Crate rvt

Expand description

§rvt-rs · open reader for Autodesk Revit files

Reads .rvt, .rfa, .rte and .rft files without Revit or any Autodesk component: metadata, previews and the embedded schema of every release from 2016 to 2026, and, on Revit 2024 and 2025 project files, the building itself (typed elements with Revit’s ElementIds, names, types, storeys, materials, layers, GlobalIds and some type parameters), written out as IFC4, glTF or plan SVG.

What it recovers is measured against Revit’s own IFC export of the same file, model by model; it is a reader, not a converter for every model. docs/supported-profile.md and docs/support-matrix.json in the repository say exactly what is read on which input, and every export comes with diagnostics naming what was approximated or left out.

§Read a file’s identity

use rvt::RevitFile;

let mut rf = RevitFile::open("model.rvt")?;
let summary = rf.summarize()?;
println!("Revit {} ({})", summary.version, summary.build.as_deref().unwrap_or("—"));

§List the elements of a Revit 2024 or 2025 project

use rvt::RevitFile;
use rvt::ifc::RvtDocExporter;
use rvt::ifc::entities::IfcEntity;

let mut rf = RevitFile::open("project.rvt")?;
let result = RvtDocExporter.export_with_diagnostics(&mut rf)?;
for entity in &result.model.entities {
    if let IfcEntity::BuildingElement { ifc_type, name, type_guid, .. } = entity {
        // `type_guid` carries the Revit ElementId (the IFC Tag).
        println!("{ifc_type} {name} {}", type_guid.as_deref().unwrap_or("-"));
    }
}
// What was approximated or left out, as the CLI's --diagnostics writes it.
println!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(&result.diagnostics).unwrap());

§Write IFC4 and glTF

use rvt::RevitFile;
use rvt::ifc::{Exporter, RvtDocExporter, gltf::model_to_glb, write_step};

let mut rf = RevitFile::open("project.rvt")?;
let model = RvtDocExporter.export(&mut rf)?;
std::fs::write("project.ifc", write_step(&model))?;
std::fs::write("project.glb", model_to_glb(&model))?;

§Format overview

Container: Microsoft Compound File Binary Format 3.0 ([MS-CFB])
Compression: truncated-gzip, a 10-byte gzip header followed by raw DEFLATE, and, for the database streams and Formats/Latest, stored in checksum pages that are stripped before inflating (compression::inflate_stream_at).
Schema: Formats/Latest declares every serialized class and its fields (formats::parse_schema).
Elements: Global/ElemTable declares the ElementIds; each element’s record in the Partitions/* streams carries its category, class, bounding box and references (partition_element_records).

§Module overview

reader — RevitFile, the main entry point
basic_file_info — version, GUID, build tag, creator path, worksharing text block
metadata — metadata::FileMetadata: document identity, readable without loading the whole file
part_atom — Atom XML with OmniClass + taxonomies
project_information — project-file ProjectInformation ZIP → Atom entry
formats — class schema with tags, parents, field types
object_graph — document history, string-record extraction
elem_table — Global/ElemTable parser
partitions — Partitions/NN header + chunk splitter
partition_scanner — version-gated generic partition record candidates
compression — truncated-gzip decode
class_index — fast class-name inventory
corpus — cross-version delta analysis
identity — document-scoped ElementId / UniqueId contracts (Phase 1)
evidence — evidence tiers + research edge ledgers (Phase 1)
es_refs — ES reference occurrence locator contracts (Phase 1; no decoder)
relations — experimental relation-domain registry + SCC/quarantine stubs
capability — honest capability manifest snapshot for doctor/CLI
transmission_data — TransmissionData UTF-16LE detect + opportunistic XML/UUID/path extract
compound_framing — compound ArcWall 0x0821 marker tokenization (research; no opening decode)
writer — byte-preserving OLE round-trip
redact — shared PII scrubbers for all CLIs
cli — behaviour shared by the shipped CLIs (quiet exit on a closed pipe)
ifc — IFC4 / glTF / plan SVG / CSV export and diagnostics
error — Error + Result aliases
streams — named constants for every invariant OLE stream

§Safety

This crate is read-only for the OLE container and performs no privileged operations. Files are opened via the cfb crate with standard POSIX read semantics. The writer::copy_file function writes a new file at a caller-specified path.

All decompression uses flate2 in safe Rust (miniz_oxide backend by default, no C toolchain required). No unsafe blocks in the public surface.

§License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE. Not affiliated with Autodesk. “Revit” and related marks are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.

rvt-rs is intended as a clean-room interoperability implementation. It does not use Autodesk/ODA SDK sources, leaked documentation, or decompiled proprietary implementation code — see CLEANROOM.md for the formal policy on accepted / forbidden sources. Users with specific legal constraints should evaluate the project with their own counsel. Nothing in this crate’s documentation is legal advice.

