https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd
Node-RED Reimplemented in Rust
https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd
event-driven flow flow-based-programming flowing iot low-code node-red nodered rust
Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation
Node-RED Reimplemented in Rust
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd
- Owner: oldrev
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2025-07-09T14:33:02.000Z (8 months ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2025-11-01T03:43:29.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-11-01T05:25:52.214Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: event-driven, flow, flow-based-programming, flowing, iot, low-code, node-red, nodered, rust
- Language: Rust
- Homepage:
- Size: 3 MB
- Stars: 88
- Watchers: 3
- Forks: 7
- Open Issues: 10
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Contributing: .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: .github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# EdgeLinkd: Node-RED Reimplemented in Rust
[![Build Status]][actions]
[![GitHub Release]][releases]
[![GitHub Downloads]][releases]
[Build Status]: https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/oldrev/edgelinkd/CICD.yml?branch=master
[actions]: https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd/actions?query=branch%3Amaster
[GitHub Release]: https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/oldrev/edgelinkd?include_prereleases
[releases]: https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd/releases
[GitHub Downloads]: https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/oldrev/edgelinkd/total
English | [简中](README.zh-cn.md)
## Overview
**EdgeLinkd** is a high-performance, memory-efficient Node-RED compatible runtime engine built from the ground up in Rust, now featuring an integrated web UI for complete standalone operation.
**Why EdgeLinkd?**
- **10x less memory usage** than Node-RED (only 10% of Node-RED's memory footprint)
- **Native performance** with Rust's zero-cost abstractions
- **Integrated web interface** - full Node-RED UI built-in for flow design and management
- **Standalone operation** - no external Node-RED installation required
- **Drop-in replacement** - use your existing `flows.json` files
- **Perfect for edge devices** with limited resources
- **Node-RED compatibility** - design, deploy, and run flows all in one application
EdgeLinkd now includes the complete Node-RED web editor, allowing you to design flows directly in the browser while executing them with native Rust performance. You can also run it headless for production deployments on resource-constrained devices.
Only the `function` node uses the lightweight QuickJS JS interpreter to run JavaScript code; all other functionalities are implemented in native Rust code for maximum performance.
## A Short Demo
### Use Cases
- **Flow Development**: Design and test flows directly in the integrated web editor
- **Rapid Prototyping**: Full Node-RED UI for quick flow development and iteration
- **IoT Edge Gateways**: Process sensor data with minimal resource usage
- **Industrial Automation**: Run control flows on embedded controllers with web-based monitoring
- **Home Automation**: Deploy smart home logic on Raspberry Pi with remote web access
- **Development & Production**: Use web UI for development, headless mode for production deployment
- **Cloud-to-Edge Migration**: Move Node-RED flows from cloud to edge with unified interface
- **Container Deployments**: Lightweight containers for edge computing with optional web UI
- **Remote Management**: Access and modify flows remotely through the web interface
## Quick Start
### 0. Clone the Repository
**Clone the repository with submodules:**
```bash
git clone --recursive https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd.git
```
Or if you've already cloned without submodules:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd.git
cd edgelinkd
git submodule update --init --recursive
```
### 1. Build
**Prerequisites**: Rust 1.80 or later
```bash
cargo build --release
```
**Windows users**: Ensure `patch.exe` is in your PATH (included with Git) and install Visual Studio for MSVC.
**Supported platforms**:
- `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc`
- `x86_64-pc-windows-gnu`
- `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu`
- `aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu`
- `armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf`
- `armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabi`
### 2. Run
**Start EdgeLinkd with integrated web UI (recommended):**
```bash
cargo run --release --
# or after build
./target/release/edgelinkd
```
By default, your browser will open the Node-RED frontend at [http://127.0.0.1:1888](http://127.0.0.1:1888).
**Main command-line options:**
- `[FLOWS_PATH]`: Optional, specify the flow file (default: `~/.edgelinkd/flows.json`)
- `--headless`: Headless mode (no Web UI, suitable for production)
- `--bind `: Custom web server bind address (default: `127.0.0.1:1888`)
- `-u, --user-dir `: Specify user directory (default: `~/.edgelink`)
- See more options with `--help`
**Examples:**
```bash
# Run in headless mode
./target/release/edgelinkd run --headless
# Specify flow file and port
./target/release/edgelinkd run ./myflows.json --bind 0.0.0.0:8080
```
> All data and configuration are stored in the `~/.edgelink` directory by default.
Use `--help` to see all commands and options:
```bash
./target/release/edgelinkd --help
./target/release/edgelinkd run --help
```
#### Run Unit Tests
```bash
cargo test --all
```
#### Run Integration Tests
Running integration tests requires first installing Python 3.9+ and the corresponding Pytest dependencies:
```bash
pip install -r ./tests/requirements.txt
```
Then execute the following command:
```bash
set PYO3_PYTHON=YOUR_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE_PATH # Windows only
cargo build --all
py.test
```
## Configuration
EdgeLinkd can be configured through command-line arguments and configuration files.
