Coral larvae propagules provide one of the most promising tools in large scale and long-term restoration given high output, diversity and adaptation potential, limited impact to remnant populations, and high transportability potential. However, complexities surrounding coral reproduction timing, spatial planning, and field operations all need to be overcome for the approach to become operationally routine and ecologically relevant. Here, I present research that aims to bridge the gap between active, on-the-ground interventions, with broader scale patterns of larval connectivity for planning how, where and when activities should occur. Current work integrates social and operational scales of working with community stakeholders from remote islands to industry collaborations with marine engineering contractors. Ecological developments involve fine scale empirical assessments of larval behaviour and dispersal potential, novel staining techniques and micro-scale on reef monitoring technologies for tracking larvae in the plankton and once settled on the reef. Physical oceanographic developments include development of fine scale biophysical particle modelling with reef collection and deployment operations to improve the consistency and scale of reef operations for longer-term spatial planning. Our work highlights some of the advancements and optimisms, and context-specific limitations and challenges associated with utilising coral larvae for scaling up coral reef restoration.