Trunk Tools
Trunk Tools is an AI platform for general contractors whose Cortex intelligence layer reads drawings and specs and powers agents for submittals, RFIs, drawing changes, and bids.
Definition
Trunk Tools, based in New York and founded by CEO Sarah Buchner, builds AI agents for construction-phase document work at general contractors. On June 17, 2026 it launched Cortex, a construction-specific intelligence layer that combines a construction ontology with a project knowledge graph linking drawings, specifications, RFIs, submittals, schedules, and change orders, and that reads 2D drawings as well as text. Cortex powers five agents released that day: TrunkReview for drawing revision review with written change narratives, including unclouded changes; TrunkBrowse (beta), which opens the related specs, RFIs, and submittals for any object on a sheet; TrunkRFI, which checks draft RFIs against past responses and drafts necessary ones; TrunkBid for leveling subcontractor bids against scope; and TrunkRegister, which builds a submittal register from the spec book. These join TrunkText, which answers project questions by text message or Microsoft Teams with cited sources, and TrunkSubmittal for submittal review against specs. Trunk Tools integrates with Procore and Autodesk Forma Build, and supports teams on SharePoint, Egnyte, Box, and Dropbox. Pricing is custom.
In Depth
Trunk Tools grew out of a simple observation from the field: superintendents and project engineers spend a large share of the day hunting for information that already exists somewhere in the drawings, specs, RFIs, and submittals. Its first products attacked that directly, with TrunkText answering questions by text message and TrunkSubmittal doing a first pass on submittals against the spec before the PE opens them.
Cortex, launched in June 2026, is the architectural shift. Instead of each agent searching documents on its own, Cortex maintains a knowledge graph of how project documents depend on each other (this spec section governs that submittal, this RFI changes that detail) and adds the ability to read drawings. That is what makes the newer agents possible: comparing bulletin sheets and writing the change narrative, clicking a fixture on a plan to see its spec and open RFIs, and checking whether an RFI was already answered before it goes out.
Nomic covers similar document work, including submittal review, drawing set comparison, and RFI research, and also handles code compliance and IFC model questions, with connectors to Autodesk Forma, ProjectWise, ProjectSight, SharePoint, and Egnyte rather than Procore. GCs evaluating Trunk Tools should test the agents on a live bulletin and a real submittal package and confirm which agents are generally available versus beta.
Tool Details
United States
Examples
A project engineer receives a 20-sheet bulletin and uses TrunkReview to get an overlay and written narrative of every change, including ones the architect did not cloud
A preconstruction team runs TrunkRegister on the project manual and pushes the resulting submittal register into Autodesk Forma Build
A superintendent texts TrunkText to ask the specified fire caulk for a rated wall and gets a cited answer from the spec
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Frequently Asked Questions
Trunk Tools, based in New York and founded by CEO Sarah Buchner, builds AI agents for construction-phase document work at general contractors. On June 17, 2026 it launched Cortex, a construction-specific intelligence layer that combines a construction ontology with a project knowledge graph linking drawings, specifications, RFIs, submittals, schedules, and change orders, and that reads 2D drawings as well as text. Cortex powers five agents released that day: TrunkReview for drawing revision review with written change narratives, including unclouded changes; TrunkBrowse (beta), which opens the related specs, RFIs, and submittals for any object on a sheet; TrunkRFI, which checks draft RFIs against past responses and drafts necessary ones; TrunkBid for leveling subcontractor bids against scope; and TrunkRegister, which builds a submittal register from the spec book. These join TrunkText, which answers project questions by text message or Microsoft Teams with cited sources, and TrunkSubmittal for submittal review against specs. Trunk Tools integrates with Procore and Autodesk Forma Build, and supports teams on SharePoint, Egnyte, Box, and Dropbox. Pricing is custom.
A project engineer receives a 20-sheet bulletin and uses TrunkReview to get an overlay and written narrative of every change, including ones the architect did not cloud. A preconstruction team runs TrunkRegister on the project manual and pushes the resulting submittal register into Autodesk Forma Build. A superintendent texts TrunkText to ask the specified fire caulk for a rated wall and gets a cited answer from the spec.
Project Research: Instantly access all project-critical information from a single search interface. Automated Submittal Review: Let AI do the first-pass review of submittal packages against your drawings and specs.
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