MolecuLens

Molecular orbitals and density surfaces are useful learning tools, but the heavy quantum chemistry work does not belong in a client renderer. The product needed server-side compute that still felt interactive to a Three.js front end.

• A FastAPI service that accepts 3D SDF input and computes HOMO, LUMO, and optional density overlays.
• Server-side conversion of computed surfaces into ready-to-render mesh data with vertices, normals, indices, and triangle counts.
• Separate positive and negative orbital lobes for clearer visualization.
• Compressed base64 typed-array payloads for efficient transfer into a browser renderer.
• A Postgres-backed async job queue, result caching by geometry and parameters, Docker deployment, and protected cache metrics.

• Pre-mesh orbital surfaces server-side so the client receives renderer-ready geometry.
• Cache by geometry and compute parameters to avoid repeating expensive chemistry jobs.
• Expose async job polling rather than blocking the request path on long-running compute.
• Keep operator cache metrics behind HTTP basic auth instead of making internals public.

The work connects a published iOS app, public product surface, and production-ready compute service into one molecular visualization stack.