Re-exports§

pub use error::Error;
pub use error::Result;
pub use reader::RevitFile;

Modules§

arc_wall_record: Raw-byte decoder for ArcWall (tag 0x0191) partition records.
basic_file_info: Parse the BasicFileInfo OLE stream — UTF-16LE metadata every Revit file carries.
capability: Honest capability manifest snapshot (Phase 1 leftovers).
class_index: Extract the class/schema inventory from the Formats/Latest stream.
class_tag_map: Cross-version class-tag lookup (L5B-10).
cli: Behaviour shared by the shipped command-line tools.
compound_framing: Compound ArcWall (0x0821) stamp / marker investigation harness.
compression: Truncated-gzip decompression for Revit streams.
control: Cooperative cancellation and progress reporting for long scans.
corpus: Phase B · Corpus-wide delta inference engine.
elem_table: Global/ElemTable — Revit’s element-id index.
element_record_beam_cuts: Beam bodies on Revit 2023: a beam stops at the face of the column its record names (RE-122).
element_record_column_cuts: Column bodies: the record box is the whole prism, the joined walls cut it.
element_record_level_refs: Level ElementId binding from a partition element record’s counted reference list (#219, RE-27).
element_record_plan_profiles: Plan profiles for sketched elements, from OST_SketchLines partition element records (#31, RE-25).
element_record_storeys: Storey elevations recovered from partition element-record bboxes.
element_record_wall_joins: Wall bodies: the record box is the untrimmed wall, the joins cut it.
elements: Per-class element decoders.
error
es_refs: ES reference occurrence locator contracts (Phase 1).
evidence: Named evidence tiers and lightweight ledgers (Phase 1).
formats: Parse Formats/Latest into a real schema table.
geometry: Geometry primitives and Lane Six recovery helpers.
identity: Document-scoped identity and source-span contracts (Phase 1).
ifc: Layer 5 — IFC export (document-level scaffold).
level_bind: Fail-closed Level ElementId → building-storey index binding.
metadata: Document identity at a glance — the answer to “what is this file?”.
object_graph: Phase D v0 · Object graph deserializer — starter pieces.
parse_mode: Strict vs lossy parse modes + diagnostics.
part_atom: Parse the PartAtom OLE stream — plain Atom-format XML that Autodesk uses to carry family metadata (title, category, taxonomy, links).
partition_arc_walls: Shared partition ArcWall iteration (RE-15 / D20).
partition_beam_axes: Beam location lines from their serialised element data (RE-49).
partition_compound_structure: Host types’ layers and which side of a wall is its exterior (RE-53).
partition_design_options: Design option sets and their primary options (#319, RE-40).
partition_element_records: Partition element-record headers: ElementId + BuiltInCategory + bbox.
partition_element_records_2023: Revit 2023 partition element records (RE-81, #421).
partition_id_objects: Serialised objects keyed by their ElementId, found in one pass.
partition_ifc_export_overrides: Per-element IFC export-type overrides carried in the Revit 2024 partition parameter blocks (#212, RE-22).
partition_instance_transforms: A family instance’s transform, from its own element data (RE-87).
partition_level_records: Revit Level elements recovered from the partition streams (#218, RE-24).
partition_materials: Material shading colours and transparency (RE-53).
partition_name_candidates: Partition UTF-16LE display-name candidates (RE-15 / #86).
partition_names: Family and type names from partition name entries (RE-38).
partition_roof_slopes: Roof edges’ slopes (RE-56).
partition_room_boundaries: Room plan outlines from the faces of each room’s stored solid (RE-101).
partition_room_parameters: Room number / name / host Level from the Revit 2024 partition parameter block a room owns (#90, RE-29).
partition_scanner: Generic partition-stream record scanner (M3-03 / M3-04).
partition_schema_mvp: Schema / partition MVP recovers for production iter_elements.
partition_stairs: Stair and stair-run dimensions from their serialised element data (RE-47).
partition_type_materials: The materials a family type’s geometry uses (#355, RE-82).
partition_type_parameters: Text parameters of element types, stored under their BuiltInParameter (#35, RE-77).
partition_type_records: Revit type records recovered from the partition streams (#88, RE-28).
partitions: Partitions/NN stream — Revit’s bulk BIM content.
project_information: Parse the ProjectInformation OLE stream — project files only.
reader: High-level reader API. Opens a .rvt / .rfa / .rte / .rft file and exposes its streams + parsed metadata.
rect_opening_index: Version-gated decoder for Revit 2024 ArcWallRectOpening 60 B index records (RE-15-09).
redact: Shared redaction helpers — strip PII from free-form strings while preserving surrounding structure so the shape of a finding remains verifiable. Used by every CLI that surfaces user-authored paths or Autodesk-internal identifiers.
relations: Experimental typed-relation domains, SCC condensation, and quarantine.
revit_global_ids: The IFC GlobalId Revit’s own exporter gives an element, rebuilt from the file (RE-48).
round_trip: Round-trip verification harness (WRT-04).
streams: Known OLE stream names in Revit files.
transmission_data: TransmissionData stream — encoding detection + opportunistic extracts.
walker: Layer 5a walker — schema-directed instance reader for ADocument.
wasm: WASM bindings (VW1-01) — JS-callable wrappers around the viewer API.
writer: Write path — round-trip Revit files + stream-level patching.

Crate rvt

Crate rvt Copy item path

§rvt-rs · open reader for Autodesk Revit files

§Read a file’s identity

§List the elements of a Revit 2024 or 2025 project

§Write IFC4 and glTF

§Format overview

§Module overview

§Safety

§License

Re-exports§

Modules§

Crate rvt