🧩 The local agent
In 30 seconds
- The local agent is a small program that runs on a computer in your workshop and connects your printers over your network.
- It's installed on something you already have switched on: a NAS (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS), a Windows PC, Home Assistant, or any computer with Docker or Kubernetes. Below you'll see which one suits you.
- One is enough for the whole fleet, and it's the one that calls BolloPrint: no ports to open and no fixed IP needed.
- It updates by itself, and if the internet goes down it keeps what happens and sends it when it's back.
The local agent is a small program that runs on a computer in your workshop. It talks to your printers over your own network and tells BolloPrint what it sees.
It's the only thing you have to install to connect printers over the local network, and one is enough for the whole fleet.
Do you need it?
| Your situation | Do you need the agent? |
|---|---|
| You have Bambu Lab machines and seeing them through the cloud is enough | No, but with the agent you gain a camera. And, if you turn on Developer Mode on the printer, also pause, resume and cancel: through the cloud that isn't possible |
| You have Prusa machines | Yes. It's the only way to connect them |
| You have Elegoo resin machines or a Centauri | Yes. There's no other route |
| You have QIDI, Sovol, Voron, RatRig, Two Trees, Artillery, a Snapmaker U1 or any machine with Klipper | Yes |
| You have a FlashForge Adventurer 5M, AD5X or Creator 5 | Yes |
| You have an Anycubic Kobra 3, Kobra S1, Kobra 4 or Kobra X | Yes. With LAN Mode turned on in the printer (in beta) |
| You have a Creality K1, K2, Ender-3 V3 or Hi | Yes. On its factory firmware, nothing to set up (in beta) |
| You don't want your printers going out to the internet | Yes. The agent talks to them inside your network |
Choose where to install it
The agent goes on a workshop computer that's always switched on and, ideally, on the same network as the printers. You don't need to buy anything: something you already have nearly always does the job.
There are two ways to install it, and the difference is how it connects to your account the first time:
- With a package or an installer (Synology, QNAP, Windows, Home Assistant, TrueNAS). You install it like any other app on your computer, open its page and click Link with BolloPrint. You confirm in BolloPrint and that's it: no codes to copy.
- With a container (Docker, Kubernetes). You create the agent in BolloPrint and we give you a manifest with its keys already filled in, which you paste on your computer.
| Where | What you need | How it's installed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synology | A Synology NAS with DSM | Package, and Link with BolloPrint | Beta |
| QNAP | A QNAP NAS with QTS | Package installed by hand, and Link with BolloPrint | Beta |
| Windows | A Windows PC you don't switch off | Installer, and Link with BolloPrint | Beta |
| Home Assistant | Home Assistant with its app store | Home Assistant app, and Link with BolloPrint | Beta |
| TrueNAS | A TrueNAS NAS with Apps | TrueNAS app, and Link with BolloPrint | Beta |
| Docker | Any computer with Docker or Portainer: a NAS, a mini-PC, a Raspberry Pi, a server | Manifest with keys | Stable |
| Kubernetes | A Kubernetes cluster (k3s works too) with a node on the printers' network | Manifest with keys | Stable |
Torn between two? If your computer has a package, use the package: it installs in fewer steps and links in one click. Docker is the option for everything else, and the one that's been running in workshops the longest. The ones marked Beta work, but they're new: if something doesn't behave as you expect, tell us in support.
Each page explains the two things you'll do with the agent: install it the first time and update it if we ever ask you to.
💡 To get started, in BolloPrint
They all start in the same place: Settings → Printers, Local agent tab, New agent button. The first thing it asks is Where will you install it?, with a button for each of the options in this table.
Keeping it up to date
The agent updates by itself: when a new version comes out, it downloads it, checks that it's ours and restarts with it. It never does so while any of its printers is printing.
Only if BolloPrint tells you that your agent needs a manual update will you have to do anything, and it depends on how you installed it:
- With a package or an installer: install the new version over the one you have, without uninstalling the old one.
- With Docker or Kubernetes: change the image version in your file and deploy it again, with the same keys.
The step-by-step instructions are on each type's page.
How it connects
The agent calls BolloPrint, not the other way round. That's what makes it work without touching the router: there are no ports to open, no fixed IP to request, no firewall to configure. It works behind an ordinary home router, and even with fibre connections that don't give you a public IP.
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What BolloPrint tells the agent travels over that same connection the agent opened.
Once connected, it:
- asks which printers it has to look after,
- connects to each one over its own protocol,
- and sends on what it sees.
When you register a new printer from BolloPrint, the agent finds out on its own, within seconds. There's no need to restart it.
The status screen
The Local agent tab has two parts:
- The agents, one per row, with the logo of where it's installed, its status and its version. Each one's ⋮ menu has Edit, which opens its window, and Delete.
- Printers on the local network, below: all your agents' printers together, each one with the agent that drives it. At the top are Search now and Add by IP, and at the end what each agent has found on your network and the addresses it's still looking for.
An agent's window has two tabs:
- Status — what the agent itself reports (the table below), pending installations and the connection to each printer. This is also where you rename it.
