TIA runs on Windows in a VM, the AI assistant runs on the Mac. I want it to read blocks, edit them, send them back and compile.
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David · PLC Sidecar author
PLC Sidecar Team
PLC Sidecar Team
Dev log
First connection Mac ⇄ TIA Portal
We looked at third-party solutions — they were paid or in beta and would work directly on the live project without our safety rules. We went for our own connection, with the safety rules in the code and an encrypted link from the Mac into the VM.
What went wrong and how we found it:
- Connecting to TIA kept failing. Cause: a user added to the Siemens TIA Openness group only gets it after logging in to Windows again.
- Siemens only lets an approved program use the interface, and the approval is tied to the file's fingerprint — again after every new build. The setup script now does it automatically.
- Siemens does not officially support TIA on Windows for ARM (Mac with Apple silicon). It works, but slower, so we use generous timeouts.
By evening the first round worked: load SCL, STL and data blocks as text, edit, send back, compile.