IFC MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables AI agents to understand and query IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) building model files. This server exposes a rich set of tools for loading IFC files, traversing spatial hierarchies, inspecting elements and properties, querying materials and quantities, and retrieving geometry bounding boxes — allowing AI assistants like Claude to reason about building information models without requiring the user to manually extract data.

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Installation

From PyPI (recommended)

pip install ifc-mcp
# or with uv:
uv tool install ifc-mcp

Claude Desktop config (no path needed):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ifc": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ifc-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

To update

uv tool upgrade ifc-mcp

Or pin to a specific version:

"args": ["ifc-mcp==0.2.0"]

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Development Setup

Prerequisites: Python 3.11+, uv

git clone <repo>
cd IfcMcp
uv sync
uv run pytest                            # verify all tests pass

Claude Desktop config for local dev:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ifc": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "server.py"],
      "cwd": "/absolute/path/to/IfcMcp"
    }
  }
}

On Windows, use double backslashes: "cwd": "C:\\Users\\...\\IfcMcp"

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Tools Reference

Every tool (except list_loaded_models) requires a model_id — the value returned by load_ifc_file.

Tool	Parameters	Description
load_ifc_file	path	Load an IFC file; returns model_id
list_loaded_models	—	List all models in memory
unload_ifc_file	model_id	Free a loaded model
get_spatial_structure	model_id	Full spatial hierarchy (Project→Site→Building→Storey→Space)
get_element_containment	model_id, global_id	Spatial containment chain for an element
get_elements_by_type	model_id, ifc_type, limit, offset	Paginated list by IFC type
get_element_by_id	model_id, global_id	Full element details
search_elements	model_id, filters..., limit, offset	Filter elements by type/name/pset/property
get_property_sets	model_id, global_id	All Psets for an element
get_quantities	model_id, global_id	All quantity sets for an element
get_material	model_id, global_id	Material info (name, layers, category)
get_model_statistics	model_id	Element counts by type, storey names, schema
get_bounding_box	model_id, global_id	Min/max XYZ bounding box in project coordinates

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MCP Resource

Each loaded model exposes a pre-computed summary resource:

ifc://model/{model_id}/summary

This resource is computed at load time and contains the project name, IFC schema version, element counts by type, and storey names. It gives AI agents a fast overview of a model without issuing individual tool calls.

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Error Responses

All tools return structured error objects. Common codes:

{"error": "element_not_found", "details": "..."}
{"error": "model_not_loaded", "details": "..."}
{"error": "geometry_unavailable", "details": "..."}
{"error": "file_not_found", "details": "..."}
{"error": "load_failed", "details": "..."}
{"error": "query_failed", "details": "..."}