pinetunnel 7.1.3

Professional Trading Bridge System - PineTunnel EA Service for MT5

Relay TradingView webhook signals to MetaTrader 4/5 for automated order execution.

Quick Start · Architecture · API · Docs · Website

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One Command. Two Minutes. Fully Functional.

pip install pinetunnel
pinetunnel

That's it. The setup wizard handles everything: dependencies, Redis, security keys, database, Telegram bot, OS service (24/7 auto-start), and EA installation. No Docker, no manual config, no DevOps experience needed.

What you get after setup:

• FastAPI server running 24/7 on your VPS (survives reboots via systemd/launchd)
• Telegram bot for real-time trade notifications and monitoring
• HTTPS webhook URL for TradingView alerts
• RC4 signal encryption (key generated automatically)
• OS service auto-start on boot

What you need:

• A VPS (any OS: Linux, macOS, Windows)
• A Telegram bot token from @BotFather (the setup walks you through it)

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TradingView is the most popular charting platform for retail traders. MetaTrader 4/5 dominates retail forex/CFD broker terminals. But TradingView can't place trades on MetaTrader directly - there is no native integration.

PineTunnel closes this gap:

• Sub-second relay from TradingView alert to MT4/MT5 order via WebSocket
• 40+ trading commands: market orders, pending orders, partial close, breakeven, trailing stops, ATR-based stops
• Idempotent execution: duplicate webhook retries are deduplicated - no duplicate trades
• RC4 signal encryption: alerts encrypted in PineScript, decrypted on server (plaintext also supported)
• Telegram admin bot: mandatory - real-time trade notifications, monitoring, signal tracking
• 24/7 auto-start: OS service (systemd/launchd/sc.exe) installed automatically, survives reboots
• Dual MT4/MT5 support: separate MQL4 and MQL5 codebases with identical functionality
• C++ DLL integration: MetaTrader has no native WebSocket support - a custom C++ DLL implements it

Example webhook payload (CSV format):

YOUR_KEY,buy,EURUSD,lots=0.10,sl=1.0850,tp=1.0950,comment=mytrade,secret=YOUR_SECRET

Architecture

graph TD
    A[TradingView Alert] --> B[FastAPI Webhook<br/>HMAC-signed payload verification]
    B --> C[Signal Queue<br/>DB-backed, idempotent]
    C --> D[WebSocket Bridge<br/>Redis pub/sub fan-out]
    D <--> E[MT4/MT5 Expert Advisor<br/>C++ DLL WebSocket client]
    E --> F[Trade Execution<br/>HMAC auth + server-side risk checks]
    F --> G[Telegram Bot<br/>admin monitoring + trade notifications]

A TradingView alert hits the FastAPI webhook endpoint. The signal is parsed, validated, and queued in a persistent database-backed queue. The WebSocket bridge relays it to the MT4/MT5 Expert Advisor running inside MetaTrader, which executes the trade via a custom C++ DLL. The Telegram bot notifies admins of results, failures, and connection status changes.

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Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Architecture
• API
• Tech Stack
• Configuration
• Engineering Challenges
• Observability
• Security
• Project Structure
• CI/CD
• Documentation
• For AI Coding Assistants
• Contributing
• License

Quick Start

The only command you need

pip install pinetunnel
pinetunnel

The auto-setup runs 5 steps automatically:

1. Server - installs deps, starts Redis, generates .env (chmod 600), runs migrations, starts daemon, verifies health
2. Webhook URL - Public IP (HTTP, zero cost) or Cloudflare domain (HTTPS, persistent)
3. Telegram bot - paste bot token + admin user ID from @BotFather (required, not optional)
4. OS service - installs systemd / launchd / sc.exe automatically (24/7 auto-start on boot)
5. EA install - auto-detects MetaTrader on Windows and copies .ex5/.ex4 + DLL

Alternative install (from source)

git clone https://github.com/TheFractalyst/PineTunnel.git
cd PineTunnel && pip install -e ".[all]"
pinetunnel

