gmsh-wasm

Gmsh — a three-dimensional finite-element mesh generator — compiled to WebAssembly and exposed to JavaScript/TypeScript through its flat extern "C" API. Geometry kernels (built-in geo + OpenCASCADE occ, incl. STEP/IGES/BREP import) and the full mesh module; no GUI / visualization.

• ⚡ Runs in Node and the browser — multithreaded (OpenMP via pthreads). Browser pages must be cross-origin isolated: serve with Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin + Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy: require-corp
• 🧩 Typed, ergonomic API — hides the C ierr out-parameter and all manual memory management
• 🤖 341 functions generated from Gmsh's own API definition, so the bindings never drift from the upstream version; ships a complete .d.ts
• 📦 Dual ESM + CJS entry points; the .wasm is a separate asset

📚 Full documentation: https://loumalouomega.github.io/GMSH-JS/

Install

npm install @loumalouomega/gmsh-wasm

No build step for consumers — the package ships a prebuilt .wasm, dual ESM/CJS entries, and TypeScript types.

Quick start

import initialize from '@loumalouomega/gmsh-wasm';

const gmsh = await initialize(); // load the WASM module
gmsh.initialize();               // start the Gmsh library
gmsh.model.add('square');

const lc = 0.1;
const p = [
  gmsh.model.geo.addPoint(0, 0, 0, lc),
  gmsh.model.geo.addPoint(1, 0, 0, lc),
  gmsh.model.geo.addPoint(1, 1, 0, lc),
  gmsh.model.geo.addPoint(0, 1, 0, lc),
];
const l = [
  gmsh.model.geo.addLine(p[0], p[1]),
  gmsh.model.geo.addLine(p[1], p[2]),
  gmsh.model.geo.addLine(p[2], p[3]),
  gmsh.model.geo.addLine(p[3], p[0]),
];
gmsh.model.geo.addPlaneSurface([gmsh.model.geo.addCurveLoop(l)]);
gmsh.model.geo.synchronize();
gmsh.model.mesh.generate(2);

const { nodeTags } = gmsh.model.mesh.getNodes();
console.log(`${nodeTags.length} nodes`);

gmsh.write('/out.msh');
const msh = gmsh.FS.readFile('/out.msh', { encoding: 'utf8' });

gmsh.finalize();

CommonJS: const initialize = require('@loumalouomega/gmsh-wasm'); then the same calls.

Two initialize steps

await initialize() loads the WASM module; gmsh.initialize() starts the Gmsh library (mirrors gmsh::initialize() in the C++/Python APIs). Pair with gmsh.finalize().

Threads

The build is OpenMP-enabled (pthreads). Gmsh defaults to 1 thread; opt into parallelism per session:

gmsh.option.setNumber('General.NumThreads', 0); // 0 = all cores (or set an explicit count)

Node needs no special flags. In the browser, threads require SharedArrayBuffer, so the page must be served with the COOP/COEP headers above — see the browser guide.

File I/O (MEMFS)

Gmsh reads/writes files through Emscripten's in-memory filesystem. Stage inputs and read outputs via gmsh.FS:

gmsh.FS.writeFile('/in.step', stepBytes);        // Uint8Array
gmsh.model.occ.importShapes('/in.step');
gmsh.model.occ.synchronize();
gmsh.model.mesh.generate(3);
gmsh.write('/out.msh');
const mesh = gmsh.FS.readFile('/out.msh');       // Uint8Array

Project structure

gmsh/                  Gmsh source (git submodule, pinned)
third_party/occt/      OpenCASCADE source (fetched, pinned via scripts/env.sh)
scripts/               build + codegen scripts
src/runtime.mjs        hand-written generic marshaller
generated/             gen_js.py output: exports, descriptor, .d.ts  (committed)
dist/                  build artifacts (gitignored; produced by CI)
test/                  Node + headless-browser tests
docs/                  MkDocs documentation site
examples/browser/      runnable browser example

Building from source

Only needed to change build flags, bump Gmsh/OCCT, or develop the package. Requires git, cmake, python3, node ≥ 18, and several GB of disk.

git submodule update --init --recursive
npm run setup        # install + activate the pinned Emscripten SDK -> .emsdk/
npm run build:libomp # build LLVM's OpenMP runtime (libomp) to wasm32
npm run build:occt   # build OpenCASCADE to static WASM libs (slow, ~once)
npm run build:wasm   # gen bindings, build gmsh, link + assemble dist/
npm test

npm run build runs build:libomp, build:occt, then build:wasm. For a smaller artifact without STEP/IGES (≈12 MB vs ≈45 MB): GMSH_ENABLE_OCC=OFF npm run build:wasm.

npm scripts

| Script | Does | |--------|------| | npm run setup | install + activate pinned emsdk | | npm run build:libomp | build LLVM's OpenMP runtime (libomp) → wasm32 static lib | | npm run build:occt | build OpenCASCADE → static WASM libs | | npm run build:wasm | generate bindings, build gmsh, assemble dist/ | | npm run build | build:libomp + build:occt + build:wasm | | npm run gen | regenerate bindings (generated/) from the Gmsh API definition | | npm test | Node test suite (geo, occ, STEP round-trip, error path) | | npm run test:browser | headless-Chromium test (needs Playwright + Chromium) | | npm run docs:build | regenerate API ref + build the docs site | | npm run docs:serve | live-preview the docs locally |

VS Code users: the same actions are available as tasks (Terminal → Run Task).

Known issues

• 3D Delaunay boundary recovery on re-imported CAD. The default 3D meshing algorithm (Delaunay) can fail boundary recovery — producing zero tetrahedra — when meshing geometry round-tripped through STEP/IGES import in the WASM build. Native occ/geo solids mesh fine with the default. Workaround — select the Frontal algorithm:

  gmsh.option.setNumber('Mesh.Algorithm3D', 4); // Frontal
  gmsh.model.mesh.generate(3);

  Specific to the Emscripten target (native builds recover reliably); tracked for a future fix. See the troubleshooting docs.

Licensing — important

Gmsh is distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPL-2.0-or-later), with a linking exception covering Netgen, METIS, OpenCASCADE and ParaView. Because this package statically links Gmsh (and OpenCASCADE) into the .wasm, the resulting artifact and this package are likewise governed by the GPL-2.0-or-later. Any software that distributes this package inherits those obligations. A separate commercial license for Gmsh is available from its authors — see https://gmsh.info.

This is an independent packaging effort and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Gmsh authors.

Attribution

• Gmsh — C. Geuzaine and J.-F. Remacle. https://gmsh.info — GPL-2.0-or-later.
• OpenCASCADE Technology (OCCT) — https://dev.opencascade.org — LGPL-2.1 with exception.

See LICENSE and the upstream gmsh/LICENSE.txt.