Problem
Managing large Revit family libraries is challenging. Finding the right family requires navigating through hundreds of folders, and there's no way to preview families without loading them into Revit.
Approach
Built a desktop application that indexes and catalogs Revit family files. The app extracts metadata and generates previews, enabling quick search and filtering without opening Revit.
Key features:
- Recursive folder scanning
- Thumbnail generation from RFA files
- Full-text search across parameters
- Tag-based organization
- Drag-and-drop into Revit
Technologies
- Electron
- Node.js
- SQLite for indexing
- Revit API for thumbnail extraction
- React for UI
Results
- 80% faster family discovery
- Indexed 5,000+ family files
- Reduced duplicate family usage
- Improved team library consistency