Bricklogger

Bricklogger is a data bridge for building automation. It reads a Brick model of a building, collects the values of the points the model describes from the building's automation systems, and writes them to a time-series database. The model decides what is collected: upload a new model, and the logger follows it.

• Sources: BACnet/IP on the local network is built in; other systems are added as plugins, such as the iBOS source for the iBOS Data API in the cloud.
• Destination: TimescaleDB, with every observation timestamped by its source and a spool that holds them while the database is away.
• Interfaces: a command-line interface first, a web interface with the same abilities beside it — including a model explorer — an HTTP API, and an MCP server so an AI assistant can configure the logger for you.
• Read only: Bricklogger never writes to a building automation system.

The full documentation is at https://cx1-aps.github.io/bricklogger/. This page is the short version.

What you need

• A Linux machine, amd64 or arm64, that can reach the building's network — for BACnet/IP, on the same subnet as the devices or with a route to them.
• A Brick model of the building as Turtle (.ttl), with the points' external references (BACnet device and object, for instance).
• A TimescaleDB database Bricklogger may create tables in.

Install

curl -fsSL https://github.com/CX1-ApS/bricklogger/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sudo sh

The script brings its own Python, so the machine needs only curl. With sudo it installs a service: the program under /opt/bricklogger, the configuration in /etc/bricklogger, the data in /var/lib/bricklogger and three systemd units, left stopped. Without sudo everything stays in your home directory. --version 0.2.0 installs a given version; options come after -- when the script is piped: … | sudo sh -s -- --version 0.2.0.

As a container the same program is ghcr.io/cx1-aps/bricklogger, with a compose file for the daemon, the web interface and the MCP server; see Docker.

Prepare the database

CREATE DATABASE brick;
\c brick
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS timescaledb;
CREATE ROLE bricklogger LOGIN PASSWORD '...';
GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO bricklogger;

Bricklogger creates and migrates its own tables at the first start.

First setup

bricklogger init                        # guided: sources, destinations, secrets
bricklogger validate                    # after any edit by hand
bricklogger daemon start                # or: sudo systemctl enable --now bricklogger
bricklogger model upload building.ttl   # validate, infer, activate
bricklogger status
bricklogger points --outcome active     # the last value of every point

init asks for the settings of each source and destination and writes four files: sources.yaml, destinations.yaml, rules.yaml and daemon.yaml. Secrets, such as the database password, go into an env file beside them and are referred to as ${NAME}. The first rule set accepts every point in the model every five minutes; rules narrow that down by class, location, equipment or any SPARQL pattern.

The web interface and an assistant

bricklogger serve        # http://127.0.0.1:8421

Everything the CLI does can be done there, and the model explorer shows the building as a tree and a graph, with every point's outcome and value.

To let an AI assistant that speaks MCP set up sources, destinations and rules, register the MCP server with it — for Claude Code on the same machine:

claude mcp add --transport stdio bricklogger -- bricklogger mcp serve

The assistant reads the plugins' schemas and this documentation, validates before it writes, and never takes a secret's value. See MCP for remote use.

Plugins

bricklogger plugins                          # what is installed
bricklogger plugins add bricklogger-ibos     # add a plugin from PyPI
bricklogger plugins remove ibos              # remove one by its type
sudo systemctl restart bricklogger           # the daemon reads plugins at start

A plugin is a Python package that provides a source or a destination type. A plugin that cannot load stops nothing: its instances show as failed and the rest keep running. Writing one is described under plugins.

Mail notifications

Bricklogger can mail an administrator when something goes wrong, when it is put right, and once a day as proof that it is alive. Put the mail server and recipients under notifications in daemon.yaml, then:

bricklogger notify test

See notifications.

Upgrade

Run the install script again; it leaves the plugins, the configuration and the data where they are. Then restart the daemon. A container pulls the new image instead:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/CX1-ApS/bricklogger/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sudo sh
sudo systemctl restart bricklogger

After an upgrade to a new minor version, bricklogger plugins shows whether every plugin still loads.

Upgrading from 0.1 with an iBOS source: iBOS is no longer built in. The ibos instance shows as failed until the plugin is added with bricklogger plugins add bricklogger-ibos and the daemon is restarted; the configuration and the collected history stay as they were.

If nothing arrives

• bricklogger status warnings lists what stands in the way, one line per cause — points no source claims, points without a reference, read errors.
• bricklogger sources bacnet_main discover shows the BACnet devices that answer. If none does, the address in sources.yaml or the network is the problem, not the model.
• bricklogger sources bacnet_main resolve <point> shows how one point's reference resolves, and reads it.
• bricklogger destinations status shows whether the database takes writes. While it does not, observations wait in the spool.

Reporting a problem

Bugs and questions go in the issues. A security vulnerability is reported privately, as SECURITY.md describes.

License

MIT. Bricklogger bundles Brick's ontology and a few web libraries and fonts under their own licenses, listed with them in the package.