Autodesk App Store Revit

You will be presented with a detailed list of requirements for publishing on the Autodesk App Store when you first register to be a publisher. The information that follows is a summary. If there are any differences, then the online Publisher Agreement takes precedence.

Most of the information we need from you is collected through the web form you complete when submitting your content. This includes gathering information to create an HTML quick-start page that is included with the download of your product and viewable online.

Compatibility

Your product must be relevant to (and usable with) Revit 2025 software and must run on any Windows operating system supported by Revit 2025. You may also indicate the compatibility with Revit 2024| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020.

User privileges

The default user privilege for the Store apps is Windows 7/10/11 Admin User. The installer should have elevated user privileges.

Product stability

Your product should be stable and not behave or alter the behavior of Revit in a way that we deem unsuitable, for example, blocking standard Revit functionality, blocking the functionality of another plug-in, causing data loss, etc.

HTML help page

The documentation information you provide when submitting your app will be used to create a standard format HTML page. This information must allow the user to quickly understand how to use your product. You can reference additional information (for example, additional help files posted on your website) from this standard documentation. The standard format HTML page will be created using information you provide when submitting your product to the store—you will be prompted to supply it as part of the submission process.

Ready to run

Your product must be ready to run as soon as it's installed. It must not require the user to manually copy or register files, or manually edit Revit settings (such as support paths).

If you use a licensing system, then it must allow your product to run as soon as it is installed by the user. This means that your application allows either instant activation (for example, online activation), or full functionality with a time-bombed grace period that is long enough for you to send activation information to the customer.

There are no additional requirements for products that are not integrated with Revit. Such products might include eBooks, video tutorials, industry-specific calculators, and the like.

Additional requirements

• Your plug-in must include a ribbon button to access your main command. If your application has many buttons, you may also choose to have a separate custom ribbon tab.
• You must use an add-in manifest as the loading mechanism.

Additional requirements

Family libraries (in .rfa file format) must be installed in this folder: 

Windows 7/10/11 (Revit 2020/2021/2022/2023/2024/2025 64-bit only): %PUBLIC%\Documents\Autodesk\Downloaded Content (typically C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Downloaded Content)

Again, we'll create the installer for you and we can help you modify your libraries so that they work in this new location.

The ribbon bar UI must either provide access to the family library or launch a help file explaining how to access it. Your family library must include a ribbon button to the Revit ribbon bar. 

Use of the bundle and XML file for Revit  2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 plug-in

As a default location, we’ll be using All user location to place the add-in manifest:

%programdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

The plug-in files will be contained in a specific folder called “<your application name>.bundle” and a PackageContents.xml file (created by the installer we create for your app) will be stored within this .bundle folder together with the contents that you need for your application:

PackageContents.xml contains the following xml tag (among other tags that control the information of about the installer), and further points to your .addin manifest within your bundle folder.

<ComponentEntry ModuleName="./Contents/ADNPlugin-FileUpgrader.addin"

Revit  2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024| 2025 looks into the contents of the .bundle folder, read the PackageContents.xml file and look for “ModuleName” or the location of .addin file that further defines Revit specific information about plug-ins.

To see how the installed app looks, you can download some of the free plug-ins already available on the Autodesk App Store and study their format.

Special considerations

If your app or content has any special requirements that the standard installer template cannot handle as is, let us know.

For example, if you have specific requirements for your app to be written to a single-user, we can create an installer that installs only to the current user.

For any other special needs that require a custom installation, you can provide them in the form of Windows Installer Merge Modules (.msm) files. We will merge your .msm file with the Windows Installer (.msi) file that we create for your app. Examples of such a scenario would be: writing entries to the registry for a licensing system you are using, installing dependent components by other vendors, and running custom scripts. For additional information, email us at appsubmissions@autodesk.com.

Use the contextual help (F1 Help) with a ribbon item

Revit API supports Contextual or F1 Help. Please refer to the RibbonItem.SetContextualHelp() method and the ContextualHelp class in the Revit API documentation. The Autodesk Plug-in of the Month sample apps posted to Autodesk Apps Store demonstrate how to implement F1 help.

We encourage you to use a help mechanism that is consistent with the Revit help, such as tooltips and contextual help placed on a ribbon item. The options supported for contextual help include linking to an external URL, launching a locally installed help file, or linking to a topic on the Autodesk help wiki.

Use the ribbon

Using ribbon elements for your application is required, but how you do this will depend on your plug-in design. At a minimum, every plug-in or family library must add a panel to the Add-Ins tab that either invokes the main command defined by the plug-in or displays a help file explaining how to use the family library.

However, if your plug-in defines more than one command, then you will have to create ribbon layout for your plug-in in a way that is most helpful to the user, for example, using large buttons for most frequently used commands and small buttons for lesser used commands.

• Plug-ins that install a single panel should normally add that panel to the Add-Ins tab.

• Plug-ins that create several ribbon bar panels may prefer to create a new tab specific to that Plug-In (and preferably with the tab name being the name of the plug-in).

End User License Agreement

The installer that the ADN team creates for your app includes a button that allows the user to view the standard End User License Agreement (EULA) during the app installation.

Note: This EULA is not modifiable. If you wish to include your own EULA to your app, you can do either:

• Reference your EULA from the standard HTM help file text.

• Display your EULA when the app runs for the first time, and require the user to accept it before the app will work.

This series of videos explains and demonstrates the process of publishing Revit apps to the Autodesk App Store for Revit.

• Implementing copy protection in your apps
• Selling desktop app on monthly subscription
• Autodesk Entitlement API for desktop apps
• Instant payment notification (IPN) notification format

The ADN team is here to help you be a successful publisher on the Autodesk App Store. If you have any further questions after reviewing these guidelines and the other documentation on the Autodesk App Store Publisher Center, email us at appsubmissions@autodesk.com for support.