### Web UI Configuration
**Command-line options:**
- `--bind
`: Set the web server binding address (default: `127.0.0.1:1888`)
- `--headless`: Run without the web UI for production deployments
- `--user-dir `: Specify custom user directory for flows and settings
**Configuration file:**
You can also configure the web UI through the configuration file (`edgelinkd.toml`):
```toml
[ui-host]
host = "0.0.0.0"
port = 1888
```
## Project Status
**Alpha Stage**: The project is currently in the *alpha* stage and cannot guarantee stable operation.
**New: Integrated Web UI**: EdgeLinkd now includes a complete Node-RED web interface for flow design and management. The web UI is fully compatible with Node-RED's editor and provides the same user experience while running on the high-performance Rust runtime.
**Web UI Features**:
- ✅ Complete Node-RED editor interface
- ✅ Flow design and editing
- ✅ Node palette with all supported nodes
- ✅ Deploy flows directly from the browser
- ✅ Real-time flow execution monitoring
- ✅ Debug panel integration
- ✅ Settings and configuration management
- ✅ Import/Export flows functionality
The heavy check mark ( :heavy_check_mark: ) below indicates that this feature has passed the integration test ported from Node-RED.
### Node-RED Features Roadmap:
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Flow
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Sub-flow
- [x] Group
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Environment Variables
- [ ] Context
- [x] Memory storage
- [ ] Local file-system storage
- [ ] RED.util (WIP)
- [x] `RED.util.cloneMessage()`
- [x] `RED.util.generateId()`
- [x] Plug-in subsystem[^1]
- [ ] JSONata
[^1]: Rust's Tokio async functions cannot call into dynamic libraries, so currently, we can only use statically linked plugins. I will evaluate the possibility of adding plugins based on WebAssembly (WASM) or JavaScript (JS) in the future.
### The Current Status of Nodes:
Refer [REDNODES-SPECS-DIFF.md](tests/REDNODES-SPECS-DIFF.md) to view the details of the currently implemented nodes that comply with the Node-RED specification tests.
- Core nodes:
- Common nodes:
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Console-JSON (For integration tests)
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Inject
- [x] Debug (WIP)
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Complete
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Catch
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Status
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Link In
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Link Call
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Link Out
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Comment (Ignored automatically)
- [x] GlobalConfig (WIP)
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Unknown
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Junction
- Function nodes:
- [x] Function (WIP)
- [x] Basic functions
- [x] `node` object (WIP)
- [x] `context` object
- [x] `flow` object
- [x] `global` object
- [x] `RED.util` object
- [x] `env` object
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Switch
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Change
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Range
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Template
- [x] Delay
- [x] Trigger
- [x] Exec
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: Filter (RBE)
- Network nodes:
- [x] MQTT In
- [x] MQTT Out
- [ ] MQTT Broker
- [x] HTTP In
- [x] HTTP Out
- [x] HTTP Request
- [x] WebSocket Listener
- [x] WebSocket Client
- [x] WebSocket In
- [x] WebSocket Out
- [x] TCP In
- [x] TCP Out
- [x] TCP Get
- [x] UDP In
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: UDP Out
- [x] Unicast
- [x] Multicast
- [x] TLS (WIP)
- [x] HTTP Proxy (WIP)
- Sqeuence nodes:
- [x] Split
- [x] Join
- [x] Sort
- [x] Batch
- Parse nodes:
- [x] CSV
- [ ] HTML
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: JSON
- [x] :heavy_check_mark: XML
- [x] YAML
- Storage
- [x] File
- [x] File In
- [x] Watch
## Roadmap
Check out our [milestones](https://github.com/oldrev/edgelinkd/milestones) to get a glimpse of the upcoming features and milestones.
## Contribution
We welcome contributions! Whether it's:
- **Bug reports** and feature requests
- **Documentation** improvements
- **Code contributions** and new node implementations
- **Testing** on different platforms
> Note: Please make meaningful contributions, or watch and learn. Simply modifying the README or making non-substantive changes will be considered malicious behavior.
Please read [CONTRIBUTING.md](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) for details.
### Support the Project
If EdgeLinkd saves you memory and improves your edge deployments, consider supporting development:
[](https://www.paypal.me/oldrev)
## Known Issues
Please refer to [ISSUES.md](docs/ISSUES.md) for a list of known issues and workarounds.
## Feedback and Support
We welcome your feedback! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please open an [issue](https://github.com/edge-link/edgelinkd/issues).
* Contact me: E-mail: oldrev(at)gmail.com
* Discord: [https://discord.gg/XJstgANe26](https://discord.gg/XJstgANe26)
## License
This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for more details.
Copyright © Li Wei and other contributors. All rights reserved.