Brecon Roadmap¶

• Rename the app/distribution/command to Brecon, with a place-inspired wordmark, current docs/citation/MCP identity, legacy command/import compatibility and unchanged project, preferences and recovery identifiers. Preserve existing release tags/assets and repository URLs. Brecon publishing needs its own PyPI project/publisher setup; the previous-name distribution is not renamed in place.
• Owner: configure Brecon's pending PyPI publisher before its first release (brecon, praksharma/PyniteGUI, publish.yml, environment pypi). Preserve the existing PyniteGUI publisher; owner confirmed setup on 2026-10-28. This does not publish a renamed package.
• Restrict the publishing workflow to Brecon metadata and reject pre-rename RC2/RC3 tags before downloading/uploading distributions. Exercise the real metadata gate against accepted Brecon and rejected old/mismatched tags.
• Prepare the first Brecon release, 1.0.0rc4: full locked/installed suites, final base/MCP and uv-tool installs, viewport/docs checks, audited artifacts and release notes. Retain old PyniteGUI releases and the stable-platform gates.
• Publish Brecon 1.0.0rc4 on GitHub and PyPI through Trusted Publishing after the owner's environment approval. Verify registry artifact hashes and a fresh public-PyPI installation; preserve existing PyniteGUI releases (2026-10-28).

Current scope: a 2D/3D frame and bilateral axial-only truss editor with SI/imperial input and display, per-member materials and sections, custom global support restraints, global/member-local angled forces, distributed loads, and named load cases/combinations. This list tracks remaining work; items are not promises of a particular release date.

See the focused UI/modelling backlog for eight completed canvas, organization, result-query and previewed modelling improvements. This file owns engineering work, completed records and release gates. Scope was pruned 2026-10-27: duplicate umbrella/release/solver ticks and unrequested speculative extras were removed, without dropping validation requirements or the official-example dependency audit.

PyNite Capability Coverage¶

Audited 2026-10-16 against our application adapters, schemas and documented workflows, plus the locked PyniteFEA 3.0.0 source. The upstream capability list describes the engine, not features automatically available in this GUI. Done means usable in the stated application workflow; Partial identifies the exact missing part. Summary: 9 done, 4 partial, 5 pending. P-Delta coverage rechecked 2026-10-26; spatial translational/rotational-release scope rechecked 2026-10-29.

Analysis Method Checklist¶

Implementation status checked 2026-10-26. Tick a method only when its stated GUI workflow has validated inputs, usable results and regression coverage; an API existing in PyNite alone does not count. Keep this checklist and the capability table above in sync as methods are implemented.

Current priority: software quality and UI polish. New solver implementation is on hold at the user’s request; existing analysis methods remain available.

• Linear elastic (analyze_linear): 2D/3D frames, bilateral axial-only trusses and opt-in rectangular Quad slab/frame coupling; reactions, displacements, member results, combinations and exports.
• P-Delta elastic (analyze_PDelta): saved, undoable method selection across manual/live/MCP frame analysis; independent combination solves, actual progress phases, effective-stiffness checks and method-labelled snapshots/ exports. Analytical compression/tension, refinement and instability regressions plus a public example. Frame-only; no slabs, trusses or released translations.
• General iterative elastic (analyze): tension-only/compression-only members and one-way support springs, activation/deactivation and optional load stepping. Add persisted behaviour flags, iteration/tolerance controls, convergence/active-state results, independent combination solves and activation/ mechanism benchmarks. Materials remain elastic; this is not plastic yielding.
• Steel plastic pushover (analyze_pushover) — planned after the solver hold: validated yield strength and plastic section moduli (fy, Zy, Zz), section/ material binding, elastic preload and push patterns, load increments, displacement stop conditions, accepted-step histories and base-shear/roof- displacement capacity curves. Benchmark the steel I-section interaction model. The public engine method is first-order; no P-Delta integration or nonlinear slabs.
• Modal analysis (analyze_modal): explicit mass-source combination, load-to-mass direction and consistent gravity conversion, mode count, natural frequencies/periods and mode shapes with their own results/visualization and independent benchmarks. Modal analysis alone is not an earthquake-response solver.

Separate solver/formulation work:

• Reinforced-concrete nonlinear frames/slabs: evaluate a separate validated formulation/solver for cracking, reinforcement and plasticity. The locked PyNite steel pushover and elastic concrete presets do not supply RC plasticity.

Implementation Gates¶

• Keep the existing linear-static workflow intact. P-Delta, unilateral and pushover results need their own analysis identity and per-combination solves; do not use linear superposition for nonlinear results.
• Modal mass must be defined explicitly, not inferred by treating weight density as mass density. Do not imply dynamic time-history or response-spectrum support.
• Physical-member handling must preserve user member IDs, load stations, assignments and releases while exposing actual solver segmentation. A crossing must not silently become a joint; coordinate with the split/connect tasks below.
• Plates, meshes, shear walls and mats are separate validated milestones, not extensions of the line-member renderer alone. Nonlinear steel modelling needs verified material/section assumptions, not a generic plastic-design claim.

This section owns engine-capability coverage. Existing 3D editing/report tasks below and the secondary interface wishlist retain their more specific scope.

Official PyNite Example Adaptations¶

Requested 2026-10-26. Track the 20 scripts currently listed in the official PyNite Examples directory. Unchecked items are pending adaptations, including cases where a similar GUI example already exists. Audit each script against the locked engine and current GUI before implementation; an upstream example does not establish GUI support.

