Offbeat-IoT
Small devices. Big APIs.
Teach your device one protocol. Connect it to everything else.
A device connects to Offbeat-IoT with one small, common JSON protocol. Offbeat-IoT talks to the provider APIs, keeps the OAuth tokens and owns the integrations. Your firmware stays small.
How it works
The device knows exactly one thing: the Offbeat-IoT JSON protocol. Everything provider-specific happens behind Offbeat-IoT.
- The device opens one WebSocket connection to Offbeat-IoT.
- It sends a JSON message naming the capability it wants, for example
spotify.next. - Offbeat-IoT resolves the integration, refreshes the token if needed and calls the provider.
- The result comes back on the same connection, in the same JSON shape.
Keep firmware simple
The microcontroller does not need to implement OAuth, REST APIs or provider-specific protocols. It only needs to understand the Offbeat-IoT protocol.
Skip the per-provider HTTP client, the token storage and the refresh logic. One message on one connection is enough:
{
"spotify.next": ""
}Compare that with a hand-written Spotify client: OAuth authorization, token refresh, a TLS REST call and JSON parsing for every provider. On Offbeat-IoT the device sends the same shape for Spotify, Todoist, Fitbit, Google Health and the assistants.
Control cloud services from hardware
Every command is a key on the JSON message. The provider and the credentials are handled for you.
| Device sends | Offbeat-IoT does |
|---|---|
{"spotify.next": ""} |
Skips to the next track on the connected Spotify account. |
{"tasks.create": "..."} |
Creates a Todoist task. |
{"time": ""} |
Returns the current time for the device location. |
{"setPowerState": "on"} |
Runs the device command and reports the new state to the assistants. |
Alexa / Google Home integration
Offbeat-IoT can expose your device to Alexa and Google Home without any assistant code in the firmware.
- Capabilities are described once and discovered by both assistants.
- Alexa and Google directives are mapped to the same JSON commands your device already handles.
- State changes your device reports are pushed back to the assistants automatically.
Other supported cloud integrations
The same protocol reaches every connected service. Add an integration once and all your devices can use it.
Google Health
Todoist
Fitbit
Full request/response reference: API and integrations docs.
Device monitoring / telemetry
Devices report readings with the same JSON protocol. Offbeat-IoT stores them and exports them as metrics.
- Send a reading from the device; it is kept as the latest value for that key.
- Metrics are exposed to Prometheus and shown in Grafana dashboards.
- Platform availability is published on the status page.
Supported hardware
Anything that can open a WebSocket and send JSON works. Examples are provided for the common boards.
Working sketches: microcontroller examples.