How to integrate a new piece of hardware into flespi?

The sequence of actions to follow when you want your device to be supported by the flespi platform.

We do not integrate every new device on the market but we are open to hardware integration requests from our customers.

First, check our list of supported devices and protocols to make sure your device is not yet integrated. If it’s not on the list, follow the proper path below depending on your case:

Integrate new device model(s) for the supported protocol

  • Contact us via Helpbox. Attach the protocol specification to your request.
  • Point the real device to our developer’s channel (they will give you the target host:port in due time).
  • Attach relevant and up-to-date protocol specification for our engineers to estimate the scope of work.
  • Once our engineers approve your request, they will give you the time and cost estimate (depending on the workload and complexity of the integration).
    The minimal time of integration is 2 hours of custom engineering which equals €300.
  • If you agree to the offered terms of integration, we issue you the invoice for the services to be provided and schedule the work (see the Priority and scheduling section below).
  • Get a notification about completed integration.
  • Test the integration.
  • Report issues (if any). We’ll fix them real quick.
  • Say thanks and enjoy flespi.

Note: if different models of devices by the same manufacturer have significant differences in protocol specifications, they are integrated on the same terms as the new protocol (see steps below). 

Integrate new device model(s) for the new protocol

  • Contact us via Helpbox and tell us about your project:
    • what the project will do
    • how many devices you intend to connect
    • what message parameters you will consume and use in your solution
    • whether you need to be able to send commands to devices via flespi as well.
  • Point the real device to our developer’s channel (they will give you the target host:port in due time).
  • Attach relevant and up-to-date protocol specification for our engineers to estimate the scope of work.
  • Once our engineers approve your request, they will give you the time and cost estimate (depending on the workload and complexity of the integration).
    The minimal time of integration is 12 hours of custom engineering which equals €1800.
  • If you agree to the offered terms of integration, we issue you the invoice for the services to be provided and schedule the work (see the Priority and scheduling section below).
  • Get a notification about completed integration.
  • Test the integration.
  • Report issues (if any). We’ll fix them real quick.
  • Say thanks and enjoy flespi.

Note: sometimes as the situation unfolds and the scope of work changes, the integration may take more resources to be completed. That is why it is important to clearly articulate the requirements and expectations of the integration upfront. Extra works are scheduled only after the additional scope is clarified and the respective invoice is paid.

Priority and scheduling

Integration requests by the customers of more advanced commercial plans have higher priority. Integration requests by the customers on the same commercial plan are scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

With any questions, please contact us in Helpbox.

Important notes

  • Protocol integrity: flespi integrates protocols from established manufacturers with publicly available information. Each integrated protocol corresponds to a known company with a website and a list of device models. We do not support integration of unbranded devices from unidentified manufacturers.

  • Protocol specificity: Some unbranded devices claim compatibility with established protocols (e.g., GT06N). However, these may not function correctly under existing protocol implementations (e.g., Concox). Even minor deviations in protocol usage can lead to parsing errors in flespi. Each new protocol variant requires separate integration.

  • Data standards vs. protocols: It’s important to distinguish between data standards and protocols. For instance, JT808 is a data standard, not a protocol. The payload structure in JT808 can vary between devices. Consequently, each device using the JT808 standard requires individual integration.

  • Private integrations: For proprietary hardware or protocols that need to remain private (not available to other flespi users), flespi offers private protocol development. This service is available to clients with Enterprise subscription level or higher.


See also
Uploading a firmware file to the flespi storage and sending a command to download and apply it.