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For machines, software & connected devices

Recursive improvement.Human direction.

ControlForge is a programmable automation platform: a deterministic Structured Text runtime, a browser IDE, a historian, and an AI tool surface, in one Go binary. Build something, watch it run, fix what the evidence shows, and keep what you learned for the next one.

Find your starting point Read the white paper How it works

What you build today makes you more capable tomorrow.

One platform. Your kind of work.

What are you building?

A machine sequence and a software automation need different introductions, not different ideas about visibility, testing, and improvement.

Machines & industrial control

Build the sequence.
Understand the process.

IEC 61131-3 Structured Text, a statement-level debugger, a historian, and 15 industrial protocol drivers. The PLC you already know how to program, with the evidence you never had.

Machine sequencesTest benchesProcess monitoring
Explore controls

Software, devices & AI

Connect your systems.
See how they behave.

2,700+ built-in functions for HTTP, files, data, messaging, and devices, with state that survives a restart. Use AI where it helps; it works through the same tool surface you do.

Software automationConnected projectsAI tools
Explore software & AI

User-directed recursive improvement

Don't just improve the project.
Improve your next starting point.

A cycle should leave more than a fix behind: a tested block, a diagnostic view, a lesson you can name. ControlForge is built so each step produces the evidence the next one needs.

  1. 01 / BUILD

    Make it work.

    Write Structured Text in the browser IDE, or have an AI draft it against the runtime's real function list. The runtime validates the program before it runs.

  2. 02 / OBSERVE

    See what happened.

    Watch live variables, task timing, and faults as it runs. The historian keeps the values; Time Machine records the session.

  3. 03 / IMPROVE

    Test a better approach.

    Step through the logic with the statement-level debugger. Prove the change on the digital twin before it touches the machine.

  4. 04 / REUSE

    Carry the gains forward.

    Keep the function block, the regression test, and the diagnostic view. The next project starts from there.

Back to Build, from a stronger foundation. Better applications. Better tools. A more capable builder.

Proof, not promises

Measured on the running runtime.

Every number below was read from ControlForge v1.0.1566 on 2026-09-05. Not from a slide.

  • 2,700+built-in functions2,749 exact, callable from Structured Text
  • 138function categoriesHTTP, JSON, Modbus, DMX, vision…
  • 15protocol driversModbus TCP to EtherCAT and CAN
  • 12standard function blocksTON, TOF, TP, RTO…
  • 1Go binarystatically linked, no runtime dependencies

White paper · Proof of Life

AI balances an inverted pendulum.

The runtime’s embedded AI derived the cart-pole model, designed an LQR controller, wrote the Structured Text, and closed the loop. The deterministic 100 Hz scan executes it.

See it

Video

Digital twin, same code as the machine.

The same runtime and the same Structured Text that drive the real machine, run against a simulated one.

See it

Video

Statement-level debugging in the browser.

Breakpoints, call stacks, and variable inspection for Structured Text, running inside the IDE.

See it

Project walkthrough

A robot dog on AI-generated Structured Text.

Megabite: OLED eyes, servo ears, head tilt. All of it driven by AI-written ST on ControlForge and a Parallax P2.

See it

Controls roots. Broader possibilities.

Engineering discipline.
Room to build beyond it.

ControlForge grew out of GOPLC, an IEC 61131-3 runtime. Machine control is still the center. The same runtime now reaches software, connected devices, and creative gear: DMX, MIDI, video, audio, G-code.

The builder stays in the loop.

AI drafts and investigates. The runtime validates and records. You decide what runs, and on what. Changing a running machine stays a deliberate, authorized step.

Start with the project walkthroughs or the engineering guides.

Straight answers

What this means in practice.

Does recursive improvement mean the runtime rewrites itself?

No. It means each development cycle leaves you with a better application and better tools for the next one: reusable blocks, tests, diagnostics, and understanding. You direct it.

Is ControlForge only for PLC work?

No. Controls are the foundation, not the limit. The same runtime does HTTP and databases, drives DMX rigs and MIDI, reads cameras, and talks to microcontrollers. One program model, Structured Text, across all of it.

Do I need an AI to use it?

No. AI is optional at every step. When you do use it, it works through the same API and MCP tool surface the IDE uses, against the runtime's actual function list, and its output is validated like anything else.

What does "human direction" mean in practice?

You write or approve the logic, you decide what gets deployed, and you keep the evidence. AI proposes; the runtime validates and records; you decide.

Bring a real project

Build something useful.
Leave with more capability.

ControlForge is in private access. Tell us what you're building, what it needs to connect to, and what you want to understand or improve.

Tell us what you're buildingBrowse project walkthroughs

jbelcher@jmbtechnical.com