A summary of the CODESYS roadmap (July 2026 edition). The document itself states that it is a statement of intent and that content and timeframes may change.
Highlights
AI and agents. This is the headline news. An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is coming, with an SDK so add-ons can provide their own commands, online debugging and monitoring operations, and support for visualization and fieldbus. Agentic coding of project sources will also be enabled (Claude Code is cited as an example), which requires File-Based Storage 1.0. Dates range from Q3 2026 to 2027.
CODESYS 4. An alternative programming tool based on web technology. It reuses the CODESYS 3 compilers and is compatible with CODESYS 3 Control, with no runtime of its own. The backend can run on a desktop, a server, the cloud or the PLC itself, and the frontend in any browser. V1.0 ships in September 2026 with limited functionality: ST editor, library generation, Modbus and DeviceObject, focusing on libraries, CI/CD and simple edge applications. After 2028 it will require a license fee. Updates will come every 6–8 weeks, with no regular patches. The Ladder editor arrives in Q4 2026, and CFC, EtherCAT and OPC UA in 2027.
CODESYS 3 (Development System)
- File-Based Storage V1.0 (Q3 2026). A text-based project format, Git-friendly and part of the Professional Developer Edition. A license is needed only for saving, not for opening. .fbslib libraries will be interchangeable with CODESYS 4. Requires SP22. Ladder (1.3, Q3 2026), CFC (Q2 2027) and Visualization (Q4 2026) add support for this format.
- Test Manager without a UI, for use in CI/CD pipelines.
- Simulation interface 1.0 (Q4 2026). Enables virtual commissioning and software-in-the-loop over OPC UA Pub/Sub, and switches between simulation and real hardware without changing the project.
- Fieldbus. Extended online change for PROFINET and Modbus, a graphical configurator for EtherNet/IP connections and a PROFINET topology editor.
- OPC UA. GDS support for certificate management and more flexible handling of information models (SP23, Q1 2027).
- SoftMotion 4.21 (Q4 2026). Program robotic axis groups with G-Code via MC_MovePath, plus improved CNC additional axes with quintic interpolation by default.
- Compiler. Adds a code generator for 64-bit RISC-V.
- Safety. Safety applications can be managed with CODESYS Git.
Runtime and controllers
- Runtimes will have a release cycle independent of the IDE. TLS 1.3 is added, along with a CRA-compliant runtime with a complete threat model and certificate management with backends such as TPM. Most of this comes with 3.5.100.0 in Q4 2026.
- Redundancy. Better startup behavior, avoidance of standalone/standalone scenarios, and synchronization of certificates, settings and user management.
- Control RTE 4.0 (Q1 2027). Includes UTF-8 and a new retain mechanism. Hypervisors from Acontis and Real-Time Systems are also added.
- Linux and containers. A standalone CLI deploy tool with no IDE needed, Docker Compose for Virtual Control, licensing in containers with TPM 2.0, Red Hat UBI support and cluster support (Kubernetes, Margo).
- Safe Control SIL3. Gains 64-bit support (x86, ARM64), an external library interface, safe network variables and PROFIsafe F-Device V2.6. This arrives between Q1 and Q3 2027.
- SIL2. The runtime version is no longer tied to the IDE version.
- Licensing. The Wibu License Portal is introduced, with self-service and an API for ERP/CRM (Q4 2026).
Automation Server and libraries
- An on-premises 1.0 version in Q3 2026, improved file management between PLCs, and a tamper-evident audit log in 2027.
- The OSCAT library is updated to 3.3.5. Also coming: a robotics interface following PI SRCI, Base Libraries 5.0 without the obsolete CAA libraries, and OPC UA Client improvements.