Custom Archicad integration development
Appfront builds integrations with Archicad, the BIM package from Graphisoft. The model holds a lot of data that is needed outside Archicad: quantities, properties, spaces and statuses. We connect the model to your cost estimating, planning or in-house systems, so that data does not have to be re-keyed and can flow back into the model.
What is an Archicad integration?
Archicad is Graphisoft's BIM software, widely used by architects. The model contains not only geometry but also data: walls, floors and frames with their properties, spaces with areas, and custom properties such as a status or a code. Graphisoft offers a JSON interface over HTTP, a Python wrapper for it, and a C++ API for your own add-ons.
Outside Archicad, that data is often needed, and that is where things go wrong. Quantities are transferred by hand to the costing package. Spaces and areas are exported to a spreadsheet for the client. And anyone keeping a status or code in another system never sees it back in the model.
We build custom solutions because practices and models differ: which properties you use, where the data needs to go, and whether the integration runs on a workstation with Archicad or as an add-on within Archicad itself. We look at which route fits during the first step, together with you.
Data from the model
Elements, properties and spaces to your own systems.
Back into the model
Statuses and codes back as a property.
Via the Archicad API
JSON interface, Python or a custom add-on.
How we build your Archicad integration
We start with your models: which properties you use, which data is currently transferred by hand, and which system needs it. We often begin with quantities or spaces, as that is where most of the time is spent. Once the first integration runs smoothly, we build the route back into the model. This way you quickly see whether the integration saves time. We test on your own models, so the integration works with the properties you actually use.
Properties, data and systems.
JSON interface, Python or an add-on.
Data from the model and back.
Go-live, and maintenance when new versions of Archicad are released.
What an Archicad integration actually does
The components below come up in almost every Archicad integration. Which ones you need depends on your models.
Elements
Per type and floor.
Properties
Your own properties too.
Spaces
Spaces with areas.
Quantities
To your costing.
Write-back
Status and code back.
Validation
Missing data reported.
Who we build Archicad integrations for
The integration is built for practices and companies that work in Archicad. The more often data from the model is needed elsewhere, the more an integration pays off.
Architecture firms
Spaces and areas. The client wants to see them.
Contractors
Quantities for costing. Avoiding retyping counts.
Developers
Housing and plots. Statuses matter most.
Software suppliers
A product alongside Archicad. The API is the core.
Technology and integrations
This page is about integrations with Archicad. If you work in Revit, see our page on the Revit integration. For exchange via open formats, there is our page on the IFC integration, and for practice software, our page on architectural practice software. You can read about how we work under software development.
Why Appfront for your Archicad integration?
Quantities transferred by hand, and a status that only exists outside the model, cost time and introduce errors. That is what we build on: model data in the right place, a route back into the model, and an integration on the Archicad API.
No manual re-keying
Quantities come along automatically.
Model kept up to date
Status and codes written back into the model.
On the API
As Graphisoft provides it.
Security and privacy for an Archicad integration
The integration processes design data from your projects. That data stays within your own environment, access credentials are stored encrypted, and every exchange is logged.
Where the integration stores data outside the workplace, this happens in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups.
Frequently asked questions about an Archicad integration
Questions practices ask before getting started.
Archicad is Graphisoft's BIM software. Architects build a model in it with elements, properties and spaces, from which drawings and schedules follow.
Graphisoft offers a JSON interface over HTTP with a Python wrapper for it, and a C++ API for custom add-ons. The JSON interface talks to a running Archicad instance. Which route fits depends on what the integration needs to do. For data needed now and then, the JSON interface is often sufficient; for work that has to happen within Archicad itself, an add-on is the better choice.
Often, yes, for exchange with other parties. An integration makes sense if you repeatedly need data in a system of your own, or if you want to write data back to the model. An IFC export is a snapshot; an integration keeps the data current while the design is still changing.
Yes. Quantities per element or per code flow from the model to your estimating, and they are updated when the model changes. You see what has changed since last time, so the estimator does not have to recheck the entire list.
Yes. A status or code from your own system returns as a property in the model, so the model shows what has been decided elsewhere. For example, a designer can see in Archicad which homes have been sold, or which components have already been ordered.
We test the integration against the new version before you upgrade, and adjust it if the API has changed. That way you can upgrade when it suits your practice, without the integration breaking.
For architectural practices, contractors and developers who repeatedly need data from Archicad in other systems, and for software vendors who want to connect their product with Archicad.
Connect Archicad to your own systems?
Tell us which data you need from the model and where it currently gets moved by hand. We will show you which route is available and what the integration would look like.