rtl433-mqtt

rtl433-mqtt runs rtl_433 as a boot-starting systemd service. It decodes ISM-band sensor packets with an RTL-SDR receiver, publishes them through rtl_433's native MQTT output, and writes local JSONL event logs.

The service is intentionally small:

• publish rtl_433 availability, events, states, and devices to MQTT
• write decoded events to /var/log/rtl433-mqtt/rtl433-events.jsonl
• run unattended as a systemd service
• use rtl_433's native MQTT reconnect behavior instead of mosquitto_pub
• preserve deployed configuration across application updates

Requirements

• A current compiled rtl_433, newer than 25.12
• TLS-enabled rtl_433 if MQTT_TLS=1 is used
• rsync, systemd, and logrotate on the target host

Verify the expected rtl_433 feature surface:

rtl_433 -V
rtl_433 -F help

The MQTT help should list availability, events, states, devices, base=<topic>, env-based MQTT credentials, and mqtts:// options when TLS is available.

Quick Install On Raspberry Pi

Clone the repository, edit the configuration, and run the installer:

git clone <repository-url> rtl433-mqtt
cd rtl433-mqtt
nano config/rtl433-mqtt.env
sudo ./install.sh

The installer copies the application to /opt/rtl433-mqtt, copies the initial config to /etc/rtl433-mqtt/rtl433-mqtt.env, installs the systemd unit and logrotate config, then enables and starts rtl433-mqtt.service.

After installation, edit the live config here:

/etc/rtl433-mqtt/rtl433-mqtt.env

Detailed installation, update, config, service, and log operations are in docs/rtl433-mqtt-service-deployment.md.

MQTT Topics

Topic construction starts with a base topic. If MQTT_BASE_TOPIC is set, that exact value is used. Otherwise the wrapper builds the base as:

${MQTT_TOPIC_PREFIX}/${RECEIVER_ID}

RECEIVER_ID defaults to the host name when it is blank.

With the default config on a host named stippler:

rtl433/stippler

publishes:

rtl433/stippler/availability
rtl433/stippler/events
rtl433/stippler/states
rtl433/stippler/devices/...

With a named receiver:

MQTT_TOPIC_PREFIX=rtl433
RECEIVER_ID=greenhouse

publishes:

rtl433/greenhouse/availability
rtl433/greenhouse/events
rtl433/greenhouse/states
rtl433/greenhouse/devices/...

With a full site-specific override:

MQTT_BASE_TOPIC=valpo/geomet/rtl433/stippler

publishes:

valpo/geomet/rtl433/stippler/availability
valpo/geomet/rtl433/stippler/events
valpo/geomet/rtl433/stippler/states
valpo/geomet/rtl433/stippler/devices/

Local Logs

Decoded events are written as JSONL:

/var/log/rtl433-mqtt/rtl433-events.jsonl

Logrotate keeps 30 daily, date-suffixed, compressed rotations using the same policy shape as s500-logger.

Tests

Run the hardware-free checks:

bash -n rtl433-mqtt install.sh
python3 -m unittest discover -v
RTL433_MQTT_PRINT_COMMAND=1 ./rtl433-mqtt