Platform · AutoCAD automation

AutoCAD Automation
for the drawing you've made a hundred times

Set the layers. Insert the blocks. Fix the title block. Plot. If your drafters run that same ritual forty times a week, the ritual is the product, and a ritual can be a command. We build it into AutoCAD itself, on the native .NET API, ObjectARX, and AccoreConsole.

Get Your AutoCAD Automation Audit Run the ROI Numbers

.NET API · ObjectARX · AutoLISP · AccoreConsole

The daily grind

Where the AutoCAD Week Actually Goes

The Forty-a-Week Ritual

Same blocks, same layer scheme, same title-block edits, same plot setup. By Thursday a drafter can do it blind, which is exactly when the mistakes get in.

Standards That Live in Heads

Your CAD standard says one thing. Six drafters produce six dialects of it. Nobody notices until a client does, or the shop floor does.

Data Trapped in DWGs

Quantities, attributes, and BOM data read off drawings by eye and retyped into Excel and ERP. Manageable at ten drawings. Hopeless at a thousand.

What we build

AutoCAD Automation, Four Ways

YOUR WORKFLOW IN → NATIVE COMMANDS OUT

Custom AutoCAD Plugins (.NET)

Ribbon commands and palettes that run the whole ritual (layers, blocks, annotation, plot) as one click, built on the .NET API so they sit next to AutoCAD's own tools.

Learn more → SPECS IN → DRAWING SETS OUT

Variant Drawing Automation

One master template plus your sizing rules. Hundreds of variant DWGs generated, checked, and plotted, without a drafter opening a single one.

Learn more → DWG BATCH IN → PROCESSED FILES OUT

AccoreConsole Batch Processing

AutoCAD without the window. Batch jobs run 5-10x faster than GUI-driven automation with 80% less memory, built for churning through whole drawing libraries overnight.

Learn more → DRAWINGS IN → ERP · PDM DATA OUT

AutoCAD + ERP/PDM Integration

Attribute and quantity data flows from the DWG straight into ERP and PDM. Nobody retypes anything, so nobody mistypes anything.

Learn more →

The AutoCAD API stack we build on

.NET API · Ribbon commands · Palettes · Add-ins ObjectARX · Native C++ extensions AutoLISP · Custom commands & routines AccoreConsole · Headless batch processing Verticals · AutoCAD Mechanical · Electrical

AutoLISP vs .NET vs headless

The Three Ways to Automate AutoCAD, and When Each One Wins

AutoCAD automation runs on three levels: AutoLISP routines, compiled .NET plugins, and headless batch processing with AcCoreConsole. Each is the right answer to a different problem, and the wrong answer to the other two.

	AutoLISP	.NET Plugins (C#)	AcCoreConsole (Headless)
What it is	Scripts running inside the AutoCAD command line	Compiled plugins with dialogs, palettes, and ribbon tools	AutoCAD's engine without the UI: batch processing at scale
Best at	Command shortcuts, drafting utilities, quick standardization fixes	Drawing generation, data extraction, ERP integration, complex logic	Processing hundreds of DWGs: plots, exports, migrations, audits
Built by	Power-user drafters	Developers who know CAD	Developers, on top of existing .NET automation
Breaks down when	Logic needs real data structures, UI, or external systems	Volume outgrows one workstation, one drawing at a time	Rarely, but it needs the .NET work done first
Typical project	Layer and title-block cleanup, drafting shortcuts	Automated drawing packages, quotation tools, DWG data pipelines	Batch plotting, standards audits, thousand-file format migrations

Most shops have decades of AutoLISP that still earns its keep, and we're not here to rewrite what works. The wins come from moving the order-driven, repetitive drawing production into .NET plugins, then scaling it headless with AcCoreConsole. Our deep dive: the AcCoreConsole guide to headless CAD automation.

Scope

What AutoCAD Automation Can Take Off Your Team's Plate

Drawing Generation

Complete drawings produced from order data, templates, and rules: geometry, dimensions, and annotations placed programmatically, not traced by hand.

Title Blocks & Standards

Title blocks filled, layers enforced, text styles corrected: your CAD standard applied automatically across every sheet that leaves the building.

