RhinoAI is a plugin from McNeel, the makers of Rhino and Grasshopper, that connects Rhino to AI assistants. It is currently in beta. If you've come across the name "Rhino MCP Platform" — that's the same tool under its earlier name, which the installer in the Package Manager still uses.

If you've been following our Rhino MCP coverage, RhinoAI is the same idea, taken further: your AI assistant can see what's in your Rhino and Grasshopper files, create geometry, run commands, write and edit scripts, and build Grasshopper definitions. The connection works both inside and outside Rhino.

What RhinoAI Actually Is

RhinoAI is a plugin that connects Rhino and Grasshopper — both Grasshopper 1 and Grasshopper 2 — to AI assistants. Supported assistants include Claude, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Gemini and local LLMs running on your own machine. Any assistant that speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can drive Rhino and Grasshopper through it.

How to Get It

RhinoAI is included by default in Rhino BETA. Rhino 8 users can add it from within Rhino via the Package Manager.

What It Can Do

• GH1 and GH2 tooling — create, review and tidy scripts in either version of Grasshopper, including converting Grasshopper 1 scripts to Grasshopper 2.
• Python and C# scripting — leverage the Rhino SDK and AI knowledge of coding to run scripts directly.
• Command creation — the AI can generate new commands saved in your Rhino session, complete with icons and a shareable plugin.
• Parallel Rhino agents — the MCP server can run multiple Rhino agents in parallel, including Rhino 8 and Rhino BETA.
• AI panel — a chat panel built into Rhino. Run the AIPanel command to toggle it on; it currently supports Claude and Codex.
• More connections — a Claude Desktop connector links Rhino to Claude Desktop.

The Geometry Is Real Rhino Geometry

Because RhinoAI drives Rhino itself — through Rhino commands and the RhinoCommon SDK — what lands in your file is genuine NURBS geometry: the same curves and surfaces you would build by hand. Meshes only appear where a mesh is the natural output, such as a quad-remeshed study model, or where you ask for one. When you want editable surfaces with control points, say so in the prompt — "loft these curves", "revolve this profile" — and the assistant builds with Rhino's surface tools.

The Router: How the Connection Works

The Rhino MCP server doesn't connect directly to Rhino — it connects via a router. That architecture matters, because it means your AI agent can start Rhino itself, load Rhino or Grasshopper plugins, test commands and components, handle crash information, and iterate your tooling. If you develop Rhino plugins, the AI can debug from your IDE while the router relays results.

RhinoAI and Your Licence

RhinoAI is free and works with your existing Rhino 3D licence — there's no separate AI licence to buy. Your activation stays exactly as it is, whether you use Cloud Zoo or single-computer activation.

Plugins and RhinoAI

Third-party plugin developers are working with McNeel on RhinoAI integration. Asuni — the developers of VisualARQ, which we supply — have publicly confirmed they're discussing how VisualARQ could be integrated with RhinoAI. That's a conversation to watch if you run VisualARQ alongside Rhino.

Rhino, Revit and BIM Metadata

For many studios, the sticking point in a Rhino–Revit workflow is not the geometry — it's the metadata: categories, parameters and schedules that need to survive the trip between systems. RhinoAI is relevant here because it can read and write the user data attached to Rhino objects, layers and block definitions.

Every Rhino object can carry key/value entries, and RhinoAI can expose and edit that data. An assistant can build a schedule from your blocks, then tag each block with the information it needs to carry. A McNeel staff demonstration has RhinoAI generate a furniture schedule and write that BIM information back onto the blocks so it can be tracked downstream. A practical pattern is to keep a mapping such as a layer key recording each layer's Revit category, which downstream processes can harvest when the model is handed over.

The route into Revit itself is Rhino.Inside.Revit, McNeel's free interop technology that runs Rhino and Grasshopper inside Revit. Rhino users on the McNeel forum have combined the two: RhinoAI managing the metadata, Rhino.Inside.Revit updating walls and floors in Revit without recreating elements. RhinoAI is still in beta and this workflow is new, but the pattern is established: the data travels with the geometry, and the assistant handles the tagging.

Where to Read More

McNeel's documentation covers setup for each assistant — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Gemini CLI and local LLMs — along with a growing library of example prompts. Questions and ideas are discussed in the Rhino Discourse AI category.

Related Reading

• Getting Started with Rhino MCP Platform: An Installation Guide
• Rhino MCP Troubleshooting: Fix Common Setup Errors
• Turn Your Office Manual Into AI Standards: How to Generate and Share SKILL Files