- Deployment — on Docker and Kubernetes, the manifest with the current version and Regenerate keys. On an agent installed with a package it only says it was linked from its own page: it has no manifest and no keys. To remove it, use Delete in the ⋮ menu of the list, and its page offers Link with BolloPrint again.
What can appear under Status:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Online | It's connected and working. |
| Not installed | You created it in BolloPrint, but it has never connected yet. Nothing is broken: it just needs starting on your computer. |
| No recent signal | It's been quiet for a while. Usually the computer is switched off or has no internet. |
| Offline | It isn't there. |
| Safe mode | It has started up and connected, but it isn't managing printers. It tells you why. |
| Buffer | What it has stored while it couldn't send anything. If it says "messages dropped", the outage was so long that not everything fitted. |
| Update your agent | There's a more recent version. Recent agents update by themselves; if it says a manual update is needed, follow the page for your type of agent. |
Underneath, Connection to each printer: printer by printer, whether the agent can reach it and, if not, why.
The agent looks for new printers on your network on its own every 15 minutes. If you've just switched one on and don't want to wait, click Search now under Printers on the local network.
Quirks worth knowing about
One agent copes with a whole fleet. You don't need one per printer or one per room. That said, you can have several agents on the same account, and there are three reasons to do so:
- Separate networks: one VLAN for production and another for the office, say. An agent on each discovers its own without you having to add anything by hand.
- Different premises: two units, two workshops, two houses. Each site with its own, and it all shows up together in BolloPrint.
- An overloaded agent: if the fleet grows a lot and you notice it's stretched, split the printers between two.
They don't have to be the same type: you can have one on the Synology in the unit and another on Docker in the office. In the Local agent tab you'll see them one below the other, and in Printers on the local network each machine says which agent it comes through. To move a printer from one agent to another, open it with Edit from its ⋮ menu and change the agent in the dropdown. When you Add by IP with more than one agent, it asks you which one will drive it.
⚠️ One agent per computer
Each computer gets its own agent. A Docker or Kubernetes agent isn't copied onto a second machine with the same manifest: for two computers, two agents. The details for each type are on its page.
It survives outages. If your internet goes down, the agent keeps reading the printers and storing what happens. When the connection comes back, it sends everything. The hours of the outage aren't lost from the history.
Deleting an agent takes its printers with it. It's done from its row's ⋮ menu. It stops connecting immediately, and the printers that were only reachable through it disappear from the list and stop counting towards your plan. The ones also reachable through Bambu Cloud stay. Nothing is lost: if you add one of those printers again — with another agent, through discovery or by IP — it comes back with its number and its whole history. What's installed on your computer isn't removed from BolloPrint: a package goes back on its own to its Link with BolloPrint page, and a container you stop and remove yourself. How, on each type's page.
When something isn't working
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| The agent never shows up | Can the computer reach the internet? Is a firewall blocking outbound traffic? On Docker and Kubernetes, was the whole manifest pasted, unchanged? |
| It doesn't detect any printers | Are the agent and the printers on the same network? If they aren't, or if you're using Docker Desktop, that's expected: add them by IP and they'll work just the same. |
| A printer shows as "connected but not sending data" | Close the phone app or the slicer that has it open. Some machines only allow one connection at a time. |
| A printer "responds but refuses the connection" | Wrong access code, or LAN mode disabled on the machine's screen. Careful: on Bambu, the code changes every time you enable or disable LAN mode. |
| All of an agent's printers suddenly disconnected | It isn't the fleet, it's the agent. Open it with Edit and look at its Status. |
If that isn't enough, the page for your type of agent explains where to see its log, which is the first thing we'll ask you for in support.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pause or cancel a print from BolloPrint? Yes, on the machines connected through the agent that allow it (today, Klipper, Snapmaker, PrusaLink, the Elegoo machines that go through SDCP — the resin ones and the Centauri Carbon — and Bambu machines with Developer Mode turned on). That mode requires LAN Only Mode, which disconnects the Bambu from its cloud; without it, the printer ignores the command, and BolloPrint switches off its buttons as soon as it refuses one. Through the cloud, Bambu machines don't accept commands. What you can't do on any of them is send jobs: the file is still sent from your slicer.
What happens if the workshop's internet goes down? The agent keeps talking to your printers and stores what happens. When the connection comes back, it sends everything. If the outage is extremely long it may not have room for the full detail, and in that case it tells you.
Does it store anything on my disk? It doesn't store print data. It keeps its own activity log for the last few days, which deletes itself over time, and the versions it downloads to update itself. That log only leaves your computer if BolloPrint support asks for it to investigate a problem.
How much does it use? Little: it doesn't need a powerful computer, and it fits comfortably on a NAS or a mini-PC alongside whatever you already run. On Docker and Kubernetes, the manifest caps it at 512 MB of memory.
What if I switch the computer off? Nothing happens. When you switch it back on, the agent comes back on its own without asking you for anything.
Do I have to open ports on the router? No. No ports, no fixed IP, no firewall rules. The connection goes out from your network, just like opening a web page.
Can I switch type later on? Yes. Install the new one, check that it shows Online, move the printers over to it (or let it find them) and delete the old one. The printers keep their number and their history.