Install and Update

Download the AutoCAD plugin, install it, sign in to AVstackr from it, and keep it up to date.

Download

The plugin comes as a zip, AVstackr.bundle.zip, that holds a folder named AVstackr.bundle. Any AVstackr account can download it. Sign in to download, and this page then shows the link.

The same zip serves AutoCAD 2025, 2026 and 2027, because it holds the builds for all three.

Install

The plugin is installed for your own Windows user, in your %APPDATA% folder. Another Windows user on the same computer installs it for themselves.

1. Download the zip, and close AutoCAD.
2. Open File Explorer, type %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins into its address bar, and press Enter. When Windows cannot find that folder, open %APPDATA%\Autodesk the same way and create a folder named ApplicationPlugins in it.
3. If the folder holds an AVstackr.bundle folder from an older copy, delete it.
4. Click the address bar and copy the full path it shows.
5. Right-click the zip, choose Extract All, and replace the destination path with the one you copied. The path must end in ApplicationPlugins. If it ends in \AVstackr.bundle, delete that part, because the zip already holds a folder named AVstackr.bundle. Then extract the zip.
6. Check that ApplicationPlugins\AVstackr.bundle\PackageContents.xml exists. When it is one folder deeper, in ApplicationPlugins\AVstackr.bundle\AVstackr.bundle\, the zip was extracted into a folder named after it, and AutoCAD does not load the bundle from there. Delete the outer AVstackr.bundle folder, and extract the zip again as step 5 describes.

Some companies set AutoCAD to load only from trusted folders, or install software under C:\Program Files. For those cases, see For IT Administrators in Troubleshooting.

The First Start

1. Start AutoCAD. AutoCAD may ask whether to load files whose names start with AvEngineering.AutoCad. Choose to load each one. AutoCAD asks once for each file, so the first start asks twice.
2. With Always Load, AutoCAD does not ask again for that file. AutoCAD keeps that answer only when it exits cleanly, so after any other exit it asks again at the next start.
3. Type AVSTACKR to open the palette.

When AutoCAD answers AVSTACKR with Unknown command, the plugin did not load. Troubleshooting says what to check.

Sign In

Sign in from the palette's Settings tab, or type AVS_SIGNIN to open the Sign in to AVstackr window. Both offer two ways in:

• Sign in with browser opens AVstackr in your web browser. Sign in there, then come back to AutoCAD. The plugin waits up to 5 minutes, and Cancel in the Settings tab stops it waiting.
• Use an API key signs in with a key that starts with avs_, created in AVstackr under Settings → API Keys. In the Settings tab, paste the key into the box, then click Use an API key. While you are signed in, the box shows only after you click Use a different API key. In the window, choose this option, paste the key and click Sign in.

Signing In with the Browser

1. Click Sign in with browser. Your web browser opens AVstackr's authorization page.
2. If the browser is not signed in to AVstackr, the page first asks for your email and password.
3. The page then says that the AVstackr AutoCAD plugin wants to access your AVstackr MCP tools. MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is how AI assistants such as Claude Desktop connect to AVstackr. The plugin signs in through the same page, so the page uses the same words for it. Click Authorize to sign the plugin in, or Deny to refuse.
4. When the browser says "AVstackr sign-in finished. You can close this tab and return to AutoCAD.", close the tab and go back to AutoCAD.

The page signs the plugin in for a company with a paid AVstackr plan or a live free trial. The messages it shows otherwise are in Troubleshooting.

Creating an API Key

An API key needs a paid plan; during the free trial, sign in with the browser instead.

1. In AVstackr, open Settings → API Keys and click Create API Key.
2. Type a name for the key, such as the name of your computer, and click Create.
3. Copy the key at once, because AVstackr shows it only this one time.
4. In the palette's Settings tab, paste the key into the box, then click Use an API key.

Staying Signed In

The sign-in is stored encrypted for your Windows user, so AutoCAD keeps it from one start to the next. A browser sign-in renews itself. When AVstackr no longer accepts it, the plugin asks you to sign in again.

In the Settings tab, a badge shows how you are signed in, Signed in · API key or Signed in · browser. The address you are signed in to is below it. For an API key, its last four characters show as "Key ends •••• …".

Sign out, or AVS_SIGNOUT, forgets the sign-in. To sign in another way, click Use a different API key, or Switch to browser sign-in, which is not shown while you are signed in with the browser. Back returns without signing in. While you are signed out, the tab shows Sign in with browser and, below it, the key box and Use an API key.

