Hi Aurélien,
thanks for your question. You are right, the build and deployment process to the IED takes some time. As Industrial Edge is using Docker to execute applications, a significant amount of time is used to create a Docker container out of the Mendix project.
Nevertheless, I would recommend two things to improve the development roundtrip. A "direct sideload" of your app to the IED is not possible.
✅ Test your Mx app with the Edge SDK
You can use the Edge SDK to mock some data and test the integration of your app to other applications without the need of an Industrial Edge environment
✅ Automate the build and deployment process with IECTL
You can automate the build, upload, and installation process with our CLI tool IECTL (Industrial Edge Control). Integrating the commands in a pipeline will definitely accelerate your installation journey.
See API docuementation for more information.
Hope that helps.