GoCalc.AI for AutoCAD — User Tutorial

1 Launch & Setup

GoCalc.AI for AutoCAD connects directly to the active AutoCAD drawing via pyautocad (Windows COM automation). There is no HTTP server or plugin ribbon — just open AutoCAD with a drawing, launch the chat window, and start talking.

How the System Works

Desktop Chat

→

pyautocad (COM)

→

AutoCAD Application

→

Active Drawing

Step-by-Step Launch

Open AutoCAD and load a drawing GoCalc.AI connects to the AutoCAD instance that is already running on your machine. Open any DWG file — new or existing — before launching the chat window.
Launch GoCalc_AI_ACAD.exe Double-click GoCalc_AI_ACAD.exe in the dist folder to open the chat window. No Python installation is required. If running from source, use start.bat or python app.py instead.
Add your API key via the Options dialog Click the Options button in the toolbar to open the Options & Configuration dialog. Enter your API key for at least one provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Ollama) in the corresponding field and click Save. Keys are encrypted automatically — you never need to edit config files by hand.
Register your license Click the License button in the toolbar and enter your key. Contact us to obtain your license key.
Verify the connection The top bar shows the name of the active drawing when GoCalc.AI has successfully attached to AutoCAD. If it shows an error, make sure AutoCAD is open with a drawing and click the ⟳ reconnect button.
Type your first command and press Enter Try: "What layers does this drawing have?" — the AI will query your drawing and reply in natural language.

GoCalc.AI for AutoCAD — main chat window connected to an active drawing

⚠️

API key required. GoCalc.AI needs at least one AI provider API key to function. Click the Options button in the toolbar and enter your key before sending any messages. Supported providers: OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), and Ollama. Keys are stored encrypted — they are never saved as plain text.

⚠️

Open AutoCAD first. GoCalc.AI connects to an already-running AutoCAD instance via COM. If AutoCAD is not open with a drawing, the status will show a connection error. Simply open AutoCAD with any DWG and click the ⟳ reconnect button.

💡

AutoCAD required. GoCalc.AI uses Windows COM automation via pyautocad to control AutoCAD. AutoCAD (full edition) must be installed on your Windows machine. The app is not compatible with AutoCAD LT or other CAD applications.

2 Interface Overview

The GoCalc.AI window is divided into four main areas.

🗂

Left Sidebar — History

Saved conversations listed by title and date. Click any entry to reload it. Click × to delete.

💬

Chat Area

Your messages appear on the right, AI replies on the left. Executed AutoCAD actions are shown in a gray log below each AI response.

🖼

File Preview Strip

Thumbnails of attached images and file badges appear here before sending. Click ✕ on any preview to remove it.

⌨️

Composer

Type your message. Enter sends, Shift+Enter inserts a new line.

🛠

Toolbar

Buttons for attaching files, switching models, managing your license, picking themes, and more.

🟢

Status Bar

Shows real-time connection state: the active drawing name when connected, or an error message when AutoCAD isn't reachable. Click ⟳ to reconnect.

🔴

Stop Button

While the AI is responding, a red Stop button replaces Send. Click it to cancel the response instantly and re-enable the input.

Toolbar Button Reference

Button	What it does
📎 Attach files	Open a file picker to select images, PDFs, or text files to include in your next message.
🗑 Clear files	Remove all pending attachments at once.
➕ New conversation	Start a fresh chat. The current conversation is auto-saved to the sidebar.
⚡ Actions	Browse, test, and manage all available AutoCAD actions.
🔑 License	Enter or update your GoCalc.AI license key.
ℹ About	View the version, disclaimer, and support contact details.
🎨 Style	Open the theme picker to choose from 10 colour themes.
🔌 Test API Keys	Verify that your configured AI provider credentials are working (hidden by default; enable in Options).
📌 Always on top	Keep the GoCalc.AI window floating above all other windows, including AutoCAD.
⟳	Reconnect to the active AutoCAD drawing. Use this after opening a new drawing or if the connection is lost.
⚙️ Options	Open the Options & Configuration dialog to set API keys, select the AI model, configure the Ollama endpoint, and toggle toolbar buttons — no restart required. Always the last button in the toolbar.

