# IFC Coordinator Cloud

> The open, web-based IFC editor for BIM teams. Edit IFC properties, collaborate in real-time, export lossless files.

## What this product is

IFC Coordinator Cloud is a cloud-native platform for editing Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files — the open standard for Building Information Modeling (BIM). It is a web application that runs entirely in the browser with server-side processing for heavy operations.

The platform targets BIM coordinators, structural engineers, MEP engineers, and architects who work with .ifc files daily and need to review, edit, enrich, and export them without data loss.

## Core problem it solves

Existing IFC tools are either:
- Desktop-only (Solibri, BIMcollab) — no collaboration, no web access
- Read-only viewers — can't edit properties or classifications
- Silently lossy — they drop entities, relationships, or quantity sets on export

IFC Coordinator Cloud solves all three: it is web-native, fully editable, and guarantees lossless round-trip export. What you import is what you export — every entity, every relationship, every quantity set is preserved through server-side processing.

## Key capabilities

### 1. IFC Structure Tree
Browse and edit every element, property set (Pset), quantity set (Qto), and classification in your IFC model. Full support for both IFC2x3 and IFC4 schemas. The tree UI shows the full spatial hierarchy: IfcProject → IfcSite → IfcBuilding → IfcBuildingStorey → individual elements (IfcWall, IfcBeam, IfcSlab, IfcWindow, IfcDoor, etc.).

### 2. Real-Time Collaboration
Multiple users can work on the same IFC model simultaneously. The platform shows who is editing which elements, detects and notifies on conflicts, and maintains a complete version history of every change. All changes are tracked with user attribution and timestamps.

### 3. AI Assistant
An AI-powered assistant that can answer questions about your model ("How many IfcWall elements are on Level 02?"), generate quality reports (missing classifications, incomplete property sets), and apply batch property fixes with AI-powered suggestions. Built on Claude by Anthropic.

### 4. Lossless Export
The defining feature. Server-side IFC processing (using IfcOpenShell) preserves 100% of the input file on export. No silent data loss. No dropped relationships. No mangled quantity sets. The round-trip is verified: element counts in equals element counts out.

### 5. 3D Viewer
Built on @thatopen/components (open-source IFC viewer stack). Interactive 3D visualization with selection, highlighting, section planes, and ViewCube navigation. The viewer renders directly in the browser using WebGL.

## Technical architecture

- **Frontend**: React 19 + Vite (single-page application for the editor), Astro 6 (static landing pages)
- **Backend**: Fastify (Node.js) with PostgreSQL database, Redis for job queues
- **IFC Processing**: Server-side IfcOpenShell (Python) for lossless import/export, fragment generation
- **3D Viewer**: @thatopen/components and @thatopen/components-front (WebGL-based)
- **Real-time**: Socket.IO for live collaboration
- **Storage**: S3-compatible object storage (Hetzner Cloud)
- **Auth**: Email + OAuth (Google, GitHub), JWT tokens, RBAC (role-based access control)

## IFC standards supported

- IFC2x3 (ISO 16739:2013) — the most widely deployed IFC schema
- IFC4 (ISO 16739-1:2018) — the current standard
- All IFC entity types, property sets, quantity sets, type objects, material associations, classification references, and spatial relationships are preserved

## Current status

The platform is in Early Access (pre-General Availability). All features are free during Early Access. The product is live and operational at https://ifc-coordinator.com.

## Pricing model

All plans include a 7-day free trial. No free tier — the product is a professional tool priced for professional teams. The platform is currently in Early Access; all features are free during Early Access. Published pricing is the "after Early Access" structure, introduced with advance notice on the blog.

- **Starter**: €50/user/month billed annually (€600/user/year) or €57.50/user/month billed monthly (15% markup). Includes 3 projects per user, 100 AI requests/user/month, unlimited collaborators, IFC viewer + editor, lossless export, version history, email support.
- **Professional**: €75/user/month billed annually (€900/user/year) or €86.25/user/month billed monthly (15% markup). Includes 10 projects per user, 500 AI requests/user/month, everything in Starter, real-time collaboration, BCF workflows, priority email support.
- **Enterprise**: €100/user/month billed annually (€1,200/user/year) or €115/user/month billed monthly (15% markup). Minimum 5 seats (€6,000/year minimum). Includes unlimited projects, 2,000 AI requests/user/month, everything in Professional + SSO/SAML, SLA guarantee, custom deployment, dedicated support, onboarding & training.

## Roadmap

Status-only roadmap — no target dates. Updated when features move between statuses.

