vflow2 — Project Overview

What is vflow2?

vflow2 is a Python-based toolset for analyzing IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) building models. It provides a web interface for uploading IFC files, running analysis tools, and visualizing buildings in 3D and 2D with interactive overlays.

Architecture

vflow2/
├── app.py                    # Flask web server + API endpoints
├── templates/
│   ├── index.html            # Main analysis page (upload, tools, results)
│   └── viewer.html           # 3D/2D viewer (Three.js + web-ifc)
├── tools/
│   ├── element_summary.py    # Analysis tool: element counts
│   ├── element_tree.py       # Analysis tool: full element hierarchy
│   ├── file_info.py          # Analysis tool: file metadata
│   ├── spatial_structure.py  # Analysis tool: spatial hierarchy
│   ├── structure_check.py    # Analysis tool: verify required entities
│   ├── property_report.py    # Analysis tool: data completeness audit
│   ├── connection_graph.py   # Analysis tool: connection point graph
│   ├── mep_routing.py        # Analysis tool: cable routing
│   ├── _connection_graph.py  # Library: graph engine (private, not a tool)
│   ├── _mep_utils.py         # Library: geometry extraction
│   ├── _spatial_graph.py     # Library: waypoint graph + A* pathfinding
│   ├── _wall_zones.py        # Library: DIN 18015-3 zone computation
│   ├── _ceiling_zones.py     # Library: ceiling zone computation (per IfcSpace)
│   ├── _logger.py            # Library: structured phase-based JSON logging
│   └── _jobs.py              # Library: background job runner with thread-safe state
├── static/
│   ├── web-ifc-api-iife.js   # web-ifc JavaScript library (local)
│   └── web-ifc.wasm          # web-ifc WebAssembly binary (local)
├── uploads/                  # Uploaded IFC files + cached JSON results
├── documentation/            # This documentation
└── pyproject.toml            # Dependencies (ifcopenshell, flask, networkx, scipy)

How it works

Upload an IFC file via the web interface
Analyze using pluggable tools that extract data from the IFC model
View in the 3D viewer with interactive overlays (graph, routes, zones)

Main page

Tech Stack

Component	Technology	Purpose
Backend	Python 3.12 + Flask	Web server, IFC processing
IFC parsing	ifcopenshell 0.8.4	Read IFC geometry and properties
Graph/pathfinding	networkx 3.6 + scipy 1.17	Connection graph, A* routing
3D rendering	Three.js 0.169.0	WebGL 3D/2D viewer
IFC in browser	web-ifc 0.0.66	Parse IFC geometry client-side
Package manager	uv	Python dependency management

Running

uv run python app.py    # starts on http://localhost:5000

Tool Plugin System

Each analysis tool is a standalone Python file in tools/ following a simple convention:

TOOL_NAME = "My Tool"           # Display name in the UI
TOOL_DESCRIPTION = "Does X"     # One-line description
def run(ifc_path) -> dict:      # Receives path to .ifc file
    return {
        "title": "...",
        "summary": "...",
        "columns": ["A", "B"],
        "rows": [["val1", "val2"]],
    }

Files starting with _ are private libraries (not shown as tools in the UI). The web app auto-discovers all non-private .py files in tools/.