DXF and PDF/X-4 for AI agents: structured facts, PNG renders, an interactive in-chat viewer.
Drawing understanding for people, applications, and AI agents — DXF and vector PDF.
Aspicio (Latin: "I look at")
Aspicio is an open-source (MIT), TypeScript-first drawing engine: one
framework-free parse → tessellate pipeline that runs in the browser, in
Node, and in serverless runtimes. It reads DXF and the vector content of
PDF — the kind of PDF that carries artwork and dielines rather than a
scan. A person gets an interactive WebGL viewer of a CAD drawing; an AI
agent gets structured JSON facts and a rendered PNG of the same file.
Every surface — the browser viewer, the web components and their React,
Vue, and Svelte bindings, the headless renderer, the HTTP API, and the MCP
server — is a thin adapter over the same engine, so a drawing is equally
readable everywhere.
DXF / PDF bytes ─parse─▶ DrawingDocument ─tessellate─▶ Tessellation ──┬─▶ WebGL renderer (viewer)
(normalized model) (batched geometry) ├─▶ SVG string (export / API / MCP)
└─▶ DrawingSummary (describe)
How it's built: docs/architecture.md · behavior specs: docs/product-specs/
One embed, every flavor — and every path below renders the same web components, so the result is pixel-identical no matter which you pick.
One tag gives you the layer panel plus an interactive preview; no bindings needed:
<script type="module">
import "@aspicio/elements";
import "@aspicio/elements/formats/dxf";
</script>
<aspicio-embed src-url="/drawing.dxf" style="height: 480px"></aspicio-embed>
Formats are opted into by import: the package brings the components, the
formats/* entry brings the parser. That is what keeps a DXF app from
shipping every other format's code — and every flavor below does the same.
The same embed with idiomatic props and a ref exposing the full
viewer, via @aspicio/react:
import { AspicioEmbed } from "@aspicio/react";
import "@aspicio/react/formats/dxf";
<AspicioEmbed src={file} style={{ height: 480 }} />;
Typed props and emits with unwrapped payloads, via
@aspicio/vue:
<script setup>
import { AspicioEmbed } from "@aspicio/vue";
import "@aspicio/vue/formats/dxf";
</script>
<template>
<AspicioEmbed src-url="/drawing.dxf" style="height: 480px" />
</template>
The same components as raw Svelte 5 source with typed callback props,
via @aspicio/svelte:
<script>
import { AspicioEmbed } from "@aspicio/svelte";
import "@aspicio/svelte/formats/dxf";
</script>
<AspicioEmbed srcUrl="/drawing.dxf" style="height: 480px" />
Skip the ready-made UI and drive the viewer directly from
@aspicio/core — bring your own chrome:
import { DrawingViewer } from "@aspicio/core";
import { dxfParser } from "@aspicio/core/dxf";
const viewer = new DrawingViewer(document.querySelector("#preview")!, {
parsers: [dxfParser],
});
await viewer.load(file); // File | Blob | ArrayBuffer | DXF text (ASCII or binary)
Parse, describe, and render with no browser at all (server-side previews, thumbnails, pipelines):
import {
describeDrawing,
parseWith,
tessellate,
tessellateSpace,
tessellationToSvg,
} from "@aspicio/core";
import { dxfParser } from "@aspicio/core/dxf";
const doc = await parseWith([dxfParser], bytes); // ASCII or binary DXF
const summary = describeDrawing(doc); // units, bounds, layers, texts, spaces…
const svg = tessellationToSvg(tessellate(doc)); // model space (a PDF's page 1)
// Multi-page PDFs and multi-sheet DXFs: describe covers all of them, and
// either verb can be scoped to one.
const page3 = describeDrawing(doc, { space: "Page 3" });
const sheet = tessellationToSvg(tessellateSpace(doc, "Layout1"));
What you get: WebGL rendering batched to one draw call per layer (large drawings stay interactive), broad entity coverage (lines, arcs, circles, ellipses, polylines with bulges, splines, TEXT/MTEXT, DIMENSION, SOLID/HATCH fills, nested INSERT blocks — anything unsupported is counted and reported, never fatal), a layer list with the colors that are actually drawn (per-entity overrides included, not just the layer table), measure with object snap, entity picking, paper-space layouts, SVG/PNG export, and first-class touch. Out of scope: editing and 3D.
The same engine speaks MCP and HTTP, so an agent can read a drawing instead of guessing at it:
describe_dxf — units, bounds, size, layers with effective colors,
entity counts, and the drawing's text content. An agent reads a title
block or a dimension value directly — no OCR, no vision round-trip.render_dxf — a PNG of the drawing the model can look at.view_dxf (hosted server) — an interactive in-chat viewer for the
person in the conversation, via the open MCP Apps
extension:
pan, zoom, layer toggles, fullscreen, host light/dark theming. The
widget is locked to the drawing the tool call delivered and makes no
network requests; hosts without MCP Apps still get the structured
facts.
| Surface | Local files | URLs | Inline DXF |
|---|---|---|---|
stdio MCP — npx -y @aspicio/mcp | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Hosted MCP — aspicio-api.frontsail.app/mcp | — | ✅ | ✅ |
HTTP API — /describe, /render | POST body | ✅ | ✅ |
Connect:
aspicio-inspect-dxf, aspicio-embed):
/plugin marketplace add frontsail-ai/aspicio then /plugin install aspicio@aspiciocodex plugin marketplace add https://github.com/frontsail-ai/aspicio,
codex plugin add aspicio@aspicio, then
codex mcp add aspicio -- npx -y @aspicio/mcpnpx -y @aspicio/mcphttps://aspicio-api.frontsail.app/mcp (no install;
speaks MCP, not a browser page)GET /describe?src=<dxf-url>,
GET /render?src=<dxf-url>&format=png|svg; the API self-describes at
/openapi.jsonURL fetches are guarded (private-network blocking, size caps, redirect validation, timeouts). The stdio server reads local files in-process and never uploads the DXF to any Aspicio service — though, as with any tool result, your MCP client passes the returned summary or image to its model provider. Full details: privacy policy · terms.