For each completed adaptation: provide an editable File > Examples entry in the appropriate category, record the upstream source commit/link and applicable license notices, preserve units/loading/analysis assumptions, document expected results, and add focused numerical and save/reopen checks. Reuse or update an existing matching example rather than adding duplicates. Record any deliberate differences from upstream. New solver work remains on hold; this checklist does not change the analysis-method priorities above.

Frames and existing analysis methods — first adaptation candidates:

• Simple Beam - Point Load.py
• Simple Beam - Uniform Load.py
• Simple Beam - Factored Envelope.py

First batch completed 2026-10-27 from upstream revision e3a0bbd912b6cf13140f01ca0ed3a2ee55069f45: three editable 2D Frames menu entries, original span/properties/cases/factors/load signs, planar adaptation notes and MIT notice. Closed-form beam responses, governing envelopes, fresh instances, all-unit persistence and native menu loading are covered. See Examples and Appearance for expected values.

• Moment Frame - Lateral Load.py
• Space Frame - Nodal Loads 1.py
• Space Frame - Nodal Loads 2.py
• Space Truss - Nodal Load.py
• P-Delta Analysis.py

Second batch completed 2026-10-27 at the same pinned revision: preserve the moment frame's P-Delta method, original IDs/cases/local weights and uplift; convert the official column from ft/kip with five explicit segments; convert the space truss from m/kN to bilateral axial bars with original EA and IDs. Document planar/G, physical-member and released-frame differences. Verify pinned upstream frame parity/load resultants, analytical column response and refinement, independent truss joint equilibrium, persistence and menu loading.

• Add optional independent shear-modulus material input and the two official Space Frame examples. Preserve E = 30000 ksi, G = 10000 ksi and nu = 0.3, original IDs/geometry/sections/supports/loads and Combo 1. Default materials still derive G; explicit positive finite values are custom frame/truss inputs. Include native editing, units/reports/MCP, legacy migration, formats 25/26, pinned-source result fixtures, independent 3D stiffness benchmarks, torsion sensitivity, save/reopen and categorized native opening. Surface/plate recipe materials reject independent G because their formulations derive it internally.

Springs and unilateral members — audit dependencies; defer missing behaviour:

• Beam on Elastic Foundation.py
• Braced Frame - Spring Supported.py
• Braced Frame - Tension Only.py

Plates, shells, walls and foundations — gate on validated surface workflows:

• Rectangular Plate Bending - Qauds.py (upstream filename spelling)
• Rectangular Wall - Linear Varying Load.py
• Shear Wall - Basic.py
• Shear Wall - Advanced.py
• Mat Foundation.py
• Circular Bin with Conical Hopper.py

Current-capability audit (2026-10-27, all 20 pinned scripts reviewed):

Nine official adaptations are now available. The rectangular Quad plate opens through File > Examples > Plates (Experimental) or Browse Examples in the separate editable plate workspace: original 10 × 20 ft dimensions, 1 ft thickness, 1 ft Quad mesh, clamped edges, W pressure +250 psf and factor 1.0. Canonical unit conversion, 200-element/231-node topology, upstream transverse nodal/reaction/ centre-moment parity, classical reference, persistence and native opening checks are covered. Existing MIT notice and pinned source revision apply. No solver features were added. See GUIDE for the plate-only constraint/combination-name adaptation and the complete dependency table.

Remaining 11 scripts are intentionally unchecked:

• Beam on Elastic Foundation: 24 compression-only DY springs; bilateral support springs would change lift-off behaviour. Physical-member subdivision alone is not the blocker.
• Braced Frame - Spring Supported: tension-only and compression-only axial spring elements, including documented gravity-only instability. Bilateral nodal springs are not equivalent.
• Braced Frame - Tension Only: tension-only braces/active-set analysis.
• Rectangular Wall - Linear Varying Load: geometry-owned depth-varying pressure and a validated wall workflow. The plate pilot has multiple uniform cases, but no geometry-varying pressure or general membrane behaviour.
• Shear Wall - Basic/Advanced: validated in-plane membrane/drilling workflow, shell support/load assignment, wall result recovery; Advanced additionally needs shear-wall/story/pier/coupling-beam APIs and its stiffness modifiers.
• Mat Foundation: mat API, compression-only soil springs and point load/moment assignment to the foundation mesh with openings.
• Circular Bin with Conical Hopper: curved shell assembly/merged interfaces, spatially varying pressure and shell supports/results. Its geometry generators being available does not establish analysis support.
• Modal Analysis: mass/modal solver and mode results.
• Moment Frame - Pushover / Pushover Analysis: plastic section definitions, incremental pushover controls, hinge states and results.

Additional solver workflows — on hold with the corresponding solver tasks:

