Run a MATLAB file

Use Scient’s MATLAB panel to run a project analysis, inspect its output and figures, and save useful results beside the rest of the project. Scient can always open and edit a .m file. Running it additionally requires a user-installed and licensed MATLAB in the selected project environment.

Run a file

1. Open an initialized Scient project and select a text .m file.
2. Wait for any pending save to finish. Scient runs the exact saved version, not an unsaved editor buffer.
3. If MATLAB was not found, choose Set up MATLAB, enter the path to the MATLAB executable, and choose Use path. You can also ask Scient to scan again.
4. Use Verify when you want to confirm that MATLAB can start or understand a setup failure. Scient reports the detected release and explains problems such as sign-in, licensing, a missing dependency, startup failure, or a timeout.
5. Choose Run file. Standard output, errors, status, figures, and the file’s recent run history appear in the panel.
6. If another MATLAB run is active, the new run waits in the queue and shows its position. Stop cancels a waiting run or stops the active run.
7. Select a captured figure to inspect it as a static view or floating card. You can drag a thumbnail into the conversation, resize the floating card, or download its FIG representation for continued work in MATLAB.
8. Choose Save to project when a useful run should become an ordinary project result. Scient creates a folder under results/<source>/<run>/ containing readable output, figures, continuation files, notes, and a machine-readable manifest. Repeating the action reopens the same result without overwriting your edits.

Use Remove this run to remove one saved run, or Clean up project to review and remove saved run files that are no longer needed. Scient confirms the measured size before cleanup and keeps a lightweight history of what ran.

On macOS, a typical executable is /Applications/MATLAB_R2025b.app/bin/matlab. Windows and Linux paths depend on the installed release. Scient does not bundle MATLAB or provide a license.

Understand results and failures

Viewing and editing a .m file never starts MATLAB. A missing or invalid runtime is a setup state, not a file-viewer failure. A folder opened without Scient project setup remains editable, but Run file stays disabled until the folder is set up.

When MATLAB reports an MException, Scient separates the structured error from raw output. Select a project-local file and line to open it, or choose Ask agent to place a focused repair request in the composer for review before sending.

If another program or an agent changes the open file, Scient refreshes it. When you have unsaved edits, it asks whether to reload the disk version or overwrite it instead of silently discarding either version. Figure-capture failure is reported separately from calculation failure, and long output shows an explicit truncation notice.

This workflow runs a complete .m file in noninteractive batch mode. It does not currently provide selection or section execution, a live variables workspace, debugging, MATLAB notebooks, or viewers for .mlx and .mat files. Use Verify in each environment to confirm that its installed MATLAB version, architecture, license, and dependencies are ready before relying on a run.