AI coding agents on Ignition: where they fail, and what I’m publishing
In 10 seconds
- AI coding agents can do real Ignition work: Perspective views, UDTs, gateway scripts and named queries.
- They fail in the same few ways, and most of those can be fixed with good instructions and a check on a dev gateway.
- I’m preparing free instruction files and skills for this. They’re not published yet.
Why I’m doing this
I’ve tested AI coding agents on a few SCADA projects in Ignition, and the results were better than I expected. But an agent only knows what it has been told. Left alone, it guesses, and other engineers report the same wrong guesses again and again.
Where agents go wrong
These come up repeatedly on the Inductive Automation forum:
- They write Python 3. Ignition scripting is Jython 2.7, so the code looks right and doesn’t run.
- They invent system functions that don’t exist.
- They mix up Vision and Perspective, and mix up versions 8.1 and 8.3.
- They get Perspective view files wrong: component types that don’t exist, props in the wrong place, missing tag bindings.
- They never see the screen. The agent edits a JSON file and has no idea how the view looks.
- They write slow patterns, like one tag write at a time inside a loop.
A mistake that repeats is good news. It can be written down once as a rule, and the agent stops making it.
What already exists
Inductive Automation put Ignition 2027 into public beta on November 3, 2026, with AI built in. Its Catalyst modules add an assistant inside the Designer, support for custom agents, and an MCP server so outside AI tools can connect to a gateway. General availability is planned for February 2027.
That covers AI inside Ignition. There are also a few small community projects: MCP servers, a view linter, and some private rule files. What I haven’t found is a tested set of instructions for an outside agent, such as Claude Code, working on project files and a dev gateway. That’s the part I’m working on.
What I’m preparing
- Instruction files (AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md) for Ignition 8.1 and 8.3, kept separate because the versions differ.
- Skills for the parts agents get wrong: Jython 2.7, real system functions only, Perspective views and bindings, tags and UDTs.
- Project layout notes: where each resource lives on disk and what each file is for.
- A check loop: lint the files, load them on a dev gateway, and look at the result before anyone trusts it.
- A test log: which tasks were tried, what passed, and what failed.
The rules that won’t change
- Dev gateway only. None of this is meant for a production gateway.
- Read first. The agent reads by default, and a person approves every write.
- No machine control. PLC logic and safety systems stay with qualified people.
This is my own work. It isn’t an Inductive Automation product, and I’m not affiliated with them. Ignition is their trademark.
It’s coming soon. If you want to hear when it’s out, or you want something specific in it, tell me.