Claude Trimble SketchUp connectorWhat Claude can do in your Trimble SketchUp account.
The Claude Trimble SketchUp connector exposes 3 tools. 1 reads SketchUp's documentation, 1 saves a model, 1 is undocumented. Below: what Claude builds, what you download, what it cannot touch, and where SketchUp's article and the directory disagree.
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What changes when Claude can model in SketchUp
You describe an object in plain words, add images or other inputs if you have them, and Claude produces a SketchUp file for it. When it is done you get a thumbnail preview and a link to download the .skp, which opens in any version of SketchUp for manual work. No modelling experience is needed to get a first draft.
A first 3D draft from a description. A room addition, a piece of furniture, a site concept: SketchUp's article says Claude loads the full SketchUp development kit with get_docs, and save_model then saves the completed model and returns its link. SketchUp says the result is built from basic shapes and curved surfaces, organized into groups and components.
Iterating in the same chat. You describe the changes you want, and Claude generates a new file with the same name and a version number, as long as you stay in that thread.
Starting from more than text. The directory description mentions text prompts, images or other inputs as starting points for a model.
What Claude does not do: SketchUp states it can only create .skp files, not edit or render an existing one, and models are not kept in Claude between sessions. Nothing runs on its own either. A job that must start without you belongs to automation tools, a different trade, listed on the Integrations hub.
Five terms before you start
The words you will meet while plugging SketchUp into Claude.
- Connector
- The link you set up once between Claude and an account you already have, so Claude can work in it while it answers you.
- Tool
- One named action a connector opens to Claude. Claude picks the ones it needs by itself; the directory sheet lists them by name.
- Authorization
- SketchUp's own sign-in screen, where you hand Claude the access it will use. Given once per person, and it can be taken back.
- Approval
- The confirmation Claude waits for before going through with something that changes your account, shown in the chat when it matters.
- MCP
- The shared standard connectors are built on: it is what lets an assistant such as Claude talk to an outside service like SketchUp.
Plug SketchUp into Claude in three steps
- 01
Find SketchUp among your connectors
In Claude's settings, open Customize, then Connectors, and look for SketchUp. On a Team or Enterprise workspace, an Owner or Primary Owner has to enable the connector first before each member can sign in.
- 02
Start the connection
Click Connect on SketchUp's row and sign in through the window SketchUp opens itself. If the link ever breaks, the fix is to use Disconnect, then plug SketchUp back in from that same row.
- 03
Read the authorization screen
Check SketchUp's authorization screen before you accept. It belongs to SketchUp, not to Claude, and it sets what the access covers. You can also withdraw that access later from your SketchUp account.
The 3 SketchUp tools, sorted by what they do
Trimble SketchUp gives Claude 3 tools: 1 that read your account, 1 that change something in it, and 1 no official source describes.
One tool reads documentation, one saves your model, and one is listed without any description. Names stay in English, as Claude shows them.
- 1 read
- 1 write
- 1 not documented
What Claude reads (1)
1 toolOne tool that loads SketchUp's reference material without changing anything.
get_docs
Loads the full SketchUp development kit into the conversation so Claude has the reference it needs before modelling. Your files stay exactly as they were at this step.
What Claude changes (1)
1 toolOne tool that stores a finished model. No source describes a confirmation specific to it: the general rule below applies.
save_model
Approval: see the ruleStores the completed model and hands back a URL, which is how you end up with a .skp file to download and open in SketchUp.
Undocumented (1)
1 toolThe directory publishes this name and nothing more. No official text says what it does, and this page will not guess from a name.
build_model
This name sits in the directory's tool list and that is all anyone has published. SketchUp's help article does not mention it, and no Claude page does either, so this page says nothing more about it.
What Claude asks before it acts
By default, Claude stops and asks for your go-ahead before each action it takes on an account on your behalf. The request shows up in the conversation, at the moment it counts.
On Team and Enterprise workspaces, owners decide whether members may let some actions through without being asked each time. They can also restrict what a connector may do for the whole organization, for example keeping reads and closing writes; nobody overrides that from a personal account. Claude works with your Trimble ID and nothing more: what you cannot reach yourself in SketchUp, it cannot reach either.
Which plans include it
None of the 819 sheets in the official directory shows availability by plan. That answer is published nowhere, connector by connector: a real gap in the catalogue, not in our research.
The general rule is public: remote connectors are open to all users on Claude, Cowork, Claude Desktop and mobile. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner enables the connector for the organization before members can connect one by one. For Trimble SketchUp's current status on your account, check its sheet in the official directory.
Where this connector stops
A connector is not an automation. Claude calls these tools while it answers you: nothing builds a model by itself.
The tool list is an observed floor, not a promise: an administrator can open actions that appear on no public sheet. The directory's verification badge is not a security audit; Anthropic states on every sheet that it neither chooses a publisher's tools nor guarantees how they behave. This connector is documented only by SketchUp, in its help article; no Claude help article covers it. That article and the directory sheet do not list the same tools, as set out below.
Which tools does Claude call to build a SketchUp model?
- SketchUp help article ↗August 2026Out of dateClaude calls three tools: get_docs, a tool that runs Python code against the live model, and save_model.
- Claude directory sheet ↗October 2026The connector lists build_model, get_docs and save_model.
What this page followsThe directory sheet, read in October 2026, is more recent than the article dated August 2026, so it is the one that counts for the tool list. The Python tool named in the article no longer appears there, and no source describes build_model. Check the sheet on your account for the current list.
Need help connecting Trimble SketchUp to Claude?
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