AutoCAD CUIX Builder

Conversational skill that generates a partial AutoCAD CUIX file. No manual XML editing.

Architecture reference: see references/cuix-architecture.md.

Step 0 — Verify generator is available

Run in PowerShell:

$exe = "$env:USERPROFILE\.cuixbuilder\CuixBuilder.exe"
if (Test-Path $exe) { Write-Host "exe found: $exe" }
elseif (Get-Command dotnet -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { dotnet --version }
else { Write-Host "Neither found — see install.ps1" }

• exe found → use & $exe <config.json> in Step 5
• dotnet SDK → use dotnet run --project <src-path> -c Release -- <config.json> in Step 5
• neither → tell user to run install.ps1 first (downloads exe, no SDK needed)

Step 1 — Collect plugin identity

Ask:

• Plugin display name — shown as ribbon tab and group label (e.g. Drafting Tools)
• Internal name — derive from display name, no spaces (e.g. DraftingTools)

Step 2 — Collect panels

Ask:

• How many ribbon panels?
• Name of each panel (e.g. Annotation, View)

Step 3 — Collect buttons (per panel)

For each panel, for each button ask:

• Label — text on the button (e.g. Quick Leader)
• Command — one of:
  • Bare AutoCAD command: QLEADER → generator adds ^C^C automatically
  • LISP expression: (alert "hi") → generator adds ^C^C automatically
  • Pre-formatted: ^C^CMYCOMMAND → used as-is
• Image — path to .bmp file, or Enter/skip → auto-generates a colored 16×16 placeholder
• Tooltip — optional hover text (defaults to label)

Step 4 — Output path

Ask where to save the .cuix file.
Default: current directory + <PluginName>.cuix

Step 5 — Confirm, build JSON, generate

Show a summary table:

Plugin : <DisplayName>   Tab : <Tab>   Output : <path>

Panel: <name>
  [1] <label>  →  <command>   image: <file or "placeholder blue">
  [2] ...

Confirm with user, then build the JSON config:

{
  "pluginName": "NoSpaces",
  "displayName": "Human Name",
  "tab": "Tab Label",
  "outputPath": "C:\\full\\path\\Plugin.cuix",
  "panels": [
    {
      "name": "Panel Name",
      "buttons": [
        {
          "label": "Button Label",
          "command": "raw input",
          "imagePath": null,
          "tooltip": "Optional"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Write config to $env:TEMP\cuix_<timestamp>.json, then run:

# With exe (preferred)
& "$env:USERPROFILE\.cuixbuilder\CuixBuilder.exe" $configPath

# With SDK fallback
dotnet run --project "<path-to-src>" -c Release -- $configPath

Step 6 — Report result

On success:

Done: <outputPath>
In AutoCAD: CUILOAD → browse to <outputPath>

On failure: show stderr and diagnose (common: missing exe, wrong path, invalid JSON).

Command normalization

Placeholder icon colors (auto-generated when no image provided)

Index cycles 0→7 across all buttons in the CUIX.