Swap Between MoveIt Pro Backends Across the Network
One MoveIt Pro web interface can connect to any MoveIt Pro deployment on the network — other instances on the same computer, or deployments on other computers — and switch between them from the browser. A computer can also run the web interface alone, with no backend, as a pure operator console.
How discovery works
Every computer that runs moveit_pro run starts a small instance discovery server on port 3205. It answers GET http://<host>:3205/instances with the deployments recorded on that host — the default deployment plus every named instance — and whether each is currently running. The web interface queries this endpoint on every host you add to its discovery list.
Manage the server explicitly when needed:
moveit_pro discovery status
moveit_pro discovery up
moveit_pro discovery down
Pass --no-discovery to moveit_pro run to skip starting it.
For cross-computer access, the target computer must allow inbound connections on port 3205 (discovery) and on the target deployment's web UI port (80 for the default deployment, or the instance's assigned UI port). On firewalld-based systems (Fedora, RHEL):
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=3205/tcp --add-port=10000/tcp
Swapping backends from the web interface
Click the network button in the top navigation bar to open the MoveIt Pro Backends panel. It lists every deployment discovered on the configured hosts with a RUNNING or STOPPED badge. The host serving the page is always listed; add other computers by hostname or IP address with the input at the top of the panel.
Selecting a deployment reloads the page connected to that backend — the Objectives, camera streams, 3D Visualizer, and terminal all come from the selected deployment. The navigation bar shows which backend is active (local for the deployment that serves the page, <instance>@<host> otherwise). Select the entry for the serving deployment to switch back.
The selection is stored in the browser, so a reload or browser restart keeps the chosen backend.
- The terminal pane's Host target is unavailable on a remote backend, and resetting terminal sessions only works on the deployment serving the page.
- Discovery responses are unauthenticated, like the rest of the MoveIt Pro web stack: anyone on the network who can reach the ports can see and use the deployments. Run on a trusted network (see Remotely Connecting to the Web Interface).
- Best results come from matching MoveIt Pro versions on the frontend and the selected backend.
Running a console with no backend
To use a computer purely as an operator console, start only the web interface:
moveit_pro run --only-ui
This starts the web interface container on port 80 and nothing else — no license, robot configuration package, or workspace is required. When the browser opens, the interface detects that no local backend is running and shows the backend picker; select any deployment on the network to operate it.
--only-ui cannot be combined with --headless, --no-drivers, --only-drivers, or --instance. Shut the console down with moveit_pro down.