Settings Reference¶

The IronPLC extension provides configuration settings to customize its behavior. Access these settings through:

File ‣ Preferences ‣ Settings (Windows/Linux)
Code ‣ Preferences ‣ Settings (macOS)

Then search for “ironplc” to find all extension settings.

VS Code settings panel filtered to show IronPLC extension settings — The VS Code settings panel with IronPLC settings.¶

Available Settings¶

ironplc.path¶

Type:: String
Default:: Empty (auto-discovery)

Specifies the path to the ironplcc executable. When empty (the default), the extension automatically searches for the compiler in standard locations.

Use this setting when:

The compiler is installed in a non-standard location
You want to use a specific version of the compiler
Auto-discovery is not finding your installation

Example values:

Windows: C:\Program Files\IronPLC\bin\ironplcc.exe
macOS: /usr/local/bin/ironplcc
Linux: /home/username/ironplc/ironplcc

ironplc.debugServerPath¶

Type:: String
Default:: Empty (auto-discovery)

Specifies the path to the ironplcvmd debug server. When empty (the default), the extension looks for the server next to the ironplcc compiler it discovered.

Use this setting when the debug server is installed apart from the compiler, or when E0007 reports that the server was not found.

Example values:

Windows: C:\Program Files\IronPLC\bin\ironplcvmd.exe
macOS: /usr/local/bin/ironplcvmd
Linux: /home/username/ironplc/ironplcvmd

See Debugging for what the debug server does.

ironplc.logLevel¶

Type:: Enum
Default:: ERROR
Values:: ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE

Controls the verbosity of compiler logging. Higher levels include all messages from lower levels.

ERROR: Only error messages (quietest)
WARN: Warnings and errors
INFO: Informational messages, warnings, and errors
DEBUG: Detailed debugging information
TRACE: Maximum verbosity (most detailed)

Increase the log level when troubleshooting issues with the extension or compiler.

ironplc.logFile¶

Type:: String
Default:: Empty (no file logging)

Specifies a file path where the compiler should write log messages. When empty, logs are not written to a file.

This setting is useful for:

Capturing detailed logs for bug reports
Debugging issues that occur intermittently
Analyzing compiler behavior over time

Example: /tmp/ironplc.log or C:\Users\username\ironplc.log

Note

The log file can grow large when using verbose log levels. Remember to disable file logging or delete the log file when troubleshooting is complete.

ironplc.dialect¶

Type:: Enum
Default:: iec61131-3-ed2
Values:: iec61131-3-ed2, iec61131-3-ed3, rusty, codesys, twincat

Selects the language dialect preset. A dialect controls the IEC 61131-3 edition and a default set of extensions.

iec61131-3-ed2: Strict IEC 61131-3:2003 (Edition 2). No extensions.
iec61131-3-ed3: IEC 61131-3:2013 (Edition 3) with LTIME, REF_TO, etc.
rusty: RuSTy-compatible — designed for compatibility with code from RuSTy-based PLC environments.
codesys: CODESYS-compatible — Edition 2 base with REF_TO and the extensions that the CODESYS IDE accepts.
twincat: TwinCAT-compatible — Edition 2 base with the extensions Beckhoff TwinCAT shares with CODESYS. Unlike codesys it does not enable the REF_TO reference extensions, since TwinCAT uses REFERENCE TO (bound with REF=) and POINTER TO (bound with ADR()), which it enables instead.

This setting corresponds to the --dialect command-line option documented in ironplcc.

See Enabling Dialects and Features for background on dialects and Edition Support for the full list of edition-gated features.

Settings in settings.json¶

You can also configure these settings directly in your settings.json file:

{
  "ironplc.path": "/custom/path/to/ironplcc",
  "ironplc.debugServerPath": "/custom/path/to/ironplcvmd",
  "ironplc.logLevel": "DEBUG",
  "ironplc.logFile": "/tmp/ironplc-debug.log",
  "ironplc.dialect": "rusty"
}