An automatic system has been completed for conditioning cold field‐emission tips to obtain high flux density and low‐noise emission. It was designed as a real‐time control and operating system for the electron source of a new sextupole‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscope and is able to condition the tipinsitu. All of the control devices in this system are interfaced to a computer and communication across the electric field created by the 200‐kV acceleration voltage is accomplished with light pipes. A program, written in Pascal, controls the conditioning process. This system has been utilized to experimentally determine the optimal flash level for a newly fabricated tip as well as performing corrective maintenance to the conditioned tip to extend its maximum useful lifetime.