3 Chatting with the AI

GoCalc.AI understands natural language. Describe what you want to do — the AI decides which AutoCAD actions to call, executes them against the active drawing, and replies in natural language.

Example Conversations

What layers does this drawing have?

Let me check the drawing for you.

• list_layers

Your drawing has 5 layers: "0", "WALLS", "DOORS", "DIMENSIONS", and "TEXT".

Describe this drawing

Reading the drawing contents now…

• describe_drawing

The drawing contains 142 entities across 5 layers. There are 88 lines, 12 arcs, 24 text elements, and 18 dimensions. The active layer is "WALLS".

Draw a line from (0,0) to (100,0) on the WALLS layer

Drawing the line now.

• add_line

Done — a line from (0,0) to (100,0) has been added on the WALLS layer.

Create an action that draws a rectangle given a corner point, width, and height

I'd create an action called draw_rectangle that uses AddLightWeightPolyline to draw 4 connected vertices. Should I go ahead and create it?

Yes.

• create_action → draw_rectangle

Action added successfully. Please try your command again.

What Happens When You Send a Message

AI receives your message Your text (and any attached files) is sent to the selected AI provider.
"Thinking…" indicator appears The AI processes your request and decides whether to call one or more AutoCAD actions.
Actions execute against the active drawing If actions are needed, they run via COM in real time. You'll see changes appear in your AutoCAD drawing immediately.
Tool log is displayed Every action called appears in the gray log below the AI reply (e.g., • list_layers).
AI replies in natural language The AI describes what was done, including entity counts, layer names, geometry results, or any errors that occurred.

AutoCAD drawing updated in real time by GoCalc.AI — AutoCAD drawing updated in real time as the AI executes actions

💡

Reference layers and coordinates precisely. Say "the WALLS layer" or "from point (0,0) to (100,0)" — the AI handles the COM addressing automatically. If a layer doesn't exist, it will tell you before trying to draw anything.

4 AutoCAD Actions

GoCalc.AI ships with a set of built-in actions and can create unlimited custom ones on demand. The AI calls these automatically — you never need to name them explicitly unless you want to.

Built-in Actions

list_layers describe_drawing add_line change_selection_to_red

Action	What it does	Example prompt
`list_layers`	Returns all layer names in the active drawing	"What layers does this drawing have?"
`describe_drawing`	Summarises entity types, counts, layer distribution, and active layer	"Describe this drawing."
`add_line`	Draws a straight line between two 2-D points in model space	"Draw a line from (0,0) to (200,0) on layer WALLS."
`change_selection_to_red`	Changes the colour of all currently selected entities to red (color index 1)	"Make the selected entities red."

Custom Actions — Unlimited & Instant

If a built-in action doesn't cover your need, just ask the AI in natural language. GoCalc.AI will propose a new action, wait for your approval, then write the Python file and hot-reload the library — no restart required.

Read & Query

List entities by type, count objects on a layer, read block attributes, find entities by handle…
"How many lines are on the WALLS layer?"

Draw & Modify

Draw circles, arcs, polylines, text, rectangles, hatch areas…
"Draw a circle at (50,50) with radius 10 on layer DETAIL."

Layer Management

Create layers, set colours and linetypes, freeze/thaw, switch active layer…
"Create a new layer called NOTES in yellow."

Drawing Operations

Save the drawing, zoom extents, regen, run AutoCAD commands…
"Save the drawing and zoom to extents."

🔧

How custom action creation works: When no matching action exists, the AI describes what it would create and asks your approval. After you confirm, it calls create_action internally, saves the Python file to the acad_lib/actions/ folder, and hot-reloads the library. Reply "Yes, create it" to proceed. The new action is immediately available — no restart needed.

AUTOFIX — Self-Correcting Action Creation

When AUTOFIX is enabled (default: on), each newly created action is automatically test-run against the live drawing using its built-in TEST_ARGS. If the test fails, the AI silently fixes the code and retries — up to the configured maximum attempts.

AUTOFIX result	What happens
Test passes	The AI reports the result directly — you don't need to retry the command.
Test fails	The AI fixes the code and calls `create_action` again silently.
Max retries reached	The AI stops and reports the failure so you can inspect the action file manually.