CLI commands

pinetunnel              First run: auto-setup (5 steps, 2 minutes)
pinetunnel start        Start server (foreground)
pinetunnel start --daemon   Start as background daemon
pinetunnel stop         Stop the daemon
pinetunnel status       Check if running + health probe
pinetunnel check        Health checks (deps, Redis, .env, DB, server)
pinetunnel test         Send a test webhook signal
pinetunnel migrate      Run database migrations
pinetunnel guide        Print the full setup guide
pinetunnel version      Show version + platform info
pinetunnel install-service     Install as OS service (auto-start on boot)
pinetunnel uninstall-service   Remove OS service
pinetunnel install-ea   Auto-detect MetaTrader and install EA + DLL
pinetunnel setup-cloudflare   Set up Cloudflare DNS or tunnel for HTTPS
pinetunnel stop-cloudflare     Stop Cloudflare tunnel
pinetunnel setup-proxy   Set up nginx reverse proxy and Let's Encrypt SSL

Send a test alert

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/ \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d 'YOUR_KEY,buy,EURUSD,lots=0.10,sl=1.0850,tp=1.0950,comment=test,secret=YOUR_SECRET'

Install the EA on MetaTrader

1. Copy PineTunnel_EA.ex5 (MT5) or PineTunnel_EA_MT4.ex4 (MT4) to your MQL5/Experts or MQL4/Experts folder
2. Copy PTWebSocket.dll to MQL5/Libraries or MQL4/Libraries
3. Restart MetaTrader, attach the EA to a chart
4. Set InpLicenseID and InpServerURL in the EA inputs
5. Enable DLL imports: Tools -> Options -> Expert Advisors -> Allow DLL imports

See EA Setup Guide for detailed steps.

API

Key endpoints:

Endpoint	Method	Auth	Description
/webhook	POST	Webhook secret	Receive TradingView alerts
/ws/{license_key}	WS	License key	Real-time signal push to EA
/health	GET	None	Server health (DB, Redis)
/api/signals/{license_key}	GET	License key	EA polling: fetch pending signals
/api/ea/download/{platform}	GET	License key	Download EA compiled file
/api/trades/report	POST	License + secret	Trade execution report from EA
/metrics	GET	None	Prometheus metrics
/api/diagnostics	GET	Admin key	Full system diagnostics (8 probes)
/api/admin/replay	POST	Admin key	Inject test signal into live pipeline
/.well-known/security.txt	GET	None	Security contact info

Full API surface (34 endpoints)

Endpoint	Method	Auth	Description
/webhook	POST	Webhook secret	Receive TradingView alerts (JSON body)
/	POST	Webhook secret	Root webhook (plain text or JSON)
/ws/{license_key}	WS	License key	Real-time signal push to EA
/health	GET	None	Server health (DB, Redis)
/health/live	GET	None	Liveness probe
/health/ready	GET	None	Readiness probe
/api/signals/{license_key}	GET	License key	EA polling: fetch pending signals
/api/signals-longpoll/{license_key}	GET	License key	Long-poll signal fetch
/api/signals/{license_key}/{signal_id}	DELETE	License key	Acknowledge processed signal
/api/signals-batch-ack/{license_key}	POST	License key	Batch acknowledge signals
/api/ea/check/{platform}	GET	License key	Lightweight EA version check
/api/ea/download/{platform}	GET	License key	Download EA compiled file (base64)
/api/ea/download/{user_id}/{platform}/{sig}	GET	Signed token	Download EA + DLL (zip) via persistent link
/api/ea/audit/{license_key}	POST	License key	EA audit logging
/api/ea/dll/{platform}	GET	Admin key	DLL version info
/api/ea/dll/download/{platform}	GET	License key	Download DLL file
/api/trades/report	POST	License + secret	Receive trade execution report from EA
/api/trades/close	POST	License + secret	Receive trade close notification
/api/trades/stats	POST	License + secret	Receive account stats from EA
/api/admin/rate-limits	GET	Admin key	Rate limit statistics per IP
/api/admin/rate-limits/{ip}	DELETE	Admin key	Reset rate limit for IP
/api/admin/rate-limits/{ip}/reset	POST	Admin key	Reset rate limit for IP (POST)
/api/logs/errors	GET	Session	Error logs
/api/audit/actions	GET	Session	Admin audit logs
/api/database/stats	GET	Session	Database table sizes and row counts
/api/auth/sessions	GET	Session	Active auth sessions
/api/auth/logs	GET	Session	Auth access logs
/api/connections	GET	Session	WebSocket connections overview
/api/ea/ws-telemetry/open-positions/{license_key}	GET	Admin key	Open positions for a connection
/api/ea/ws-telemetry/trade-history/{license_key}	GET	Admin key	Trade history for a connection
/api/ea/ws-telemetry/signal-log/{license_key}	GET	Admin key	Signal delivery log for a connection
/api/ea/ws-telemetry/health/{license_key}	GET	Admin key	WebSocket connection health
/api/admin/replay/batch	POST	Admin key	Batch inject test signals (max 50)
/api/admin/replay/results	GET	Admin key	Recent replay delivery results
/.well-known/security.txt	GET	None	Security contact info

