How to Find AI Plugins Installed on Design Workstations

Why look for AI plugins on design workstations?

Designers install AI plugins to hit a deadline, and many land in per-user folders that nobody in the firm reviews. A plugin runs inside Revit, AutoCAD or Rhino with the same access to the model that the designer has, so an AI plugin may send geometry, sheets or project data to an outside service. Finding them starts with the Revit add-ins location and the matching AutoCAD and Rhino folders.

Designers add plugins from app stores and vendor sites to solve a deadline problem, and plugins can install into the user's own profile folders. The CIS Critical Security Controls ask for a software inventory reviewed at least twice a year (Safeguard 2.1) and for unauthorized software to be removed or given a documented exception, checked monthly (Safeguard 2.3). Both are in Implementation Group 1, the baseline for small organizations. A general software inventory may list the design application itself and miss the add-ins that load inside it, so plugins need their own check.

Check client contracts as well. If an owner agreement or NDA limits where project drawings may be stored or sent, an AI plugin can move that data off the workstation without anyone opening a browser, and the firm answers to the client for it.

What is the Revit add-ins location, and where do AutoCAD and Rhino keep plugins?

Revit add-ins load from C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins for all users and from each user's AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Addins folder, with a subfolder per version year. AutoCAD and Rhino also use fixed locations, so every workstation can be searched the same way, and the per-user folders are the ones most likely to hold something nobody approved. (Paths checked against Autodesk and McNeel documentation in October 2026.)

• Revit: Autodesk's add-in registration documentation says Revit reads every .addin manifest file in two folders during startup: an all-users folder at C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\ followed by the version year, and a per-user folder at C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\ followed by the version year. Each manifest names the file it loads and the vendor.
• AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products: plugin bundles live in ApplicationPlugins folders. Autodesk's plug-in installation documentation lists %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins for all users and %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins for each user. Bundles in the Program Files ApplicationPlugins folder are treated as trusted.
• Rhino 8: packages installed through the Package Manager can be listed from the command line. Rhino's developer documentation gives the command "C:\Program Files\Rhino 8\System\Yak.exe" list, which prints each installed package and its version.
• Browsers: AI extensions in Edge and Chrome sit outside the design tools but see the same project portals. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management can inventory installed browser extensions on Windows devices, with the users who have each one and the permissions it requests, if your firm has that license. Our guide to inventorying AI browser extensions covers that step in detail.

How do you check every workstation without visiting each one?

Run a detection script through your device management tool and collect the results in one place. A short script that lists the contents of the folders above gives you a firm-wide plugin inventory without touching each machine.

Firms using Microsoft Intune can deploy it as a detection-only Remediations package. Intune runs it once, hourly or daily, shows per-device status under Devices, Manage devices, Scripts and remediations, and exports the results to CSV. Two limits shape the script: output is capped at 2,048 characters, so report plugin names only, and Remediations require Windows Enterprise E3 or E5, Windows Education A3 or A5, or Windows VDA per user licensing. Firms with a remote monitoring and management tool can run the same check through it.

Without either, start by hand on the workstations that run the most client work, then expand.

How do you tell which plugins use AI?

Match each plugin to its vendor, then read the vendor's own description and terms. The folder name rarely tells you whether a plugin calls an AI model.

• Read the vendor and description fields in each Revit manifest and the bundle details for each AutoCAD plugin.
• Look up the vendor's product page and privacy terms. Note whether the plugin calls an AI model, which provider receives the data, and whether that provider retains it or trains on it.
• Give extra attention to plugins that require signing in to an outside account or that upload models or sheets for processing.
• Record each finding: plugin, version, workstations and users, AI yes or no, data sent, and the decision.

What do you do with what you find?

Approve it, remove it or replace it, using the same review your firm applies to any new AI tool (our checklist for approving AI plugins for Revit, AutoCAD and Bluebeam walks through it). Then close the paths that let unapproved plugins come back.

• Approve plugins that pass review, and move them to a managed install so every user gets the same version.
• Remove plugins from per-user folders when they fail review or nobody can say why they are there.
• In AutoCAD, set SECURELOAD to 1 or 2. Autodesk's documentation says that in secure mode the program loads only files from trusted locations listed in the TRUSTEDPATHS system variable.
• In browsers, use the Edge ExtensionSettings policy or the Chrome equivalent to block extensions by default and allow approved ones. CIS Safeguard 9.4 calls for restricting unauthorized browser extensions.

What changes on defense or sensitive projects?

The bar is higher. Contractors whose contracts include DFARS 252.204-7012 must provide adequate security for covered defense information, including NIST SP 800-171. An unreviewed AI plugin that sends model data to an outside service is a question to resolve before that workstation touches defense work. See how to keep CUI out of AI tools on defense projects.

The same applies to projects with sensitive facility or security drawings under client or agency rules. Keep those projects on workstations with a locked, approved plugin set.

What should your firm do this quarter?

1. List the host applications in use: Revit, AutoCAD and its verticals, Rhino and your browsers.
2. Deploy a detection script that reports plugin names from the folders above.
3. Build one inventory and flag every plugin that uses AI.
4. Record an approve, remove or replace decision for each.
5. Turn on SECURELOAD, set trusted paths and apply a browser extension allowlist.
6. Rerun the detection monthly, matching the CIS Safeguard 2.3 cadence.

How s90 helps

s90's new-app alerts and AI guardrails give AEC firms a running view of the AI tools in use, with the approve or block decision recorded alongside. If you want a starting point, we can run the first workstation sweep and hand you a plugin inventory that is ready for review.