• Modal Analysis.py
• Moment Frame - Pushover.py
• Pushover Analysis.py

Surface Geometry and Meshing¶

• Experimental separate rectangular DKMQ plate workspace with geometry-owned pressure/boundary assignments, mesh preview/refinement, four unit presets, persistence/undo, isolated cancellable solve, contours and nodal CSV; validate against Navier deflection, equilibrium, support and plane/sign tests.
• First integration stage: version 19 spatial projects own uncoupled surface recipes; all generators render beside frames with face picking, tree/inspector edit/delete, visibility, fitting, undo/redo and save/autosave/recovery. Preserve recipes through frame-table/MCP edits; expose read-only MCP discovery and block manual/live/MCP/direct analysis rather than silently ignoring surfaces.
• Place rectangular surfaces from selected corner nodes/perimeter members or detected complete frame levels. Default new slabs to the selected boundary or highest valid level, preview with the reference frame, preserve recipe options and provide one-step fitting undo without implying structural node coupling.
• Define rectangular Quad shared frame/surface solver-node ownership, merging tolerance, compatible member segmentation, adjacent-mesh conformity and remesh/delete behaviour; reject incompatible/overlapping interfaces rather than silently join.
• Opt-in rectangular Quad/frame assembly with geometry-owned pressure cases, combinations, surface self-weight, existing shared-joint supports, unchanged upstream membrane/drilling formulation, nodal results, equilibrium and deformed meshes. Add classical plate and symmetric slab/column benchmarks; keep legacy geometry-only projects disabled on migration to version 20.
• Refuse all coupled result publication if any combination fails independent global force/moment equilibrium; regression-test lateral moment imbalance from the locked engine's weak drilling approximation without relaxing tolerances.
• Add coupled rectangular Quad local moment/membrane-stress inspection in the existing Results dock: element-centre contours, natural-coordinate probes, explicit axes, combination/unit/snapshot identity, CSV and paginated MCP reads. Verify constant-strain/curvature patches in all planes and thin-plate Navier moments/refinement. Membrane stress is tension-positive; no combined face stresses.
• Add geometry-owned outer-edge rigid supports with global DOF presets/custom flags, staged preview, remesh/move/rename/delete persistence, shared-joint unions, spring-conflict rejection, undo, viewport/report display and atomic MCP edits. Retain rigid-body and independent all-combination equilibrium rejection.
• Independently validate coupled Quad transverse shear recovery before exposing it. PyNite 3.0/3.2 raw Qx/Qy fails the thin-plate Navier refinement benchmark; Quad shear plots/data remain disabled in both coupled and plate workspaces.
• Complete a test-only Quad shear recovery feasibility study: independently check Navier reference truncation, raw shear, own-element moment divergence and a complete 3 x 3 neighbouring-centre moment fit. Cover separate/coupled thin plates, two cantilever directions, XY/XZ/YZ, refinement and signed/zero cases. Publish the reproducible comparison figure/report. The interior fit converges; raw/own-element fields do not. This does not complete the exposure task above.
• Validate shear recovery at boundaries/openings, nonuniform meshes and material/stiffness interfaces before integrating any neighbouring-moment fit. Define missing-patch/error behaviour and distinguish smoothed recovered shear from the existing unsmoothed element probes; do not bridge holes or jumps.
• Add solved traction-based affine membrane checks in every plane, signed/zero combinations and refinement; independently compare applied loads, displacement and stress without prescribing the solution. Add coincident nu=0 slender-strip beam/slab load-transfer checks for surface pressure and member line loading, three EI ratios and refinement. Quantify lateral drilling torque/residuals and retain production rejection at every refinement; do not infer general membrane or wall certification from these bounded tests. Fix non-square YZ edge/probe axes and add notch/support/plot regressions using the upstream width-Z/height-Y convention.
• Independently validate two bounded nonuniform flat-membrane traction fields: pure in-plane bending and mixed normal/shear stress. Compare solved displacement, stress-tensor L2 norms and strain energy with compatible Airy references across four meshes, XY/XZ/YZ and signed/zero combinations. Check exact edge resultants, three rigid-mode restraints, translated origins, persistence and zero anchor load; distinguish continuum spin from the engine's independent nodal drilling DOF.
• Validate general diaphragm/wall action, frame–shell rotational interfaces and drilling treatment before broadening engineering claims. The current lateral drilling benchmark still fails equilibrium under refinement; passing bounded flat-membrane fields does not resolve that limitation.
• Add eccentric slab/beam offsets or explicit connectors with tested load transfer; current connections require coincident centreline/mid-surface nodes.
• Add surface-aware MCP edit schemas and atomic topology/assignment validation; add surface box selection after the geometry ownership rules are established. Cover deferred recipe/pressure/case references, one-step undo, invalid-interface rollback and a real client building/analyzing two-storey slabs. Box selection includes enclosed/crossing faces, holes, additive selection and cancellation.
• Add rectangular openings/control lines with geometry-owned assignments, Quad/Rect analysis, origin/options transfer, version 1 plate-file migration, basic mesh-quality checks and net-area pressure/reaction regressions.
• Expose all seven concrete PyNite mesh generators and applicable parameters, including ring/transition helpers, families, origins, numbering and modifiers; add 3D geometry previews, recipes/undo/export and all-axis/option/browser tests.
• Independently benchmark opening deflection/moment recovery and refinement: centred free square opening, thin simply supported outer plate, independent Ritz basis/energy convergence and signed material-patch means. Add Rect Navier moment/shear refinement, manufactured polynomial and two-direction strip benchmarks, plus all-plane/origin/load-factor invariance. Correct Rect recovery signs/twisting coefficients from the solved polynomial; reject unsupported Rect bending modifiers. Re-entrant corner peaks and general openings remain unverified.
• Add multiple uniform pressure cases/named combinations and complete global -Y self-weight for horizontal XZ plates. Retain the primary-case Plate baseline, stage case/factor/weight edits, preserve references on rename, add cached result selection and provenance CSV. Check all combinations for finite values and independent global force/moment equilibrium; reject vertical membrane gravity. Plate v3 migrates v1/v2 without adding loads. Preserve results on display-unit changes; benchmark signed/zero superposition, Navier gravity and opening moments.
• Add separate-plate local bending inspection: material-face picking, explicit element ownership, natural-coordinate probes, linked marker/outline, centre table, signed/zero combinations, units/axes/snapshot identity and centre/probe CSV. Retain corrected Rect polynomial moments/shear and Quad's unsmoothed within-element moment field; ship compact recovery data, never solve on a probe. Clear inspection/exports on engineering edits and retain unit-only snapshots.
• Extend the plate pilot to general membrane behaviour; validate new formulations before engineering claims. Combined face stresses remain deferred. Quad transverse shear recovery remains a separate open validation task above.
• Add annular/curved-shell boundary/load definitions, membrane behaviour, normal-pressure orientation, reaction/result inspection and independent shell benchmarks before enabling analysis for nonrectangular catalog meshes.

