Bitfocus Telemetry Bridge

State-first integration hub for Bitfocus Companion and custom applications.

What It Is

The Telemetry Bridge is a software integration hub that provides bidirectional, state-first integration between:

• Bitfocus Companion (fully implemented, production-grade)
• Multiple custom applications (concurrent clients, first-class support)
• Bitfocus Buttons (framework and contracts only; full protocol is future work)

It maintains a canonical state store, publishes deltas, provides snapshot-on-connect, and enables external applications to both consume Companion telemetry and send commands.

What It Is Not

• Not a hardware device or control surface
• Not a replacement for Companion’s UI
• Not a generic message broker (it’s domain-specific)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         BITFOCUS TELEMETRY BRIDGE                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                             │
│  ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐               │
│  │  Companion  │◄───►│         COMPANION ADAPTER           │               │
│  │  (External) │     │  • Satellite API (WebSocket)        │               │
│  └─────────────┘     │  • Variable subscriptions           │               │
│                      │  • Action invocation                │               │
│                      │  • Capability detection             │               │
│                      └──────────────┬──────────────────────┘               │
│                                     │                                       │
│                                     ▼                                       │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                           CORE HUB                                    │  │
│  │  ┌────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌────────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │  │  State Store   │  │  Message Router │  │   Event Log (Append)   │ │  │
│  │  │  • Snapshots   │◄─┤  • Topic-based  ├─►│   • Replay support     │ │  │
│  │  │  • Deltas      │  │  • Wildcards    │  │   • Correlation IDs    │ │  │
│  │  │  • Ownership   │  │  • Backpressure │  │   • Sequencing         │ │  │
│  │  └────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └────────────────────────┘ │  │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                     │                                       │
│           ┌─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┐            │
│           │                         │                         │            │
│           ▼                         ▼                         ▼            │
│  ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐  │
│  │ CLIENT TRANSPORT│     │ CLIENT TRANSPORT│     │  BUTTONS ADAPTER    │  │
│  │ (WebSocket API) │     │ (WebSocket API) │     │  (PLACEHOLDER)      │  │
│  │  App Client 1   │     │  App Client N   │     │  • Interface only   │  │
│  └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     │  • Simulator        │  │
│                                                   │  • Contract tests   │  │
│                                                   └─────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or later
• Bitfocus Companion running with Satellite API enabled

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/FiLORUX/bitfocus-telemetry-bridge.git
cd bitfocus-telemetry-bridge

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

Running in Development

# Start with default configuration
npm run dev

# Or with a custom config file
npm run dev -- -c ./my-config.json

Running in Production

# Build first
npm run build

# Start
npm start

# Or use the CLI directly
npx telemetry-bridge -c /path/to/config.json

Configuration

Create a bridge.config.json file:

{
  "name": "my-bridge",
  "environment": "production",
  "companion": {
    "enabled": true,
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 16622
  },
  "clientTransport": {
    "port": 9000,
    "requireAuth": false
  },
  "logging": {
    "level": "info"
  }
}

Companion Capabilities

Feature	Supported	Notes
Variable subscription	✅	Real-time updates
Variable write	✅	Via commands
Button press/release	✅	Via Satellite API
Key state updates	✅	Images, text, colours
Brightness control	✅	Per-device
Encoder rotation	⚠️	If Companion supports
Auto-reconnect	✅	Configurable backoff
Capability detection	✅	Feature negotiation

Bridge Protocol

The hub uses a vendor-agnostic protocol. Key concepts:

Message Types

• command: Request to perform an action
• event: Notification of something that happened
• state: State update (delta or snapshot)
• ack: Acknowledgement of command
• error: Error response
• subscribe/unsubscribe: Manage subscriptions

Message Envelope

interface BridgeMessage {
  id: string;           // UUID v7 (time-ordered)
  type: string;         // Message type
  source: string;       // Sender namespace
  target?: string;      // Recipient (for commands)
  path: string;         // Hierarchical key
  payload: unknown;     // Type-specific data
  timestamp: number;    // Unix ms
  correlationId?: string;
  sequence: number;     // Monotonic per source
  ttl?: number;         // Command TTL
  idempotencyKey?: string;
}

State Paths

companion.variables.internal.tally_pgm
companion.device.<id>.key.<index>
companion.connection.state
buttons.device.<id>.key.<index>
app.<name>.custom.<key>

See Bridge Protocol Specification for full details.

