EPICS-for-Dummies

Official Documentation

Where to go when this guide isn’t enough — which for anything authoritative is immediately.

Start here

Resource	What it is
epics-controls.org	The community’s front door. Downloads, module directories, news, meetings.
docs.epics-controls.org	The modern consolidated documentation site. This is the canonical reference.
epics.anl.gov	The historic Argonne site. Still hosts some documents that exist nowhere else, including version-specific manuals.
github.com/epics-docs/epics-docs	The documentation’s own source. Corrections go here.

The core manuals

Document	Read it for
EPICS Application Developer’s Guide	The specification. Database, records, device support, CA, access security, the build system. Chapters 3–6 are the essential part, and it is more readable than its length suggests.
AppDevGuide PDF, Base 3.16.2	The complete, older PDF. Some readers prefer it, and it covers material the web version hasn’t fully absorbed.
Record Reference Manual	Every field of every standard record type. Keep it bookmarked.
Channel Access Reference Manual	The CA protocol, the C API, and the complete environment-variable list.
EPICS Process Database Concepts	The conceptual introduction to records, links and processing. Read this before the AppDevGuide.
What is EPICS	The official overview
Getting started, and installation	Installing Base on Linux, macOS, Windows and RTEMS, maintained upstream

If you read one document properly, make it the Application Developer’s Guide. It’s the difference between using EPICS and understanding it.

PV Access and EPICS 7

Document	Covers
PV Access protocol specification	The wire protocol
Normative Types specification	NTScalar, NTNDArray, NTTable and the rest — what makes structured data interoperable
PVXS documentation	The modern C++ PVA library
p4p documentation	Python PVA, client, server and gateway

Base source and releases

Resource
github.com/epics-base/epics-base	Source
Base downloads and release notes	Which version, and what changed
github.com/epics-base	The core organisation: PVXS, p4p, pvaPy, epicsCoreJava, ci-scripts

Release notes are worth reading before an upgrade. Base is careful about compatibility, and the exceptions are documented there rather than discovered.

Module directories

Directory	Contents
Soft support modules	Record types, software-only support, in-IOC services
Hardware support modules	Searchable by manufacturer and model. Check here before writing device support.
github.com/epics-modules	Where most of them live
github.com/epics-extensions	Host-side tools
github.com/areaDetector	Detector and camera drivers
github.com/EPICS-synApps	The curated, tested bundle

Major project documentation

Project	Documentation
Phoebus / CS-Studio	control-system-studio.readthedocs.io — also covers the archive engine, alarm services, save & restore and scan server
Archiver Appliance	epicsarchiver.readthedocs.io
ChannelFinder	channelfinder.github.io
asyn	epics-modules.github.io/asyn
StreamDevice	paulscherrerinstitute.github.io/StreamDevice
areaDetector	areadetector.github.io
motor	epics-modules.github.io/motor
modbus	epics-modules.github.io/modbus
Sequencer / SNL	epics-modules.github.io/sequencer
PyEpics	pyepics.github.io/pyepics
caproto	caproto.github.io/caproto
PyDM	slaclab.github.io/pydm
epics-containers	epics-containers.github.io
Bluesky	blueskyproject.io
pythonSoftIOC	diamondlightsource.github.io/pythonSoftIOC
e3 (ESS)	e3pages.readthedocs.io

Facility documentation worth reading

Several facilities publish controls documentation that is genuinely useful beyond their own walls:

Facility	Notable for
SNS / ORNL controls	The best free EPICS training material in existence, plus practical guides
Diamond Light Source	epics-containers, ibek, PVI, pythonSoftIOC, and a large module ecosystem
PSI	StreamDevice, pcaspy, s7plc, and a distinctive module-loading approach
SLAC	PyDM, Badger, and their timing and BSA work
NSLS-II	Bluesky, ophyd, Tiled — the modern beamline data stack
ISIS	A thorough IOC testing framework and a large Lewis simulator collection

What this guide is for, versus these

This guide is a map: it tells you what exists, why it exists, and roughly how the pieces relate, so that when you open the Application Developer’s Guide you know which chapter you need.

Everything above is authoritative. Where they and this guide disagree, they are right and this is out of date — please say so.

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