ifc-lite

High-performance Python bindings for the ifc-lite IFC parser.

Relationship with upstream

This Python version is not released or maintained by the original authors of ifc-lite. It is a modified version, released under the same licence.

The Rust code is basically copied from upstream, but with some changes:

• The MeshData object exposes property_sets as an attribute, and the Rust code has been changed to populate this for all elements.
• Added include_geometry option to StreamingOptions in the processing crate. When false, geometry extraction is skipped and MeshData objects are returned with empty geometry but fully populated metadata.
• Added process_ifc_text_with_options and process_ifc_file_with_options to the engine crate for non-streaming use with include_properties and include_geometry flags.

These changes are based on the current needs of the maintainers, and are provisional, while we are still in the evaluation stage for this new library.

Installation

pip install ifc-lite

Quick Start

import ifc_lite

# Load an IFC file
model = ifc_lite.process_file("building.ifc")

# List all IFC types in the model
print(model.ifc_types)

# Get all reinforcing bars
bars = model.elements_by_type("IfcReinforcingBar")
for bar in bars:
    print(f"{bar.name}: {bar.vertex_count} vertices, {bar.triangle_count} triangles")
    print(f"  Properties: {bar.properties}")

# Access geometry (vertex positions, normals, triangle indices)
for mesh in model.meshes:
    positions = mesh.positions  # flat list of x,y,z triplets
    normals = mesh.normals      # flat list of nx,ny,nz triplets
    indices = mesh.indices      # triangle indices
    color = mesh.color          # RGBA tuple

# Load metadata + properties only (skip expensive geometry extraction)
model = ifc_lite.process_file("building.ifc", load_geometry=False)

# Load geometry only (skip property set parsing)
model = ifc_lite.process_file("building.ifc", load_properties=False)

# Fastest: metadata only (no geometry, no properties)
model = ifc_lite.process_file(
    "building.ifc", load_geometry=False, load_properties=False
)

API

Module-level functions

• ifc_lite.process_file(path, *, load_geometry=True, load_properties=True) – Load and process an IFC file from disk
• ifc_lite.process_text(content, *, load_geometry=True, load_properties=True) – Process IFC content from a string
• ifc_lite.version() – Get the native library version

Optional keyword arguments:

• load_geometry – When False, skip geometry extraction. MeshData elements will have empty positions/normals/indices but full metadata. Significantly faster for large files.
• load_properties – When False, skip property set parsing. MeshData elements will have properties=None and property_sets=None.

IfcModel

• model.meshes – List of all MeshData elements
• model.ifc_types – All distinct IFC type names
• model.elements_by_type(type_name) – Filter elements by IFC type
• model.element_by_express_id(id) – Lookup by express ID
• model.element_by_global_id(gid) – Lookup by IFC GlobalId
• model.metadata – Schema version, entity counts, coordinate info
• model.stats – Processing timing statistics

MeshData

• mesh.express_id, mesh.ifc_type, mesh.global_id, mesh.name
• mesh.positions, mesh.normals, mesh.indices, mesh.color
• mesh.properties – IFC property set values (dict or None)
• mesh.vertex_count, mesh.triangle_count

License

MPL-2.0 (same as upstream ifc-lite)