StingBridge setup — ArchiCAD & IFC to Planscape

StingBridge connects ArchiCAD — or any tool that can export IFC — to your Planscape project. It reads the model, derives STING ISO 19650 tokens (DISC-LOC-ZONE-LVL-SYS-FUNC-PROD-SEQ), pushes them to Planscape, and writes them back into the model so the tags live in the file too.

There is no licence key. StingBridge signs in with your Planscape account — your subscription is the entitlement.

Which download do I want?

Both are on the downloads page, with SHA-256 checksums shown next to each button.

Step 1 — Install

Windows EXE

1. Unzip anywhere, e.g. C:\Tools\StingBridge.
2. Open a terminal there and check it runs: stingbridge.exe --version

Any OS (Python)

1. Unzip, then run run.bat (Windows) or ./run.sh (macOS/Linux) — the first run creates a local environment and installs the bundled wheels.
2. Check: ./run.sh --version

Step 2 — Connect to Planscape

Create a stingbridge.toml next to the executable (or set the same values as STING_* environment variables — environment always wins):

planscape_url        = "https://api.planscape.build"
planscape_token      = "psat_<your access token>"
planscape_project_id = "<project UUID from Planscape>"

# Optional
building_name        = "Block A"   # drives the LOC token, default BLD1
ifc_drop_dir         = "C:/Projects/IFC_DROP"

Your project's UUID is in the Planscape web app under the project's settings, or ask your BIM manager.

Getting your access token

An access token is a named credential for tools like StingBridge. You can revoke it on its own, without changing your password or signing anything else out. Create one in the Planscape web app, or with:

curl -X POST https://api.planscape.build/api/auth/tokens   -H "Authorization: Bearer <a JWT from signing in>"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{"name":"StingBridge on the studio PC"}'

The token is shown once — copy it straight into planscape_token. It is stored hashed, so it cannot be shown again; if you lose it, revoke that one and mint another.

If you signed up on planscape.build, a token is your only option. Accounts created by clicking through from the website are linked to your planscape.build sign-in and have no separate server password, so email and password login will always be refused for them.

If your account does have a password, you can use planscape_email and planscape_password instead. Either way StingBridge trades your credential for a short-lived session and refreshes it automatically.

Token expiry

Tokens now expire after 90 days by default. Pass "expiresInDays": 365 for the longest allowed life, or a smaller number for a short-lived one — a value of zero, a negative number, or anything above 365 is rejected. Tokens minted before this change carry no expiry and keep working until you revoke them.

Advisory — revoke and re-mint tokens created before 20 July 2026

Tokens minted before that date have a display prefix that included the first seven characters of the token itself. The prefix is stored unhashed and is shown when you list your tokens, so those seven characters were visible to anyone who could read the token list or the database — which is exactly what storing a hash is meant to prevent.

The rest of the token was never exposed and no misuse is known; seven characters is a long way from guessable. Even so, the safe move is a minute of work: list your tokens, mint a replacement, update the config, then revoke the old one. Tokens created from 20 July 2026 onward use a random display prefix that reveals nothing.

Step 3 — Pick your workflow

A. IFC drop folder (recommended — works with any authoring tool)

stingbridge watch-ifc --drop-dir "C:/Projects/IFC_DROP"

Leave it running. Every .ifc file that lands in the folder is parsed, tagged, synced to Planscape, and written back out as <name>_sting.ifc with a STING_TOKENS property set on every element. A .sync_result.json sidecar records what happened per file.

In ArchiCAD, point a Publisher Set (IFC translator) at the drop folder and publishing becomes your sync button. The same works from Tekla, Vectorworks, Allplan — anything that exports IFC.

B. One file, right now

stingbridge process-ifc "C:/Projects/model.ifc"

C. Live ArchiCAD sync (beta)

With ArchiCAD open (AC 28/29) and a project loaded:

stingbridge sync          # one pass
stingbridge watch         # every 5 minutes
stingbridge auto-publish  # trigger the IFC Publisher Set, then ingest

Live sync reads elements over ArchiCAD’s JSON API, writes STING tokens back as User-Defined properties in a STING property group, and verifies what it wrote. It is the newest path in the beta — if anything looks off, use the drop-folder workflow and tell us.

Optional — 3D viewer uploads

If IfcConvert (from IfcOpenShell) is installed and on your PATH, processed models are also converted to GLB and uploaded to the Planscape 3D viewer automatically. Without it, everything else still works.

Troubleshooting

Beta caveats

• Live ArchiCAD sync (workflow C) is verified against IFC round-trips; a live-model check on your ArchiCAD version is part of what the beta is for.
• macOS users use the _any build — a signed native binary comes later.