A Simple, Scalable Automation Engine
Modern prototyping tools make it easy to build a demo but extremely hard to transition that prototype into a stable, maintainable industrial product. Teams often redesign hardware from the ground up after using Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or similar prototyping boards, a costly and time-consuming process that burdens long-term support.
The Make Things Happy platform eliminates this gap by standardizing I/O hardware through the IoTextra module family and providing two clear integration paths:
IoTbase for full-featured, serial-ready solutions using SoMs, and IoTsmart for compact wireless MCU nodes. All modules are Open Hardware, well-documented, and usable independently.
To unify these hardware options on the software side, we created IoTflow, a lightweight orchestration layer that defines message topology, automation behavior, and Node-RED communication patterns. IoTflow enables predictable, scalable automation across diverse modules without requiring custom firmware for each device.
IoTflow is a lightweight workflow orchestration system designed to unify automation across IoTextra Digital, Analog and Combo I/O modules and IoTsmart or IoTbase MCU nodes.
It enables no-code programming for distributed MCU nodes, providing a consistent structure for MQTT-based communication and Node-RED automation.
IoTflow is not firmware itself, it is an orchestration layer that defines:
- Message topology
- Workflow behavior
- Automation patterns
- Topic conventions
- Node-RED flow organization
This ensures reliable, scalable, and easily maintainable automation across multiple IoTextra, IoTsmart and IoTbase devices.
- IoTbase PICO - Compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico 2, Pico W, Pico 2W, Waveshare ESP32-S3 PICO
- IoTbase NANO - Arduino Nano ESP32 or ESP32-S3 or Waveshare ESP32-S3 Nano
- IoTsmart ESP32-S3 - Tiny Adaptor Board with Cable is required for flashing
- IoTsmart RP2040 or IoTsmart RP2350A - Tiny Adaptor Board with Cable is required for flashing
- IoTsmart XIAO - Tiny Adaptor Board with Cable is required for flashing
IoTsmart modules are System-on-Module (SOM) microcontroller boards that provide the primary compute and control functionality for the system. Each module integrates a complete MCU environment, and different form factors (soldered SoM, slot-based modules such as the IoTsmart XIAO, etc.) are treated as implementation variations rather than separate device classes.
- IoTextra Input
- IoTextra Octal2
- IoTextra Relay2
- IoTextra SSR Small
- Custom digital mezzanines
- IoTextra Analog
- IoTextra Analog 2
- IoTextra Analog 3
- IoTextra Combo
- Custom analog mezzanines
IoTflow is optimized for:
- MQTT-driven event automation
- Multi-module digital, analog and combo I/O routing
- Structured topic hierarchies for distributed MCU nodes
- Node-RED automation flows (import-ready)
- State-change event pipelines
- Raspberry Pi, Linux gateways, and ESP32-S3 edge automation
- Consistent MCU-to-gateway communication patterns
These workflows allow developers to build stable systems without custom firmware logic for each device.
IoTflow provides import-ready Node-RED flows demonstrating how to implement reliable, event-driven automation across IoTextra and IoTsmart modules:
- State-change detection and conditional logic
- Input → event → output control logic and mapping
- MQTT communication handling and topic parsing
- Multi-device orchestration and routing patterns
- Timed action automations, triggers, notifications and actuator chains
- Integration of IoTextra Digital, Analog and Combo modules with IoTsmart and IoTbase MCU nodes
Examples are stored inside the repository:
/Node-RED Examples/
These flows are compatible with any Node-RED environment and illustrate how to structure topics, triggers, and actions for predictable, scalable automation. Ideal for learning and rapid prototyping.
MQTT is the core transport layer used by IoTflow.
- Well-defined, hierarchical MQTT topics
- Event-driven reporting from IoTsmart and IoTbase nodes
- Structured commands for digital, analog and combo I/O
- Consistent multi-module routing
- Compatibility with Mosquitto, EMQX, Aedes, and similar brokers
This repository does not provide standalone MQTT client code, only the automation structure used to implement workflows.
See full setup instructions in:
📄 SETUP.md
- Clone or download this repository.
- Upload IoTflow Kernel MicroPython files to your MCU (via Thonny or any IDE).
- Use IoTflow Forge to configure workflow parameters and module definitions.
- Ensure an MQTT broker is active on your network.
- Install Node-RED on your gateway (Raspberry Pi or Linux host).
- Import flows from
/Node-RED Examples/. - Configure MQTT topics, device IDs, and automation logic.
- Deploy to activate automation.
IoTflow is intentionally lightweight and compatible with any MQTT + Node-RED stack.
IoTflow/
├─ Documentation/
├─ IoTflow Forge/
├─ IoTflow Kernel/
├─ Node-RED Examples/
├─ node-red-contrib-iotextra/
└─ Media/
Documentation— Architecture notes, guides, and workflow documentationIoTflow Forge— Configuration generator for MCU nodesIoTflow Kernel— Core MicroPython workflow engineNode-RED Examples— Node-RED automation flowsnode-red-contrib-iotextra— Node-RED IoTextra integration nodesMedia— Images and example materials
GPIO reference examples for IoTextra and IoTsmart will be added in future updates by the development team.
These examples are not yet part of the hardware repositories.
Available inside each IoTsmart module folder:
RP2040/docs/RP2350A/docs/ESP32-S3/docs/
- IoTextra-Digital:
SKU Digital IoTextra.pdf - IoTsmart:
SKU IoTsmart.pdf
(Located in each repository root.)
Future additions may include:
- Extended automation templates
- Expanded MQTT topic models
- Enhanced IoTextra module integration
- Secure MQTT authentication options
- Additional distributed workflow examples
All updates will follow the unified documentation and versioning model.
All IoTflow code, documentation, and media are licensed under:
📄 LICENSE
Hardware licenses do not apply, this is a software-only repository.