Modelling and Editing¶

• Add named node/member groups and global-Y levels as editing metadata: native capture/rename/delete/select/isolate/show-all, optional level snapping, XZ-plane placement, canonical persistence (23/24), migration, split/delete reference maintenance, undo/redo and retained solver/result identity.

• Add 2D node dragging with snapping and undo/redo.

• Add tree/canvas multiple selection, geometry box selection, and atomic bulk support/member/load-property editing with one-step undo/redo.
• Add editable node/member/load tables with unit-aware numerical entry, row addition/removal, atomic validation, and one-step undo/redo.
• Add member splitting and an explicit connect-at-intersection operation.
• Add atomic equal subdivision of selected 2D/3D frame members with assignment/release/load preservation, existing-node reuse and one-step undo. Reject axial-only trusses rather than introduce unbraced intermediate joints.
• Add previewed perpendicular node-to-member and member-midpoint connections in 2D/3D: explicit shared joints, load-preserving splits, default frame properties, existing-node reuse, overlap/crossing checks and one-step undo.
• Detect overlapping members, disconnected components, and unintended intermediate-node connections before analysis.
• Add in-plane member end moment releases for hinges and pin-jointed frames.
• Add explicit axial-only truss members, joint-load validation, lumped self-weight, mixed frame/truss analysis, and a joint-loaded example.
• Add member-local axial DX and transverse DY end releases, validated release combinations, released-end deformation recovery, and editing/report support.
• Add per-member materials with reusable definitions and legacy-file migration.
• Add a unit-aware material library with reference elastic/weight-density presets, safe imports, provenance, and custom classification after edits.
• Add per-member sections with reusable definitions and legacy-file migration.
• Add a section library and distinguish custom properties from named sections. Searchable offline AISC starter subset, strong/weak-axis assignment, unit-aware previews, persisted provenance, and custom classification after property edits. Dimensioned native sketches now cover all 15 shapes using sourced actual dimensions, strong/weak-axis orientation and nominal/design HSS thicknesses; idealized outlines never recalculate solver properties.
• Add configurable global DX, DY, and RZ support degrees of freedom.
• Add global bilateral DX, DY, and RZ support springs with unit-aware stiffness entry, reaction/deformation benchmarks, and model persistence.
• Add imposed global support settlements/rotations and inclined-normal motion for existing linear workflows. Stage unit-aware Properties/table/bulk edits, preserve model-level values unchanged across all combinations (including zero loads), recover rigid/global-spring reactions, and reject conflicting constraints. Include releases/trusses, prescribed shared frame/surface nodes, support copying, conversion, snapshot/worker/MCP metadata, reports and an editable beam example. Validate independent beam/compliance/rigid-body/spring/zero-load references and strict planar v29/spatial v36 migration. P-Delta imposed-motion validation is covered below; spring rest-position movement and case-specific prescriptions remain deferred.
• Validate and enable imposed support motions in the existing 2D/3D frame P-Delta workflow. Include the full prescribed displacement in every geometric- stiffness update, independently solve each combination and preserve unfactored motions at zero loads. Check exact continuum compression/tension fields under base motion, axial-shortening preload, six-DOF energy/KKT normal constraints, global springs, planar moment releases, refinement, instability and failed iteration. Retain all existing truss/surface/spatial-release restrictions. Add a categorized base-motion example, native worker/undo/unit tests and real MCP edit/solve/result coverage; no new solver method or file format.
• Complete test-only planar inclined-support constrained-coordinate feasibility: exact homogeneous constraint elimination, independent cantilever flexibility and pin/roller beam fields, actual engine stiffness/equivalent loads, global spring axes, signed/zero combinations, coordinate invariance, global-preset limits, free-equation reactions and mechanism/dependent-constraint rejection. Reproducible report: 153 bounded cases and six rejected configurations. This dense prototype does not enable inclined supports in the editor or solver adapter.

• Implement inclined rollers for unreleased planar linear frames: sparse node-local free coordinates, constrained rigid-body/stiffness diagnostics, pre-cancellation roundoff bounds, physical global member recovery and separate rigid/spring reactions with all-combination equilibrium rejection. Add explicit tangent angles, planar v27 migration, staged inspector/table/bulk editing, rotated native/report symbols, MCP schema/paginated reaction metadata, example and real worker/snapshot checks. Copied support orientations remain global; the initial planar checkpoint excluded other support workflows. The next checked item records their extension. Imposed-motion P-Delta is recorded above; nonlinear connections remain separate.

