Installation

There are different methods of installation, depending on your situation.

  1. Unstable installation is recommended for power users helping with testing.

  2. Bundling for Blender is recommended for distributing the add-on.

  3. Live development environment is recommended for developers who are actively coding.

  4. Packaged installation is recommended for those who use a package manager.

System requirements

Bonsai officially supports all major 64-bit platforms, as well as the Python version shipped by the Blender Foundation for the most recent three major Blender versions:

  • 64-bit Linux (linux-x64)

  • 64-bit MacOS Intel (macos-x64)

  • 64-bit MacOS Silicon (macos-arm64)

  • 64-bit Windows (windows-x64)

  • Blender 4.2 with Python 3.11

Due to significant changes in the Blender extensions system, Blender versions <4.2 are not supported.

Developer builds may exist for different versions of Python but there will be no guarantee of the uptime or stability of these builds.

Other system specifications match the Blender Requirements and the VFX Platform standard.

Sometimes, a build may be delayed, or contain broken code. We try to avoid this, but it happens.

Unstable installation

Unstable installation is almost the same as Stable installation, except that they are typically updated every day. To install the Unstable version:

  1. Open up Blender, and click on Edit > Preferences.

    ../../_images/install-bonsai-1.png

  2. Select the Get Extensions tab, and press Allow Online Access.

    ../../_images/install-bonsai-2.png

  3. Go to the Bonsai Unstable Repository, and drag and drop from the appropriate link in the ID column of the table into Blender depending on your operating system.

    ../../_images/unstable-drag-drop.png

  4. Enable Check for Updates on Startup to get updates for daily Bonsai builds automatically.

    ../../_images/unstable-auto-update.png

Tip

Instead of drag and drop, you can manually create the repository:

Open Topbar ‣ Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Get Extensions ‣ Repositories (Top Right) ‣ “+” Icon ‣ Add Remote Remository. You’ll see a window similar to the one above.

Use as URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IfcOpenShell/bonsai_unstable_repo/main/index.json and enable Check for Updates on Startup if you want them.

  1. Search for Bonsai in the top left search bar, then press the Install button.

    ../../_images/install-bonsai-3.png

Warning

Make sure the extension you install has raw.githubusercontent.com as it’s “Repository” (not extensions.blender.org).

../../_images/unstable-repo.png

  1. Whenever a new update is available, you’ll see it in the bottom right Status Bar

    ../../_images/unstable-icon.png

  2. To update, click on the update button in Topbar ‣ Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Get Extensions.

    ../../_images/update.png

  3. After an update, be sure to restart.

    ../../_images/unstable-restart.png

If you wish to install an Unstable version offline, you can download a daily build from the GitHub releases page, then go to Topbar ‣ Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Get Extensions ‣ “V” Icon (top right) ‣ Install from Disk.

Bundling for Blender

Instead of waiting for an official release on the Bonsai website, it is possible to make your own Blender add-on from the bleeding edge source code of Bonsai. Bonsai is coded in Python and doesn’t require any compilation, so this is a relatively easy process.

Note that Bonsai depends on IfcOpenShell, and IfcOpenShell does require compilation. The following instructions will use a pre-built IfcOpenShell (using an IfcOpenBot build) for convenience. Instructions on how to compile IfcOpenShell is out of scope of this document.

You can create your own package by using the Makefile as shown below. You can choose between a PLATFORM of linux, macos, macosm1, and win. You can choose between a PYVERSION of py312, py311, py310, or py39.

cd src/bonsai
make dist PLATFORM=linux PYVERSION=py311
ls dist/

This will give you a fully packaged Blender add-on zip that you can distribute and install.

Live development environment

One option for developers who want to actively develop from source is to follow the instructions from Bundling for Blender. However, creating a build, uninstalling the old add-on, and installing a new build is a slow process. Although it works, it is very slow, so we do not recommend it.

A more rapid approach is to follow the Unstable installation method, as this provides all dependencies for you out of the box.

Once you’ve done this, you can replace certain Python files that tend to be updated frequently with those from the Git repository. We’re going to use symbolic links, so we can code in our Git repository, and see the changes in our Blender installation (you will need to restart Blender to see changes).

For Linux or Mac:

Or, if you’re on Windows, you can use the batch script below. You need to run it as an administrator. Before running it follow the instructions descibed in the rem tags.

After you modify your code in the Git repository, you will need to restart Blender for the changes to take effect.

The downside with this approach is that if a new dependency is added, or a compiled dependency version requirement has changed, or the build system changes, you’ll need to fix your setup manually. But this is relatively rare. Reviewing the Makefile history, here, is one quick way to see if a dependency has changed.

See also

There is a useful Blender Addon (see forum thread) that adds a Reboot button in File menu. In this way, it’s possible to directly restart Blender and test the modified source code. There is also a VS Code add-on called Blender Development that has a similar functionality.

Packaged installation

Tips for package managers

Bonsai is fully contained in the bonsai/ subfolder of the Blender add-ons directory. This is typically distributed as a zipfile as per Blender add-on conventions. Within this folder, you’ll find the following file structure:

core/ (Blender agnostic core logic)
tool/ (Blender specific shared functionality)
bim/ (Blender specific UI)
libs/ (other assets)
wheels/ (dependencies)
__init__.py

This corresponds to the structure found in the source code here.

Bonsai is complex, and requires many dependencies, including Python modules, binaries, and static assets. When packaged for users, these dependencies are bundled with the add-on for convenience.

If you choose to install Bonsai and use your own system dependencies, the source of truth for how dependencies are bundled are found in the Makefile in the dist target.

Add-on compatibility

Bonsai is a non-trivial add-on. By turning Blender into a graphical front-end to a native IFC authoring platform, some fundamental Blender features (such as hotkeys for basic functionality like object deletion or duplication) have been patched and many dependencies have been introduced.

Other add-ons may no longer work as intended when Bonsai is enabled, or vice versa, Bonsai may no longer work as intended when other add-ons are enabled.

Known scenarios which will lead to add-on incompatibility include:

  • The add-on also overrides the same hotkeys. For example, if an add-on overrides the “X” key to delete an object, you will need to manually trigger (either via menu or custom hotkey) the Bonsai equivalent operator (e.g. IFC Delete).

  • The add-on uses object deletion or duplication macros with dictionary override. Note that this is also deprecated in Blender, so the other add-on should be updated to fix this.

  • The add-on requires a conflicting dependency, or a conflicting version of the same dependency. Neither add-on may work simultaneously.