Node-RED: Connecting to MQTT via WebSockets

This documentation is part of the MQTT Server guide. You can view the complete guide here: How to connect Node-RED to the Mosquitto MQTT server.

Welcome to the Stackhero documentation

Stackhero offers a fully managed Node-RED cloud environment designed to help you build workflows quickly:

• Integrated MQTT server (Mosquitto) for seamless IoT integration.
• Full access to the Node-RED admin interface for managing your flows and settings.
• Node-RED Dashboard included for real-time visualization.
• Dedicated SMTP email server included, with no sending limits.
• Effortless one-click updates to easily keep your instance up to date.
• Custom domain names with automatic HTTPS: for example, https://node-red.your-company.com.
• High performance and enhanced security thanks to private, dedicated infrastructure.

You can have a secure, production-ready Node-RED cloud hosting instance up and running in about 5 minutes. Stackhero takes care of installation, updates, and infrastructure so you can focus on building your automations.

You have the option to connect to the Mosquitto MQTT server either using the MQTT protocol or via WebSockets.

While the MQTT protocol is lightweight and especially suitable for IoT devices, it is not natively supported by web browsers. If you want to interact with your MQTT server from a browser, it's recommended to use WebSockets. This method encapsulates MQTT traffic within the WebSocket protocol and works seamlessly with Stackhero's services.

To enable WebSocket connectivity, simply activate the "WebSocket Support" option in your Stackhero dashboard. Once enabled, configure your client to use the WebSocket URL: wss://<XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com:443/mqtt. Be sure to replace the default mqtts://<XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com with this WebSocket URL for browser-based connections.

Choosing an MQTT library

For development, the "MQTT.js" library is highly recommended. It's a robust JavaScript library compatible with both Node.js and browser environments. You can find more information on its official repository.

Example: Connecting from browser to MQTT via WebSockets

For a concrete example of connecting from a browser to the MQTT server via WebSockets, you can refer to this repository: https://github.com/stackhero-io/mqttWebSocketGettingStarted. Feel free to modify the src/index.html file with your server's url, username, and password to match your setup.

MQTT WebSocket example

Before testing this setup, make sure that WebSocket support is enabled in your Stackhero dashboard. This will ensure browser-based connections work properly.