• Extend inclined rollers across supported workflows: 3D normal azimuth/elevation and optional global restraints (spatial v34), exact constraint unions, near-dependent rejection, trusses and linear end-release recovery without artificial support torques. Preserve normal directions on 2D-to-3D conversion and copied supports; update staged native Properties/tables/bulk controls, normal-facing viewport pads, hover/picking, orthographic reports and paginated six-DOF MCP reactions. Add an editable spatial example, independent 3D compliance/P-Delta references and actual worker/metadata checks. Existing frame P-Delta gains constrained geometric-stiffness convergence and instability rejection; its truss/surface/release restrictions remain. Imposed-motion P-Delta is recorded above; unilateral behaviour and plastic connections remain separate.

Loads and Analysis¶

• Add angled nodal/member point forces with automatic FX/FY resolution, global angle input, component previews, and oriented arrows.
• Extend angled force input to distributed member loads and add local-axis load directions with explicit angle/reference conventions.
• Add uniform and varying distributed member loads, including partial spans and distribution-preserving member splitting.
• Add load cases and combinations, including results and diagram selectors.
• Add an editing load-case visibility filter and hide/show controls.
• Add retained 2D/3D Compare Combinations member curves: solid/dashed overlays on shared axes, exact left/right station values and signed governing value by absolute magnitude (A wins ties). Both selections use one snapshot and method; units, themes and PNG/SVG provenance follow the retained window.
• Add result envelopes across selected combinations: node bounds, exact solver member extrema, governing combinations, sampled member curves, one-sided station inspection, and snapshot-aware CSV export.
• Include selected-combination envelopes in printable reports: node/member summaries, governing combinations, checked case factors, and snapshot identity.
• Add optional self-weight with an explicit load case, per-member weight density/area, multiplier, generated load display, and safe legacy migration.
• Add SI/imperial presets with validated dimensional input/output conversion, persistent selection, and physical-model preservation for existing projects.
• Add mm/N and ft/kip unit presets alongside the original in/kip and m/kN.
• Add independent mm/cm/m/in/ft and N/kN/lbf/kip choices, derived-unit previews, persistent 2D/3D unit keys, undo/redo and result preservation.
• Improve instability messages with affected nodes and degrees of freedom.
• Add scalable sparse mechanism checks/localization beyond 600 free planar degrees of freedom: scaled near-zero modes, direct zero-stiffness checks, affected joint directions, and no acceptance of incomplete diagnostics.
• Add an analysis progress indicator and cancellation for large models. Isolated cancellable solver processes, real phase messages, previous-result preservation, stale-reply rejection, and safe close/unsaved-change handling.
• Add opt-in live linear recalculation after completed edits: 750 ms debounce, cloned background solves, latest-revision scheduling, cancellation, visible pending/failed/current states and nonmodal automatic failure findings. Manual Analyze remains the default in each window.

Results and Presentation¶

• Group compact desktop toolbar controls for file/view/edit/load/analysis/ results, with theme-aware icons, tooltips, vertical separators instead of group labels, active modes and solved-result gating.
• Add optional All tools/Model/Results workspaces and command-toolbar collapse, with draft-preserving dock visibility, unchanged selections/results, stable planar view centre/zoom, no spatial camera requests, MCP guards and consistent default-layout recovery. Keep All tools as the initial layout.
• Preserve Results dock visibility after solving in All tools/Model, so analysis does not cover the modelling canvas. Keep explicit View > Results access and automatic result display in the Results workspace; cover 2D/3D.
• Add auto, true-scale, and custom deformed-shape amplification with actual maximum sampled displacement shown in the selected project units.
• Add approximate straight deformation preview in 2D/3D: join displaced member ends without span sampling when force overlays are off, explicitly label nodal peak/Auto scaling, preserve sampled curves, numerical results and reports.
• Add retained static deformation animation for 2D/3D member curves and solved surface wireframes: cached geometry, fixed undeformed reference, display-only loop timing, play/pause/reset/fraction controls, amplification, combination/unit/theme changes and provenance PNG/SVG frame export.
• Add main-canvas 2D/3D model/deformation/member-force views in the resizable Results dock, with synchronized combination/scale controls, exact station/side probes, canvas click inspection and preserved retained Member Detail snapshots.
• Add signed member colour maps with shared symmetric scales across solved combinations, numerical unit/sign legends, dashed negative/solid positive/ dotted zero strokes, theme support and bounded 3D instanced rendering.
• Add axial-force diagrams for the whole structure and Member Detail.
• Add explicit node-pair storey drift in retained 2D/3D result windows: global Y heights, X/Z translation differences, signed ratios, governing combinations, independent combination selection and snapshot-aware atomic CSV. No rigid-floor assumption, seismic amplification or code pass/fail checks.
• Add interactive value inspection at a chosen distance along a member.
• Improve label placement for dense structures and overlapping diagrams. Renderer-aware, member-ID-first placement with leader lines; crowded labels are omitted and retried when zoomed/resized, including printed diagrams.
• Add independent 2D Whole Structure controls for node/member IDs, end-value labels and sampled extrema alongside existing load/support visibility. Retain numerical data, labels at shared end/extreme locations, themes and unit changes.
• Add matching 3D overlay and orthographic-report ID/end-value/sampled-extrema choices, retaining rolled local axes, unchanged ribbons/legend/camera and independent load/support visibility. Add boolean-validated print choices for 2D/3D, initialize from the visible controls and record them per report page.
• Add snapshot-aware PNG/SVG plot saving to native 2D whole/member, spatial member and envelope plot toolbars. Include visible analysis identity and embedded method/combination/units/context, use only the source basename, preserve live zoom/probes/layout and retain existing files on failed/cancelled writes.
• Add diagram side/sign display preferences with clear conventions. Per-window whole-structure placement/sign controls; analytical tables and CSV retain solver signs, and report diagrams explicitly identify display conventions.
• Show supports, springs, releases, and factored manual/self-weight loads across the editor, whole-structure results, and report diagrams; selected member context includes end supports/releases and combination loads. Result/report visibility controls never change analytical results. Envelopes retain combination provenance instead of depicting one misleading load state.
• Add result tables for member end forces and extrema.
• Add sortable linked node/displacement/reaction/member-force tables to the results dock: two-way geometry/tree selection, lazy member extrema, unit and combination refresh, multi-selection and Member Detail activation in 2D/3D.
• Add explicit result snapshot identification in open diagram windows.
• Show global equilibrium totals, residuals and tolerances for planar/spatial combinations, including manual and generated self-weight loads; label analysis lifecycle states and retained snapshots explicitly in the results dock.
• Link recognized analysis failure and model-check diagnostics to affected geometry via a reviewable findings dock; clear findings after engineering edits.
• Add finding-focused zoom and View > Fit Selection (Shift+F) in 2D/3D, including load stations/spans and whole surface recipes; preserve snapshot/ model identity and the spatial viewing direction. Full-model Fit remains available.
• Export reactions, forces, and displacements as CSV and a printable report.
• Extend printable reports with model definitions and selected diagrams. Select definitions/result tables/axial/SFD/BMD diagrams; retain snapshot identity, unfactored load definitions, unit conversion, and a print-friendly palette.

