An Edge Agent for running Node-RED instances deployed from the FlowFuse Platform
npm install @flowforge/flowforge-device-agentThis module provides an agent that runs Node-RED instances deployed from the
FlowFuse platform.
- NodeJS v18 or later
- A FlowFuse platform to connect to
For users that require NodeJS v14 and v16 support the v2.x stream will work.
The Device Agent can be installed on most Linux distributions, Windows, and MacOS.
The Device Agent is published to the public npm repository as @flowfuse/device-agent.
It can be installed as a global npm module. This will ensure the agent command is on the path.
Note: previous versions of the agent were published as @flowforge/flowforge-device-agent.
``bash`
sudo npm install -g @flowfuse/device-agent
`bash`
npm install -g @flowfuse/device-agent
We publish a Docker container for the Device Agent as flowfuse/device-agent on DockerHub.
When running with the container you will need to mount the device.yml obtained when Registering the device:
`bash`
docker run --mount type=bind,src=/path/to/device.yml,target=/opt/flowfuse-device/device.yml -p 1880:1880 flowfuse/device-agent:latest
The agent configuration is provided by a device.yml file within its working
directory.
By default the agent uses /opt/flowfuse-device or c:\opt\flowfuse-device as -d/--dir
its working directory. This can be overridden with the option.
For backwards compatibility with previous versions, the agent will use /opt/flowforge-device
if it is exists, unless overridden on the command-line.
NOTE: The device agent will attempt to create the working directory if it is not found,
however if an error occurs, the device agent will exit and report a startup error.
#### Linux/MacOS
`bash`
sudo mkdir /opt/flowfuse-device
sudo chown -R $USER /opt/flowfuse-device
#### Windows (run elevated)
`bash`
mkdir c:\opt\flowfuse-device
When the device is registered on the FlowFuse platform, a group of configuration
details are provided. These can be copied from the platform, downloaded directly
as a yml file or pulled from the FlowFuse server using the command issued by the
platform when you create a device. More details on this can be found
in the FlowFuse documentation.
This file should exist in the working directory as device.yml.
A different config file can be specified with the -c/--config option.
The file must contain the following options (these are the ones provided by
FlowFuse)
Required options | Description
-------------------|---------------
deviceId | The id for the device on the FlowFuse platformtoken | Access Token to connect to the FF platformcredentialSecret | Key to decrypt the flow credentialsforgeURL | The base url of the FlowFuse platform
To enable MQTT connectivity, the following options are required. They are provided
by the platform if MQTT comms are enabled.
MQTT options | Description
-----------------|---------------
brokerURL | The url for the platform brokerbrokerUsername | The username to connect with - device: | The password to connect with
The following options can be added:
Extra options | Description
----------------|---------------
interval | How often, in seconds, the agent checks in with the platform. Default: 60sintervalJitter| How much, in seconds, to vary the heartbeat +/- intervalJitter. Default: 10smoduleCache | If the device can not access npmjs.org then use the node modules cache in module_cache directory. Default false
#### Node-RED options
The following options are passed through to Node-RED:
Node-RED options | Description
-----------------|---------------
port | The port to listen on. Default: 1880https | Enable HTTPS. See below for detailshttpStatic | Enable serving of static content from a local pathhttpNodeAuth | If set, any endpoints created in Node-RED flows will require this username and password to access them. Default: false | When configured, local login is possible
##### https configuration
The https configuration option can be used to enable HTTPS within Node-RED. The valueshttps
are passed through to the Node-RED setting.
The ca, key and cert properties can be used to provide custom certificates and keys.
The values should be set to the contents of the certificate/key.
Alternatively, the properties caPath, keyPath and certPath can be used instead
to provide absolute paths to files containing the certificates/keys.
`yml`
https:
keyPath: /opt/flowfuse-device/certs/key.pem
certPath: /opt/flowfuse-device/certs/cert.pem
caPath: /opt/flowfuse-device/certs/ca.pem
##### httpStatic configuration
This option can be used to serve content from a local directory.
If set to a path, the files in that directory will be served relative to /.
`yml`
httpStatic: /opt/flowfuse-device/static-content
It is also possible to configure it with a list of directories and the corresponding
path they should be served from.
`yml`
httpStatic:
- path: /opt/flowfuse-device/static-content/images
root: /images
- path: /opt/flowfuse-device/static-content/js
root: /js
##### httpNodeAuth configuration
This option can be used to apply basic auth to HTTP endpoints created in Node-RED.
This will also protect node-red-dashboard.
Full details can be found in HTTP Node security documentation.
Example:
`yml`
httpNodeAuth:
user: user
pass: $2a$08$zZWtXTja0fB1pzD4sHCMyOCMYz2Z6dNbM6tl8sJogENOMcxWV9DN.
