WRL Forge

A desktop tool for editing, previewing, inspecting, and packaging classic VRML97 .wrl content for Cybertown items and worlds, with builds for Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Status: Public beta · prerelease Platforms: Linux x64 · Windows x64 · macOS Apple Silicon (arm64)

➡️ Download WRL Forge

WRL Forge is an independent community project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or officially connected to Cybertown or its current/former operators. "Cybertown" and related names belong to their respective owners.

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What WRL Forge Is

WRL Forge is an Electron desktop application for working with classic VRML97 .wrl content. It can:

• Open VRML97 .wrl files — both plain and gzip-compressed, transparently.
• Edit with a native code editor (CodeMirror 6): syntax highlighting, an outline, live syntax diagnostics and advisories, line/column tracking, five themes (including High Contrast), and zoom (Ctrl +/-/0). Saves are backup-first, with external-change conflict detection.
• Preview unsaved edits live with an embedded X_ITE renderer for both the Mall Item and World Project lanes — a split view of your in-memory buffer, no temporary file, with a 700 ms debounce. It keeps the last-valid scene on screen during a temporary syntax error and recovers when you fix it.
• Inspect Mall Items with a Cybertown placement preview: Original mode and Fit mode with placement guides and scale info. Preview transforms never modify your source file.
• Work with World Projects: scan a multi-file world (nested Inline files, textures) and get a report of missing, unsafe, or case-mismatched assets; view an embedded X_ITE world preview with a viewpoint selector, navigation modes, and reset view; and edit a nested WRL while previewing it inside the full world.
• Build a World Project Bundle: a portable ZIP for manual review and hand-off (uploaded by hand through the Cybertown website), written by a deterministic in-repo ZIP writer.

Rendering is X_ITE only — the sole approved renderer.

What It Is Not

• No direct Cybertown upload, no Cybertown authentication, and no automatic submission. These will not be built — it is a locked product decision.
• No custom renderer — X_ITE is the only renderer.
• No official Cybertown affiliation.
• No guarantee that every historical VRML extension behaves identically to the original platform.
• No telemetry, analytics, ads, auto-update, or crash upload.

Download

Start at wrlforge.com for the recommended downloads, or browse all GitHub releases for every package and checksum file. The website reads the newest published GitHub release, including public beta releases.

Platform	Recommended	Alternative
Linux x64	AppImage	tar.gz
Windows x64	Setup EXE	MSI, portable EXE, ZIP
macOS arm64	DMG	ZIP

Not sure which to pick? On Linux, download the AppImage. On Windows, download the Setup EXE. On macOS, download the DMG.

Canonical artifact file names for the 1.4.0 (Beta) release — see docs/RELEASES.md for release details:

• Linux x64
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-linux-x64.AppImage (recommended)
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-linux-x64.tar.gz (portable app directory)
• Windows x64
  • WRL-Forge-Setup-1.4.0-x64.exe (recommended — NSIS installer)
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-x64.msi (MSI installer)
  • WRL-Forge-Portable-1.4.0-x64.exe (portable, no install)
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-windows-x64.zip (portable unpacked app)
• macOS Apple Silicon (arm64)
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-mac-arm64.dmg (recommended)
  • WRL-Forge-1.4.0-mac-arm64.zip (zipped app bundle)
• Checksums: SHA256SUMS-1.4.0.txt

The Linux and Windows builds are unsigned. The macOS build is Developer ID Application signed, notarized, and stapled, and is expected to pass Gatekeeper normally. See Known Limitations and docs/INSTALLATION.md for install details.

Quick Start

1. Install. Download the recommended artifact for your platform (Linux → AppImage, Windows → Setup EXE, macOS → DMG) and follow docs/INSTALLATION.md.
2. Open a .wrl file. Plain or gzip-compressed — WRL Forge handles both transparently.
3. Edit in the native editor: syntax highlighting, outline, diagnostics, themes, and zoom.
4. Preview your unsaved changes in the live split-view X_ITE preview — no need to save first.
5. Save. Saves are backup-first and detect external changes to the file.
6. Open a World Project — switch to the World Project lane and open a project folder or primary .wrl to scan a full multi-file world, preview it, and build a World Project Bundle.
7. Hit a problem? Report it.

For a screenshot-driven walkthrough, see docs/SCREENSHOTS_AND_USAGE.md.

