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3 Urbio updates: prompt-based planning, reactive plans and CRM integrations

5 days ago
3 min read

This week we are releasing three updates in Urbio. They share one goal: put AI to work for low-carbon heat networks, from the first sketch to the signed connection.


  1. Prompt-based district heating planning: use Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant to build thermo-hydraulic scenarios in Urbio.

  2. Reactive plans: edit buildings and streets on the map, and Urbio updates the network layout and its metrics as you go.

  3. Website and CRM integrations: utilities connect Urbio to their public website and their CRM to turn interest into connection requests.


Below, some context on each.


1. Prompt-based district heating planning


Heat planning is full of questions that take a sentence to ask and a dozen clicks to answer. How many buildings in this perimeter still run on oil? Which scenario has the lowest heat price? What happens if the smallest consumers stay out?


You can now ask these questions in the AI assistant you already use. Urbio's MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to your Urbio projects.


The assistant does more than read. It can:

  • create a project from a municipality or a drawn area,

  • set up action plans and generate scenarios,

  • compare scenarios on investment cost, heat price or connection rate.


The answers come from your digital twin and Urbio's optimization, not from the language model's guesswork. No black box: every number traces back to its data source and the calculation behind it. Each variant is designed as a new scenario, ready to review and fine-tune on Urbio's map.


A prompt in Claude asking for two district heating scenarios, next to the project perimeter in Urbio
Describe your goal in plain words, Urbio sets up the project and runs the optimization.

Urbio scenario comparer showing CO2 saved, total costs, operator profit and connected buildings
Compare the main KPIs of each scenario.

A few prompts to start with:

  • "How many buildings in the old town are heated with oil?"

  • "Compare investment cost, heat price and connection rate of my scenarios."

  • "Write a one-page summary for the city council, in German."


The assistant acts with your Urbio permissions, and your project data is never used to train models.


Contact us to activate the MCP integration for your organization.


2. Reactive plans


Projects rarely stand still. With reactive plans, you no longer create a new scenario version for each change. You keep one continuous scenario and refine it as the context evolves, so the plan grows with the project instead of multiplying copies.

  • The network follows your edits. Add or remove buildings, enforce or prevent streets, and the layout and its values update live on the map.

  • Results update in place. Network and building insights, the systems on the map and the Summary KPIs reflect your latest optimization while you work.

  • No save step. Leave the plan and Urbio saves the scenario, keeping plan and scenario card in sync.

  • The heating center, on demand. It is the one exception: Urbio reoptimizes it when you ask. After your edits, one click runs an in-depth calculation that brings it back in line.


A new street replaces a detour and Urbio reroutes the network, network length drops from 1,865 m to 1,533 m
Draw a shortcut: the network reroutes and its length updates.

One click adds a building to the plan, connected buildings go from 9 to 10
Add a building: the network and KPIs update.

Fewer clicks between an idea and its numbers, more variants tested in an afternoon.


3. Website and CRM integrations


A good plan is only worth the buildings that end up connected. This third update turns digital plans into signed connections.


Their public website. Through Urbio's API, CKW added an address check to its website. Building owners type their address and see whether district heating fits their building, with a first cost estimate. A few months after launch, CKW saw an uptick of inbound requests in the area.


Customer requests flow into Urbio, then their status syncs to the utility's CRM
Sync Urbio with the CRM where customer data is stored.

Their CRM. With Romande Energie, CRM sales data flows into Urbio, next to network layouts and energy data. No double data entry, and expansion priorities can be adjusted week by week.


Urbio as a spatial CRM. EKT tracks connection requests on the map, checks remaining network capacity and answers building owners faster, with +10% heat sales year over year.


We are now extending these integrations with further utilities and CRM providers in Europe.


What's next


Three updates, one direction: less time on repetitive tasks, more time deciding where heat networks should go and convincing the buildings along the way.



Want to try any of them on your next project? Book a demo or ask us about the MCP or CRM integrations for your organization. Let's accelerate the decarbonization of buildings together.




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