IfcOpenShell Google Summer of Code 2026!
A big congratulations to @sayanjdas and @myoder89 for this year's IfcOpenShell Google Summer of Code! Both of these projects are big, impactful, challenging projects that will shape the future of IfcOpenShell (and Bonsai).
IfcOpenShell C API, Improved WASM builds, and migration of high-level APIs from Python
tl;dr - This will seriously bring IfcOpenShell as a strong solution for web apps, offering a third option to existing solutions like web-ifc and ifclite. By the end, we expect IOS for the web to be light, typescript-native, ultra fast, and without sacrificing the huge tools you know and love from Python's rich API.
The IfcOpenShell library lacks a stable C API, which currently limits interoperability with other programming languages and makes its higher-level APIs largely accessible only through Python. Its existing WebAssembly support also depends on Pyodide, resulting in unnecessarily bloated binaries, slow initialization, and reduced runtime performance in browsers. This proposal aims to address these architectural limitations by introducing a first-class C API for IfcOpenShell, enabling more maintainable cross-language bindings and a stronger foundation for native WASM builds. The project will replace the current Pyodide-based approach with a direct C++ to WASM build, and will migrate the Python bindings away from SWIG to generated bindings built on top of the new C API. It will establish autogenerated TypeScript bindings and an ergonomic web-facing API, while incrementally moving important high-level Python APIs into the C++ core so that they become available consistently across Python, WASM, and future language bindings.
Saikei Civil — Native IFC Roadway Design for Bonsai BIM
tl;dr - this will bring high-level, user-oriented infrastructure authoring capabilities to Bonsai (and therefore first through the IfcOpenShell API).
Saikei Civil is an initiative to bring professional roadway design capability to Bonsai/IfcOpenShell. The goal is to add tools, features, and functionality to Bonsai that will enable BIM-type modeling of roadways (and eventually other horizontal infrastructure), making use of the IFC 4.3 schema. This proposal aims to deliver the core tools for roadway design in 3 milestones: Vertical alignments (horizontal already implemented), Cross-section profiles, and Corridor generation. Once complete, Bonsai will be the first program capable of roadway model authoring natively in IFC, eliminating massive time and effort toward export processes, and will prevent large amounts of data loss from said exports.
and 6 others.