**Shipped:**
- Lossless IFC Roundtrip (round-trip-verified server-side export via IfcOpenShell)
- Real-time Collaboration (patch-only Socket.IO broadcasts, conflict indicators)
- Version History
- Batch Property Editing + AI Suggestion Preview
- BCF Server Persistence + bcfzip export
- AI Ask Mode + Quality Reports
- Mirror / Rotate Geometry via lossless pipeline
- Group Property Inheritance (Object > Group > Type precedence)
- AI Model Structuring (Types/Groups/Systems suggestions with confidence scores, human confirmation required)
- Typed Property Values (boolean, number, enum, bounded, table, list, reference)
- Inspector UX (direct vs inherited split, inline override, three-state visual, group accordion display)

**In Progress:**
- Server-side File Update + Source-aware Export Identity — unifying multi-file project exports to preserve source-file provenance.

**Next Up:**
- bSDD Classification Picker (autocomplete search, dictionary filter, manual fallback, verification badge).
- Improved Accessibility + Visual Consistency (design token foundation, accent unification, ActionIcon a11y sweep).
- P&ID Schematic Layer (draw diagrams in-browser; each element auto-creates a tagged IFC object; structure before geometry).
- AI Type & Group Pattern Recognition (scan property patterns, propose Types or Groups to shrink redundancy; human confirmation required).
- Local-First Sync with Desktop Authoring (sync-download overwrites the same local .ifc path when cloud changes; Revit/ArchiCAD/Solibri always see one authoritative file).
- 3D Mini-Thumbnails per Tree Node (offscreen-rendered lazy-loaded tiny 3D preview per row; especially useful for MEP).

## Vision — where we're heading

Directional pillars describing where the product is going as a category — not feature commitments. Exploratory. No delivery commitment. We publish changes when exploration turns into progress.

- **Model-centric CDE** (directional): the model is the document. Drawings, specs, submittals, RFIs, photos, and maintenance records hang off elements, not the other way around — you click the wall instead of searching for the right PDF.
- **Connectors where work already happens** (directional): SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Office 365. Model edits post into Teams channels; SharePoint files bind to IFC rooms; Outlook threads attach to components. A surface that meets each team in their existing tool.
- **Real digital twin, not the brochure version** (directional): live sensor telemetry wired to the IFC spatial structure — historian queries, anomaly detection, failure prediction, scoped per room/system/component.
- **Sensor-driven maintenance** (directional): maintenance schedules that adapt to actual use. A pump's vibration pattern triggers a work order before it fails; a filter's pressure drop books its own replacement; runtime meters decide when service is due.
- **Agentic AI automations** (directional): agents that do work, not just answer. Preventive maintenance tracked per component surfaces the next due date on the element and drafts the inquiry email to the maintainer. A sensor anomaly writes the incident document, tags affected rooms, and alerts the owner. Every outbound action requires explicit human approval.
- **Knowledge platform** (directional): every RFI, photo, comment, BCF topic, supplier spec, and sensor reading indexed by the model. Ask what you know about a room's HVAC and get one answer pulled from years of project history — institutional memory that happens to be geometry-aware.
- **Open ecosystem** (directional): API-first and webhook-native. Every UI action is a documented endpoint; every state change can fire a webhook. Plug in custom workflows, third-party analytics, or in-house tools.

## Who built this

IFC Coordinator Cloud is built by a solo developer / BIM technology specialist based in Germany. The project is driven by the frustration of working with lossy, desktop-only IFC tools in professional BIM coordination workflows.

## URLs

- Homepage: https://ifc-coordinator.com
- Demo (no account required): https://ifc-coordinator.com/demo
- Pricing: https://ifc-coordinator.com/pricing
- Roadmap: https://ifc-coordinator.com/roadmap
- Vision: https://ifc-coordinator.com/vision
- Blog: https://ifc-coordinator.com/blog
- Sign up: https://ifc-coordinator.com/register
- Log in: https://ifc-coordinator.com/login

## Domain terminology

- **IFC** — Industry Foundation Classes, the open file format for BIM data exchange (ISO 16739)
- **BIM** — Building Information Modeling, the process of creating and managing digital representations of buildings
- **Pset** — Property Set, a named collection of properties attached to an IFC element
- **Qto** — Quantity Set, a named collection of physical quantities (length, area, volume) attached to an IFC element
- **IfcOpenShell** — Open-source library for reading and writing IFC files (Python/C++)
- **Round-trip** — The process of importing an IFC file, editing it, and exporting it again. "Lossless round-trip" means zero data loss in this cycle.
- **CDE** — Common Data Environment, a centralized platform for managing BIM data across project teams