Broker Commands - Coreflux Documentation

Overview

The Coreflux MQTT broker provides a rich set of commands that you can use to manage users, rules, models, actions, routes, and more. These commands are published to the $SYS/Coreflux/Command topic to control and configure the broker.

Why Use Broker Commands?

Instead of editing configuration files and restarting the broker, you can manage everything at runtime through MQTT messages. Add users, deploy LoT Actions, configure Routes—all without downtime.

Think of broker commands as a remote control for your broker. You send a message to a special topic, and the broker immediately responds—no SSH, no restarts, no manual file editing.

Command Format

Commands are sent to the broker via MQTT messages published to the $SYS/Coreflux/Command topic. The general format is:

-commandName <argument>

For example:

-addAction DEFINE ACTION MyAction ON EVERY 10 SECONDS DO PUBLISH TOPIC "test" WITH "hello"

Command responses are published to $SYS/Coreflux/Command/Output. Subscribe to this topic to receive feedback from your commands.

User Management Commands

Manage broker users and their credentials.

Adding a User

Create a new user with a username and password:

-addUser <username> <password>

Example:

-addUser operator SecurePass123!

Response: User operator added successfully!

Removing a User

Remove an existing user from the broker:

-removeUser <username>

Example:

-removeUser operator

Response: User operator removed successfully!

Changing User Password

Update a user’s password:

-changeUserPassword <username> <newPassword>

Example:

-changeUserPassword operator NewSecurePass456!

Response: Password for user operator changed successfully!

Changing User Settings

Modify specific settings for a user:

-changeUserSettings <username> <settingName> <newValue>

Response: Settings for user updated successfully!

LoT Commands

Commands for managing LoT (Language of Things) entities.

Rules

Rules define access control and permissions for the broker. See the Rules documentation for complete syntax reference.

Rules are LoT code and can also be deployed directly from a LoT Notebook by running the cell containing your rule definition.

Adding a Rule

-addRule DEFINE RULE <RuleName> WITH PRIORITY <number> FOR <Scope> [TO TOPIC "<pattern>"]
    IF <condition> THEN
        ALLOW
    ELSE
        DENY

Example — Restrict Action creation to admins:

-addRule DEFINE RULE AllowActionCreation WITH PRIORITY 1 FOR ActionManagementCreation
    IF USER IS "root" OR USER IS "admin" THEN
        ALLOW
    ELSE
        DENY

Response: Rule 'AllowActionCreation' added successfully

Example — Control topic access:

-addRule DEFINE RULE RestrictSensorPublish WITH PRIORITY 1 FOR Publish TO TOPIC "sensors/#"
    IF USER HAS SensorPermission THEN
        ALLOW
    ELSE
        DENY

Response: Rule 'RestrictSensorPublish' added successfully

Removing a Rule

-removeRule <ruleName>

Example:

-removeRule AllowActionCreation

Response: Rule 'AllowActionCreation' removed successfully

Models

Models define data structures for topic payloads.

Adding a Model

-addModel DEFINE MODEL <modelName>
    <model definition>

Example:

-addModel DEFINE MODEL TemperatureSensor
    WITH TOPIC "sensors/+/temperature"
    ADD FIELD temperature WITH TYPE Float
    ADD FIELD unit WITH TYPE String
    ADD FIELD timestamp WITH TYPE DateTime

Response: Model 'TemperatureSensor' added successfully

Removing a Model

-removeModel <modelName>

Example:

-removeModel TemperatureSensor

Response: Model 'TemperatureSensor' removed successfully

Removing All Models

-removeAllModels

Response: All models removed successfully

This command removes ALL models from the broker. Use with caution.

Actions

Actions define automated behaviors triggered by events or schedules.

Adding an Action

-addAction DEFINE ACTION <actionName>
    <action definition>

Example - Time-based Action:

-addAction DEFINE ACTION Heartbeat
    ON EVERY 10 SECONDS DO
        PUBLISH TOPIC "system/heartbeat" WITH TIMESTAMP "UTC"

Example - Topic-based Action:

-addAction DEFINE ACTION EchoMessage
    ON TOPIC "input/data" DO
        PUBLISH TOPIC "output/echo" WITH PAYLOAD

Response: Action 'Heartbeat' added successfully

Removing an Action

-removeAction <actionName>

Example:

-removeAction Heartbeat

Response: Action 'Heartbeat' removed successfully

Running an Action Manually

Trigger an action to run immediately:

-runAction <actionName>

Example:

-runAction Heartbeat

Response: Action 'Heartbeat' executed successfully

Removing All Actions

-removeAllActions

Response: All actions removed successfully

Routes

Routes configure connections to external systems and data pipelines.

