Ubiquiti mFi Custom Code

Providing custom code to run on Ubiquiti's mFi Devices

Building

Uses CMake to build/configure. If MFI_CROSS_COMPILE is ON, CMake configure will also run make on the Buildroot submodule and configure CMake to use the cross-compiler for MIPS. The resulting binaries can be copied and run on the mFi devices.

Required Packages

• bc
• binutils
• build-essential
• bzip2
• cmake
• diffutils
• findutils
• rsync
• unzip

Optional Packages

These packages are required to build for the host system. They are not required to build for the mFi devices, as the Buildroot submodule will handle that.

• libmosquitto-dev
• nlohmann-json3-dev
• pkg-config
• libspdlog-dev

Presets

CMakePresets.json has four presets:

• local-debug to build for the host system with debug symbols.
• local-release to build for the host system with optimizations.
• mips-debug to build for the mFi devices with debug symbols.
• mips-release to build for the mFi devices with optimizations.

Projects

mfi-clid, mfi-rest-server, and mfi-mqtt-client use CLI11 to parse the command line options.

Shared Code

shmuelie-shared is a shared library for code that is used in multiple projects.

Buildroot Config

br2 is an external tree for Buildroot to compile C/C++ to run on the mFi devices. Thanks to cracauer/mFI-mPower-updated-sshd for helping me figure this out.

The CMakeLists.txt in the folder will load the Buildroot configuration and run make to build the toolchain. If the toolchain builds sucessfully, it will configure cmake to use the toolchain.

mFi API

mfi is a C++ API for the mFi devices, wrapping the file system based API they natively support.

mFi CLI

mfi-cli is a CLI tool for Ubiquiti's mFi Devices, mostly exists to test the API.

CLI tool for Ubiquiti's mFi Devices
Usage: ./mfi-cli [OPTIONS] SUBCOMMAND

Options:
  -h,--help                   Print this help message and exit
  --version                   Display program version information and exit

Subcommands:
  info                        Display information about the mFi device

Info Command

Display information about the mFi device
Usage: ./mfi-cli info [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -h,--help                   Print this help message and exit
  -a,--all [0]                Display all information

Mongoose C++

mgpp is a C++ wrapper around Mongoose.

mFi Rest Server

mfi-rest-server is a HTTP REST API server for the mFi devices built on top of the mFi API.

REST API for Ubiquiti's mFi Devices
Usage: ./mfi-rest-server [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -h,--help                   Print this help message and exit
  --version                   Display program version information and exit
  -i,--ip TEXT [0.0.0.0]      The IP address to listen on
  -p,--port UINT [8000]       The port to listen on
  -l,--log-level UINT [0]     The log level to use

HASS MQTT Device

hass-mqtt-device is a fork of KodeZ/hass_mqtt_device, a C++ library for creating Home Assistant MQTT devices. The fork is used to support rapid changes. The changes will eventually(?) backported to the original repository.

mFi MQTT Client

mfi-mqtt-client is a MQTT client for usage with Home Assistant. It uses a fork of KodeZ/hass_mqtt_device.

MQTT Client for Ubiquiti's mFi Devices
Usage: ./mfi-mqtt-client [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -h,--help                   Print this help message and exit
  --version                   Display program version information and exit
  --config :FILE              Configuration file to load options from
  --server TEXT REQUIRED      The MQTT server to connect to
  --port UINT [1883]          The port to use when connecting to the MQTT server
  --username TEXT REQUIRED    The username to use when connecting to the MQTT server
  --password TEXT REQUIRED    The password to use when connecting to the MQTT server
  --polling-rate UINT:UINT in [0 - 4294967295] [1000]
                              The polling rate in milliseconds
  --log-level ENUM:value in {trace->0,debug->1,info->2,warn->3,error->4,critical->5,off->6} OR {0,1,2,3,4,5,6} [2]
                              The log level to use

The configuration file is in in TOML or INI formats:

TOML Format

server = "mqtt.example.com"
port = 1883
username = "username"
password = "password"
polling_rate = 1000
log_level = 2

INI Format

server = "mqtt.example.com"
port = 1883
username = "username"
password = "password"
polling_rate = 1000
log_level = 2

Useful mFi Stuff:

• /var/etc/persistent/ is the home directory when you SSH in and the "persistent" folder.
• The save alias will save the persistent folders data to flash memory, so it will be there after a reboot. The flash memory is only 128KB, with that split in half to have a backup so 64KB of space to save stuff.
• If /var/etc/persistent/profile exists it will be run on login.
• If /var/etc/persistent/rc.poststart exists it will be run after the device starts up. NOTE, the firmware waits 3 minutes after startup before running your script.