Everything above is shipped and live: viewer + demo, core, web components, React, Vue, and Svelte packages, headless describe/render, stdio and hosted MCP, the in-chat MCP Apps viewer, the HTTP API with OpenAPI, and plugin packaging for Claude Code and Codex.
Direction (intent, not commitments — see issues): MCP registry listings, structured entity queries and focused rendering, and an upload flow so remote surfaces can handle local files.
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
@aspicio/core | The viewer library: parsing, tessellation, rendering, camera, input |
@aspicio/elements | Web components: <aspicio-embed>, <aspicio-preview>, <aspicio-layer-panel> — plain HTML, Svelte, any framework |
@aspicio/react | React bindings: <AspicioEmbed>, <AspicioPreview>, <AspicioLayerPanel> |
@aspicio/vue | Vue 3 bindings: the same three components with typed props and emits |
@aspicio/svelte | Svelte 5 bindings: the same three components as raw .svelte source |
@aspicio/mcp | MCP server for AI agents: describe_dxf + render_dxf |
@aspicio/api | DXF HTTP API server (private): /describe, /render, /mcp |
@aspicio/widget | MCP Apps in-chat viewer widget (private), served by the api server |
@aspicio/demo | Standalone demo app (private) — also the reference integration |
How the viewer packages fit together: every framework path funnels into the same Lit web components — one implementation of the embed UI — which sit on the framework-free core. React, Vue, and Svelte get thin veneers with idiomatic props; plain HTML consumes the elements directly.
flowchart TD
REACTAPP["React app"]
HTMLAPP["Plain HTML / vanilla JS app"]
VUEAPP["Vue app"]
SVELTEAPP["Svelte app"]
REACT["<b>@aspicio/react</b><br/><AspicioEmbed> · <AspicioPreview> · <AspicioLayerPanel><br/><i>thin @lit/react veneer, API-stable</i>"]
VUE["<b>@aspicio/vue</b><br/><AspicioEmbed> · <AspicioPreview> · <AspicioLayerPanel><br/><i>thin Vue 3 veneer, typed emits</i>"]
SVELTE["<b>@aspicio/svelte</b><br/><AspicioEmbed> · <AspicioPreview> · <AspicioLayerPanel><br/><i>raw Svelte 5 source, compiled by your bundler</i>"]
ELEMENTS["<b>@aspicio/elements</b><br/><aspicio-embed> · <aspicio-preview> · <aspicio-layer-panel><br/><i>Lit web components — the one embed-UI implementation</i>"]
CORE["<b>@aspicio/core</b><br/>parse → tessellate → render<br/><i>camera · input · picking · SVG/PNG export · headless describe</i>"]
REACTAPP -->|"idiomatic props, ref → DrawingViewer"| REACT
REACT -->|"wraps"| ELEMENTS
HTMLAPP -->|"attributes + DOM events"| ELEMENTS
VUEAPP -->|"idiomatic props + emits"| VUE
VUE -->|"wraps"| ELEMENTS
SVELTEAPP -->|"typed callback props"| SVELTE
SVELTE -->|"wraps"| ELEMENTS
ELEMENTS -->|"drives"| CORE
HTMLAPP -.->|"or hand-rolled UI on the DrawingViewer API"| CORE
classDef pkg fill:#191c22,stroke:#4c8dff,color:#e7e3da
classDef app fill:#1f232b,stroke:#3a3f4a,color:#9aa0ab
class REACT,VUE,SVELTE,ELEMENTS,CORE pkg
class REACTAPP,HTMLAPP,VUEAPP,SVELTEAPP app
Toolchain: Vite+ (vp) on top of bun.
vp install # install dependencies
vp run dev # start the demo app
vp run ready # check + test + build everything (the repo gate)
Testing, CI/deploy, releasing, and contribution guidance: CONTRIBUTING.md.
Aspicio is developed and maintained by FrontSail AI.
Source-derived launch command. Check the maintainer’s required arguments and credentials before running:
npx -y @aspicio/mcpMerge this template into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Keep existing servers. Add any arguments, credentials, and permissions required by the maintainer; this template has not been install-tested.
{
"mcpServers": {
"io-github-frontsail-ai-aspicio": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@aspicio/mcp"
]
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect. Confirm the server appears connected in the client’s tool list, then try a read-only example from its documentation.
Claude Desktop setup reference@aspicio/mcpnpmAspicio works with any MCP-compatible client. Copy the config snippet from the Configuration section above and add it to the file shown for your client, then restart the application.
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonRestart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect.~/.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor for changes to take effect..vscode/mcp.jsonReload VS Code window for changes to take effect.~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.jsonRestart Windsurf for changes to take effect..mcp.jsonSave at the project root, then start Claude Code in that project and review the MCP server approval prompt. Keep real credentials out of shared files.