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S7 PLC Buddy

AI Agent Overview

The AI Agent is a conversational assistant built into S7 PLC Buddy. It can read live data from your connected PLC, browse diagnostic events and alarms, read TIA Portal project content, and answer engineering questions — all in plain language.

What makes it different

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Most diagnostic tools show you raw data. The AI Agent helps you understand that data:

  • “Why did the PLC stop?” — The agent reads the diagnostic buffer, correlates timestamps with alarm states, and gives you a narrative explanation.
  • “Is this temperature value normal?” — It reads the live tag, considers the data type and engineering units, and compares it to values you describe.
  • “What does this Function Block do?” — With TIA Portal connected, it can read the block’s SCL source and interface, then explain the logic step by step.

How it works

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The AI Agent is powered by Anthropic Claude — a large language model with strong reasoning and code understanding. You bring your own API key (configured in Settings), so your conversations go directly from your machine to Anthropic’s API without passing through S7 PLC Buddy’s servers.

When you send a message, the agent can call tools — structured actions like reading a tag value, fetching the diagnostic buffer, or opening a TIA Portal block. It decides which tools to use based on your question, calls them automatically, and weaves the results into its answer.

Thinking blocks

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On capable models (Opus, Fable), the agent can show its reasoning process before the final answer — a collapsible “Thinking” block above the response. This is useful for complex multi-step problems where you want to follow the agent’s logic.

Streaming

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Responses stream in word-by-word as the model generates them, so you see progress immediately on longer answers rather than waiting for the complete response.

Chat management

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Multiple conversations

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Each conversation is independent and persists across app restarts. Create a new conversation with the + button in the right sidebar. Switch between conversations by clicking them in the sidebar — the active conversation is highlighted.

Auto-title

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The first 6 words of your first message become the conversation title automatically.

Exporting a conversation

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Click the Export button (top-right of the chat area) to download the full conversation as a Markdown file ({title}.md). The export includes all messages, tool results, and any thinking blocks.

Copying messages and code

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  • Hover over any message bubble to reveal a Copy button below it.
  • Hover over any code block to reveal a Copy button in its top-right corner.

AI disclaimer

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The agent’s answers are AI-generated — always verify them before acting on safety-critical information. The disclaimer appears below the send button as a reminder.

Next steps

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