IronPLC
An open-source toolchain and runtime for IEC 61131-3, written in safe Rust.
IronPLC is a compiler (ironplcc), runtime (ironplcvm), VS Code extension,
browser playground, and MCP server for writing and running IEC 61131-3
programs on off-the-shelf hardware — no proprietary IDE required.
Quick Start
Install on Linux or macOS:
curl -fsSL https://www.ironplc.com/install.sh | sh
Or see the installation docs
for Windows, Homebrew, and other options — or try it in the browser at
playground.ironplc.com.
Then follow the quick start tutorial
to write your first PLC program.
Capabilities
- Compiler —
parses and analyzes IEC 61131-3 Structured Text with a large and growing
set of diagnostic checks
- Runtime —
executes compiled bytecode with task scheduling
- VS Code extension —
syntax highlighting, real-time diagnostics, build tasks, and a bytecode viewer
- Multiple source formats —
Structured Text (
.st, .iec), PLCopen XML (.xml), and TwinCAT
(.TcPOU, .TcGVL, .TcDUT)
- AI agent support —
an MCP server that lets tools like Claude call the IronPLC compiler
- Interactive playground —
try IronPLC in the browser with no install
What's in this repo
compiler/ — Rust workspace (compiler, runtime, MCP server, playground WASM)integrations/vscode/ — VS Code extensiondocs/ — Sphinx documentation site (ironplc.com)playground/ — browser playground
Contributing
Contributions are very welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
Contact
Create an issue to reach out about IronPLC.
Similar Projects
- RuSTy - Structured text compiler written in Rust. RuSTy is further along but the LGPL and GPL licenses are difficult for industrial uses.
- Structured Text language Support - Structured text language support for Visual Studio Code.
- Beremiz - A Python-based PLC programming environment.
- RoboPLC - A Rust framework for creating industrial control appliances
- msr - A Rust library for industrial automation.
- ethercat-rs - An experimental Rust automation toolbox using the IgH (Etherlab) EtherCAT master.
- rustmatic - Rustmatic is a thought experiment on creating a PLC-like environment in Rust.
Trademarks
IronPLC is an independent open-source project. It is not affiliated with,
endorsed by, or sponsored by any third party. TwinCAT is a trademark of
Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG. CODESYS is a trademark of CODESYS GmbH.
Beremiz is a trademark of its respective owner. PLCopen is a trademark of
PLCopen. EtherCAT is a registered trademark of Beckhoff Automation. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. References
to these names in IronPLC and its documentation are descriptive
(nominative) only — they identify file formats, compatibility modes, and
related projects, and do not imply endorsement.
