Paradrop Developer Tools

The Paradrop developer tools (pdtools) make it easy to interact with the Paradrop edge and cloud APIs. Use it to configure or install software on a Paradrop node or develop and release your own applications, called "chutes", to the Paradrop Chute Store. pdtools can be used as a command line utility and can also be imported into Python code as a library.

What is Paradrop?

Paradrop is a software platform for edge computing that brings the cloud closer to home by enabling applications to exist on networking equipment such as Wi-Fi routers.

By running services closer to data sources and mobile devices, applications can take advantage of low network latency and make efficient use of bandwidth. Additionally, services running on Paradrop can protect the privacy of users by processing sensitive data near its source rather than transmitting it over the wide area network. Some services can even remain functional when the Internet connection is down.

Installation

The latest version is available on PyPi. Install it with pip:

pip install pdtools

Using the command above will install pdtools as a local Python module. On Linux, you can also install pdtools as a global package to make it available as a command. That means you will be able to use pdtools in your shell instead of typing python -m pdtools.

sudo pip install pdtools

Usage

pdtools includes an extensive command line utility for interacting with Paradrop nodes and our cloud controller. You can explore the commands available with the -h or --help flags.

python -m pdtools --help

Use the interactive tool to begin developing a new chute:

python -m pdtools chute initialize

Install a chute on a node if you know its IP address:

python -m pdtools node --target <node-ip-address> install-chute

List the chutes installed on a node:

python -m pdtools node --target <node-ip-address> list-chutes

List chutes available in the Paradrop Chute Store:

python -m pdtools store list-chutes

Install a chute on a node from the chute store. Here you must use the name assigned to the node on paradrop.org:

python -m pdtools store install-chute <chute-name> <node-name>

All of the functions available through the command line are also available for scripting in your own Python code. For example, the following Python code queries a node for the list of chutes installed and then makes a request to remove one of them:

>>> NODE_ADDRESS = "192.0.2.1" # Use the IP address of your node.
>>> from pdtools import ParadropClient
>>> client = ParadropClient(NODE_ADDRESS)
>>> for chute in client.list_chutes():
...     print(chute['name'])
...
node-hello-world
wiki
python-hello-world
sticky-board
>>> client.remove_chute('node-hello-world')
{u'change_id': 1}

Instructions for Maintainers

Use the following commands in the directory containing this file and setup.py to build the packages:

python setup.py sdist
python setup.py bdist_wheel --universal

Use the following command to upload the packages to PyPi:

twine upload dist/*