Revit Build Tasks

This repository contains the MSBuild tasks for developing and publishing the plugin for multiple Revit versions.

Installation

You can install Tasks as a nuget package.

<PackageReference Include="Nice3point.Revit.Build.Tasks" Version="3.*"/>

How to use this package? Just add it to your add-in, and this package will setup the project for simplified maintenance and development. About MSBuild targets.

Package included by default in Revit Templates.

Table of contents

• MSBuild Targets
  • Preprocessor symbols
  • Publishing
    • Local deployment
    • Publishing for distribution
    • Publish extra content
  • Assembly repacking
  • Manifest patching
  • Implicit global usings
• MSBuild Properties

MSBuild Targets

Preprocessor symbols

Preprocessor symbols (#define constants) are used in conditional compilation to enable or exclude code based on the target Revit version. This ensures compatibility across multiple Revit versions without code duplication.

The OR_GREATER symbols are cumulative and provide a cleaner way to handle version-specific API changes. Each symbol indicates compatibility with the specified version and all newer versions.

Current configuration	Project configurations	Generated define constants
Debug R20	Debug R20, Release R21, Release 2022	REVIT2020, REVIT2020_OR_GREATER
Release R21	Debug R20, Release R21, Release 2022	REVIT2021, REVIT2020_OR_GREATER, REVIT2021_OR_GREATER
Release 2022	Debug R20, Release R21, Release 2022	REVIT2022, REVIT2020_OR_GREATER, REVIT2021_OR_GREATER, REVIT2022_OR_GREATER

Usage:

#if REVIT2021_OR_GREATER
    UnitUtils.ConvertFromInternalUnits(69, UnitTypeId.Millimeters);
#else
    UnitUtils.ConvertFromInternalUnits(69, DisplayUnitType.DUT_MILLIMETERS);
#endif

To support removed APIs in newer versions of Revit, you can invert the constant:

#if !REVIT2023_OR_GREATER
    var builtinCategory = (BuiltInCategory) category.Id.IntegerValue;
#endif

Constants are generated from the names of project configurations. If your project configurations do not contain metadata about the version, you can specify it explicitly:

<PropertyGroup>
    <RevitVersion>2025</RevitVersion>
</PropertyGroup>

Preprocessor symbols generating is enabled by default, to disable implicit defines, set the DisableImplicitRevitDefines property:

<PropertyGroup>
    <DisableImplicitRevitDefines>true</DisableImplicitRevitDefines>
</PropertyGroup>

Publishing

Depending on your workflow, you can either deploy the files locally for immediate testing and debugging or publish them into a folder for further distribution.

Local deployment

To copy Revit add-in files to the %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins folder after building a project, you can enable the DeployRevitAddin property.

Copying files helps attach the debugger to the add-in when Revit starts. This makes it easier to test the application or can be used for local development.

<PropertyGroup>
    <DeployRevitAddin>true</DeployRevitAddin>
</PropertyGroup>

Default: Disabled

Should only be enabled in projects containing the Revit manifest file (.addin).

Clean solution or Clean project commands will delete the deployed files.

Publishing for distribution

If your goal is to generate an installer or a bundle, enable the PublishRevitAddin property. This configuration publishes the compiled files into the bin\publish folder.

<PropertyGroup>
    <PublishRevitAddin>true</PublishRevitAddin>
</PropertyGroup>

Default: Disabled

Publish extra content

By default, all project files and dependencies required for the plugin to run, including the .addin manifest, are copied. If you need to include additional files, such as configuration or family files, include them in the Content item.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Resources\Families\Window.rfa" CopyToPublishDirectory="Always"/>
    <Content Include="Resources\Music\Click.wav" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
    <Content Include="Resources\Images\**" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
</ItemGroup>

To enable copying Content files, set CopyToPublishDirectory="Always" or CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"

The PublishDirectory property specifies which subfolder of the plugin the file should be copied to. If it is not specified, the files will be copied to the root folder.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Resources\Families\Window.rfa" PublishDirectory="Families" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
    <Content Include="Resources\Music\Click.wav" PublishDirectory="Music\Effects" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
    <Content Include="Resources\Images\**" PublishDirectory="Images" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
    <Content Include="Readme.md" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest"/>
</ItemGroup>

Result:

📂bin\publish; %AppData%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2025
 ┣📜RevitAddIn.addin
 ┗📂RevitAddIn
   ┣📂Families
   ┃ ┗📜Family.rfa
   ┣📂Images
   ┃ ┣📜Image.png
   ┃ ┣📜Image2.png
   ┃ ┗📜Image3.jpg
   ┣📂Music
   ┃ ┗📂Effects
   ┃   ┗📜Click.wav
   ┣📜CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.dll
   ┣📜RevitAddIn.dll
   ┗📜Readme.md

Assembly repacking

Assembly repacking is used to merge multiple assemblies into a single Dll, primarily to avoid dependency conflicts between different add-ins.

If you need to repack assemblies into a single Dll, enable the IsRepackable property. ILRepack package is required.

<PropertyGroup>
    <IsRepackable>true</IsRepackable>
</PropertyGroup>

Default: false

To exclude certain assemblies from repacking if they cause unexpected behavior, specify them using the RepackBinariesExcludes property:

<PropertyGroup>
    <RepackBinariesExcludes>$(AssemblyName).UI.dll;System*.dll</RepackBinariesExcludes>
</PropertyGroup>

Wildcards are supported. All binaries are repacked into the bin directory after the build.

For .NET Core applications, it is recommended to disable this feature and use Dependency Isolation, which is available starting from Revit 2026.

Manifest patching

By default, enabled target is used to modify the Revit .addin manifest to ensure backward compatibility between different Revit versions.

For example, if the manifest includes nodes or properties, which is only supported in newest Revit version, it will be removed for older versions:

Original .addin manifest:

<RevitAddIns>
    <AddIn Type="Application">
        <Name>RevitAddin</Name>
        <Assembly>RevitAddin\RevitAddin.dll</Assembly>
    </AddIn>
    <ManifestSettings>
        <UseRevitContext>False</UseRevitContext>
    </ManifestSettings>
</RevitAddIns>

Patched .addin manifest for Revit 2025 and older:

<RevitAddIns>
    <AddIn Type="Application">
        <Name>RevitAddin</Name>
        <Assembly>RevitAddin\RevitAddin.dll</Assembly>
    </AddIn>
</RevitAddIns>

Target is triggered automatically if the PublishRevitAddin property is enabled.

Implicit global usings

By default, included a target for generating implicit global Usings depending on the project references. Helps to reduce the frequent use of using in a project.

Global Using	Enabled by reference
using Autodesk.Revit.DB;	RevitAPI.dll
using JetBrains.Annotations;	JetBrains.Annotations.dll
using Nice3point.Revit.Extensions;	Nice3point.Revit.Extensions.dll
using Nice3point.Revit.Toolkit;	Nice3point.Revit.Toolkit.dll
using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.Input;	CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.dll
using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;	CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.dll

To disable implicit usings, set the DisableImplicitRevitUsings property:

<PropertyGroup>
    <DisableImplicitRevitUsings>true</DisableImplicitRevitUsings>
    <!--OR-->
    <ImplicitUsings>false</ImplicitUsings>
</PropertyGroup>

MSBuild Properties

This package overrides some properties for the optimal add-in development:

Property	Default value	Description
AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath	false	Prevents the TFM from being appended to the output path. Required to publish an application

These properties are automatically applied to the .csproj file, but can be overriden:

<PropertyGroup>
    <AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>false</AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>