HuskyBIM for OpenRail

HuskyBIM for OpenRail connects Claude Desktop to Bentley OpenRail Designer 2026 through a native add-in — 401 tools that design, read and document roads in plain language. Alignments from PIs with curve radii, profiles from PVIs with vertical curves, corridors with template drops from the template library, terrain models from survey or DHM data with elevations, profiles and cut/fill volumes, superelevation, quantities — and underneath it the complete MicroStation layer: elements, levels, references, IFC and DWG, views and screenshots, drawings and sheets, any key-in, the COM object model, Python and .NET reflection into Bentley's civil SDK. Everything runs on your own machine; nothing from your models leaves it.

Requirements

• Bentley OpenRail Designer 2026 (26.0) for Windows — earlier versions are not supported yet
• Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
• Claude Desktop — download at claude.ai/download
• Free HuskyBIM account — sign up

Installation

What you can do

HuskyBIM for OpenRail covers 401 tools: 102 civil tools on Bentley's CifNET SDK (the same objects the ribbon tools create) plus the complete MicroStation layer underneath. Everything below was measured live in OpenRail Designer 2026 on 7 September 2026.

• Alignments — list, inspect (lines, arcs with radii, spirals, stations, profiles, corridors), points along at any interval with elevation from the active profile, locate a point (station + offset), create from PIs with curve radii, from points, or from any MicroStation element, offset/partial/join/extend/trim/move/rotate/reverse, intersections, curvature, stroking, station equations, key station lists, design speed tables, name and feature definition, delete.
• Profiles — list per alignment, elevations and grades at stations, geometry element by element with high/low points, existing ground from a terrain, create from PVIs with parabolic vertical curves (or a constant elevation), replace geometry, set the active profile, delete.
• Corridors and templates — list and inspect, create a corridor on an alignment, browse the template library (categories, points, components, constraint labels), add/split/change/remove template drops — OpenRoads then processes the corridor and builds its 3D meshes — point controls, parametric constraints (widen a lane, change a depth over a station range), secondary alignments, end-condition exceptions, curve widening, template transitions, key stations, cross-section cut points at any station, surface details, corridor surface to terrain, quantities per surface and material feature, delete. Templates can be read as XML, given new constraint values or built from points and components and used directly in a drop.
• Terrain models — list with points/triangles/range, create from points with breaklines/contours/voids/holes/islands and a boundary or from XYZ / LandXML / TIN files (the route for survey data and Danish DHM data from HuskyBIM for Danske Grunddata), add or remove features, clip, merge/append, difference terrains, move/scale/raise, thin, elevation/slope/aspect at points, existing-ground profile along an alignment or polyline, prismoidal and grid cut/fill volumes, slope area, ponds, catchments, line of sight, triangles, save as .dtm/.tin, rename, delete.
• Superelevation, civil cells, rail — sections in detail, create a section, add lanes and transitions, cross slope at any station, apply a lane to a corridor as a point control, clear/delete; place civil cells from a library on reference alignments; cants (OpenRail); cross-section named boundaries; 3D linear features.
• Standards — which feature definitions, template library and seeds the session runs with, and exactly how to load them when the file was opened outside a WorkSet.
• The MicroStation layer — every HuskyBIM for MicroStation tool is included: read and draw elements, levels, references (IFC from Revit 2024–2027, DWG), cells, text and dimensions, views and screenshots, drawings, sheets and PDF, DWG/DXF export, audit and quantities, the complete MicroStation help and tool catalogue, any key-in, the COM object model, Bentley's Python API and .NET reflection straight into the CifNET SDK for anything the typed tools do not cover.

Known limits in v0.1.0 (measured, not guessed). PI-based alignments are built as tangent–arc geometry (spiral lengths are not applied yet). OpenRail reports every key station's position as 0 when read back, so that tool shows only the count. Corridor surface volumes come from OpenRoads and read 0 until the corridor has been processed with quantities. New alignments and terrains can only be named and symbolised when civil feature definitions are loaded — open the file from a WorkSet, or use the configuration line shown by the standards tool. OpenRoads leaves a stray unnamed 100 m profile when a profile is created through the SDK; it is hidden from listings. Templates built or changed through the tools live as XML fragments in template drops, not in the library file. Anything the typed tools do not cover is reachable through the three civil escape hatches (members, get, call) that expose every public member of Bentley's CifNET SDK with OpenRoads' transient/persist cycle applied.

Example workflows

• "Can you see OpenRail? What file is open, which alignments, corridors and terrains does it have?"
• "List the levels in use and count the elements on each. Which levels are empty?"
• "Draw the outline of a 12 × 8 m building at the origin on level A-WALL, with 300 mm walls as a second offset shape."
• "Find all text containing 'REV' and change it to 'Rev. C'."
• "Attach Site.dgn coincident and tell me what it contains."
• "Create an Item Type 'Room' with Name and Area, attach it to the closed shapes on level ROOMS, and fill in the area from the geometry."
• "Quantity takeoff: total length of lines per level and total area of closed shapes."
• "Set view 1 to isometric, smooth shade, fit, and show me a screenshot."
• "Export the active model to DWG and print view 1 to PDF on A3."
• "Use a key-in to run 'level manager' — or ask Python for the model's range through the DgnPlatform API."

Troubleshooting

Ensure OpenRail Designer 2026 is running with a design file open and that Claude Desktop has been restarted after installation. Check Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions to confirm HuskyBIM for OpenRail is enabled.

HuskyBIM for OpenRail talks to the add-in inside OpenRail Designer over local port 14277. The add-in loads when a design file opens — if OpenRail Designer is sitting on the start screen, open a DGN first, then send your prompt. If the Message Center never shows "HuskyBIM for OpenRail ready", check that C:\ProgramData\Bentley\OpenRail Designer 2026\Configuration\Organization\HuskyBIM.cfg exists (the installer writes it) and that %LOCALAPPDATA%\HuskyBIM\microstation\HuskyBIM.MicroStation.dll is present. The add-in writes a log to %LOCALAPPDATA%\HuskyBIM\microstation\addin.log. If your organisation relocates MicroStation's configuration (a custom _USTN_ORGANIZATION on a network share), copy HuskyBIM.cfg into that Organization folder — MicroStation only reads the cfg files there.

Claude's calls run on OpenRail' main thread, one at a time. A modal dialog (a file picker, a "save changes?" prompt) blocks them: close it, or ask Claude to read and dismiss it (it can list dialogs and press their buttons).

If activation fails, a message will appear at the end of installation. Your files are still installed — re-run the installer with the correct email. Contact [email protected] if the issue persists.