Overview
Bim-Plugins.com – Marketplace & Licensing Hub for SDS2 (and Beyond). Bim-Plugins is a start-up enabling third-party developers to sell SDS2 and future Tekla add-ons from a single, secure storefront. They needed a working product fast—in time for a trade show—without cutting corners on security, licensing or scale.
Apps By TAP designed and built Bim-Plugins.com on Blazor and Microsoft Azure: a self-service vendor portal, an automated code-signing pipeline, Stripe Connect payouts and a licensing API that plugins validate at startup. The MVP shipped in weeks.
The Challenge
- Self-service vendor onboarding: Developers needed a fast, low-touch flow to register, verify identity and link payouts.
- Automated, trusted installers: Every submission had to be code-signed and virus-scanned before sale.
- License enforcement: The platform required flexible seat counts, trial periods and revocation without manual key files.
- Zero-downtime scaling: Rapid catalogue growth and regional traffic spikes were expected once Tekla support launches.
Our Approach
OAuth-secured portal
OAuth 2.0 endpoints protect every route of the Blazor Auto Render application, which combines fast server rendering with rich client interactivity.
Stripe Connect integration
Vendors complete KYC in-line and set their payout cadence, so the marketplace never handles card data or bank details directly.
Automated submission pipeline
Upload → Service Bus message → Azure worker spins up a build container → WiX installer signed with an EV certificate → reviewer notification. Every plugin that reaches customers is built, signed and reviewed the same way.
Granular licensing API
Server-generated JWT licenses bind to machine fingerprints. A NuGet helper validates them in under 50 ms at plugin startup.
Cosmos DB catalog and search
A document model stores version history, release notes and semantic tags, with read replicas keeping queries low-latency globally.
Technology Stack
- Blazor Auto Render and ASP.NET Core Web API – one C# stack for UI and API. See our web applications and APIs & backends services.
- Azure App Service, Service Bus, Blob Storage and Hosted Services – scalable hosting and background processing. Part of our cloud solutions work.
- Azure Cosmos DB – the plugin catalog, versions and search metadata.
- Azure Key Vault – signing keys and platform secrets.
- Stripe Connect – marketplace payments and vendor payouts.
- WiX Installer and a CI/CD code-signing pipeline – trusted, signed installers for every release.
Results & Impact
- The MVP was delivered in weeks, in time for the client’s trade show.
- The platform is live and stable, with automated onboarding, signing and licensing in place.
- Although commercial sales are still forthcoming, the platform is poised to expand into Tekla, Revit and other BIM ecosystems without architectural changes.
Plugin developers getting started with the SDS2 API can also use the tutorials and templates we built for SDS2.
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