Installation

Why Install Locally?

Running Coreflux on your own machine gives you a complete IoT data pipeline—MQTT broker, LoT runtime, and data routing—without external dependencies. Prefer zero setup? Start with a Cloud Trial and connect MQTT clients to the hosted broker.

Coreflux runs as a single binary or container. No databases, no message queues, no orchestration needed—just download and run.

Install Coreflux

Get a hosted Coreflux broker without installing anything. Request a trial on the Coreflux website, and you will receive an email with the broker host and MQTT credentials.

Request a trial

Go to coreflux.org and submit a trial request using the form on the site.

Check your email

When your environment is ready, Coreflux sends an email with:

Item	What you use it for
Host / URL	MQTT broker address (use this hostname in MQTT Explorer or the VS Code extension)
Credentials	Username and password for MQTT clients

The broker may take up to 60 seconds to be fully available after you receive the email. If the MQTT connection fails immediately, wait briefly and try again.

Connect MQTT clients

Use the host from your email (not localhost). For MQTT Explorer and other desktop clients:

Setting	Value
Protocol	MQTTS (MQTT over TLS)
Port	8883
Username / Password	From your trial email

In MQTT Explorer specifically: enable Encryption, and disable Validate certificate (the trial broker uses a certificate that desktop tools may not trust by default).

Continue with Getting Started using the VS Code Extension or MQTT Client tabs to deploy your first LoT Action.

Docker is the fastest way to get Coreflux running. The official image works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Pull the image from Docker Hub or open a terminal and run the command below—Docker will pull automatically if the image is not present.

docker run -d --name coreflux_broker -p 1883:1883 -p 5000:5000 coreflux/coreflux-mqtt-broker:latest

Port	Protocol	Description
`1883`	TCP	MQTT (unencrypted)
`5000`	WebSocket	WebSocket connections

New to Docker? Visit the official Docker documentation to learn more.

Coreflux HUB (beta) — optional Docker install

Coreflux HUB is in beta for this release. It is not included in the default broker-only install above. To run the broker with the HUB beta UI, publish ports 8080 (HTTP) and 8443 (HTTPS) and use the same image:

docker run -d --name coreflux_broker -p 1883:1883 -p 5000:5000 -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 coreflux/coreflux-mqtt-broker:latest

Port	Protocol	Description
`8080`	HTTP	Coreflux HUB (beta, unencrypted)
`8443`	HTTPS	Coreflux HUB (beta, TLS)

After the container starts, open http://localhost:8080 or https://localhost:8443. HUB features and UI may change while in beta.

TLS/SSL Ports (when using certificates)

If you configure TLS certificates, expose these additional ports on the broker-only command:

docker run -d --name coreflux_broker -p 1883:1883 -p 5000:5000 -p 8883:8883 -p 443:443 coreflux/coreflux-mqtt-broker:latest

With HUB beta, add 8080, 8443, and the TLS ports in one run:

docker run -d --name coreflux_broker -p 1883:1883 -p 5000:5000 -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 -p 8883:8883 -p 443:443 coreflux/coreflux-mqtt-broker:latest

Port	Protocol	Description
`8883`	TCP/TLS	MQTT over TLS
`443`	WSS	WebSocket over TLS

See Broker Configuration for TLS setup.

Deploy Coreflux in seconds with our 1-Click Droplet on DigitalOcean Marketplace. This is the fastest way to get a production-ready broker running in the cloud.

Click Deploy

Click the button above or visit the Coreflux Marketplace page.

Choose Your Droplet Size

Select a plan based on your needs:

Plan	RAM	vCPUs	Best For
Basic	1 GB	1	Development, testing
Basic	2 GB	1	Small deployments
Basic	4 GB	2	Recommended ✓

We recommend the 4 GB / 2 vCPU droplet for most use cases. It provides headroom for LoT Actions, multiple routes, and moderate message throughput.

Select Region

Choose a datacenter close to your devices for lower latency.

Create Droplet

Click Create Droplet and wait ~60 seconds for deployment.

Connect to Your Broker

Once the droplet is ready, use the public IP address to connect:

Setting	Value
Host	`<your-droplet-ip>`
Port	`1883`
Username	`root`
Password	`coreflux`

Change the default password immediately after first login. SSH into your droplet and update the broker configuration.

