ExBoxPacker

A faithful Elixir port of dvdoug/BoxPacker (PHP, v4.2.0) — a 3D bin-packing and box-selection engine. Given a set of items and a catalog of boxes, it decides which boxes to use and how to physically arrange the items inside them (rotation, weight limits, weight distribution, stability, and placement constraints).

Installation

Install from Hex.pm:

def deps do
  [{:ex_box_packer, "~> 0.2.0"}]
end

Note: ExBoxPacker requires Elixir 1.15 or higher.

Upgrading

See CHANGELOG for upgrade steps between versions.

Documentation

ExBoxPacker hexdocs.
For the packing algorithm, constraints, and general background, see the original BoxPacker project and its documentation.

Requirements

Supported: Elixir ~> 1.15 (the mix.exs requirement — kept low so apps on older Elixir can depend on it).
Developed and tested with: Elixir 1.20.2 on OTP 29, pinned in .tool-versions.

The .tool-versions file is read by both asdf and mise, so either one selects the pinned dev toolchain automatically inside this directory:

# mise
mise install                 # installs the pinned erlang/elixir the first time

# asdf
asdf plugin add erlang       # once, if the plugins aren't already added
asdf plugin add elixir
asdf install                 # installs the pinned erlang/elixir from .tool-versions

Getting started

mise install                 # once, to install the pinned toolchain (or `asdf install`)
mix deps.get                 # fetch deps (ex_doc, credo, dialyxir, stream_data, boundary, plug)
mix test                     # run the test suite
iex -S mix                   # interactive shell with all modules loaded

If you use asdf, run asdf install in place of mise install; asdf exposes mix/iex on your PATH via shims. With mise, if mix/iex aren't on your PATH (mise not activated in your shell), prefix commands with mise exec --, e.g. mise exec -- iex -S mix.

Inside iex, use recompile() after editing source.

Usage

alias ExBoxPacker.{Packer, SimpleBox, SimpleItem}

boxes = [
  %SimpleBox{
    reference: "small",
    outer_width: 100, outer_length: 100, outer_depth: 100,
    inner_width: 96, inner_length: 96, inner_depth: 96,
    empty_weight: 10, max_weight: 1000
  }
]

items = [
  %SimpleItem{description: "widget", width: 50, length: 50, depth: 50,
              weight: 100, allowed_rotation: :best_fit, quantity: 3}
]

{:ok, result} = Packer.pack(boxes, items)

The public API is ExBoxPacker.Packer (pack/2, pack!/2, pack_all_possible/2), the SimpleItem / SimpleBox structs, the Item / Box protocols (plus optional protocols for constrained placement, limited supply, and linked items), Rotation, the sorters, and the Packed* result structs.

Important notes

Units — millimetres and grams; no conversion. By convention all lengths (widths, lengths, depths) are in millimetres (mm) and all weights (item weight, box empty weight, max weight) are in grams (g) — the same convention as BoxPacker. Dimensions and weights are plain integers, and to stay lightweight the library does no unit conversion: it treats every value as a raw magnitude, so all items and boxes must share the same units. If your data is in other units (cm, inches, kg, …), convert it to mm/g at your own boundary before packing. Using consistent units is BoxPacker's core correctness rule.
Rotation modes (ExBoxPacker.Rotation): :never (fixed), :keep_flat (rotate in the horizontal plane only — "this way up"), :best_fit (all 6 orthogonal orientations, the default).
Boxes: outer dimensions/empty weight are for shipping; inner dimensions bound the packable space.
Item quantity: SimpleItem's quantity field is a convenience expanded to N identical units. Custom Item implementations supply one struct per physical unit.
Extensibility: custom items/boxes implement the ExBoxPacker.Item / ExBoxPacker.Box protocols. Optional protocols add constrained placement, limited supply, and linked items.

License

MIT. This project is a port of BoxPacker (also MIT), © Doug Wright and contributors. The optional 3D preview bundles three.js (also MIT), © Three.js Authors.

Next Page → Changelog