Project Quality¶

Current focus: usability, presentation and reliability; solver expansion is on hold. Keep the analysis checklist's completed methods and pending scope intact.

• Add a native Help menu with website/F1, Getting Started, searchable current keyboard shortcuts, About/version/license information and user-initiated source/ issue links. Copy version details for support without submitting a report.

• Use File/Edit/View/Tools/Help menu order and add View > Restore Default Layout for hidden/floating/moved panels and toolbars. Preserve model/selection, result snapshots, undo history and unapplied inspector inputs; verify both themes.

• Add focused smoke/UI/model/engineering/surface/MCP/lifecycle/docs/release test groups, individual selectors and an explicit full-suite runner. Enforce test-class ownership, deduplicate combined groups, retain unittest discovery and keep viewport/docs builds explicit. Record change-based selection policy.

• Route terminal Ctrl+C through normal Qt shutdown, preserving save/cancel prompts and modal editors; cover deferred/repeated signals and real-process exit.

• Build a searchable Zensical documentation website with topic navigation, first-model tutorial, feature index, logo/screenshots and light/dark appearance. Generate detailed pages from the GUIDE/project records to avoid drift; add strict build/link checks and PR/build/GitHub Pages deployment workflow.
• Switch the live GitHub Pages site from legacy deployment to GitHub Actions and verify the generated manual. Run 40602180800 deployed commit 953dc9a; Pages reports workflow/built, and live modelling tools, examples and format-25 documentation returned HTTP 200 with the expected content (2026-10-27).
• Illustrate Help/About, shortcut search, finding-focused navigation, recent history cleanup and the three-storey slab/P-Delta walkthroughs with real app screenshots. Add repeatable native captures and check image links on the site.
• Prepare 1.0.0rc1 metadata, consistent desktop/MCP version reporting, release notes/checklist, source/wheel audits and isolated installed-wheel smoke scripts.
• Publish the GitHub 1.0.0rc1 prerelease (see README for the published release).
• Add CITATION.md and GitHub-readable CITATION.cff with release/commit identification, PyNite solver attribution and DOI archiving deferred to stable 1.0. Add Prakhar Sharma's name/ORCID and disclose Codex assistance separately from bibliographic authorship.
• Prepare 1.0.0rc2 with an elastic frame/truss and restricted P-Delta stable scope, experimental surface/plate labels, full locked/installed-wheel validation, base/MCP and uv-tool installation checks, installed-asset viewport QA, hashes and PyPI/uv publishing guidance. Refresh the README with current screenshots, installation and scope. Keep visible-platform gates below open.
• Publish RC2 to GitHub and PyPI through the configured Trusted Publisher; confirmed both public release endpoints on 2026-10-27. Later development changes remain outside the immutable RC2 artifacts.
• Prepare an unpublished RC3 consolidation checkpoint: fresh base/MCP and uv-tool installs, full locked/installed suites, installed viewport assets, reproducible visible macOS checks, source/wheel audits and a draft with hashes. Fix the analysis-thread cleanup freeze found during native validation. The owner confirmed real macOS file pickers, F5 and Print Results on 2026-10-28; other platform/feedback gates remain in RELEASE.md.
• Fix README screenshots/logo and repository-document links for PyPI using absolute HTTPS URLs; add uv/pip registry installation commands and record the need to check built long-description metadata before future uploads.
• Add a manual GitHub Actions PyPI Trusted Publishing workflow that verifies published release assets/hashes against the source tag, then uploads the same files through a separate pypi environment job. Owner setup and dispatch remain separate from implementation; this does not publish RC2 or certify stable 1.0.

• Complete platform/manual validation gates in RELEASE.md and collect prerelease feedback before promoting to stable 1.0.0. This single item owns reproducible macOS installation/rendering/save-open/analysis/export checks and Windows installation/visible-workflow validation; record versions and evidence.

• Use uv-managed Python and locked project dependencies without relying on Conda or a system interpreter; document setup and normal uv launches.

