IFClite

Parse, view, query, edit, and export IFC files in the browser. Rust + WASM core, WebGPU rendering, ~260 KB gzipped, 5× faster geometry than the next best option.

Works with IFC4 / IFC4X3 (876 entities, full schema) and IFC5 (IFCX). Live demo at ifclite.com.

Get Started

npx create-ifc-lite my-viewer --template react
cd my-viewer && npm install && npm run dev

That gets you a working WebGPU IFC viewer with drag-and-drop, hierarchy, properties, and 2D drawings. Other templates: basic, threejs, babylonjs, server, server-native.

To add IFClite to an existing project:

npm install @ifc-lite/parser @ifc-lite/geometry @ifc-lite/renderer

Parse an IFC file

import { IfcParser } from '@ifc-lite/parser';

const parser = new IfcParser();
const buffer = await fetch('model.ifc').then(r => r.arrayBuffer());
const t0 = performance.now();
const result = await parser.parse(buffer, {
  onProgress: ({ phase, percent }) => console.log(`${phase}: ${percent}%`),
});

console.log(`Parsed ${result.entityCount} entities in ${(performance.now() - t0).toFixed(0)}ms`);

For columnar storage (recommended for large models — TypedArray-backed, query-friendly):

const store = await parser.parseColumnar(buffer);
console.log(`${store.entityCount} entities, schema ${store.schemaVersion}`);

View in 3D

import { IfcParser } from '@ifc-lite/parser';
import { GeometryProcessor } from '@ifc-lite/geometry';
import { Renderer } from '@ifc-lite/renderer';

const parser = new IfcParser();
const geometry = new GeometryProcessor();
const renderer = new Renderer(canvas);

await Promise.all([geometry.init(), renderer.init()]);

const buffer = new Uint8Array(await file.arrayBuffer());
const parseResult = await parser.parse(buffer);
const meshes = await geometry.process(buffer);

renderer.loadGeometry(meshes);
renderer.requestRender();

// Pick an entity at (x, y) in canvas pixels
const hit = await renderer.pick(120, 240);
if (hit) console.log(`Picked expressId ${hit.expressId}`);

For Three.js or Babylon.js, parse + extract geometry the same way and feed meshes to your engine. See Three.js integration and Babylon.js integration.

Query entities

import { IfcQuery } from '@ifc-lite/query';

const query = new IfcQuery(store);

// All external load-bearing walls
const walls = query
  .ofType('IfcWall', 'IfcWallStandardCase')
  .whereProperty('Pset_WallCommon', 'IsExternal', '=', true)
  .whereProperty('Pset_WallCommon', 'LoadBearing', '=', true)
  .execute();

console.log(`${walls.length} external load-bearing walls`);

for (const wall of walls) {
  console.log(wall.name, wall.globalId);
}

For more complex queries, use SQL via DuckDB-WASM:

const result = await query.sql(`
  SELECT type, COUNT(*) AS n FROM entities GROUP BY type ORDER BY n DESC LIMIT 10
`);
console.table(result.rows);

Validate against IDS

import { parseIDS, validateIDS, createTranslationService } from '@ifc-lite/ids';

const idsSpec = parseIDS(idsXmlContent);
const translator = createTranslationService('en');
const report = await validateIDS(idsSpec, store, { translator });

for (const spec of report.specificationResults) {
  console.log(`${spec.specificationName}: ${spec.passRate}% passed`);
}

Edit properties (with undo)

import { MutablePropertyView } from '@ifc-lite/mutations';
import { PropertyValueType } from '@ifc-lite/data';

const view = new MutablePropertyView(store.properties, 'my-model');

view.setProperty(
  wallExpressId,
  'Pset_WallCommon',
  'FireRating',
  'REI 120',
  PropertyValueType.Label,
);

console.log(view.getMutations()); // change history for undo / export

Export

import { exportToStep, GLTFExporter, ParquetExporter, Ifc5Exporter } from '@ifc-lite/export';

// IFC STEP — applies any pending mutations
const stepText = exportToStep(store, { schema: 'IFC4', applyMutations: true });

// glTF for the web
const glb = await new GLTFExporter().export(parseResult, { format: 'glb' });

// Parquet — columnar, ~20× smaller than JSON, queryable from DuckDB / Polars
const parquet = await new ParquetExporter().exportEntities(parseResult);

// IFC5 / IFCX — JSON + USD geometry
const ifcx = new Ifc5Exporter(store, meshes).export({ includeGeometry: true });

Choose your setup

Not sure? Start with the browser setup. You can add a server or switch engines later.

Pick your packages

Full list: API Reference (25 TypeScript packages, 4 Rust crates).

Performance

• First triangles: 200–500ms for a typical 50 MB model in the browser.
• Geometry processing: up to 5× faster than web-ifc on the same hardware.
• Bundle size: ~260 KB gzipped (parser + geometry + renderer).
• Schema coverage: 100% of IFC4 (776 entities) and IFC4X3 (876 entities).
• Parse throughput: ~1,259 MB/s tokenization on a typical M1 / M2 laptop.

See benchmarks for full numbers across model sizes and hardware.

Examples

Ready-to-run projects in examples/:

• Three.js Viewer — IFC viewer using Three.js (WebGL)
• Babylon.js Viewer — IFC viewer using Babylon.js (WebGL)

Documentation

Contributing

No Rust toolchain needed — WASM comes pre-built.

GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 git clone https://github.com/louistrue/ifc-lite.git
cd ifc-lite
pnpm install && pnpm build && pnpm dev   # opens viewer at localhost:5173

For benchmark fixtures, fetch only what you need:

git lfs pull --include="tests/models/ara3d/AC20-FZK-Haus.ifc"

See the Contributing Guide and Release Process.

Community

• GitHub Discussions — questions, ideas, show-and-tell
• Issues — bug reports and feature requests
• Releases — changelog and version notes

License

MPL-2.0 — use, modify, redistribute. Source files modified under MPL must remain MPL.