Overview

A complete, task-oriented guide to developing operator dashboards with NEXT HMI — the open-source, browser-based HMI/SCADA that connects to PLCs over OPC-UA. Every chapter is a how-to: what to click, what to type, and why.

The mental model

Four ideas carry through everything else. Hold these and the rest of the guide falls into place.

• Runtime + editor together — A single FastAPI server hosts the OPC-UA connection pool, serves operator screens, and hosts the in-browser editor. There is nothing else to install on the floor.
• A project is a folder — Pages, datasources, alarms, theme, translations and users are JSON/CSV on disk. Diff it in Git, zip it, copy it to another machine.
• Every property can bind — Instead of separate static/tag/expression modes, every property is a literal or a $-keyed object naming its source — and sources nest.
• Data streams over one socket — The server subscribes to your tags and pushes updates to every browser over a single WebSocket, prioritising what's on screen.

How to read this guide

Chapters build on each other. If you're brand new, start at Getting started and work down the sidebar. If you're here for one thing, jump straight to it:

• Set up & run — Getting started and Managing projects cover installing, first run, and creating / sharing / moving projects.
• Build screens — The workspace, Pages & navigation, Adding widgets and Layout.
• Wire up data — Connecting to data, Binding & subscribing, Dynamic properties.
• Widgets & polish — the catalog, theming, alarms & recipes, and custom widgets.