Adding a Route

-addRoute DEFINE ROUTE <routeName> WITH TYPE <routeType>
    <route configuration>

Example - MQTT Bridge:

-addRoute DEFINE ROUTE CloudBridge WITH TYPE MQTT_BRIDGE
    ADD SOURCE_CONFIG
        WITH BROKER SELF
    ADD DESTINATION_CONFIG
        WITH BROKER_ADDRESS "iot.cloudprovider.com"
        WITH BROKER_PORT '8883'
        WITH USE_TLS true
    ADD MAPPING sensorData
        WITH SOURCE_TOPIC "sensors/#"
        WITH DESTINATION_TOPIC "factory1/sensors/#"
        WITH DIRECTION "out"

Response: Route 'CloudBridge' added successfully

Removing a Route

-removeRoute <routeName>

Example:

-removeRoute CloudBridge

Response: Route 'CloudBridge' removed successfully

Listing All Routes

Get a list of all registered routes:

-listRoutes

Response: List of all registered routes with their status

Getting Route Template Code

Retrieve a template for a specific route type:

-routeCode <routeType>

Example:

-routeCode POSTGRESQL

Response: Template code with all available parameters for the route type

Removing All Routes

-removeAllRoutes

Response: All routes removed successfully

Diagnostics

Commands for troubleshooting and debugging LoT entities.

Running LoT Diagnostic

Run diagnostics on a specific entity:

-lotDiagnostic <entityType> <entityName>

Example:

-lotDiagnostic action MyAction

Response: Diagnostic information for the specified entity

Getting Pending Status

Check the status of pending models and actions:

-getPendingStatus

Response: Status of all pending models and actions

Environment & Secrets Commands

Version Requirement: Environment variable and secret commands are available from Coreflux Broker v1.9.3 and above.

Manage environment variables and encrypted secrets at runtime. Environment variables are stored in plain text in the .env file. Secrets are encrypted with AES-256-GCM and stored in secrets.json. See Environment Variables & Secrets for full details.

Setting an Environment Variable

-setEnv NAME=value

Persists the variable to the managed .env file. Example:

-setEnv DB_HOST=postgres.example.com

Response: Environment variable 'DB_HOST' set successfully

Removing an Environment Variable

-removeEnv NAME

Example:

-removeEnv OLD_CONFIG

Response: Environment variable 'OLD_CONFIG' removed successfully

Listing Environment Variables

-listEnv

Response: List of all managed environment variables and their values

Setting a Secret

-setSecret NAME=value

Encrypts the value with AES-256-GCM and persists it to secrets.json. Example:

-setSecret DB_PASSWORD=my_secure_password

Response: Secret 'DB_PASSWORD' set successfully

Removing a Secret

-removeSecret NAME

Example:

-removeSecret OLD_API_KEY

Response: Secret 'OLD_API_KEY' removed successfully

Listing Secrets

-listSecrets

Response: List of secret names (values are never displayed)

Secret values are never shown in command output, logs, or any broker interface. Only secret names are listed.

Python Integration Commands

Manage Python scripts within the broker for custom data processing.

Adding a Python Script

-addPython <scriptName> <code>

Example:

-addPython Calculator
# Script Name: Calculator

def add(a, b):
    return a + b

def multiply(a, b):
    return a * b

Response: Python script 'Calculator' added successfully

Python scripts must start with # Script Name: YourScriptName to be recognized by the system. The script name is used when calling Python functions from LoT actions using the CALL PYTHON syntax.

