Your workflow works on a developer laptop. Production needs it running at 2 AM on a factory VLAN, next to the MQTT broker, with no Studio UI and no surprise Windows Update reboot killing a manual script.
Nodlyn Runtime is how you ship that — a headless agent that runs validated workflows 24/7 on Windows, Linux, or macOS, as a service or portable folder on a USB stick.
Why edge deployment exists
- Latency — react to Modbus, serial, or local files in milliseconds, not round-trip-to-cloud.
- Air gap & policy — data and credentials never leave the site by default.
- Scale-out — same approved graph on many gateways; monitor heartbeats from Studio or Cloud.
- Operational ownership — OT and IT get run history and remote status, not SSH and hope.
Studio remains where you design, test, and approve. Runtime is what runs where the plant floor lives.
Who deploys runtimes today
Manufacturing — PLC adjacency, file drops from legacy MES, shift reports without cloud dependency.
Smart buildings & facilities — MQTT and BACnet near the equipment; alerts to ticketing when something drifts.
MSP & internal IT — scheduled maintenance on customer servers via portable agents.
IoT gateways — Raspberry Pi or industrial PCs bridging sensors to business systems.
What “export” really means for the business
You are not exporting “code” in the traditional sense. You are packaging an approved automation — graph, schedules, variables, optional ingress routes — into a signed, self-contained ZIP with .NET embedded. Install once; the service starts; heartbeats show up in the Agents tab.
External systems (ERP, MES, custom apps) can trigger workflows on that agent via HTTP or MQTT ingress — without opening Studio to the internet. That is how IT keeps control while operations stay agile.
Monitoring people actually use
Each agent exposes a local dashboard for on-site checks. Central teams use Studio’s Agents view or cloud monitoring for fleet status. Failed runs surface in Jobs — same mental model as cloud workflows, different host.
Pair edge deployment with global variables so retargeting environments does not mean rebuilding graphs.
Get started
- Design and activate a workflow in Studio.
- Export Runtime from the canvas toolbar — pick OS, service vs portable, monitoring target.
- Install on the target machine; confirm online in Agents.
Step-by-step tutorial (export modal, install scripts, verification): Export Runtime to Edge in the Knowledge Base.
Build where you are comfortable. Run where the work actually happens.