BIM Examiner is a web application for importing, viewing, and evaluating IFC models in teaching and research workflows. It consists of a FastAPI backend, a React/Vite frontend, and PostgreSQL, and can be run locally with Docker Compose.
Requirements: Git, Docker, and Docker Compose v2.
git clone https://github.com/tumcms/BIM-Examiner.git
cd BIM-Examiner
cp .env.example .env
docker network create bim-examiner-app
docker compose up --buildBefore starting the services, replace the development password in .env.
Creating the Docker network is only necessary the first time.
Once the containers are healthy, open:
- Web application: http://localhost:5173
- API documentation: http://localhost:8000/docs
- Health check: http://localhost:8000/health
Uploaded models and database contents are stored in Docker volumes and are not part of the source repository.
For configuration, troubleshooting, and lifecycle commands, see INSTALL.md. Technical implementation details are documented in implementation_doc.md, and metrics instrumentation in backend/MetricsTracking.md.
The frontend uses Node.js 22 and the backend uses Python 3.11 in their Docker images. The backend runs database migrations automatically when the Compose stack starts.
Frontend checks can be run locally with:
cd frontend
npm ci
npm run lint
npm run buildDo not commit student submissions, grade sheets, IFC models, exported results,
database files, or local environment files. Common generated and sensitive file
types are excluded by .gitignore, but contributors must still review staged
changes before committing.
If you use BIM Examiner in research or teaching, please cite:
Tamira Wrabel and Nepomuk Wolf. “A Standards-Based Framework for Automated IFC Model Assessment for large datasets in research and teaching.” Proceedings of the 37th Forum Bauinformatik, Rostock, Germany, 2026.
Machine-readable citation metadata is available in CITATION.cff. The DOI will be added after it is assigned by the proceedings editor.
BIM Examiner is released under the MIT License.