• Add a File > Examples catalog of editable, validated beam/frame models.
• Group examples into 2D Frames, 3D Frames, Trusses, Slabs and P-Delta; add a ready-to-solve three-storey/three-slab gravity model and segmented P-Delta column with independent reaction, load-path and analytical displacement checks.
• Add File > Browse Examples with category/text search, native undeformed geometry previews, unit-aware loading summaries and explicit-unit reference checks. Preview without editing/solving, preserve drafts and use the existing current-unit/unsaved-change path for opening; verify empty searches and themes.
• Add Gerber/internal-hinge and three-hinged polygonal-arch examples with hand-equilibrium reactions, zero hinge moments, inactive-rotation handling, persistence and menu tests. Retain the explicit 2D-to-3D release limitation.
• Add recent projects and per-window atomic autosave/recovery.
• Harden recent history against malformed/duplicate preferences, unavailable paths and files disappearing after menu display. Add history-only cleanup, refresh on menu opening, clear path labels and bounded menu-action ownership; retain project files, recovery snapshots, unsaved work and undo history.
• Expand validation for malformed project files and supported format migrations, including safe rejection of future versions.
• Add benchmark tests for multi-storey frames and varied support/load setups.
• Record a successful macOS user smoke test (2026-10-09), with supplied diagnostics showing Qt 6.11.2 / Cocoa and a ready WebGL 2.0 viewport using ANGLE Metal on Apple M4 Max with platform defaults. macOS version, installation steps and individual workflows remain unrecorded.
• Add a macOS development app-bundle build from reviewed wheel/source and locked runtime, separate pinned build tools, existing-logo icon, bundled source/ notices, architecture/version/provenance, symlink-preserving ZIP and checksums. Add relocated frozen-app analysis/viewport/plate/PDF/MCP checks and a manual Actions build that produces temporary artifacts without publishing a release.
• Complete Developer ID signing, notarization and Finder/quarantine checks before claiming a public macOS standalone release.
• Package and natively validate Windows/Linux standalone development previews, alongside macOS, on target Actions runners. Check extracted archives without build Python paths, all examples, spawned frame/plate workers, offline graphics, PNG/PDF and authenticated MCP. Retain source/notices, provenance and hashes. Native run 40861868669 passes on all three hosts; signing/installers and human desktop/hardware coverage remain under the public-release/manual gates above.
• Fix native Chromium/MCP handover crashes by scoping input filters to the editor's known widgets/actions, refreshing them after edits and removing them on unlock. Preserve shortcut/input blocking and both manual unlock controls.
• Add a separate 3D spatial-frame project and offline Three.js viewport, keeping the established 2D editor and file format intact.

Optional MCP Automation¶

• Add an optional pynitegui[mcp] extra (uv sync --extra mcp in this repo) without adding server dependencies to normal desktop installations.
• Add Tools > Automation Server with localhost port/endpoint, explicit Start/Stop, connection status, token/configuration copying, permission groups and individual tool switches, and a secret-free request/error log. Start off; explain missing optional dependencies without installing packages automatically.
• Use the official MCP SDK with Streamable HTTP and a queued Qt command bridge to the open model. Require localhost binding, optional token authentication and Host/Origin validation. Validate permissions on every call, not only tool listing.
• Expose model/units/results reads and validated, undoable batch edits of nodes, members, supports, materials, sections, loads, cases and combinations. Changes appear immediately in the open GUI. Identify project sessions and check expected revisions so requests cannot overwrite intervening user edits.
• Expose the existing Run analysis workflow, job progress/cancellation and snapshot-labelled results. Return structured errors instead of modal dialogs.
• Expose exact entity/support schemas and examples in model reads and a read-schema tool, plus an MCP reference resource, so empty models need no guesses.
• Explain specific editor-busy blockers and exclude automation controls, read-only inputs and unrelated windows from the unfinished-input guard.
• Add explicit MCP mode while the server runs: lock manual controls and shortcuts, permit MCP commands, and unlock on exit, server stop/failure or close.
• Add a remembered Require token checkbox for URL-only localhost connections, with authentication changes restricted to stopped listeners and both modes tested.
• Clarify polling/session contracts and result units; expose solved combination names in status, optional schema omission and zero-based operation-local errors.
• Test missing-extra startup, lifecycle/port conflicts, permissions/auth, Qt-thread dispatch, atomic undo, stale revisions and analysis cancellation.

No arbitrary Python/shell execution or file-management tools; the user opens and saves projects normally. A separate REST API is not part of the first scope.

