Download the latest official release here
IBC automates many aspects of running Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation and Gateway that would otherwise involve manual intervention. It's especially useful for those who run automated trading systems based on the Interactive Brokers API, but many manual traders find it helpful as well.
Here are some of the things it will do for you:
- It automatically fills in your username and password in the Login dialog when TWS or Gateway start running, and clicks the Login button.
- It handles various dialog boxes which TWS sometimes displays, to keep things running smoothly with no user involvement
- It can keep TWS running indefinitely if required, by dealing with the autologoff mechanism
- It allows TWS to be shut down at a specified time on a specified day of the week
- It allows the Gateway to be shut down at a specified time every day
- It can be remotely instructed to shut down TWS or Gateway, which can be useful if they are running in the cloud or on an inaccessible computer
IBC runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
IMPORTANT NOTICES
Please note that IBC cannot automatically complete your login if Interactive Brokers have given you a card or device that you must use during login. IBC can still enter your username and password, but you will have to type in the relevant code and complete the login. You can request Interactive Brokers (via your Account Management page on their website) to relax this requirement when logging in to TWS or Gateway, but you will lose certain guarantees should you suffer losses as a result of your account being compromised.
If you're moving to IBC from IBController, there are some changes that you'll have to make. See the IBC User Guide for further information.
If you just want to use IBC without modifying it, you should download the latest official release ZIP which you can find here. Note that there are separate release files for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Users who want to make changes to IBC should clone this repository in the usual way.
Please see the IBC User Guide for installation and usage instructions. The User Guide is also included as a PDF file in the download ZIPs.
IMPORTANT By far the most common problem that users have when setting up IBC is the result of trying to use it with the self-updating version of TWS.
IBC DOES NOT WORK with the self-updating version of TWS.
You must install the offline version of TWS for use with IBC.
Note however that there is no self-updating version of the Gateway, so the normal Gateway installer will work fine if you only want to use the Gateway.
If you need assistance with running IBC, or have any queries or suggestions for improvement, you should join the IBC User Group.
If you're convinced you've found a bug in IBC, please report it via either the IBC User Group or the GitHub Issue Tracker. Please provide as much evidence as you can, especially the versions of IBC and TWS/Gateway you're using and a full description of the incorrect behaviour you're seeing.
Note that IBC creates a log file that records a lot of useful information that can be very helpful in diagnosing users' problems. The location of this log file is prominently displayed in the window that appears when you run IBC. It is helpful to attach this log file to any problem reports.
There are several ways you may be able to contribute to IBC's ongoing development and support. Please read the contributor guidelines, and send us a pull request.
We also thank past contributors to the IBController project from which IBC was forked: Richard King, Steven Kearns, Ken Geis, Ben Alex and Shane Castle.
IBC is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
A brief note by Richard L King (rlktradewright on GitHub) dated 13 March 2018.
IBC is a fork of the original IBController project. For many years, from 2004 to early 2018, I have been the primary maintainer, developer and supporter for that project.
In June 2016, I granted ownership of the project to a (commercial) organization that makes heavy use of IBController, on the understanding that they would provide ongoing development, maintenance and support effort, to enable me to devote more time to other interests.
In fact this effort has not been forthcoming and I have continued to shoulder the burden since then.
By the start of 2018 it became clear that this situation was unlikely to change, so I asked that ownership be returned to me. This request was refused, and I therefore felt it necessary to withdraw my support for the original project, and to create this fork under my control, in order to ensure that the project continues to be developed and supported to the high standards of the past.