installed where CADshift doesn’t look, such as a portable copy, can still be connected with one command.
Version 0.1.0 also counted leftover settings folders, so it could tick and connect an app that is no longer on the PC. The upgrade to 0.1.1 takes CADshift out of those apps again, and only CADshift: your other tools and settings in them stay as they were. If one of those apps is in fact installed where CADshift doesn’t look, connect it again with --force.
Later: Installed apps, Modify
To connect another app, or disconnect one, after CADshift is installed:
- Quit the AI app you want to change (for Claude Desktop: notification area icon, Quit).
- Open Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
- Find CADshift AI for AutoCAD, select the ⋯ button next to it, and choose Modify.
- Tick the apps you want connected and untick the ones you don’t, then choose Apply.
- The result page says what changed. Open the AI app again.
On Windows 10 the same list is in Settings → Apps → Apps & features: select CADshift AI for AutoCAD, then Modify.
Set by your administrator
The CADshift tab in AutoCAD
The CADshift tab on the AutoCAD ribbon has a Setup panel:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sign in | Signs this AutoCAD in to CADshift with your work account, so Microsoft 365 Copilot can use it. Apps on this PC don’t need it. |
| Status | Shows whether an AI has used this AutoCAD, whether Copilot can reach it, and where the CADshift MCP server is installed. |
To check a connection, ask your assistant something about the open drawing, for example “How many layers does the open drawing have?”, then press Status. The AI row should say Connected and when the AI last worked in this AutoCAD.
If it didn’t work
- CADshift is missing from the app: quit the app completely and open it again. If it’s still missing, see Troubleshooting.
- The result page says an app failed: usually its settings file has a mistake in it. CADshift never overwrites a file it can’t read. See invalid JSON.
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