Tech Stack

Technology	Role
Python 3.13	Backend language, async throughout
FastAPI	Async web framework with middleware pipeline
Redis	WebSocket connection state, pub/sub messaging, rate limiting
SQLAlchemy 2.0	Raw SQL via text() with dual DB support (SQLite + PostgreSQL)
Alembic	7 database migrations
C++ (CMake)	WebSocket DLL for MT5 (x64) and MT4 (x86)
MQL5/MQL4	Expert Advisor: order execution, partial close, trailing stops, ATR
python-telegram-bot	Admin bot (mandatory - trade notifications + monitoring)
GitHub Actions	CI/CD: DLL compilation (Windows), EA compilation (MetaEditor)
Uvicorn	Production ASGI server

Configuration

All values are auto-generated by pinetunnel setup. No manual editing needed.

Variable	Required	Description
WEBHOOK_SECRET	Yes	Shared secret for TradingView webhook verification (32+ chars)
JWT_SECRET	Yes	JWT token signing key (32+ chars)
ADMIN_API_KEY	Yes	Admin API endpoint authentication (32+ chars)
SERVER_BASE_URL	Yes	Public URL of your server (for EA download links)
HOST	Yes	Bind address (default: 127.0.0.1, use 0.0.0.0 for public IP)
SIGNAL_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Yes	RC4 encryption key for PineScript signals (64-char hex)
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Yes	Telegram bot token from @BotFather
TELEGRAM_ADMIN_IDS	Yes	Comma-separated Telegram admin user IDs
REDIS_URL	No	Redis connection URL (default: localhost:6379)
DATABASE_URL	No	PostgreSQL URL (default: SQLite local file)

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Engineering Challenges

Idempotent signal execution

TradingView retries webhook delivery on timeout. Without deduplication, a single alert could place multiple trades. The signal queue computes a content hash (excluding the secret field) and stores it with status acknowledged before execution. A retry within the dedup window is detected and rejected; the EA never sees it.

WebSocket state recovery

When the server restarts or a Uvicorn worker recycles, EA connections drop. Redis stores connection state (license key, EA version, last seen) so any worker can recover the connection table. The EA reconnects automatically with exponential backoff.

Multi-worker WebSocket fan-out

The webhook hits worker A, but the EA's WebSocket is on worker B. Redis pub/sub broadcasts signals to all workers, ensuring delivery regardless of which worker receives the webhook.

Dual-database architecture

SQLite and PostgreSQL share a common async base class (DatabaseManager) with identical method signatures. Alembic migrations run on both. The DATABASE_URL env var selects the backend - no code changes needed between dev and production.

C++ DLL integration into MetaTrader

MetaTrader doesn't natively support WebSocket or HTTP client libraries. The C++ DLL (PTWebSocket.dll) implements a WebSocket client using WinHTTP, compiled for both x64 (MT5) and x86 (MT4) via CMake. The MQL5 EA loads the DLL and calls its functions via #import.

HMAC-signed EA protocol

Every message between server and EA is HMAC-SHA256 signed. The server verifies signatures with hmac.compare_digest() (constant-time) to prevent timing attacks. Messages include a timestamp with skew check to detect replay attacks.

RC4 signal encryption (PineScript to server)

Signals can be RC4-encrypted in PineScript before sending to TradingView. The server auto-detects encrypted messages (prefix RC4,) and decrypts before parsing. Plaintext signals are still accepted (backward compatible). RC4-drop256 is used to mitigate FMS early-bias attacks. The encryption key is generated by pinetunnel setup and displayed for the user to paste into PineScript's encKey input field.

