AI Agent setup
What the ArchiTool AI Agent needs on your machine, and what each status message in the panel means.
The ArchiTool AI Agent runs your own AI command-line tool on your machine. ArchiTool never sees your credentials and charges nothing for the AI itself: you bring a Claude subscription, a ChatGPT login, or an API key.
What you need
- ArchiTool for Rhino 4.3.0 or later, installed from Rhino's Package Manager (see Installation).
- An ArchiTool account with agent access, signed in inside the panel.
- One of the two CLIs below, installed and signed in on the same Windows user.
Option A: Claude Code (recommended)
No Node.js needed. Open PowerShell and run:
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iexThen run claude once and sign in with your Claude subscription. If you prefer pay-as-you-go, choose Anthropic API key in the panel instead and paste a Console key; it is stored encrypted for your Windows user only.
Option B: OpenAI Codex
Needs Node.js first. Then:
npm i -g @openai/codex
codex loginChoose Codex as the agent in the panel. A ChatGPT login or an OpenAI API key both work.
Check it in the panel
Open the panel with the ArchiTool command, pick Agent, and expand Your agent. The dot turns green when the CLI is found and signed in.
| Panel says | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code not found / Codex not found | The CLI is not on this machine, or Rhino cannot see it yet. | Install it with the command shown, press Check. Installed while Rhino was open and still not found? Restart Rhino. |
| not signed in | The CLI is installed but has no login. | Press Sign in (opens the CLI's own sign-in), or switch to an API key. |
| no API key | API-key mode is selected but nothing is stored. | Paste a key and press Save. |
| This agent needs ArchiTool for Rhino 4.3.0 or newer | The plugin is older than the agent requires. | Update 01A_Architool in the Package Manager. |
| Agent is not available in this panel | The agent failed to start; the analysis tools still work. | Restart Rhino. If it persists, report it from the panel's ··· menu. |
Optional: unsupervised sessions
Supervised sessions (the default) only ever propose geometry that you apply. If you turn supervision off, the agent drives Rhino directly. For that mode, installing the Rhino MCP Platform package from the Package Manager gives the agent the same Rhino tools it would have in a terminal; without it, ArchiTool falls back to its own script tool.