Batch Processing

Plotting, PDF/DXF export, xref repathing, and standards audits across hundreds of drawings: headless, overnight, without a workstation tied up.

DWG Data Extraction

Block attributes, quantities, and table data pulled from legacy drawing libraries into databases and spreadsheets: decades of DWGs turned back into usable data.

Dynamic Blocks & Libraries

Parametric block libraries built and maintained programmatically: one governed source instead of a folder of near-duplicates.

ERP & Excel Integration

Drawings driven from ERP orders and engineering spreadsheets, with quantities flowing back the other way without retyping.

Results

What AutoCAD Teams Measure After Rollout

90%+Reduction in drawing time

100%Standards compliance

5-10xFaster batch processing

ZeroManual data re-entry errors

Proof

AutoCAD Automation, Already in Production

DRAWING AUTOMATION

Commercial Kitchen Drawing Automation

Variant packages that took 3-5 days of drafting now finish in under 4 hours, with 100% drafting standards adherence.

Read the use case → DRAWING AUTOMATION

Railway Signaling Drawing Generation

50+ station layouts generated automatically: a 4-person team covering work that would otherwise take 12+ engineers.

Read the use case → CAD PLUGIN

Steel Profile Tool Mapping

Tool mapping cut from 45 minutes to under 5 minutes per profile, and zero tooling errors reaching the shop floor.

Read the use case →

View All Use Cases →

Related insights

Reading for AutoCAD Automation Planning

CAD CUSTOMIZATION

AccoreConsole: The Complete Guide to Headless CAD Automation

The command-line core most teams never open, and how it batch-processes drawings 5x faster.

Read article → CAD CUSTOMIZATION

AutoCAD vs Inventor API: Choosing the Right Automation Platform

Which API to build on when a workflow could live in either platform.

Read article → CAD CUSTOMIZATION

CAD Customization vs Automation: What's the Difference?

Plugin or full automation system? Where the line sits, and how to tell which side your problem is on.

Read article →

"Nag is excellent to work with. They figured out a difficult API that 3 other developers couldn't figure out and delivered 2 days ahead of schedule." Andy Arledge · President · Appraiser Genie

FAQ

Asked on Nearly Every First Call

AutoLISP or .NET: which should our automation use?

Keep AutoLISP for what it's good at: drafting utilities and command shortcuts your power users maintain themselves. Move to .NET when the automation needs real interfaces, error handling, external data, or when it has become something orders depend on. We routinely keep both running side by side.

Can you work with our existing AutoLISP routines?

Yes. Decades-old LISP that still works is an asset, not a liability. We audit what exists, stabilize what's worth keeping, and migrate only the logic that has outgrown LISP (usually the order-driven drawing production) into compiled plugins.

Can AutoCAD automation run without opening AutoCAD?

Yes. AcCoreConsole runs AutoCAD's drawing engine headless, with no UI. That's how we batch-process hundreds of drawings: plotting, exports, standards enforcement, and data extraction run server-side or overnight, without tying up a licensed workstation session per drawing.

Does it work with AutoCAD verticals like Mechanical or Civil 3D?

Yes. The .NET API underlies the whole AutoCAD family, and vertical-specific objects (Civil 3D corridors, Mechanical part references) have their own API surfaces we build against. The automation targets whatever flavor your team actually runs.

Can it extract data from thousands of legacy drawings?

That's one of the most common projects we build. Block attributes, quantities, dimensions, and table data get pulled from DWG libraries into structured databases, turning an archive nobody dares touch into data your ERP and estimating teams can actually use.

How long does an AutoCAD automation project take?

Smaller plugin projects land in 4–8 weeks; full drawing-generation systems typically take 8–16 weeks to production. We build iteratively, so you see working automation on your own drawings in the first few weeks. See our pricing guide for typical investment ranges.

Free · no obligation

Which Drawing Does Your Team Dread Redrawing?

Start the audit there. We watch how the work moves through AutoCAD today, count what the ritual costs in hours, and rank what to automate first, by payback rather than novelty.