Observability

Prometheus Metrics (/metrics)

The server exports Prometheus-compatible metrics at /metrics for scraping by Prometheus/Grafana/Zabbix. No external dependency - the text exposition format is implemented directly.

pinetunnel_http_requests_total{method,path,status}      - Counter
pinetunnel_http_request_duration_seconds{method,path}    - Histogram (10 buckets)
pinetunnel_webhook_signals_total{command,result}         - Counter
pinetunnel_signal_queue_depth                            - Gauge
pinetunnel_websocket_connections                         - Gauge
pinetunnel_websocket_signals_delivered_total             - Counter
pinetunnel_redis_operations_total{operation,result}      - Counter
pinetunnel_db_queries_total                              - Counter

Diagnostics (/api/diagnostics)

Admin endpoint that probes all subsystems concurrently and reports status with per-component latency:

Probe	Checks
database	SELECT 1 round-trip
redis	PING round-trip
websocket_hub	connection count
signal_queue	pending signal count
rate_limiter	initialized state
client_manager	registered client count
disk	data dir usage %
memory	process RSS

Public version at /api/diagnostics/public returns only overall status (no auth required).

Signal Data Validation

All signals pass through a validation layer before queuing. Rejects impossible signals that would fail at the broker:

• Symbol format (uppercase, 2-32 alphanumeric chars)
• Volume bounds (lots 0-1000, risk 0-100%)
• SL/TP direction (buy SL < entry < TP, sell SL > entry > TP)
• SL/TP distance sanity (rejects 50%+ stops to catch fat-finger errors)
• Pending order entry price required for pending commands

Rejected signals return 422 with the validation reason.

Signal Replay (/api/admin/replay)

Admin endpoint to inject test signals into the live pipeline without TradingView. Verifies end-to-end delivery: parser -> validator -> queue -> WebSocket -> EA response.

Security

• Server defaults to 127.0.0.1 (localhost only, not exposed to internet)
• .env file chmod 600 (owner-only read/write)
• SQLite database file chmod 600
• HMAC-SHA256 on all EA communication with constant-time comparison
• Webhook secret verification on all TradingView alert endpoints
• RC4 signal encryption (optional, auto-detected)
• Rate limiting (Redis sliding window) + failed attempt blocking (10 -> 1hr IP block)
• IP validation (Cloudflare + TradingView allowlists) on webhook endpoints
• Request size limits (1MB) and content-type enforcement
• Security headers (X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, CSP)
• CORS restricted to known origins (deny-by-default)
• Docs disabled in production mode
• Error responses sanitized in production (no stack traces)

See SECURITY.md for the full security policy.

Project Structure

Directory tree

pinetunnel/
+- apps/
|   +- server/               FastAPI backend
|   |   +- routes/            Route modules (webhook, auth, admin, signals, ea_download, etc.)
|   |   +- services/          Business logic (MT4/MT5, risk, Telegram bot)
|   |   +- middleware/         Security, rate limiting, IP validation, request validation
|   |   +- ws/                WebSocket connection management (Redis-backed)
|   |   +- webhook/           Signal parser, queue, executor, validator pipeline
|   |   +- crypto/            RC4 signal encryption/decryption
|   |   +- db/                SQLite + PostgreSQL adapters (shared base class)
|   |   +- utils/             Security (HMAC, IP validation), logging helpers
|   |   +- config/            Settings (Pydantic), lifespan, health checks, startup validation
|   |   +- models/            Pydantic request/response schemas
|   +- cli/                   CLI package (setup wizard, daemon, Cloudflare, EA install)
|   |   +- main.py             17 commands, interactive setup, deps/Redis/firewall
|   |   +- service.py          Daemon mode, OS service install (systemd/launchd/sc.exe)
|   |   +- cloudflare.py       DNS API, quick tunnel, named tunnel via browser OAuth
|   |   +- proxy.py            Nginx reverse proxy, Let's Encrypt SSL
|   |   +- ea_install.py       MetaTrader auto-detect, EA+DLL copy, GitHub Releases download, source compilation
|   +- ea/                    MetaTrader Expert Advisor
|       +- mt5/               MT5 EA (.mq5) + MQL includes + compiled .ex5
|       +- mt4/               MT4 EA (.mq4) + MQL includes + compiled .ex4
|       +- dll/               C++ WebSocket client (CMake build, x64 + Win32)
|       +- pine/              PineScript v6 library (43 exports: buy, sell, close, encrypt, etc.)
+- tests/                    PyTest test suite (83 tests: parser, validator, metrics, security, crypto)
+- alembic/                   7 database migrations
+- .github/workflows/         CI/CD (test, DLL build, EA build)
+- CONTRIBUTING.md            Development setup and PR process
+- SECURITY.md                Vulnerability reporting and security architecture