Configure AUTOFIX in the Options dialog: enable/disable the toggle and set the maximum number of retries (0–10). See Section 8 — Options for details.

Custom Action API Reference

Every custom action is a plain Python file with a TOOL_DEFINITION dict and an execute(ctx, …) function. The ctx object provides these helpers:

Helper	What it does
`ctx.acad`	The pyautocad Autocad instance
`ctx.app`	AutoCAD Application COM object
`ctx.doc`	Currently active Document COM object
`ctx.model`	Active ModelSpace (shortcut for doc.ModelSpace)
`ctx.list_layer_names()`	Return a list of all layer names
`ctx.get_layer(name)`	Return a Layer object by name
`ctx.set_active_layer(name)`	Switch the active layer
`ctx.get_active_layer_name()`	Return the current active layer name
`ctx.list_entity_summary(type, limit)`	Return a summary list of entities, optionally filtered by type
`ctx.add_line(x1, y1, x2, y2)`	Add a Line entity to model space
`ctx.add_circle(cx, cy, radius)`	Add a Circle entity to model space
`ctx.add_text(text, x, y, height)`	Add a single-line Text entity to model space
`ctx.add_polyline([[x,y],…])`	Add a lightweight 2-D polyline
`ctx.save()`	Save the drawing
`ctx.zoom_extents()`	Zoom to extents
`ctx.regen()`	Regenerate the drawing

Actions Browser

Click the Actions button in the toolbar to open the full Actions Browser:

Feature	How to use it
Search / Filter	Type in the search box to filter actions by name in real time.
Test Run	Select an action and click Test Run to execute it with the current input values shown in the right panel.
Double-click	Double-click any action to immediately run it.
Save Inputs	Write the current input field values back to `TEST_ARGS` in the action's `.py` file — so they become the defaults next time.
Open (.py)	Open the action's Python source file in your system default editor.
Delete	Remove custom actions you no longer need. The `.py` file is deleted and the registry is reloaded immediately.

5 Files & Voice Input

GoCalc.AI is multimodal — you can send images, documents, and spoken commands alongside your text.

Attaching Images

📋

Paste from Clipboard

Press Ctrl+V anywhere in the chat window to paste a screenshot directly. Ideal for sharing your current AutoCAD view without saving a file.

📁

Attach Files

Click the attach button in the toolbar and browse for PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, or WebP images. You can attach multiple files at once.

✕

Remove Before Sending

Each attachment shows a thumbnail with a ✕ button. Click it to remove that file before you send your message.

💡

Take a screenshot of your drawing, paste it with Ctrl+V, and ask "What layers can you identify in this view?" or "What geometry should I add to complete this detail?" — the AI can see and analyse the image.

Supported Document Types

File Type	How the AI uses it
PDF	Reads the text content; useful for attaching specification documents or design briefs.
CSV	Reads the data rows; useful for coordinate lists or schedule data.
TXT / MD	Reads the content as plain text.
JSON / PY	Reads the file as structured data or code.

Voice Input

Click the 🎤 microphone button The button turns red and shows a stop icon (⏹). Speak your command clearly.
Click ⏹ to stop recording Your speech is sent to OpenAI Whisper for transcription.
Review and send The transcribed text appears in the composer. Edit it if needed, then press Enter to send.

⚠️

Voice input uses OpenAI Whisper for transcription. An OpenAI API key must be configured even if you're using Claude or Gemini as your main AI model.

6 Conversation History

GoCalc.AI automatically saves every conversation so you can pick up where you left off or review past work.

💾

Auto-Saved

Every message exchange is saved after each reply. You never need to manually save.

🔄

Reload Any Conversation

Click any conversation in the left sidebar to restore the full message history and continue from there.

➕

Start New

Click New Conversation in the toolbar. The current chat stays saved in the sidebar.

🗑

Delete

Click the × button next to any conversation to permanently remove it.

ℹ️

Conversations are stored locally in conversation_history.json in the application folder. The sidebar shows each conversation's title (derived from your first message) and its creation date and time.

