Your own sensors

If you develop custom DIY hardware (such as an ESP32 or Raspberry Pi running environmental probes), your devices can transmit readings directly into BudMinder using the built-in REST API. Custom sensor feeds appear seamlessly across the Environment and Today dashboards alongside commercial hardware.

The API key

1. Navigate to Settings → Integrations → Sensor API and click to generate an API Key.
2. Copy the key immediately. For security, it is displayed only once.

Generating a new key instantly invalidates the prior key, requiring updates across your transmitting hardware. To pause incoming transmissions temporarily without resetting credentials, toggle Disable API ingest on the same card.

Sending a reading

Configure your microcontroller to transmit telemetry via an HTTP POST request to your BudMinder server URL followed by /api/sensors/ingest. Include the API key in the X-API-KEY request header and send the sensor payload as JSON:

{
  "source": "custom",
  "device": "ESP32 tent probe",
  "type": "temperature",
  "value": 25.5,
  "name": "Canopy temp",
  "new_zone": "Tent 1",
  "unit": "°C"
}

• source, device and type combine to form a unique hardware fingerprint. The initial payload received with a new combination automatically provisions the sensor.
• value contains the numeric measurement.
• name, unit and new_zone define default labels and tent assignments when the sensor is first provisioned.

Newly provisioned devices appear under Manage sensors, where you can modify names, reassign zones and configure display visibility.

Tip: The ingestion endpoint enforces a rate limit of up to 60 readings per minute. Transmitting once per minute across multiple sensors works smoothly, while rapid high-frequency transmissions exceeding the limit will be rejected.

Reading data back out

The same API key enables authenticated GET /api/overlay requests, returning a structured JSON payload of all active plants and current sensor metrics. This endpoint is designed specifically for automated live-stream HUD overlays (such as OBS browser sources).