Exposed Ports

The Coreflux droplet exposes the following ports by default:

Port	Protocol	Description
`1883`	TCP	MQTT (unencrypted)
`8883`	TCP/TLS	MQTT over TLS
`5000`	WebSocket	WebSocket connections
`443`	WSS	WebSocket over TLS

Configure your DigitalOcean firewall to restrict access as needed.

SSH Access

To manage your Coreflux installation via SSH:

ssh root@<your-droplet-ip>

The Coreflux broker runs as a systemd service. Common commands:

# Check status
sudo systemctl status coreflux

# Restart broker
sudo systemctl restart coreflux

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u coreflux -f

Download and install Coreflux, then register it as a Windows service using the native sc tool.

Download the Windows zip from coreflux.org/downloads
Extract the zip file to your preferred location (e.g., C:\Coreflux)
Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

sc create CorefluxBroker binPath= "C:\Coreflux\CorefluxMQTTBroker.exe" start= auto DisplayName= "Coreflux MQTT Broker"
sc description CorefluxBroker "Coreflux MQTT Broker Service"
sc start CorefluxBroker

The service is now registered, set to start automatically on boot, and running.

Manage the service

Use these native Windows commands to control the service:

sc stop CorefluxBroker
sc start CorefluxBroker
sc query CorefluxBroker

You can also manage it from Services (services.msc) in Windows.

Uninstall the service

Stop and remove the service with:

sc stop CorefluxBroker
sc delete CorefluxBroker

Download and run the Coreflux binary on Linux x64 systems.Quick Start (foreground):

Download the Linux zip from coreflux.org/downloads
Extract and run (replace <downloaded-file> with your actual filename):

unzip <downloaded-file>.zip -d coreflux
cd coreflux
chmod +x CorefluxMQTTBroker
./CorefluxMQTTBroker

Production Setup (systemd service):

Create a service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/coreflux.service

Add this configuration (adjust paths as needed):

[Unit]
Description=Coreflux MQTT Broker
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/opt/coreflux
ExecStart=/opt/coreflux/CorefluxMQTTBroker
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable coreflux
sudo systemctl start coreflux

Check the status:

sudo systemctl status coreflux

Download and run the Coreflux binary on Raspberry Pi (64-bit ARM).Quick Start (foreground):

Download the Raspberry Pi zip from coreflux.org/downloads
Extract and run (replace <downloaded-file> with your actual filename):

unzip <downloaded-file>.zip -d coreflux
cd coreflux
chmod +x CorefluxMQTTBroker
./CorefluxMQTTBroker

Production Setup (systemd service):

Create a service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/coreflux.service

Add this configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Coreflux MQTT Broker
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/coreflux
ExecStart=/home/pi/coreflux/CorefluxMQTTBroker
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable coreflux
sudo systemctl start coreflux

Check the status:

sudo systemctl status coreflux

Verify Installation

Confirm the broker is running with an MQTT client (or the VS Code LoT extension).

MQTT Explorer

Open MQTT Explorer

Download MQTT Explorer or use any MQTT client of your choice.

Connect to the Broker

Create a new connection with these settings:

Setting	Value
Host	`localhost` (or your trial URL host for Cloud Trial)
Port	`1883` (local Docker) or 8883 with MQTTS (Cloud Trial)
Username	`root` (or credentials from your trial email)
Password	`coreflux` (or credentials from your trial email)

For Cloud Trial, use MQTTS on port 8883, enable Encryption, and disable Validate certificate in MQTT Explorer.

Check System Topics

Subscribe to $SYS/# to see broker status messages. If you see topics such as $SYS/Coreflux/Version, the broker is running correctly.

You should see Coreflux system topics under $SYS/Coreflux/.

Next Steps

Getting Started

Create your first LoT Action in under 15 minutes.

VS Code Extension

Set up the LoT language extension for syntax highlighting.

Quick Start

Developing and Managing Coreflux

Coreflux MQTT Broker

LoT Language

Product Updates

Why Install Locally?

Install Coreflux

Verify Installation

Next Steps

Getting Started

VS Code Extension

Quick Start

Developing and Managing Coreflux

Coreflux MQTT Broker

LoT Language

Product Updates

Documentation Index

​Why Install Locally?

​Install Coreflux

​Verify Installation

​Next Steps

Getting Started

VS Code Extension

Why Install Locally?

Install Coreflux

Verify Installation

Next Steps