Python Device SDK

The ThingsBoard Python Device SDK (tb-mqtt-client) lets Python applications connect to ThingsBoard as a device over MQTT. It wraps the Paho MQTT library and supports unencrypted and TLS v1.2 connections, QoS 0 and 1, and automatic reconnection.

Installation

pip3 install tb-mqtt-client

Getting started

Connect to ThingsBoard, send telemetry, and verify delivery:

from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient, TBPublishInfo

telemetry = {"temperature": 41.9, "enabled": False, "currentFirmwareVersion": "v1.2.2"}
client = TBDeviceMqttClient("mqtt.eu.thingsboard.cloud", username="A1_TEST_TOKEN")
# Connect to ThingsBoard
client.connect()
# Sending telemetry without checking the delivery status
client.send_telemetry(telemetry)
# Sending telemetry and checking the delivery status (QoS = 1 by default)
result = client.send_telemetry(telemetry)
# get is a blocking call that awaits delivery status
success = result.get() == TBPublishInfo.TB_ERR_SUCCESS
# Disconnect from ThingsBoard
client.disconnect()

TLS connection

Connect over MQTT SSL using certificates:

from socket import gethostname
from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient

client = TBDeviceMqttClient(gethostname())
client.connect(tls=True,
               ca_certs="mqttserver.pub.pem",
               cert_file="mqttclient.nopass.pem")
client.disconnect()

Receive shared attribute updates via callbacks:

import time
from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient

def on_attributes_change(result, *args):
  print(result)

client = TBDeviceMqttClient("mqtt.eu.thingsboard.cloud", username="A1_TEST_TOKEN")
client.connect()
client.subscribe_to_attribute("uploadFrequency", on_attributes_change)
client.subscribe_to_all_attributes(on_attributes_change)

while True:
  time.sleep(1)

Send telemetry in bulk

Optimize throughput by sending multiple telemetry packets at once:

from time import time
from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient, TBPublishInfo

telemetry_with_ts = {"ts": int(round(time() * 1000)), "values": {"temperature": 42.1, "humidity": 70}}
client = TBDeviceMqttClient("mqtt.eu.thingsboard.cloud", username="A1_TEST_TOKEN")
# Increase max inflight messages for better throughput
client.max_inflight_messages_set(100)
client.connect()
results = []
result = True
for i in range(0, 100):
  results.append(client.send_telemetry(telemetry_with_ts))
for tmp_result in results:
  result &= tmp_result.get() == TBPublishInfo.TB_ERR_SUCCESS
print("Result", str(result))
client.disconnect()

Request attributes from server

Retrieve shared attributes asynchronously:

from time import sleep
from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient

def on_attributes_change(result, exception):
  if exception is not None:
      print("Exception:", str(exception))
  else:
      print(result)

client = TBDeviceMqttClient("mqtt.eu.thingsboard.cloud", username="A1_TEST_TOKEN")
client.connect()
client.request_attributes(["configuration", "targetFirmwareVersion"], callback=on_attributes_change)

while True:
  sleep(1)

Respond to server RPC calls

Handle server-side RPC requests and send responses:

import time
from tb_device_mqtt import TBDeviceMqttClient

try:
  import psutil
except ImportError:
  print("Please install psutil using 'pip install psutil' command")
  exit(1)

def on_server_side_rpc_request(request_id, request_body):
  print(request_id, request_body)
  if request_body["method"] == "getCPULoad":
      client.send_rpc_reply(request_id, {"CPU percent": psutil.cpu_percent()})
  elif request_body["method"] == "getMemoryUsage":
      client.send_rpc_reply(request_id, {"Memory": psutil.virtual_memory().percent})

client = TBDeviceMqttClient("mqtt.eu.thingsboard.cloud", username="A1_TEST_TOKEN")
client.set_server_side_rpc_request_handler(on_server_side_rpc_request)
client.connect()

while True:
  time.sleep(1)

More examples

Additional examples are available in the thingsboard-python-client-sdk GitHub repository.