7 AI Models

GoCalc.AI supports four AI providers. Select your model in the Options dialog (⚙️ in the toolbar) — changes take effect immediately without restarting the app.

🟢

OpenAI (ChatGPT)

GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, o1, o3, o4-mini and more. Excellent all-around for CAD tasks and required for voice transcription (Whisper).

🟣

Anthropic (Claude)

Claude Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku. Excellent for detailed reasoning and longer, multi-step drawing conversations.

🔵

Google (Gemini)

Gemini Pro and Flash models. Strong at image analysis — great for analysing screenshots of drawings.

⚪

Ollama (Extended)

Kimi, Qwen3, DeepSeek, Mistral, Gemma, and 25+ more models for specialised use cases.

💡

Not sure which model to use? Start with the default (usually GPT-4o or Claude Sonnet). Switch to a faster model like gpt-4.1-mini or claude-haiku for quick, simple queries to save time and costs. Open Options → AI Model to change the model at any time.

⚠️

Attaching images? Not all models support image input. If you attach a screenshot and the selected model does not support vision, GoCalc.AI will display a short error message asking you to remove the image or switch to a vision-capable model (e.g., GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, or Gemini Flash).

8 Options & Configuration

Click the Options button (always the last button in the toolbar) to open the Options & Configuration dialog. All settings take effect immediately — no restart required.

AI Model

Choose the active AI provider and model from the AI Model drop-down at the top of the Options dialog. The selection is saved to aimodel.json and applied to the current session right away.

API Keys

🔑

Enter / Update Keys

Type or paste your API key into the corresponding field (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Ollama). Click Save and the key is encrypted before being written to aimodel.json — no plain-text keys are ever stored on disk.

🔒

Machine-Specific Encryption

Keys are encrypted using a key derived from your machine name and Windows username. The same aimodel.json file cannot be decrypted on a different computer. Existing plain-text keys in old config files are still recognised and continue to work.

🌐

Ollama Base URL

Select Cloud (ollama.com) or Local (localhost:11434) from the Ollama URL drop-down, or type a custom endpoint. This controls where Ollama API calls are sent.

Provider	Field	Where to get a key
OpenAI	OpenAI API Key	platform.openai.com → API keys
Anthropic	Anthropic API Key	console.anthropic.com → API keys
Google	Google API Key	aistudio.google.com → Get API key
Ollama	Ollama API Key + Base URL	ollama.com account page (cloud), or leave key blank for local Ollama

Toolbar Button Visibility

Use the checkboxes in the Toolbar Buttons section to show or hide individual buttons. Changes are written to config.json and the toolbar updates immediately without closing the dialog.

Toggle	Controls	Default
Show Attach Files button	📎 Attach files button	Visible
Show Clear Files button	🗑 Clear files button	Visible
Show New Conversation button	➕ New conversation button	Visible
Show Actions button	⚡ Actions browser button	Visible
Show About button	ℹ About dialog button	Visible
Show Style button	🎨 Theme picker button	Visible
Show Test API Keys button	🔌 API key test button	Hidden
Show Always on Top checkbox	📌 Always on top toggle	Visible

ℹ️

The Options button itself is always visible and is always positioned last in the toolbar, regardless of any visibility settings. The License button visibility is controlled separately via a remote license flag and cannot be toggled here.

AutoFix

The Auto-Fix section controls how GoCalc.AI handles errors when creating new custom actions.

Setting	Default	What it does
Enable AUTOFIX	On	After writing a new action, automatically test-runs it against the live drawing. On failure, silently rewrites and retries the action code.
AUTOFIX max retries	1	Maximum number of fix-and-retry cycles before the AI gives up and reports the failure. Range: 0–10.

💡

With AUTOFIX on, the AI will attempt to self-correct code errors in newly created actions automatically. Set max retries to 0 to disable automatic retries while keeping the test-run feedback visible.

GoCalc.AI Options & Configuration dialog — Options & Configuration dialog — API keys, model selection, toolbar toggles, and AUTOFIX settings

Saving

Click Save at the bottom of the dialog to write all changes. The dialog closes automatically. There is no confirmation popup — the save is silent and immediate.

