Spotlight: Qonic AI, and a fire rating that is not a chat reply
Qonic’s November release puts agents in the IFC model. Ask for a missing fire rating, and it can fill the property, not just list it.
Yesterday’s leftover civil seat was Trimble WorksManager Drone. The unused BIM leftover is not another photogrammetry SKU: Qonic’s November release puts agents inside the IFC.
That is not a new authoring kernel. Firms already federate an IFC, then spend the morning hunting fire ratings, colouring furniture by level, and filling the property the BEP already named. Qonic’s claim is narrower. Ask Qonic, in the bottom-left of the 3D view, drives the platform’s own find, check, report and stretch tools. AEC Magazine dated that 5 November 2026.
What the post actually says
Qonic is a browser BIM built on open IFC. The November note, dated 4 November 2026 on the community board, says the agents work in the model instead of handing you a list. Open the chat. Type the way you would ask a colleague.
The examples are the ones coordinators already run by hand. Isolate furniture and colour it by level. Ask whether every window has a fire rating; it reports the missing ones and selects them. Tell it to assign F60, and Qonic says it finds the right property and fills the value. Ask for a concrete quality report grouped by building and concrete type, and it sets that up in the Report panel. You can still change the grouping yourself.
Geometry is in the same chat. The vendor example is “make selected windows 3.5 metres wider.” AEC Magazine’s demo is a 0.5 metre stretch to the right from the current view. Jacob De Sutter’s line is that anything you can do in Qonic for geometry and data can be done through a prompt, including a building or facade from prompts and reference images. Treat that last one as a sketch, not a BEP model.
Help is more useful than the slogan. Anyone who can view the open models can ask. Qonic AI only changes models you are allowed to edit. Changes land on your undo history. Tokens come from the organisation balance. Paid plans include a monthly pack. A one-off pack from €50 never expires. The free plan includes none. Help also says those tokens pay for Revit import.
The other half is MCP. Claude Code, Codex, Claude and Mistral Le Chat can list projects, query and quantify, export IFC, change or delete elements, and manage library items. Keep Qonic open and the assistant can work in the session you are looking at. The assistant only does what your role allows. Edits stay as your personal changes until you publish. MCP does not spend Qonic tokens. The assistant’s own provider bills the reasoning.
A new Wall Tool sits in the same release: walls as components, layer-by-layer edits, and a right-click that turns an imported IFC or Revit wall into a reusable component. That is modelling, not the AI. Do not mix the two in a method.
What a BIM lead should do
If the office already parks an IFC in Qonic, this is a morning on a non-sensitive copy. Ask four questions: does “which windows lack a fire rating” select the same set your IDS already flags; does assigning F60 write the property the BEP names, or a lookalike; does undo take the fill back; and if you attach Claude or Codex through MCP, do the edits stay unpublished until a person hits publish.
Do not put a token-metered chat on the issued model. Do not let MCP write from a personal assistant. Name the approved client the same way you did for Bluebeam Revu MCP. Keep the coordination file in the authoring tool the BEP already names until those four checks close.
Start at Qonic’s November 2026 release and the Ask Qonic help.
Frequently asked questions
What did Qonic announce?
The 4 November 2026 product post adds Qonic AI to the browser IFC platform. Ask Qonic finds, checks and updates elements, builds reports and can edit geometry. The same release adds an MCP server, a component-based Wall Tool, grids from chalk curves and nine UI languages. AEC Magazine covered the AI and MCP on 5 November.
Does this replace Revit or Archicad?
No. Qonic is an IFC modelling and review seat. The agents run on models that came from any authoring tool through open IFC. Keep the issued model in the authoring tool the BEP already names until a non-sensitive copy survives the property, undo and publish checks.
Who pays for the tokens?
Qonic AI uses an organisation token balance. Paid plans include a monthly allowance that does not carry over. The free plan includes none. A one-off pack from €50 never expires. Help also says those tokens pay for Revit import. Work through MCP does not spend Qonic tokens; the assistant’s own provider bills the reasoning.
Can an outside assistant change the published model?
Not by default. Qonic says the assistant only does what your role allows, and MCP edits stay as your personal changes until you publish them. You need edit rights on every model open in the session. Do not attach a personal Claude or Codex account to a live project.