Is there an API that takes a drawing and returns a takeoff?

Yes, but only a few. Most takeoff APIs are export APIs: they push finished estimates and measurements that a person already produced into an ERP or CRM. A smaller set are ingestion APIs: you POST a raw PDF or CAD drawing and get structured quantities back. Kreo's Core Platform API and Kamai's takeoff API are in this second group; Kamai is built API-first, so the extraction itself is the product.

What is the difference between an export API and an ingestion API?

An export API reads work a human already did inside an app and sends it downstream - estimate totals, bid breakdowns, marked-up measurements. An ingestion API does the work: drawing in, structured quantities out, no manual markup in between. Trimble's Accubid APIs and the Autodesk Takeoff API are export-style; they expose data the estimator created, not a way to create it from a drawing.

Can an AI agent run a takeoff through MCP?

An MCP server turns API capabilities into tools an agent host like Claude or Cursor can call directly. Bluebeam Max ships an MCP server over its markup metadata. An MCP server over drawing ingestion - run a takeoff, query quantities, flag anomalies from a conversation - is the open lane. Kamai's MCP server is in development and not live yet.

Which takeoff API should I use to embed takeoff in my own product?

You need an ingestion API that is self-serve and built to embed, so your users upload drawings inside your UI and quantities come back. Export-only APIs cannot do this because they assume the takeoff already exists. This is the case Kamai's API-first model is designed for, including a takeoff widget you can drop in via @kamai/iframe-bridge.

What does an ingestion takeoff API return?

Typically structured quantity data keyed to the drawing - areas, lengths, counts, and detected objects with their geometry. Kamai returns a GeoJSON FeatureCollection in blueprint coordinate space with the detected scale, so every number traces back to where it came from on the sheet.

Is there an API for construction takeoff? A 2026 field guide

Most construction takeoff APIs only export finished estimates. A few ingest a raw drawing and return quantities. Here is the honest difference, who offers what, and where MCP fits.

If you are a developer asking whether you can send a construction drawing to an endpoint and get a takeoff back, the honest answer is: yes, but most APIs that call themselves takeoff APIs do not do that. The word covers two very different things, and the difference decides whether you can build what you have in mind.

Two kinds of takeoff API

Export APIs move finished work out of an estimating app. A person opens a drawing, marks it up or runs an assisted tool, produces an estimate, and the API pushes that result into an ERP, a CRM, or a bid system. The drawing never enters through the API. Trimble's Accubid Anywhere added a set of APIs that read project, estimate, final-price, extension, and bid-breakdown data into downstream systems. The Autodesk Takeoff API gives read access to takeoff inventory a human already created inside Autodesk Construction Cloud. Both are real and useful, and neither ingests a drawing.

Ingestion APIs do the takeoff. You POST a raw PDF or CAD file and structured quantities come back, with no manual markup in between. This is the smaller group, and it is the one that matters if you want to add takeoff to your own product or automate a pipeline rather than wire two existing apps together. Kreo ships a Core Platform API that accepts PDF, DWG, and DXF and returns measurements with geometric coordinates. Kamai is built around ingestion as the product: foundational models read the drawing and return typed structured data, self-serve.

The distinction is not a detail. An export API cannot be made to ingest a drawing, because the entire design assumes the takeoff already exists.

Who offers what

The table below is the honest state of the field as of 2026, including where each tool leads. Most of these companies sell seats to estimators, so their APIs are built to export an estimator's work, not to take a developer's drawing.

Tool	API style	Drawing in, quantities out?	Where it leads
Kamai	Ingestion, API-first	Yes, the primary product	Self-serve developer access, vector-native parsing, typed JSON, built to embed
Kreo	Ingestion (Core Platform API)	Yes	Closest analog; full cloud estimator platform with the API on top
Autodesk Takeoff	Export (read-only)	No	Depth inside Construction Cloud and the BIM ecosystem
Trimble (Accubid / AutoBid)	Export (5 APIs to ERP)	No	Enterprise MEP estimating depth and integrations
Bluebeam (Revu / Max)	Plugin SDK + MCP over markup	No	Best-in-class PDF markup; massive installed base; AI review in Max
PlanSwift	Plugin store	No	Entrenched desktop click-takeoff with a loyal base
On-Screen Takeoff	Limited	No	Industry-standard manual workflow and the Quick Bid pipeline
Togal	Limited	No	Fast AI auto-measure of architectural areas

If your use case is "push my finished estimate into our ERP," several of these fit well. If your use case is "give my software a drawing and get quantities back," the field narrows to the ingestion APIs.

Where MCP fits

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) lets an agent host like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor call a service's capabilities as tools. For takeoff, that means running a takeoff, querying quantities, or flagging anomalies from inside a conversation, instead of writing glue code against a REST endpoint.

Here the same export-versus-ingestion split shows up again. Bluebeam Max ships an MCP server, built on Anthropic's Claude, but it operates over markup metadata - the work done by hand inside Revu. An MCP server over drawing ingestion - hand an agent a sheet set and let it produce the takeoff - is the open lane. Nobody owns it yet. Kamai is building exactly this: the same primitives as the REST API, exposed as MCP tools. It is in development and not live yet, so treat it as a roadmap item rather than something you can call today.

The point for an integrator is that an ingestion API and an ingestion MCP server are the two surfaces that let an agent or an application actually do a takeoff, rather than read one someone else already finished.

How to choose

You want to embed takeoff in your own product. You need an ingestion API that is self-serve and built to embed. Export-only APIs are out by design. This is the case Kamai's API and embeddable widget are built for.
You want to push finished estimates into an ERP or CRM. An export API is the right tool. Trimble and Autodesk are mature here.
You want an agent to run takeoffs. Look for an MCP server over drawing ingestion. Kamai's MCP server is the in-development option; Bluebeam's MCP covers markup, not ingestion.
You want to automate an internal estimating pipeline. An ingestion API lets you watch a folder or inbox, send new sheet sets, and land structured quantities in your estimating database before anyone opens the drawings.

The short version

Most takeoff APIs export work a person already did. A few ingest a drawing and return the takeoff. If you are building software, the second group is the one to evaluate, and the practical test is the same for any of them: send your own sheets and look at what comes back. Kamai's ingestion API is self-serve from the Kamai Console; the construction takeoff API guide walks through the upload-poll-fetch flow with runnable code.