##### localAuth configuration
The recommended way to securely access the Node-RED editor is via FlowFuse platform.
However, if you want to enable local login within Node-RED, you can use the localAuth configuration.
Example:
`yml`
localAuth:
user: user
pass: $2a$08$zZWtXTja0fB1pzD4sHCMyOCMYz2Z6dNbM6tl8sJogENOMcxWV9DN.
NOTE: localAuth.enabled can be set to false to disable local login without the need to remove the user and pass properties.
The editor is located on the path /device-editor e.g. http://localhost:1880/device-editor
When a device should be auto registered on the FlowFuse platform, a group of provisioning
configuration details are required. These are generated for you in FlowFuse
Team Settings under the Devices tab when you create a provisioning token.
These can be copied from the platform, or downloaded directly as a yml file.
This file should be copied into the working directory as device.yml.
A different config file can be specified with the -c/--config option.
The file must contain the following options (these are the ones provided by
FlowFuse)
Required options | Description
--------------------|---------------
provisioningName | The name of the tokenprovisioningTeam | The team this device will be registered toprovisioningToken | Provisioning Token to connect to the FF platformforgeURL | The base url of the FlowFuse platformdeviceName | Device Name (optional)
The following options can be added:
Extra options | Description
----------------|---------------
interval | How often, in seconds, the agent checks in with the platform. Default: 60sintervalJitter| How much, in seconds, to vary the heartbeat +/- intervalJitter. Default: 10s
If the agent was installed as a global npm module, the command
flowfuse-device-agent will be on the path.
If the default working directory and config file are being used, then the agent
can be started with:
`
$ flowfuse-device-agent
For information about the available command-line arguments, run with -h:
`
Options
-c, --config file Device configuration file. Default: device.yml
-d, --dir dir Where the agent should store its state. Default: /opt/flowfuse-device
-i, --interval secs
-p, --port number
-m, --moduleCache Use local npm module cache rather than install
Web UI Options
-w, --ui Start the Web UI Server (optional, does not run by default)
--ui-host string Web UI server host. Default: (0.0.0.0) (listen on all interfaces)
--ui-port number Web UI server port. Default: 1879
--ui-user string Web UI username. Required if --ui is specified
--ui-pass string Web UI password. Required if --ui is specified
--ui-runtime mins Time the Web UI server is permitted to run. Default: 10
Setup command
-o, --otc string Setup device using a one time code
--otc-no-start Do not start the agent after setup
--otc-no-import Do not ask to import Node-RED flows during setup
-u, --ff-url url URL of FlowFuse. Required for setup
Global Options
-h, --help print out helpful usage information
--version print out version information
-v, --verbose turn on debugging output
`
By default the Device Agent will try and download the correct version of Node-RED and
any nodes required to run the Snapshot that is assigned to run on the device.
If the device is being run on an offline network or security policies prevent the
Device Agent from connecting to npmjs.org then it can be configured to use a pre-cached
set of modules.
You can enable this mode by adding -m to the command line adding moduleCache: true device.yml
to the file. This will cause the Device Agent to load the modules from the module_cache directory in the Device Agents Configuration directory as described above./opt/flowfuse-device/module_cache
By default this will be .
To create a suitable module cache, the device must be assigned to an instance. You will need to
install the modules on a local device with access to npmjs.org, ensuring you use the same
OS and Architecture as your target device, and then copy the modules on to your device.
1. From the Instance Snapshot page, select the snapshot you want to deploy and select the option to download its package.json file.npm install
2. Place this file in an empty directory on your local device.
3. Run to install the modules. This will create a node_modules directory.module_cache
4. On your target device, create a directory called inside the Device Agent Configuration directory.node_modules
5. Copy the directory from your local device to the target device so that it is under the module_cache directory.
An example service file is provided here.
The Device Agents Web UI is provided to enable the user to download a device
configuration or a provisioning configuration file. This is an optional feature and
is not enabled by default.
To enable the UI, use the -w/--ui option. This will start a web server on0.0.0.0
the specified host and port. The default host is and the default port is 1879.
When enabling the UI, a username and password must be provided with the
--ui-user and --ui-pass options.
The UI will only be available for the duration specified by the --ui-runtime. By0
default this is 10 minutes. After this time, the web server will be disabled. The
application must be restarted to re-enable the UI. You can set this to to
disable the timeout. This is not recommended.
The following scripts are available:
- npm start - Start the agentnpm run dev
- - Build the agent and watch for changesnpm run lint
- - Run eslintnpm run lint:fix
- - Run eslint and fix any issuesnpm run test
- - Run all unit testsnpm run test:lib
- - Run the unit tests for the libnpm run test:frontend` - Run the unit tests for the frontend
-