// the find
ThingsPanel/thingspanel-backend-community
The plug-in IoT platform developed by Go language has high performance, low entry and easy expansion. Support MQTT, Modbus multi protocol, multi type device access and visualization, automation, alarm, rule engine and other functions.
ThingsPanel is a Go-based IoT platform that handles device management, protocol bridging (MQTT, Modbus, TCP), telemetry storage, automation rules, and dashboards in a single deployable stack. It targets system integrators and device manufacturers who need a self-hosted alternative to cloud IoT platforms like AWS IoT or Azure IoT Hub. The plugin architecture lets you bolt on new protocol adapters without touching core code.
The plugin model for protocols and visualizations is genuinely well-designed — adding a new device type doesn't require forking the platform. TimescaleDB for time-series plus PostgreSQL for relational state is a sensible split that avoids the overhead of a separate TSDB service. The included autotest framework under cmd/iot-platform-autotest exercises MQTT device simulation end-to-end, which is more than most IoT projects bother with. Docker Compose deployment gets you a full stack including MQTT broker, databases, and the Go backend without manual wiring.
558 stars for a project of this scope suggests a thin community, meaning you're largely on your own when something breaks in production. The database support list (TimescaleDB, TDengine, Cassandra, TDSQL, PolarDB, KingBase) reads like a marketing checklist — it's unlikely all of these get equal testing, and you'll hit adapter-specific bugs fast if you're not on the primary PostgreSQL+TimescaleDB path. The RSA private key is committed to the repo under configs/rsa_key/private_key.pem, which is a serious red flag about security hygiene — audit everything before putting this on the internet. Documentation is a mix of Chinese and English with no clear version boundary, so tracing what applies to your version is tedious.