CI/CD

GitHub Actions pipelines build the C++ DLL and MQL5/MQL4 EA on Windows runners:

• test.yml - Runs pytest with coverage on every push/PR
• build-dll.yml - CMake build for x64 and Win32 (Release + Debug)
• build-ea.yml - MetaEditor compilation for MT5 and MT4

Documentation

Doc	Description
Quick Start Guide	Complete setup from zero to first trade
Command Reference	All 40+ trading commands with parameters and examples
EA Setup Guide	Step-by-step MT4/MT5 Expert Advisor installation
EA Settings Guide	All EA input parameters with options and examples
TradingView Alert Setup	Configuring TradingView webhooks and PineScript library import
FAQ	Common questions, error codes, troubleshooting, latency, repainting

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For AI Coding Assistants

This section is for AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) navigating this codebase.

What this project is

A FastAPI backend that bridges TradingView webhooks to MetaTrader 4/5 EAs via WebSocket. Deployed on any VPS via pip install pinetunnel. The EA runs inside MetaTrader and uses a C++ DLL for WebSocket connectivity.

Read these files first (in order)

1. apps/server/main.py - App entry point
2. apps/server/app_factory.py - App construction, middleware, route mounting
3. apps/server/config/settings.py - All settings (Pydantic BaseSettings), env vars
4. apps/server/webhook/pipeline.py - Signal processing pipeline
5. apps/server/webhook/parser.py - CSV signal parser
6. apps/server/ws/handler.py - WebSocket message handler (EA protocol)
7. apps/server/config/lifespan.py - Startup/shutdown lifecycle
8. apps/cli/main.py - CLI entry point (17 commands, auto-setup wizard)

Key patterns

• Async throughout: All I/O uses async/await. No blocking calls in request paths.
• Dual database: db/base.py defines abstract DatabaseManager. db/sqlite.py and db/postgres.py implement it. Selected by DATABASE_URL.
• Redis for state: WebSocket connections, pub/sub fan-out, rate limiting. Required infrastructure.
• Signal queue: webhook/signal_queue.py - DB-backed queue with content hash dedup.
• HMAC protocol: All server-to-EA messages are HMAC-SHA256 signed with timestamp + skew check.
• RC4 encryption: crypto/signal_crypto.py - auto-detects RC4, prefix, decrypts, falls back to plaintext.
• CLI-driven deployment: All setup happens via pinetunnel CLI. No Docker, no manual config.

Gotchas

• The webhook accepts CSV format, not JSON. The parser splits on commas and assigns key=value pairs.
• webhook/executor.py does server-side validation, but trade execution happens in the EA (MQL). The server validates and relays; the EA executes.
• Server defaults to 127.0.0.1. Only binds to 0.0.0.0 when user chooses Public IP in setup.
• The alembic/ directory shadows the installed alembic package. CLI uses python -c with sys.path filtering to avoid this.
• Telegram bot is mandatory - setup requires a bot token. The bot provides trade notifications and monitoring.

Debugging entry points

Symptom	Start here
Webhook not parsing	apps/server/webhook/parser.py
Signal not reaching EA	apps/server/ws/handler.py + webhook/signal_queue.py
EA not connecting	apps/server/ws/connection_redis.py + apps/ea/dll/PTWebSocket/ptwebsocket.cpp
Trade not executing	apps/server/webhook/executor.py (server) + apps/ea/mt5/PineTunnel_EA.mq5 (EA)
Telegram bot issues	apps/server/services/telegram/bot.py + mixins/
CLI setup fails	apps/cli/main.py (cmd_setup function)
RC4 decryption fails	apps/server/crypto/signal_crypto.py
Migrations fail	alembic/env.py + alembic/versions/

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, code style, and PR process.

License

MIT - see LICENSE

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pinetunnel.com · fractalyst.dev · TradingView · [e-mail]