When it goes wrong

Troubleshooting

Symptom, cause, fix. If none of these is your problem, email info@hmktools.com with your host application and version — that alone usually narrows it to one of the answers below.

Installing and starting up

The host says the add-in “could not be authenticated” and blocks it

Why: The add-in is not code-signed yet, and some hosts block unsigned add-ins on first launch. This is expected and it is disclosed in the store listing.
Fix: Open the host’s add-in manager, unblock HMK Tools once, and restart. It loads normally from then on. In Revit and AutoCAD you may instead see a Windows security prompt the first time — same cause, same answer.

There is no HMK Tools tab on the ribbon

Why: Either the host release is outside the supported range, or the add-in was blocked on load and never got as far as building a ribbon.
Fix: Check your version against the supported list — Revit 2023–2027; AutoCAD 2021–2027, Civil 3D 2021–2027; Navisworks Manage & Simulate 2023–2027. Then check the host’s add-in manager for a blocked entry and unblock it. Navisworks Freedom cannot work at all: it has no managed add-in API.

It says the licence is not activated

Why: A seat activates one machine. The most common cause is a typo in the username, not the key — both are checked.
Fix: Click About on the HMK Tools tab and re-enter both fields. Remember that activating in any one product activates all of them on that machine, so if Revit works and AutoCAD does not, the problem is not the licence.

Connecting an AI client

The client lists the server but shows no tools

Why: The connector inside the host application is not running. The bridge is there; there is nothing on the other end of it.
Fix: Click Connector on the HMK Tools tab. The ribbon should read Connected. Turn on autostart in Settings if you would rather not think about it again.

The client does not show the server at all

Why: MCP clients read their configuration at startup. The setup wrote the entry after yours had already started.
Fix: Fully restart the AI client — not just the conversation. Then check its MCP server list again.

The connector will not start, or starts on a different port

Why: Something else on the machine already holds the default port — 7823 for Revit, 7900 for AutoCAD & Civil 3D, 7950 for Navisworks.
Fix: Change the port in Settings, then re-run the Setup Guide so the client is pointed at the new one. Skipping the second half is why this usually looks like it did not work.

Tool calls reach the wrong window

Why: With several host windows open, calls go to the one you opened first.
Fix: Every reply names the window it acted on, so check that first. To address windows separately, enable the multi-instance pool in Settings → Setup Guide; each window then gets its own connector name.

A tool you expected is missing from the list

Why: Either it is switched off, or it does not apply to this host. Disabled tools are hidden completely — the client cannot see that they exist.
Fix: Check Settings → Tools. Then check the host: Clash Detective tools appear on Navisworks Manage only, and Civil 3D tools appear only when the add-in is running inside Civil 3D rather than plain AutoCAD.

While you are working

It refuses to run something across the whole model

Why: Tools that modify things will not silently default to “everything”. A whole-model scope has to be asked for explicitly.
Fix: Say the scope you want in the request. See How to ask — naming a scope up front is faster than being asked for one.

It reported success but nothing looks different

Why: Usually the change landed somewhere you are not looking: a different view, a different window, or elements hidden by the current view’s filters.
Fix: Ask it which elements it changed and where, then check one of them directly. If the change really is wrong, Ctrl+Z reverses the whole operation in one step.

A long operation looks frozen

Why: Some work genuinely takes minutes — a large clash run, a bulk edit across thousands of elements.
Fix: Let it finish; progress is reported as it goes. Operations that can take minutes hand back a job you can check on rather than blocking the conversation.

Still stuck?

Email info@hmktools.com or use Need Help? Contact Us on the HMK Tools tab. Include the host application and version, and what you asked for — the log folder can be opened straight from Settings if we ask for it.