Features

• Gzip-transparent editing — open, edit, and save plain or gzip-compressed .wrl files without manual decompression.
• Native VRML97 editor — CodeMirror 6 with syntax highlighting, an outline view, live syntax diagnostics and advisories, and line/column display.
• Five editor themes including a High Contrast theme, plus persistent zoom (Ctrl +/-/0) that scales both the code and the interface for low-vision accessibility.
• Backup-first saving with external-change conflict detection.
• Live unsaved X_ITE preview for both Mall Item and World Project lanes — split view of the in-memory buffer, no temp file, 700 ms debounce, last-valid-scene recovery.
• Mall Item placement preview — Original and Fit modes with placement guides and scale info; non-destructive (never rewrites your source).
• World Project scanning — resolves the full local asset graph (nested Inline WRL at any depth, textures, URL assets) and reports missing, unsafe, absolute/traversal, remote, duplicate, and case-mismatched references, with no arbitrary texture limit.
• World preview — embedded X_ITE render of the whole world with a viewpoint selector, navigation modes, and reset view; local-only and asset-graph-authorized.
• Nested WRL editing with full-world preview — edit a nested world file and see your unsaved changes inside the complete scene.
• World Project Bundle — deterministic portable ZIP for manual review and hand-off, with a machine-readable manifest and human-readable report.
• Optional external editor — an explicit external-editor action can launch VSCodium if it is discovered on your system. Ordinary file opening never launches it; VSCodium is optional, not required.

Screenshots and Full Guide

See the full, screenshot-driven guide: docs/SCREENSHOTS_AND_USAGE.md.

Known Limitations

• Unsigned Windows builds may trigger Windows SmartScreen/Defender warnings on first launch ("More info → Run anyway"). Unsigned by design for this beta.
• The portable EXE has a documented stdout-handshake QA limitation (affects automated capture only, not normal use).
• Historical, nonstandard VRML extensions may not behave identically to the original platform.
• Parser advisories are advisory-only; the X_ITE runtime is authoritative for what actually renders.
• macOS builds are Apple Silicon (arm64) only — there is no Intel (x64) macOS build. Linux and Windows are x64 only (no ARM64).
• No direct upload — the World Project Bundle is a manual hand-off.

For install and runtime troubleshooting, see docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Reporting Bugs

Please file issues through the GitHub issue forms. Three structured forms are available:

• Bug report — something is broken or behaving incorrectly.
• Installation or launch problem — a download won't install or start (SmartScreen, errors, etc.).
• VRML compatibility report — a .wrl renders or parses differently than expected.

For questions and general help, use GitHub Discussions or see SUPPORT.md. Please do not report security vulnerabilities in public issues — see SECURITY.md.

Development

Use Node 24 for development and release builds. Hosted CI and release automation run on Node 24. The only runtime dependency is x_ite (MIT); everything else (CodeMirror, @lezer, esbuild, Electron, electron-builder, @resvg/resvg-js) is a dev dependency.

npm ci                  # install dependencies
npm run build:icons     # generate app icons
npm run build:editor    # bundle the CodeMirror editor (esbuild)
npm test                # non-visual test suite
npm run check           # tests + syntax gate
npm start               # run in development
npm run dist:linux      # build Linux AppImage + tar.gz (run on Linux)
npm run dist:mac        # build signed+notarized Apple Silicon DMG + ZIP (run on macOS)
npm run dist:windows    # build Windows NSIS + MSI + portable + ZIP (run on Windows)

The macOS command produces a Developer ID signed, notarized and stapled Apple Silicon build. Building it locally requires a Developer ID Application certificate and a notarization credential on the build host; the published macOS downloads are built and signed by the Release workflow on GitHub Actions. See docs/BUILD.md for the signing contract and verification steps.

See docs/BUILD.md for full build and packaging details, and CHANGELOG.md for release history.

Security

To report a security vulnerability, please use GitHub's private vulnerability reporting (the repository Security tab → Report a vulnerability). See SECURITY.md for the full policy.

Credits and Historical Inspiration

WRL Forge is inspired by the builders, coders, and community members who made Cybertown a memorable creative place. With thanks to:

• Morning.star
• scott99 (whose name is Matt)
• LSS
• Wovencroft
• GeordieJohn
• Gammonbrat
• The entire CT ComTech and city coding community <3

Naming these people reflects gratitude and inspiration only. It implies no endorsement, employment, ownership, or official Cybertown affiliation, and this project is not presented as their work.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — code, bug reports, VRML compatibility findings, and documentation fixes alike.

• Contributions are accepted under GPL-3.0-or-later, the project's own licence.
• You keep the copyright in what you write. There is no copyright assignment and no CLA.
• Commits are signed off with the Developer Certificate of Origin (git commit -s).
• If you bring in code from another open-source project, disclose its source and licence, and keep its notices intact.

Start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Provenance rules for reused open-source material are in OPEN_SOURCE_PROVENANCE.md.

License and Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Ryan Bundy (BassMekanik2000) and contributors.

WRL Forge is free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later) — see LICENSE. You may use, study, modify, and redistribute it; if you distribute it, you pass on the same freedoms and provide the corresponding source.

Third-party components keep their own licenses and notices — see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Featured artwork and VRML content is separate from the software licence and stays with its creator — see FEATURED_CONTENT_POLICY.md.

Full statement: COPYRIGHT.md.

(Releases through v1.3.0-beta.3 were distributed under the MIT License. Existing copies retain the permissions granted by that MIT license. WRL Forge changes to GPL-3.0-or-later beginning with this transition and subsequent releases.)