3D Follow-Ups¶

• XYZ geometry, work-plane drawing/snapping, coordinate-based node insertion, orbit/pan/zoom, orientation presets, selection, and local-axis display.
• Six global rigid restraints and bilateral support springs; member roll, per-member material/section assignment, and atomic numerical model tables.
• Global/member-local point forces and moments, partial uniform/varying distributed forces, self-weight, cases/combinations and cancellable analysis.
• All six nodal displacements/reactions, biaxial bending, shear and torsion member diagrams, true/auto/custom spatial deformation, CSV and numerical reports.
• Editable 3D cantilever and space-frame examples; analytical benchmarks, native light/dark rendering, and desktop browser interaction checks.
• Add startup software rendering, a persisted renderer preference and an actionable native recovery panel for failed WebGL/graphics contexts.
• Verify and document NVIDIA hardware rendering on Wayland with matched EGL/Vulkan drivers, visible geometry, and GPU compositing enabled.
• Apply the verified NVIDIA profile automatically for one NVIDIA display-driving GPU on Wayland, preserving software mode, hybrid setups, and explicit overrides.
• Add a clickable signed-axis orientation gizmo, isometric reset, animated view changes, keyboard access, and synchronized native orientation selection.
• Restore window controls for GNOME Wayland Vulkan windows without Qt decorations, retaining menu access and unsaved-work confirmation.
• Add graphics diagnostics with the observed WebGL renderer/vendor/version and Qt window surface, separately labelled startup/saved preferences and requested backend overrides; retain unavailable/masked/failure states.
• Whole-structure 3D axial/shear/bending/torsion overlays with shared scaling, combination/unit-aware legends, sampled-value labels and PNG view export.
• Whole-structure 3D diagram PDF reports: six local force/moment components, selectable isometric/front/top/right projections, shared ordinate scaling, rolled axes and one-sided jumps, side/sign and support/load visibility, snapshot/unit/combination identity, independent print-friendly rendering, native preview/PDF and pagination/image/analytical regressions.
• Spatial combination envelopes and interactive one-sided station inspection: all six global node motions/reactions, eight local member components, exact solver extrema, governing combinations, sampled curves, snapshot-aware CSV and printable numerical envelope summaries.
• 3D bilateral axial-only trusses, joint-load validation, lumped self-weight, inactive rotation reporting, mixed frame/truss joints, analytical/mechanism benchmarks, type editing, numerical exports and a spatial tripod example.
• Local RX/RY/RZ 3D frame end releases for linear, frame-only analysis: oblique/rolled unused-rotation coordinates, physical-equation and equilibrium checks, recovered member-end bending slopes, independent beam/torsion/internal- hinge and mechanism benchmarks, staged/bulk/table/MCP editing and an example.
• 3D local DX/DY/DZ member end releases, independent axial/beam-flexibility, signed/zero/partial/point-load, oblique/roll, separate joint/spring motion, mechanism and split benchmarks. Recover member-side motions, verify local/free- joint/global equilibrium, stage inspector/table/bulk/MCP edits and report local end translations. Add a sliding-beam example and strict spatial v32 migration. No translational gauges; released P-Delta and frame/surface coupling remain rejected.
• 3D contained/crossing box selection, additive selection and cancellation; atomic bulk material/section/roll, six-DOF restraint/spring and load assignments.
• 3D node dragging behind an explicit Select-mode tool: XY/XZ/YZ plane through the original node, frozen perpendicular coordinate, grid snapping, preview without stale analytical/load graphics, edge-on feedback, cancellation, revision/coordinate validation, collision rejection and single-command undo. Native edit/unit/result regressions and desktop gesture/graphics-loss checks.
• Spatial member splitting and explicit XYZ crossing/T-junction/interior-node connections, preserving roll/assignments and point/distributed loads, with overlap rejection, atomic validation and one-step undo.
• Explicit 2D-to-3D conversion for unreleased frames and axial-only trusses: independent unsaved window, optional Z offset, explicit planar/spatial support modes, preserved force components/cases/assignments, save/recovery isolation and in-plane response benchmarks. Unsupported releases are rejected, never stripped.
• Extend 2D-to-3D conversion to rotationally released frames, preserving local RZ hinges and in-plane response, including the Gerber beam and three-hinged arch.
• Extend 2D-to-3D conversion to DX/DY-released frames, preserving end motion, joint reactions, connection flags and source-window independence. Validate axial/shear/bending fields and the converted fixed-guided example.
• Spatial point/distributed forces by magnitude, global azimuth/elevation, XYZ component previews, angled arrows, editable tables and versioned persistence.
• Dedicated global 3D rigid/spring symbols for all six DOFs, unit-aware per-DOF hover inspection, node-linked picking and non-analytical visibility.
• Large-model rendering benchmarks and cached analytical sampling: shared snapshot/combination-specific read-only samples with a 32 MiB array budget, LRU eviction and serialization reset; native redraw/isolation regressions; repeatable cold/warm analytical timings and 144/616/1,580-member desktop label/geometry, pixel, orbit and graphics-resource checks.
• Batch base frame geometry: two instanced node/member meshes with shared shapes/materials and per-instance colours/IDs, plus one grid line batch. Retain picking, drawing snaps, dragging, selection, supports, overlays and explicit instance-buffer disposal; enforce allocation/draw-call budgets in the recorded desktop benchmarks.
• Reduce large-scene label, support and result-overlay rebuild costs with bounded text/colour texture reuse and incremental selection/tool updates; preserve visibility/picking, local-axis rebuilds and context-loss disposal. Hardware refresh comparisons and cache/overlay/budget regressions are recorded in GUIDE.md; payload construction and full scene rebuilds remain separate costs.

Completed Foundation¶

• Remove the legacy solver, Tkinter UI, notebooks, and experimental tests.
• Qt Widgets application and 2D graphics editor.
• Separate serializable project model and PyNite analysis adapter.
• Member drawing, snapping, selection, and property inspection.
• Node supports, nodal loads, and member point forces/moments.
• Undo/redo and versioned project save/open.
• Background analysis and invalidation of outdated results.
• Reaction/displacement tables and deformed-shape overlay.
• Whole-structure SFD/BMD with member detail plots.
• Correct discontinuity sampling and orientation-independent frame diagrams.
• Persistent light/dark themes with readable widgets, engineering canvas, and live result diagrams.
• Focused project, analytical solver, diagram, and Qt interaction tests.