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Integrations & Extensibility

WebMACS is designed as a building block — not a closed box. Every feature is accessible through open APIs, so you can connect WebMACS to the rest of your toolchain with zero vendor involvement.

Think of WebMACS as a Swiss army knife for lab and plant data: it does the job on its own, but it also plugs into anything you already use.

Three Ways to Integrate

1. REST API — Build On Top

The REST API exposes 30+ endpoints covering every resource in the system: experiments, events, datapoints, rules, webhooks, dashboards, users, OTA, and system health.

Use cases:

  • Pull experiment data into a custom reporting dashboard
  • Automate experiment start/stop from a CI/CD pipeline
  • Sync sensor configurations across environments
  • Build a mobile companion app
# Example: get the latest datapoint per sensor
curl http://webmacs.local/api/v1/datapoints/latest \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Full REST Reference →

2. WebSocket — Stream in Real Time

The WebSocket API delivers sensor data with sub-second latency. Connect any custom UI, data logger, or monitoring tool to a live data stream.

Use cases:

  • Feed a wall-mounted Grafana dashboard with live sensor values
  • Build a custom HMI touch-screen interface
  • Log data to InfluxDB or TimescaleDB in real time
  • Trigger alerts in external systems instantly
// Connect to the live datapoint stream
const ws = new WebSocket(
  `ws://webmacs.local/ws/datapoints/stream?token=${jwt}`
);

ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(event.data);
  if (msg.type === "datapoints_batch") {
    console.log("Live readings:", msg.datapoints);
  }
};

WebSocket API Reference →

3. Webhooks — React to Events

Webhooks push HMAC-signed HTTP POST requests to any endpoint whenever something happens. No polling required — WebMACS calls you.

Use cases:

  • Send Slack alerts when a sensor exceeds a threshold
  • Trigger a Node-RED flow to activate a safety interlock
  • Notify Home Assistant to turn on ventilation
  • Post experiment results to a central data lake
graph LR
    WM[WebMACS] -->|"sensor.threshold_exceeded"| Slack[Slack Channel]
    WM -->|"sensor.threshold_exceeded"| NR[Node-RED Safety Flow]
    WM -->|"experiment.stopped"| Lake[Data Lake / S3]
    WM -->|"system.health_changed"| PD[PagerDuty / Ops]

Webhook Guide →

Integration at a Glance

Layer Direction Latency Best For
REST API Pull (you request) ~50 ms CRUD operations, data pipelines, mobile apps
WebSocket Stream (continuous) ~10 ms Live dashboards, custom UIs, real-time logging
Webhooks Push (we notify you) ~100 ms Alerts, cross-system automation, event-driven workflows

Mix and match

Most real-world setups combine all three layers. Use the REST API to set up experiments, WebSocket for live monitoring, and webhooks for alerts and automation triggers.

Real-World Integration Architectures

University Lab with Slack Alerts

graph LR
    Reactor[Fluidised-Bed Reactor] --> WM[WebMACS]
    WM -->|Custom Dashboard| Browser[Researcher's Browser]
    WM -->|Webhook| Slack[Lab Slack Channel]
    WM -->|CSV Export| Analysis[Python / MATLAB]
  • Custom dashboard for live monitoring during experiments
  • Slack webhook fires when temperature crosses 200 °C
  • CSV export after each experiment for thesis data analysis

Pilot Plant with Node-RED Safety Layer

graph LR
    Sensors[Temperature + Pressure] --> WM[WebMACS]
    WM -->|Dashboard| ControlRoom[Control Room Screen]
    WM -->|Webhook| NR[Node-RED]
    NR -->|Modbus| Valve[Emergency Shutoff Valve]
    NR -->|HTTP| WM
    WM -->|Webhook| Teams[MS Teams Ops Channel]
  • Custom dashboard on a wall screen with gauges and live charts
  • Node-RED receives sensor.threshold_exceeded → closes safety valve via Modbus
  • Teams webhook notifies the operations team

Multi-Site Monitoring with Central Data Lake

graph TB
    Site1[WebMACS Site 1] -->|REST API| Collector[Data Collector Service]
    Site2[WebMACS Site 2] -->|REST API| Collector
    Site3[WebMACS Site 3] -->|REST API| Collector
    Collector --> Lake[(Central Data Lake)]
    Lake --> BI[Business Intelligence Dashboard]
  • Each site runs WebMACS independently (no cloud dependency)
  • A central service polls each site's REST API for experiment data
  • BI dashboard aggregates across all sites

Webhook Event Types

Event Fires When
sensor.reading Every new datapoint (high volume — use carefully)
sensor.threshold_exceeded An automation rule detects an out-of-range value
experiment.started An experiment begins recording
experiment.stopped An experiment ends
system.health_changed System goes degraded or recovers

Every webhook delivery is HMAC-SHA256 signed when a secret is configured, so you can verify authenticity even over public networks.

Integration Checklist

Step Action
1 Get a JWT token via POST /api/v1/auth/login
2 Decide your pattern: pull (REST), stream (WebSocket), or push (webhook)
3 For webhooks: create a subscription with target URL, secret, and event types
4 For REST: use Authorization: Bearer <token> header
5 For WebSocket: append ?token=<jwt> to the connection URL
6 Verify HMAC signatures on incoming webhooks (see verification guide)
7 Test with sensor.threshold_exceeded before subscribing to sensor.reading

What Makes This Different?

Most industrial monitoring systems charge extra for API access or limit integrations to approved partners. WebMACS is fully open from day one:

Feature WebMACS Typical SCADA
REST API Full CRUD, 30+ endpoints, free Limited or paid add-on
WebSocket Native, sub-second streaming Proprietary protocol
Webhooks 5 event types, HMAC-signed, retry logic Not available
Data export Streaming CSV, unlimited Per-query limits or extra license
Custom integrations Unlimited, no approval needed Vendor-gated marketplace

The Bottom Line

WebMACS doesn't compete with your other tools — it connects them. Your existing alerting, automation, and analytics stack gets a new real-time data source with zero licensing friction. One Lego brick that fits everywhere.

Next Steps