Setup & Models

The AI Agent requires an Anthropic API key. You create this key on Anthropic’s platform — it is tied to your account and billed based on your usage. S7 PLC Buddy never sees your key on its servers; it is stored encrypted on your local machine and sent directly to Anthropic’s API.

Getting an API key

Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account (or sign in).
Navigate to API Keys and click Create Key.
Give the key a name (e.g. s7-plc-buddy) and copy it — you won’t be able to see it again.
Add a payment method under Billing if you haven’t already. Anthropic uses pay-as-you-go pricing; typical usage in S7 PLC Buddy costs a few cents per session.

Entering your API key in S7 PLC Buddy

Open Settings → AI Agent.
Paste your API key into the Anthropic API Key field.
Click Save. The key is encrypted and stored locally using the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI).

The key is never logged and never transmitted to S7 PLC Buddy’s servers.

Choosing a model

S7 PLC Buddy supports the following Claude models:

Model	Best for	Thinking
Claude Sonnet 5 (recommended)	Faster responses, everyday questions, lower cost	No
Claude Opus 4.8	Complex reasoning, multi-step diagnostics, code explanation, higher cost	Yes — with chain-of-thought
Claude Haiku 4.5	Quickest and cheapest, simple lookups, cheapest model	No
Claude Fable 5	Anthropic’s most capable model, demanding tasks, most expensive model	Yes — always on

Select a model in Settings → AI Agent → Model. The choice persists across sessions.

Workspace folder

The AI Agent can read and write files in a workspace folder on your PC — useful for saving SCL migration output, exported reports, or reference documents the agent can consult.

Set the workspace folder in Settings → AI Agent → Workspace. The default is ~/Documents/S7 PLC Buddy.

The agent can:

Read files you place in the workspace (e.g. datasheet PDFs, SCL source files)
Write output files (migration results, structured summaries)
List what’s in the folder