# Creating a development instance of Ignition Edge and CoDeSys

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [November 7, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354 "2024-11-07T14:16:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![face\_plant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@face\_plant](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/face_plant)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354/1 "2024-11-07T14:16:44Z")

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I have a instance of ignition edge running on an opto22 and I use codesys for the logic. We only have 1 opto22 and I would like to be able to develop my codesys and ignition edge HMI off of the opto22 PLC.

In other words, how can I have a ‘copy’ of the PLC’s ignition edge HMI and codesys program to develop on so I dont have to take down the production version?

Please let me know if my question is unclear at all. Thank you!!

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354/2 "2024-11-07T14:23:04Z")

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You may have to pay for a development copy of Codesys. You can run a copy of Ignition in repeated 2-hour trial mode for free.

In other words, the barrier to a free dev environment is purely a Codesys question, not an Ignition question.

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**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Furlani](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/benjamin_furlani/32/66084_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Furlani](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Benjamin_Furlani)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354/3 "2024-11-07T14:24:21Z")

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I am pretty sure you can just download the codesys development enviornment and open the file in there after exporting it from the Opto22 PLC

[CODESYS Store International | CODESYS Store International](https://store.codesys.com/en/)

EDIT:

> [@pturmel](#):
>
> pay for a development copy of Codesys

This is probably true, I am not sure that they do free trials or anything like that.

For the ignition project, You can just upload a backup of the gateway to an edge development environment for free.

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**Author:** ![jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jay](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jay)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/creating-a-development-instance-of-ignition-edge-and-codesys/98354/4 "2024-11-07T15:49:55Z")

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As I understand it, the Codesys development environment is free. You have to pay for the runtime engine, but there are some non-realtime runtime engines that are free also.

My only experience with Codesys is the Schneider Machine Expert version. This a tweaked version of Codesys with some Schneider add-ons. If Opto22 does the same thing that might give you trouble in getting an exact offline setup to work the same as the production setup.
