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 use the broker and Coreflux HUB from your browser.

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 instance without installing anything. Request a trial on the Coreflux website, and you will receive an email with a URL (used for both the Coreflux HUB and the MQTT broker) and login 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
URL	Open the HUB in your browser and connect MQTT clients to the same host (broker and HUB share one address)
Credentials	Username and password for the HUB login screen and for MQTT clients

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

Open the HUB

Paste the URL from the email into your browser. On the login page, enter your username and password and click Connect to Coreflux. Use the Broker field from the email if it is pre-filled differently than your trial URL.

Coreflux HUB login page with username, password, and Connect to Coreflux

From the HUB you can deploy LoT Actions, browse MQTT topics in the Data Viewer, and manage Routes—same experience as a local Docker install.

Connect MQTT clients

Use the same host as the URL in 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).

HUB remote access: If your browser blocks the HUB page, allow unsecure access (or proceed past the certificate warning) for the trial URL. Managed trial environments often use certificates that browsers flag on first visit.

After the HUB loads, continue with Getting Started using the Coreflux HUB tabs—your trial already includes the HUB and broker.

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 -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 coreflux/coreflux-mqtt-broker:latest

Port	Protocol	Description
`1883`	TCP	MQTT (unencrypted)
`5000`	WebSocket	WebSocket connections
`8080`	HTTP	Coreflux HUB (unencrypted)
`8443`	HTTPS	Coreflux HUB (TLS)

Open the HUB at http://localhost:8080 (or https://localhost:8443 with TLS) after the container starts.

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

TLS/SSL Ports (when using certificates)

If you configure TLS certificates, expose these additional ports:

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—either in the Coreflux HUB (no extra tools) or with an MQTT client.

Coreflux HUB
MQTT Explorer

Open the HUB

Open your environment URL in the browser—for a Cloud Trial, use the address from your email; for Docker, use http://localhost:8080 (or https://localhost:8443 with TLS).

Enter your credentials on the login page and click Connect to Coreflux.

Coreflux HUB login with username, password, and Connect to Coreflux

Confirm the dashboard loaded

After a successful login, you should see the HUB home screen with the bottom navigation bar.

Coreflux HUB dashboard with Start here pointing to the first navigation icon

The status bar shows route count and license info—the broker is reachable from the HUB.

Browse MQTT data

Select MQTT → Data Viewer. Expand $SYS/Coreflux in the Topic Tree—you should see broker topics such as Config, Version, and Resources updating live.

Coreflux HUB Data Viewer with Publish panel, Topic Tree, and tracked topic details

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