💡

Advanced users can still edit aimodel.json and config.json directly with a text editor. The Options dialog reads and writes the same files — both approaches are compatible.

9 Themes

Click the Style button in the toolbar to open the theme picker. Your selection is saved automatically and applied every time you open GoCalc.AI.

Dark Purple

Ocean Dark

Forest

Midnight Red

Slate Gray

Warm Dark

Light Cloud

Light Sage

Light Warm

Arctic Blue

The currently active theme is highlighted with an accent border in the picker. Click any swatch to preview and apply it instantly.

10 License Registration

GoCalc.AI requires a valid license to operate. Contact us to obtain your license key.

Contact us to get your license key Reach out to us via the About dialog or our website to request a license key.
Click the License button in the toolbar The License Registration dialog opens.
Enter your license key Paste or type your license key into the license key field.
Click Register The app validates your key online and activates your license.
Confirmation appears Your username and email are displayed in the dialog to confirm successful registration.

ℹ️

The license is validated automatically each time you open GoCalc.AI. You can re-register a new key at any time without reinstalling the app.

⚠️

Your license is personal — please do not share it. It can be used on multiple computers, but only one computer at a time. To switch machines, close the app on the current computer first, then open it on the other. After a license is released, please allow 8 hours before activating it on a different computer.

11 Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Enter`	Send message
Click Stop	Cancel the current AI response and re-enable the input immediately
`Shift` + `Enter`	Insert a new line in the message
`Ctrl` + `V`	Paste image from clipboard into attachments
Click 🎤 then ⏹	Start / stop voice recording
Double-click an action	Run the action in the Actions Browser
Click × in sidebar	Delete a saved conversation
`Ctrl` + `Z` (in AutoCAD)	Undo the last AI-executed drawing change

12 Tips & Best Practices

🔍

Read before you draw

Ask "Describe this drawing" first so the AI knows the layers, entity counts, and active layer before making changes.

📸

Use screenshots for context

Paste a screenshot of your drawing with Ctrl+V and ask questions about what's shown. The AI can see and analyse images.

🔁

Work incrementally

Read first, analyse, then modify — each as a separate message for best results. Avoid combining many different drawing changes into one prompt.

🧹

New conversation for new drawings

Start a fresh conversation when switching to a different drawing or project to keep context clean and avoid confusion.

📌

Always on top

Enable "Always on top" so the GoCalc.AI window stays visible while you work in AutoCAD — no alt-tabbing needed.

📋

Name layers precisely

Refer to layers by exact name: "the WALLS layer" rather than "the wall layer". The more specific you are, the less chance of the AI placing geometry on the wrong layer.

🤖

Request custom actions freely

There's no limit on custom actions. Ask for anything: "Create an action that draws a door symbol at a given insertion point." The AI writes and installs it instantly.

⚡

Use AUTOFIX for reliability

Keep AUTOFIX enabled so the AI tests and self-corrects newly created actions before reporting success. Increase max retries for complex geometry actions.

⚙️

Switch models on the fly

Open Options and change the AI model mid-conversation. The next message uses the new model — no restart, no lost context.

🔑

Keep API keys secure

Always enter keys through the Options dialog — they are encrypted with a machine-specific key before being written to aimodel.json. Never share that file.

Example Prompts to Try

# Explore the drawing
"What layers does this drawing have?"
"Describe this drawing."
"How many entities are on the WALLS layer?"
"What is the active layer?"

# Read & analyse
"List all text entities in the drawing."
"How many lines are there in total?"
"Which layers have no entities on them?"
"What entity types are used most?"

# Draw & modify
"Draw a line from (0,0) to (500,0) on the WALLS layer."
"Add a circle at (250,250) with radius 50 on layer DETAIL."
"Set the active layer to DIMENSIONS."
"Change all selected entities to red."

# Custom action creation
"Create an action that draws a rectangle given a corner, width, and height."
"Create an action that lists all block references and their insertion points."
"Create an action that sets a layer's colour to yellow by name."

💡

Undo is your safety net. GoCalc.AI executes real AutoCAD COM commands. Press Ctrl+Z in AutoCAD to undo any AI-generated change — exactly the same as undoing a manual edit.