CValRSketch
Free, open-source floor-plan sketching for residential appraisers. Sketch by typing or speaking wall lengths, or import an iGUIDE PDF; get GLA and below-grade totals and print-ready sketches. Everything runs in your browser — your sketches never leave your machine.
▶ Use it now: Desktop · Phone · Download the latest release
Version: 0.45.1 (2026-10-13) · License: AGPL-3.0 · Part of: OSASI — the Open Source Appraisal Software Initiative
Want a new feature? Request it, or build it yourself — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Overview
Walk the perimeter by entering distances and directions — typed, spoken, or clicked on a compass — and the app draws the plan, labels every wall, totals the areas above and below grade, and exports a print-ready sketch. Or start from an iGUIDE floor-plan PDF and let it trace every floor for you.
It needs no installation, no server and no account: a static web page with plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript and no build step. Sketches are saved and loaded as JSON files on the local machine. Save app copy (header) writes a frozen, self-contained HTML of the running version — keep it in the job folder beside the sketch so the sketch reopens the same way years later (works from a served copy such as osasi.org; a copy opened from disk cannot read its own source).
Developed for the CAA-EBV-CO-OP community as part of OSASI, the Open Source Appraisal Software Initiative — a co-operative of real estate appraisers building shared, open tools that run entirely in the browser.
Why CValRSketch
CValRSketch began as a stop-gap when the desktop sketch software many of us relied on fell behind on support. It grew into a full sketching tool built by appraisers, for appraisers: quick to learn, free to use, and open, so it keeps working and keeps improving no matter what happens to any one vendor.
To try it with something already drawn, load docs/sample-house.json (a made-up house) with Load in the app.
Quick Start
Desktop (Chrome / Edge / Firefox / Safari)
- Online: open https://caa-ebv-co-op.github.io/CValRSketch/ — nothing to install; it also works offline once loaded.
- Your own copy: download the latest release (or clone this repo) and open
index.html. Everything works from disk except Import PDF, which needs the page served: run python -m http.server in the folder and open http://localhost:8000/.
- Press F1 (or ❓ Help) in the app for a guide that follows whatever you are doing.
Mobile (iPhone / Android) — touch-first version
A dedicated mobile-first page lives at m/index.html, optimised for one-thumb operation: direction pad + numeric keypad, pinch-zoom canvas, share-sheet exports. Use it on your phone instead of the desktop page.
Live URL: https://caa-ebv-co-op.github.io/CValRSketch/m/
To install it as a home-screen icon:
- Open the URL above on your phone in Chrome (Android) or Safari (iOS).
- Android: Chrome surfaces an "Install" / "Add to Home screen" prompt automatically.
- iOS: tap the Share button → Add to Home Screen.
- Launch from the home-screen icon — opens full-screen, no browser chrome.
Sketches save and load as JSON and are interchangeable between the desktop and mobile pages.
Install the desktop version on a phone (PWA, advanced)
If you specifically want the desktop UI on your phone (with its three-column layout — usually not what you want on a small screen), the same install steps work on the root URL https://caa-ebv-co-op.github.io/CValRSketch/.
Service workers do not run on file://, so PWA install requires hosting. For local testing, run any static server (e.g. python -m http.server in the repo folder) and open http://localhost:8000/.
Everything runs in the browser: plain HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript, nothing sent anywhere. The one third-party library, Mozilla PDF.js (Apache-2.0), is kept in vendor/pdfjs/ and loaded only when you import a PDF.
How It Works
- Pick a start point (defaults to origin).
- Enter wall segments in the New Segment box. Format:
<length> <dir> [angle]. Examples:
40'3 l — 40 feet 3 inches left16'4 u 45 — 16'4" angled 45° right from the previous heading5'd 2'l — diagonal wall with components 5' down and 2' left
- Close the shape when the path returns to the start point. The gap indicator shows the directional offset if the shape is not yet closed.
- Label the area (e.g. Living, Finished Basement, Open Deck) — square footage is calculated automatically.
- Add floors (Basement / Main / Upper) as needed. Other floors render as adjustable-opacity ghosts.
- Set a Subject (e.g. a property address) for the export title.
- Export as SVG or PNG, optionally fitted to US Letter portrait or landscape.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
