Open Settings from the gear icon in the left sidebar. Settings are organised into three tabs.
Setting
Description
PLC IP Address IP address of the PLC WebServer (e.g. 192.168.0.1). Do not include http:// or https://.
Username WebServer user account name. Created in TIA Portal → Security Settings → Users and roles.
Password WebServer password. Never saved to disk — required each session.
Connect / Disconnect Establishes or closes the PLC session.
Status dot Green = connected, red = disconnected or error.
Setting
Description
Connect / Disconnect Starts the bundled MCP server and attaches to the running TIA Portal instance. TIA Portal V21 must be open with a project loaded.
Status dot Green = server running and connected to TIA Portal.
In development builds only, an additional field lets you specify a custom path to the MCP server executable.
Setting
Description
Connect / Disconnect Starts the bundled Ladder Migration MCP server.
Status dot Green = server running and ready.
Setting
Description
Anthropic API Key Your personal Anthropic API key. Stored encrypted on your local machine using the Windows DPAPI. Never transmitted to S7 PLC Buddy’s servers.
Model The Claude model to use for the AI Agent. See Setup & Models for a model comparison.
Workspace Folder The local folder the AI Agent can read from and write to. Click Browse to choose a folder. Default: ~/Documents/S7 PLC Buddy.
Element
Description
License status Shows your current tier: Free Trial (N days remaining), Pro, or Expired.
Upgrade / Manage Opens the S7 PLC Buddy website to purchase or manage your Pro license.
Activate License Opens the license dialog to enter a Pro license key.
Element
Description
Log file path Path to the application log file: %APPDATA%\S7 PLC Buddy\logs\main.log
Show in Explorer Opens the log folder in Windows Explorer — useful when sending logs to support.
Element
Description
Version Current installed version (e.g. 0.2.1).
Machine ID A unique fingerprint of this machine, used by the licensing system. Click the copy icon to copy it to the clipboard. Useful if you need to contact support about a license issue.
All settings are stored in an SQLite database at:
%APPDATA%\S7 PLC Buddy\plc-buddy.db
Sensitive values (API key, license key) are encrypted using the Windows Data Protection API before being written to the database. The PLC password is never written — it is held in memory only for the duration of the session.
Conversation history and messages are also stored in this database.
