MEP Routing Agent — AI for MEP design review
The MEP Routing Agent is VitruAI’s ai for mep design review — it reads a Revit MEP model and evaluates routing decisions against the firm’s design standards for duct sizing, pipe slope, hanger spacing, maintenance clearance, and code-required separations. Each flag pins to the Revit element ID with a cited rule and suggested fix, available now as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix.
- MEP routing decisions reviewed against the firm’s design standards element by element, on every revision of the Revit model.
- Each flag pins to the Revit element ID and cites the design rule it misses, producing a review report ready for the senior MEP engineer to sign off.
- Re-runs on routing revisions diff against the prior review so the team sees what changed, what stayed, and what remains flagged before clash detection runs.
What the MEP Routing Agent does.
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Reads the Revit MEP model directly
Walks every duct, pipe, conduit, and cable tray in the model via the Revit API, including linked models where routing crosses architectural or structural grids. Reads system type, sizing, slope, hanger spacing, support spacing, and clearance to architectural and structural elements. No PDF round-tripping or manual schedules; the same Revit 2023–2025 model that feeds the Revit integration feeds the MEP Routing Agent.
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Evaluates routing against the firm’s design standards
Each Labs engagement calibrates the rule pack to the customer’s standards: typical spans, slope minimums by fluid type, clearance requirements at valves and equipment, and code-required separations between disciplines. The Coordinator in the VitruAI network holds every routing decision in memory and surfaces the ones that miss the standard. Rules can reference firm BIM manuals, regional codes, and coordination workflows shared with MEP clash review.
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Element-pinned flags with rule citation
Each flag reports the Revit element ID, the routing decision (diameter, slope, clearance value, hanger spacing), the rule applied, and a suggested remediation such as “increase to 200 mm” or “shift 150 mm below beam.” The senior MEP engineer reviews judgment calls; the agent handles first-pass linting across thousands of elements. Flags export into views or schedules that can be coordinated with the Clash Review Agent and Navisworks-based workflows via the Navisworks integration.
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Differentiates from routing generation and clash detection
Routing-generation tools such as Augmenta produce the initial layout; clash detection and MEP clash review workflows find geometric conflicts after routing locks. The MEP Routing Agent reviews the routing decisions themselves — design-standard adherence on sizing, slopes, supports, and separations — before or alongside clash detection. It pairs with the Clash Review Agent so design-standard misses and hard clashes both show up in a single coordination cycle.
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Re-runs on every revision with diffs
On each new routing revision, the agent re-runs the review and diffs against the prior report: what is newly flagged, what is resolved, and what remains open. Typical re-runs on a mid-size MEP model land in single-digit minutes, calibrated per deployment. Coordination meetings focus on changed segments instead of re-walking entire systems, and results can be cross-checked against structural–architectural coordination workflows when penetrations shift.
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Available as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix
Labs projects typically run 4–8 weeks. VitruAI works with the firm’s MEP leads to encode design standards, sample Revit models, and preferred review outputs into a calibrated rule pack. The engagement ships a working routing-review agent for at least one live project, with accuracy and run-time benchmarks per project, and folds the calibration into a productised release shared across routing review and MEP routing review use cases.
MEP Routing Agent — FAQ
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Can AI design MEP systems?
The MEP Routing Agent does routing review, not first-pass routing generation. Generation tools such as Augmenta produce the initial layout; the agent then reads that routed Revit model and checks it against your firm’s design standards for sizing, slopes, and separations. It sits alongside layout tools and MEP routing review workflows, giving senior engineers a fast, consistent second set of eyes.
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What is MEP design automation?
MEP design automation covers layout generation, sizing automation, clash detection, and routing review against standards. VitruAI’s contribution in this space is routing review calibrated to firm-specific rules, encoded during a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix. The same rule pack can support MEP routing review and feed into MEP clash review so design-standard misses and clashes are handled in one workflow.
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How does this differ from clash detection?
Clash detection finds geometric conflicts between disciplines after routing locks, usually inside Navisworks or Revit interference checks. The MEP Routing Agent evaluates the routing decisions themselves — duct and pipe sizing, slopes, hanger spacing, and clearances — before or alongside clash detection. It complements the Clash Review Agent and MEP clash review by catching design-standard issues that never appear as hard clashes but still cause RFIs and rework.
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Which Revit and IFC versions does it support?
Labs deployments target Revit 2023, 2024, and 2025 on Windows, matching the versions supported by the VitruAI + Revit integration. For cross-tool review and long-term archiving, the agent reads exported IFC 2×3 and IFC4 models where routing data is preserved. Each Labs engagement pins to the customer’s specific Revit builds, IFC export settings, and coordination stack, including Navisworks-based review via the VitruAI + Navisworks integration.
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How fast is a routing review?
Run-time is calibrated per deployment and depends on model size, number of systems, and rule-pack complexity. Typical first-run reviews on mid-size Revit MEP models land in single-digit minutes, with subsequent diffs running faster because only changed elements are re-evaluated. Each Labs engagement ships a per-project benchmark so BIM managers can compare routing review time against their existing manual checks and clash-detection passes.
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When does this ship as a productised release?
The MEP Routing Agent is available as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix today, focused on co-building with firms that have documented MEP design standards. Productisation depends on calibration across multiple firms’ rule sets so the shared rule library reflects real practice, not just one office’s preferences. Early Labs partners influence how routing review pairs with structural–architectural coordination and downstream clash workflows.