For everyone who specifies lighting.

Specifying is moving from reading PDFs to asking AI. ULC is the open standard that gives your tools the manufacturer's real data to read, not a guess scraped from a PDF.

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Where product discovery is going

Product discovery is moving from opening the PDF to asking an AI which fixture fits. The tools are racing ahead; the data isn't. Luminaire specs still live in PDFs built for human eyes, so the AI guesses at the CRI, the accessory, the IP rating, and your spec inherits the guess.

The limit on AI in specification isn't the model. It's the data layer underneath. ULC fixes the data layer.

Today's discovery loop, from the specifier's seat. What reaches your tools is an extraction layer's guess, not the manufacturer's source.

What ULC is

ULC is the open, machine-readable standard for luminaire cutsheets: one structured record your AI, your BIM tools, and the next tool you adopt can read directly, alongside the PDF and IES files you already work with.

Before and after, from the designer's seat. The PDF stays beautiful for human reading; the ULC record stays accurate for machine reading.

Try it today

You don't have to wait for the ecosystem. Drop a ULC record into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini with one of the prompts below; the tool reads it natively, no setup.

Prompt 1

Render a .ulc file as a spec sheet 

Read the attached `.ulc.json` file. Render it as a clean spec sheet with sections for product identity, electrical, optical / photometric, physical, and accessories. Call out any fields that are missing or flagged as unknown. If a SHA-256 source-file hash is present, note which source file each measured attribute traces back to.

Prompt 2

Compare two .ulc files 

Read the two attached `.ulc.json` files. Compare them on CRI, CCT range, wattage, optical accessory options, mounting kit, IP rating, and dim-to-warm behavior. Flag any field where the products diverge materially or where one declares the field and the other does not. End with a one-paragraph recommendation framed around which product fits a [project type] application.

Prompt 3

Extract attributes for a luminaire-schedule line 

Read the attached `.ulc.json` files. For each file, extract [CRI, CCT options, optical accessories, mounting kit, IP rating]. Return the result as a luminaire-schedule-ready table with one row per product and one column per attribute. Note any product missing any of the requested attributes.

Try a sample .ulc file

What changes

  • Find the right fixture in seconds. Search "recessed downlight, tunable white, 95+ CRI, UGR under 16, two-inch aperture" across a set of ULC records and get matches back, not a stack of PDFs to read.
  • Let the luminaire schedule write itself. Hand your tools the ULC files and a template; the schedule generates from the records, not by hand.
  • Review a 100-fixture VE package in minutes. Check an 800-page submittal against your basis of design without opening every sheet.

Take action

ULC is new, and it grows the moment designers ask for it. Ask your preferred manufacturer reps one question: are you publishing ULC files yet?

That one question is what drives adoption. When designers ask, manufacturers publish. Read the manufacturer track, or contribute on GitHub.

Learn more