Another AVstackr Server

The plugin connects to https://avstackr.com. To use another AVstackr server:

1. In the Settings tab, type the server's address in the Server section.
2. Click Change server, and confirm. You are signed out at once.
3. Restart AutoCAD. The plugin connects to the new server after the restart, and you can sign in to it.

Until the restart, a banner at the top of the Settings tab says "Restart AutoCAD to use the new server" and "Still talking to the old one until then.", and sign-in stays off. The Server section shows Pending restart and "New: …" with the new address. Changing the server back to the one in use removes them at once, and you can sign in again.

Update the Plugin

Once per AutoCAD session, when you are signed in, the plugin asks AVstackr whether a newer version exists. The check runs in the background and shows nothing unless there is one. When there is, the top of the palette says "AVstackr plugin … is available" beside an Update plugin button. The command line says it once, in the drawing open at the time. When AutoCAD started on its Start tab, it says it in the first drawing you open or create.

1. Click Update plugin. The palette is busy while the plugin downloads the new version from AVstackr with your sign-in. The plugin checks that it is exactly the file AVstackr announced, and unpacks it into a new version folder beside the running one. Then the notice and the status line say "Restart AutoCAD to finish updating to …", and the button stays off.
2. Close AutoCAD and start it again. The new version runs, and the Settings tab names it. If AutoCAD asks whether to load the new version's file, whose name starts with AvEngineering.AutoCad, choose to load it. AutoCAD asks once for each new version, and a version it was told to always load is not asked about again.

The update downloads only with your sign-in. While you are signed out, Update plugin downloads nothing. Instead, the palette says "Sign in again: Update plugin needs an AVstackr sign-in." and opens the sign-in window. When AVstackr refuses the stored sign-in, the palette says the same, and the Settings tab shows Key rejected or Sign-in expired. After you sign in, click Update plugin again. Check for updates works while you are signed out, so you can see that a newer version exists before you sign in.

An update only adds a version folder to the bundle. Your settings, your sign-in and the downloaded blocks stay as they are. The running session does not change until the restart.

The loader is the small part of the plugin that AutoCAD loads first, and it starts the newest installed version. It keeps the previous version beside the newest one. At each start that runs the newest version, it removes any older version that no other AutoCAD still runs. When the newest version cannot be loaded at all, the loader runs the previous version instead. That happens, for example, when AutoCAD's question about it was answered Do Not Load or its file is damaged. The command line then says "AVstackr … failed to load; running … instead. See the loader log." The sentence appears in the drawing open when AutoCAD starts. When AutoCAD starts without a drawing, it appears in the first drawing you open or create.

AutoCAD 2025 and 2026 share one set of version folders, so an update installed from either one runs in both. AutoCAD 2027 has its own, and installs its own update.

Check for updates in the Settings tab runs the same check at any time. It answers in the status line and on the command line: "Up to date", the notice when a newer version exists, or "Could not check for updates: …" with the reason. The check that runs on its own says nothing when it fails. The log records it as "Update check failed: …".

Rarely, a new version needs a newer loader than the one installed. The notice then says "AVstackr plugin … needs a reinstall", and the Settings tab's badge says Reinstall needed. In that case the notice's button is Download, which opens this page in your browser. Install the plugin again as the Install section of this page describes.

Updates come only from the AVstackr server set in the Settings tab. Its address must be https, or be on this computer or the local network. A copy not installed from the zip does not update, and Check for updates answers "Updates are off: this copy was not installed from the bundle".

Remove the Plugin

1. In the palette's Settings tab, click Sign out, which deletes the stored sign-in from this computer.
2. Close AutoCAD.
3. Delete the AVstackr.bundle folder from %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\. A copy installed under C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ can be deleted only with administrator rights.
4. To remove the plugin's own files as well, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\AVstackr\AutoCAD\. That folder holds the settings in settings.json, the encrypted sign-in in credentials.bin, the downloaded blocks in blocks\ and the logs in logs\. When settings.json sets cacheDir or logDir, the blocks or the plugin's logs are in that folder instead, so delete them there as well.

Sign out forgets the sign-in on this computer only. An API key stays valid in AVstackr until it is revoked. To revoke a key yourself:

1. In AVstackr, open Settings → API Keys.
2. Click the cross at the end of the key's row.
3. Click Yes.

Your keys also stop working in these cases:

• An administrator removes you from your company in AVstackr's Organization page.
• You accept an invitation and join another company.
• All of your sign-ins are revoked through AVstackr's API.
• AVstackr revokes all of your sign-ins for security, which it does when a sign-in that was already renewed is used again.

Drawings keep their links when the plugin is removed, because each link is saved inside its DWG file. After you install the plugin again and sign in to the same server and company, the palette works with those drawings as before.