HuskyBIM for SketchUp
HuskyBIM for SketchUp connects Claude Desktop to Trimble SketchUp 2026 through a native Ruby extension — 185 tools that model, organize, measure and read your SketchUp model in plain language. Create geometry and solids, run boolean operations, manage tags, materials, components and scenes, take measurements, and import or export — all by describing what you want.
Requirements
• Trimble SketchUp 2026 (Pro, Studio or trial) for Windows
• Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
• Claude Desktop — download at claude.ai/download
• Free HuskyBIM account — sign up
Installation
Download the installer
Sign in to your account page and download HuskyBIM_for_SketchUp_v1.4.1.exe from the Downloads section.
Run the installer
Run HuskyBIM_for_SketchUp_v1.4.1.exe. No administrator rights are needed. The installer copies the SketchUp extension to your Plugins folder, installs Node.js if needed, and configures the Claude Desktop extension automatically.
Enter your account email
When prompted, enter the email address for your free HuskyBIM account. The installer validates your account and finishes setup.
Open a model and restart Claude Desktop
Start SketchUp 2026 and open a model (the extension loads when a model window opens — not on the welcome screen). Then restart Claude Desktop. The HuskyBIM for SketchUp extension will appear with all 185 tools ready.
What you can do
HuskyBIM for SketchUp covers 185 tools across the whole SketchUp workflow:
• Geometry — create faces, edges, circles, polygons, arcs, boxes and cylinders; push/pull faces and extrude along paths (Follow Me); move, rotate, scale and copy
• Solid operations — union, subtract, intersect, trim and outer shell on manifold groups and components, with exact volume readouts
• Organization — tags (create, assign, show/hide), groups, components (make, place, import definitions), explode, lock and hide
• Materials — create materials with color and alpha, assign to faces front/back or to whole groups
• Scenes & views — create and activate scenes, set the camera, jump to standard views, zoom extents, render PNG screenshots
• Measure & read — distances, bounding boxes, areas, volumes, entity trees, attribute dictionaries, model statistics
• Files — save and open models, import DWG/DXF/DAE/STL, export DAE/STL/OBJ/DWG and more (Pro exporters where licensed)
• Environment — geolocation, shadows and sun studies, styles, model units
• External components — insert a component from any direct .skp URL, including 3D Warehouse download links (3D Warehouse has no public search API — grab the link from your browser)
• IFC export — export the model to IFC for BIM handoff (classify components first for typed IFC entities)
• Trimble Connect (beta) — browse projects, folders and files, download files and read/create to-dos in Trimble Connect. Beta: needs your own Connect token today — see the setup guide below
• LayOut drawing sheets — build .layout documents: pages, layers, SketchUp model viewports (scene, render style, scale), rectangles, ellipses, text, tables, dimensions, images and auto-text, then export to PDF
• Ruby escape hatch — run any SketchUp Ruby API call directly when you need something beyond the built-in tools
Trimble Connect (beta)
Once a token is in place, ask Claude things like "list my Trimble Connect projects", "show the files in project X", or "create a to-do in project X: check the north facade".
Sign in to Trimble Connect in your browser
Open app.connect.trimble.com, sign in with your Trimble ID (the same one you use in SketchUp), and open any project so the app makes API calls.
Copy your access token
Press F12 to open DevTools, go to the Network tab and type api in the filter. Right-click any request to …/tc/api/… → Copy → Copy as cURL. In the copied text, find the line -H 'authorization: Bearer eyJ…' and copy everything after Bearer — that long string is your token.
Save the token
Paste the token (only the token, nothing else) into a file at %USERPROFILE%\.huskybim-trimble-token. Alternatively set it as the environment variable TRIMBLE_CONNECT_TOKEN. HuskyBIM reads it locally on your machine — it is never sent anywhere except to Trimble Connect.
Use it in Claude
Ask "list my Trimble Connect projects". When a token expires (about an hour), calls start returning 401 — just repeat steps 1–3 to refresh it. The connector reaches Trimble Connect over the global gateway and works with any data region.
Example workflows
Create three building volumes: 20x15x9 m, 12x12x15 m and 30x10x6 m, spaced 5 m apart along the x-axis. Tag them "Massing", give them a light gray material, and set up an iso scene called "Overview".Make a 4x4x3 m box and subtract a cylinder with radius 1 m through the middle — then tell me the exact remaining volume.List all tags with how many entities are on each, find any components with more than 10 instances, and give me the total model bounding box in meters.Save the model, export it as DAE for the visualization team, and render a 1920x1080 screenshot from the current scene.Troubleshooting
Ensure SketchUp 2026 is running with a model open and that Claude Desktop has been restarted after installation. Check Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions to confirm HuskyBIM for SketchUp is enabled.
HuskyBIM for SketchUp talks to SketchUp over local port 14274. The extension loads when a model window opens — if SketchUp is sitting on the welcome screen, open or create a model first, then send your prompt.
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.