Deploying to a vPLC

Deployment is the upload half of Build & Upload. Once your project compiles cleanly, the editor ships the binary to a connected vPLC over the runtime's HTTP transport. No separate deploy command.

Prerequisites

The deployment flow

  1. Build options → Build & Upload (or Clean Upload for a from-scratch build).
  2. The editor runs the build pipeline. The console reports each step.
  3. On a successful compile, the editor POSTs the binary to the runtime's webserver.
  4. The runtime persists the new program, computes its MD5, and reports readiness.
  5. The editor logs Upload completed.

At this point the new program is loaded but not yet running. To start it, click the activity-bar Play button. The runtime swaps to the uploaded program and reports PLC running.

To swap to a different program later, repeat Build & Upload + Play. The runtime hot-swaps without a restart.

Stopping the PLC

The Play button is also a Stop button. Click it once while the PLC is running and the runtime halts the program. The vPLC stays connected; only the IEC program is stopped.

Verifying the deployment

Three quick checks that the new program is what's actually running:

  1. MD5 verification: open the Debugger. It immediately compares the local MD5 against the runtime's. A mismatch tells you something is off (older build is still running).
  2. PLC Logs: open the console's PLC Logs tab. New program output starts appearing once you press Play.
  3. Live variable values: opt some variables into the Debug column and watch them in the debugger.

Troubleshooting

Upload fails with a transport error. The connection dropped between compile and upload. Verify the orchestrator is still online and reconnect.

MD5 mismatch in the debugger. The runtime is still running an older program. Re-run Build & Upload to ship the current build.

Play button is grey. You're not connected, or the upload failed. Check the console for the specific error.

PLC starts then immediately stops. A runtime fault. Open PLC Logs, the runtime usually publishes the cause (out-of-range memory access, missing library binding, etc.).

Program runs but Modbus / OPC-UA / S7Comm clients can't connect. The server is configured but disabled. Open the server's editor and toggle Enabled on, then rebuild and re-upload.

What's next