Client Integration

Connecting

import WebSocket from 'ws';

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:9000');

// Send handshake
ws.on('open', () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({
    type: 'handshake',
    name: 'my-app',
    version: '1.0.0',
  }));
});

// Handle response
ws.on('message', (data) => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(data.toString());

  if (msg.type === 'handshake_response' && msg.success) {
    console.log('Connected!', msg.namespace);
  }
});

Subscribing to State

ws.send(JSON.stringify({
  id: 'sub-1',
  type: 'subscribe',
  source: 'app.myapp',
  path: 'hub.subscriptions',
  payload: {
    patterns: ['companion.variables.**', 'companion.device.*.key.*'],
    snapshot: true,
  },
  timestamp: Date.now(),
  sequence: 1,
}));

Sending Commands

ws.send(JSON.stringify({
  id: 'cmd-1',
  type: 'command',
  source: 'app.myapp',
  target: 'companion.satellite',
  path: 'companion.page.1.bank.0',
  payload: {
    action: 'press',
    params: { keyIndex: 5 },
  },
  timestamp: Date.now(),
  sequence: 2,
  idempotencyKey: 'press-5-' + Date.now(),
}));

See examples/client-app for a complete working example.

Buttons Placeholder

The Buttons adapter is scaffolded but not fully implemented. Current status:

Component	Status
Type definitions	✅ Complete
Adapter interface	✅ Complete
Placeholder implementation	✅ Complete
Simulator	✅ Complete
Contract tests	✅ Complete
Full protocol	❌ Future work

The placeholder can be used for development and testing while the full implementation is pending.

Observability

Metrics (Prometheus)

curl http://localhost:9090/metrics

Key metrics:

• telemetry_bridge_connections_current - Active connections by type
• telemetry_bridge_messages_received_total - Messages received
• telemetry_bridge_command_duration_seconds - Command latency histogram
• telemetry_bridge_adapter_state - Adapter connection status

Health Endpoints

# Full health report
curl http://localhost:9091/health

# Liveness (is process alive?)
curl http://localhost:9091/health/live

# Readiness (can handle requests?)
curl http://localhost:9091/health/ready

Logging

Logs are structured JSON with correlation ID propagation:

{
  "level": 30,
  "time": "2024-01-17T12:00:00.000Z",
  "service": "telemetry-bridge",
  "component": "companion",
  "correlationId": "abc-123",
  "msg": "Variable updated"
}

Testing

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Run specific test suites
npm run test:contract
npm run test:integration

Project Structure

src/
├── core/
│   ├── protocol/     # Message types, schemas, factory
│   ├── state/        # State store with ownership
│   └── router/       # Message routing, subscriptions
├── adapters/
│   ├── companion/    # Full Companion integration
│   └── buttons/      # Placeholder implementation
├── transports/
│   └── client/       # WebSocket server for apps
├── observability/    # Logging, metrics, health
├── config/           # Schema and loader
├── bridge.ts         # Main orchestrator
└── cli.ts            # CLI entry point

tests/
├── unit/             # Unit tests
├── contract/         # Adapter contract tests
└── integration/      # Integration tests

docs/
├── specs/            # Protocol specifications
├── guides/           # Operational guides
└── adr/              # Architecture decisions

Development

Prerequisites for Development

# Install development dependencies
npm install

# Run in watch mode
npm run dev

# Type check
npm run typecheck

# Lint
npm run lint

Adding a New Adapter

1. Create adapter directory under src/adapters/
2. Define types implementing XxxAdapter interface
3. Create simulator for testing
4. Write contract tests
5. Register in router via registerTarget()

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Write tests for new functionality
4. Ensure all tests pass
5. Submit a pull request

Licence

MIT

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David Thåst · thåst.se · FiLORUX