MQTT Connector - Mendix Forum

MQTT Connector

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🔍 What is MQTT?

MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight messaging protocol designed for low-bandwidth, high-latency, or unreliable networks — making it ideal for Industrial IoT and Edge environments. It works on a publish-subscribe model, where devices send messages to "topics" and clients can subscribe to those topics to receive data in real time. This makes it a great choice for scenarios like factory automation, sensor monitoring, and remote equipment control.

The MQTT Connector for Mendix enables your Mendix applications to connect with MQTT brokers, giving you a way to receive live data from machines and devices or send commands back to them. Whether you’re monitoring a production line or controlling machinery from a tablet, this connector is built to support real-time, event-driven communication.

đź§­ What You Can Do

With the MQTT Connector, you can build Mendix apps that visualize live sensor data, trigger workflows from machine alerts, or send control commands to field devices. For example, you can subscribe to a topic like factory/machine1/temperature and instantly show that data on a dashboard, or publish a message to line1/motor/command to remotely start or stop a motor.

This is especially useful in industrial edge scenarios, such as when deploying on Siemens Industrial Edge, working with OPC UA to MQTT gateways, or creating apps that operate in offline or semi-connected environments. It also opens the door for digital twin use cases, where physical machine states can be mirrored in Mendix apps through live MQTT streams.

⚙️ How It Works

To get started, you simply install the MQTT Connector module from the Mendix Marketplace. You’ll need to configure your MQTT broker settings — such as the broker URL, port, client ID, and authentication details (username/password or certificate). Once configured, the connector provides ready-to-use actions to connect to the broker, subscribe to topics, publish messages, and handle incoming data via microflows.

For security, it supports TLS-encrypted connections, session settings like QoS levels, clean sessions, and last-will messages. The module also includes a sample Mendix app that shows how to handle incoming messages, visualize live data, and log events — giving you a strong starting point for your own edge-enabled solutions.

đź’ˇ Final Thoughts

If you’re building real-time, data-driven Mendix apps for the shop floor, an industrial site, or an edge device, the MQTT Connector is an essential piece of the puzzle. It brings the power of live, event-based communication to your low-code applications, allowing them to interact directly with machines and sensors in the field.

Whether you're working on predictive maintenance, OEE dashboards, remote control interfaces, or digital twins — this connector helps bridge the gap between your devices and your data. And best of all, it’s lightweight, fast, and built to thrive in industrial environments.

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