Building energy simulation powered by EnergyPlus engine with MCP AI integration. Design, simulate, and analyze building HVAC systems directly in VS Code.
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
A VS Code extension that brings building energy simulation directly into your editor. Design buildings, configure HVAC systems, run simulations, and analyze results — all powered by an EnergyPlus-compatible TypeScript simulation engine with AI integration via MCP (Model Context Protocol).
Features
Building Design
Create zones, surfaces, and subsurfaces with full geometric definition
Define materials, constructions, and internal gains (people, lights, equipment)
Import existing IDF files
HVAC Systems
Air loops with fans, cooling coils, heating coils
VAV reheat terminals, ideal loads, and zone equipment
Plant loops with chillers, boilers, cooling towers, and pumps
Thermostats and setpoint managers
Simulation Engine
Zone heat balance with CTF (Conduction Transfer Function) transient conduction
3rd-order backward difference predictor-corrector for zone air temperature
Download EPW files by city/country from the EnergyPlus weather database
Design day configuration for equipment sizing
Results & Output
Annual and monthly energy summaries
Hourly zone temperature, load, and weather data
CSV export (hourly, monthly, summary)
Peak heating/cooling load tracking
AI Integration (MCP)
55+ MCP tools for AI-assisted building design and simulation
Compatible with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Gemini
Natural language project creation and analysis
Variant comparison and sensitivity analysis
Getting Started
Open VS Code and install the extension
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run EnergyPlus: New Project
Use the EnergyPlus panel in the Activity Bar to design your building
Run simulation from the panel or Command Palette
With AI (MCP)
The extension automatically configures MCP clients for supported AI tools. Use natural language to:
"Create a 2-zone office building in Seoul with VAV reheat HVAC"
"Add a chilled water plant loop with a 100kW chiller"
"Run the simulation and show me the annual energy summary"
Requirements
VS Code 1.85.0 or later
Node.js (bundled with VS Code)
Extension Settings
Setting
Default
Description
epvscode.defaultTimestepsPerHour
6
Timesteps per hour for simulation
epvscode.maxHVACIterations
10
Maximum HVAC convergence iterations
epvscode.convergenceTolerance
0.3
Temperature convergence tolerance (C)
epvscode.mcpClientSetupMode
prompt
MCP client auto-configuration (prompt/always/off)
epvscode.syncMcpState
true
Sync MCP server state to extension UI
Known Limitations
This is a preview release (v0.1.0)
Simulation engine is a TypeScript reimplementation, not the official EnergyPlus C++ engine
Complex HVAC configurations may require manual tuning
Annual simulations are limited to ~100 seconds wall-clock time per MCP call
