🔌 Local network printers
Over the local network, BolloPrint talks to your printers directly in your workshop, without going through any manufacturer's cloud. That needs a go-between inside your network: the local agent.
It's in Settings → Printers, Local agent tab.
Why it's the recommended route
- It works with almost every brand. Bambu Lab, Prusa, Elegoo, FlashForge, and the ones running Klipper underneath (QIDI, Sovol, Voron, RatRig, Creality K1 with Moonraker reachable…). The model-by-model detail is in Compatible printers.
- You can send commands: pause, resume and cancel the print in progress, on the machines that allow it (not Bambu machines).
- You get a camera: a photo of the inside every few minutes while it prints, and another one right away when you ask for it from the printer's page.
- It doesn't depend on the manufacturer. Not on their cloud working, nor on them keeping their service open.
- It survives internet outages. If your connection goes down, the agent keeps reading the printers and stores what happens; when the line comes back, it sends everything. You don't lose the history for those hours.
The agent doesn't open your network to anyone. It's the one that calls us, so there's no need to open ports on the router, have a fixed IP, or configure anything on the firewall. It works just the same behind an ordinary home router.
The three steps
- Create the agent in BolloPrint and copy its deployment manifest, which already has the code in it.
- Deploy it on a computer in the workshop that's always switched on.
- Register the printers it's going to manage.
Step 2 is covered in detail in Deploying the agent. Here we carry on with step 3.
Adding printers
The ones that show up on their own
The agent looks for printers on your network and the ones it finds appear in the Local agent tab, at the end of Printers on the local network, under Found on the network (with more than one agent, "Found by" and each one's name), with their brand and model. Click Add and that's it. If it isn't yours or you don't want it, Ignore. When there are any, you'll also see a notice above the tabs.
If it's a printer you already have through Bambu Cloud, it says so ("It's "P1S-02", which you already have through Bambu Cloud") and the button is Also connect over LAN: it doesn't create a new printer, it adds the local route to the one you already have.
Some will ask you for an access code before connecting; the card itself tells you whether it's going to.
A printer may also appear marked as Coming soon: we know what it is, but we can't connect it yet. If it's one you need, tell us — it helps us decide the order.
The ones you have to add by hand
If the printer doesn't appear, click Add by IP in Printers on the local network, in the Local agent tab. If you have more than one agent, it asks you which one will drive it. Not appearing is normal in two cases: when the agent is on a different network from the printers, and when it runs on Docker Desktop. Neither costs you anything: added by hand it works exactly the same, with camera and with controls if that machine has them.
- Protocol: the printer type. The list only offers the ones we can connect to.
- Address: the printer's IP. If it uses a port other than the usual one, write it after:
192.168.1.50:5000. - Name (optional): whatever you want to call it.
- Model: for example "Saturn 4 Ultra" or "MK4S". Fill it in: it tells us whether the machine is filament or resin, and we give it the record that fits.
- The printer's password, if that family asks for one. The field's name changes with the protocol (see the table).
The password field is named the way each brand names it, and underneath it tells you where to find it on the printer. This is what you have to enter:
| Protocol | What to type |
|---|---|
| Bambu Lab | It appears as LAN access code. It's the one the printer shows in Settings → Network → Access code, with LAN Mode enabled. |
| PrusaLink | It appears as PrusaLink password. The printer generates it and shows it in Settings → Network → PrusaLink. It isn't your Prusa Connect password. |
| FlashForge | It appears as Check code. It's the one shown in the network menu on the printer's screen, with LAN Only enabled. |
| Elegoo (local MQTT) — Centauri Carbon 2 | It appears as Access code (optional). Leave it empty unless you've set a code on the machine's screen (Settings → Network); in that case, type that code. |
| Klipper | It appears as API key (optional). Only if you configured an access key in your Klipper (Moonraker). If the printer refused the connection without a key, the field becomes Moonraker API key and is required: you'll find it in Mainsail or Fluidd, under Settings → API key. |
| SDCP | It doesn't ask for anything. |
The agent works out the serial number on its own. You don't need to type it in.
💡 Reserve the IP on your router
If the router changes the printer's address, we look for it on your network again by ourselves, but it'll be down for a while. Reserving its IP by MAC — or giving it a fixed IP — avoids the gap.
Editing or removing a printer
In Printers on the local network, in the Local agent tab, each printer says which agent drives it, and in its ⋮ menu you have:
- Edit: change the name, the address, the access code or the agent that manages it. You can also get here from the Printers tab, with Edit local connection in the machine's menu.
- Disconnect: the printer stops being connected through this agent.
To stop it counting towards your plan without removing it, switch it off with its switch in the Printers tab.
About Disconnect: if it had another route (for example, the Bambu cloud), it carries on through that one. If this was its only route, it's left as "No connection" and still counts towards your plan until you disable or delete it. Nothing is lost: it keeps its number and its history, and if you reconnect it, it comes back exactly as it was, even if its IP or its code has changed.
What each status means
| Status | What's going on |
|---|---|
| Online | All good: the agent sees it and is receiving its data. |
| Connected but not sending data | The agent has connected and the printer isn't telling it anything. Usually the machine only allows a few connections at a time and already has another one open (the phone app, the slicer). |
| Not responding at that address | Check that it's switched on and on the same network as the agent. |
| Responds but refuses the connection | Almost always the wrong access code, or LAN mode disabled on the printer. |
| All of an agent's printers disconnected at once | The problem isn't the printers: it's their agent, which isn't responding. The machines may be perfectly fine. In the Local agent tab, open it with Edit and look at its Status. |
Carry on here
- 🧩 The local agent — how it's installed (Deploying the agent), how it's updated (Updating the agent), how it connects, when it's worth having more than one and what to do when something goes wrong.
- 🔗 Connection types — what you can do with each family.
- 🖨️ Compatible printers — whether yours can be connected, and how.