Removing a Python Script

-removePython <scriptName>

Example:

-removePython Calculator

Response: Python script 'Calculator' removed successfully

Installing Python Packages

Install additional Python packages via pip:

-installPythonPackage <packageName>

Example:

-installPythonPackage numpy

Response: Package 'numpy' installed successfully

Listing Installed Packages

View all installed Python packages:

-listPythonPackages

Response: List of all installed Python packages

Removing All Python Scripts

-removeAllPythonScripts

Response: All Python scripts removed successfully

System Commands

Trace Logging Commands

Trace logging allows you to capture and monitor specific log events in the Coreflux system.

Adding a Trace Log Point

-addTraceLog level=<Level>,lifetime=<Seconds>,messageContains=<Substring>,topic=<mqttTopic>

Parameters:

Parameter	Description
`level`	Log level: `Debug`, `Information`, `Warning`, `Error`, `Fatal`
`lifetime`	Duration in seconds before the trace point expires
`messageContains`	Filter logs containing this substring
`topic`	MQTT topic where matching logs will be published

Example:

-addTraceLog level=Information,lifetime=3600,messageContains=sensor,topic=logs/sensors

This creates a trace point that:

Captures logs at Information level or higher
Automatically expires after 3600 seconds (1 hour)
Only captures logs containing “sensor”
Publishes matching logs to logs/sensors

Response: Trace log point added successfully

Listing Trace Log Points

View all active trace points:

-listTraceLogs

Response: List of all active trace log points

Removing a Trace Log Point

Remove a specific trace point by topic:

-removeTraceLog <topic>

Example:

-removeTraceLog logs/sensors

Response: Trace log point removed successfully

Removing All Trace Log Points

-removeAllTraceLogs

Response: All trace log points removed successfully

Connection Status

View the status of all database connections and their recovery patterns:

-connectionStatus

Response: Status of all database connections

Update Data

Trigger a refresh of broker data:

-updateData

Response: Data refresh triggered successfully

Command Authorization

Commands are subject to authorization rules defined in the broker. Not all users may have permission to execute all commands. See the Rules documentation for information on setting up access control.

Always ensure proper access control is configured before exposing the command topic to untrusted clients.

​Overview

​Why Use Broker Commands?

​Command Format

​User Management Commands

​Adding a User

​Removing a User

​Changing User Password

​Changing User Settings

​LoT Commands

​Rules

​Adding a Rule

​Removing a Rule

​Models

​Adding a Model

​Removing a Model

​Removing All Models

​Actions

​Adding an Action

​Removing an Action

​Running an Action Manually

​Removing All Actions

​Routes

​Adding a Route

​Removing a Route

​Listing All Routes

​Getting Route Template Code

​Removing All Routes

​Diagnostics

​Running LoT Diagnostic

​Getting Pending Status

​Environment & Secrets Commands

​Setting an Environment Variable

​Removing an Environment Variable

​Listing Environment Variables

​Setting a Secret

​Removing a Secret

​Listing Secrets

​Python Integration Commands

​Adding a Python Script

​Removing a Python Script

​Installing Python Packages

​Listing Installed Packages

​Removing All Python Scripts

​System Commands

​Trace Logging Commands

​Adding a Trace Log Point

​Listing Trace Log Points

​Removing a Trace Log Point

​Removing All Trace Log Points

​Connection Status

​Update Data

​Command Authorization

​Next Steps

LoT Actions

LoT Models

Overview

Why Use Broker Commands?

Command Format

User Management Commands

Adding a User

Removing a User

Changing User Password

Changing User Settings

LoT Commands

Rules

Adding a Rule

Removing a Rule

Models

Adding a Model

Removing a Model

Removing All Models

Actions

Adding an Action

Removing an Action

Running an Action Manually

Removing All Actions

Routes

Adding a Route

Removing a Route

Listing All Routes

Getting Route Template Code

Removing All Routes

Diagnostics

Running LoT Diagnostic

Getting Pending Status

Environment & Secrets Commands

Setting an Environment Variable

Removing an Environment Variable

Listing Environment Variables

Setting a Secret

Removing a Secret

Listing Secrets

Python Integration Commands

Adding a Python Script

Removing a Python Script

Installing Python Packages

Listing Installed Packages

Removing All Python Scripts

System Commands

Trace Logging Commands

Adding a Trace Log Point

Listing Trace Log Points

Removing a Trace Log Point

Removing All Trace Log Points

Connection Status

Update Data

Command Authorization

Next Steps