PLEASE READ

You might not need to install this software. This software is used by the FarmBot team and advanced users who run their own FarmBot servers. We highly recommend that you use our publicly hosted server at my.farmbot.io, which eliminates the need for server setup.

How It Works

Farmbot uses MQTT for realtime events. On the device side, this is handled over a TCP connection to the MQTT broker. On the browser, this is performed over a Websocket connection.

Our MQTT Implementation

• Log in to the broker using the same email as on the web app. A JSON Web Token from the API can be used as a password.
• Messages are sent using Celery Script, which is a domain-specific JSON format used to send messages (and sequences) to FarmBot. If you would like documentation or specifics, please let me know via an issue. CeleryScript transmission is usually handled by FarmBotJS, a wrapper library that eliminates the need to write Celery Script directly.

Available MQTT Topics

• bot/device_{ BOT_ID }/from_clients: Commands originated from browsers and clients.
• bot/device_{ BOT_ID }/from_device: This is where the bot publishes messages.
• bot/${uuid}/status: Everytime bot state changes (Eg: a pin is flipped, movement, etc.) a JSON representation of the bot status is sent.
• bot/${uuid}/logs: General log messages. The same ones seen on the nav bar of the FarmBot Web App.

Subscribing to bot/{ BOT_UUID }/* via 3rd party MQTT client (Such as MQTT FX) is useful for debugging and monitoring.

Installation

1. git clone THIS_REPO
2. cd THIS_REPO
3. npm install
4. Setup and run the Web API locally. We recommend running it on http://localhost:3000
5. WEB_API_URL=http://localhost:3000 npm start. See note below*.
6. Websocket MQTT is now available via ws://localhost:3002 and wss://localhost:443. Raw MQTT (TCP connections) are available via mqtt://localhost:1883.

* The assumption is that you are running a Web API instance on localhost:3000. If you are using a different API server, please change WEB_API_URL accordingly.

ENV var reference

The MQTT broker uses ENV vars as the main means of configuration. These must be set properly for the app to work.

• WEB_API_URL: URL to your FarmBot API. For instance, if you were running the API locally, you would set this value to localhost:3000.
• SSL_DOMAIN: Optional.. Do not set if you do not plan on using Let's Encrypt. This is the domain that Let's Encrypt will verify ownership of.
• SSL_EMAIL: Optional.. Email for correspondence related to Let's Encrypt.

Running on Local (for development)

• Start the FarmBot API on your local machine on default port.
• Run npm run dev

Running the Test Suite

npm test

Provisioning a Production Server

See DEPLOYMENT.md.

Want to Help?

See TODO items in the codebase or ask how you can help via an issue.