Run It on a Bench

On a lab PC, device servers are run by PLESTY Bench: it installs the module, starts the server, keeps it running and keeps its log. A PC running it is a bench; its window is the console, and its command line plesty-server.

Install PLESTY Bench

Each release has an installer per platform on the Download page:

Windows — run plesty-server-<version>-windows-setup.exe. It needs no administrator rights. Windows may warn about an unknown publisher (the installer is not signed yet): More info, then Run anyway.
macOS and Linux — sh install.sh from the same release; or, with uv already installed, uv tool install "plesty-server[gui]".

Either puts PLESTY Bench in the Start menu or Launchpad. The window says in its status bar when a newer release is out; update with Help ▸ Check for updates…, or uv tool upgrade plesty-server from a terminal.

Install the module

Hub ▸ Browse… (Ctrl+K; Hub ▸ Marketplace… before PLESTY Bench 0.5) is the hub inside the bench. Search, select the module, choose a release from PyPI or its repository at a branch or tag — the version lists offer every release and tag — and Install module:

Hub ▸ Browse: plesty-pm100d found, with its release, what this bench already holds, its checks and field tests

Installing stocks the bench; it does not start anything. A bench can hold one module and run it twice, for two instruments. Hub ▸ Installed modules… lists everything the bench holds, and uninstalls a module no device uses.

Add a device and start it

Device ▸ Add device… (Ctrl+N; in the Edit menu before PLESTY Bench 0.5) declares an instance:

Add device: name, package, source, arguments and environment

Field	Decides
Name	the instance — it names its log, folder and process record, so it is unique on the bench
Package, Source	which installed module, from which release or ref
Args	what the server is started with — the instrument's address; `--mock` for the simulator
Env	environment for this server only

You do not choose a port: the bench takes the lowest free one from 5551 and keeps it. Then select the device and Start:

Selecting a stopped device and pressing Start: the state turns from stopped to running and the log fills

running means both that the process exists and that the server answered.

Drive it by hand

Control opens the device's panel — every setting and operation its module declares. It opens read-only; Take control to use it. A click runs an operation once; holding a reading repeats it every second until held again.

Selecting pm100d and pressing Control; its panel opens, Take control, a wavelength set, Measure power run once and then held to stream

When something is wrong

The five panes under the buttons:

Pane	Shows
Log	the server's own output — what it was asked, and any error
Jobs	installs, updates and field tests, with their output
Reports	the device's published field-test reports
Terminal	a command line in the device's own environment
Traffic	every request the server handled, who asked, how long it took

A device that will not start is almost always answered by Log; an install that failed, by Jobs. Edit (Ctrl+E) reopens the declaration, and its .env tab holds what a real instrument needs — an address, a serial number.

Several instruments: a fleet

A fleet is a list of devices, written to one file the console edits for you (Edit ▸ Fleet file…). A bench can hold several — File ▸ New fleet… — and works on one at a time; Benches, Fleets & the Share shows how they fit together:

version: 1
devices:
  pm100d:
    package: plesty-pm100d
    version: 0.1.0
    args: [--mock]
    port: 5551
    autostart: true
  k10cr1:
    package: plesty-k10cr1
    version: 0.3.0
    args: [--mock]
    port: 5552
    autostart: true

autostart is the checkbox in the device table — the working fleet that Fleet up starts together, so a bench comes back after a reboot without anyone starting servers by hand.

The same, without the window

Everything above is also a command — what a bench started on boot, or over SSH, uses:

plesty-server declare pm100d plesty-pm100d --version 0.1.0 --arg --mock   # Add device
plesty-server start pm100d
plesty-server status                  # the device table
plesty-server log pm100d -n 20        # the Log pane
plesty-server fleet new lab-b         # File ▸ New fleet…
plesty-server fleet up                # start the working fleet
plesty-server fleet run               # bring it up and keep it up, with nobody logged in

Next: Field-Test It — the same module, against the real instrument.