node-ble

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) library written with pure Node.js (no bindings) - baked by Bluez via DBus

Documentation

• Documentation testing
• Quick start guide
• APIs
  • createBluetooth
  • Bluetooth
  • Adapter
  • Device
  • GattServer
  • GattService
  • GattCharacteristic

Pre-requisites

This library works on many architectures supported by Linux. However Windows and Mac OS are not supported.

It leverages the bluez driver, a component supported by the following platforms and distributions https://www.bluez.org/about.

node-ble has been tested on the following operating systems:

• Raspbian
• Ubuntu
• Debian

Install

npm install node-ble

Quick start guide

Provide permissions

In order to allow a connection with the DBus daemon, you have to set up right permissions.

Execute the following command, in order to create the file /etc/dbus-1/system.d/node-ble.conf, configured with the current user id (Note: You may need to manually change the user id).

echo '<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
  "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">
<busconfig>
  <policy user="__USERID__">
   <allow own="org.bluez"/>
    <allow send_destination="org.bluez"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.bluez.GattCharacteristic1"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.bluez.GattDescriptor1"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.ObjectManager"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties"/>
  </policy>
</busconfig>' | sed "s/__USERID__/$(id -un)/" | sudo tee /etc/dbus-1/system.d/node-ble.conf > /dev/null

STEP 1: Get Adapter

To start a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection you need a Bluetooth adapter instance.

const {createBluetooth} = require('node-ble')
const {bluetooth, destroy} = createBluetooth()
const adapter = await bluetooth.defaultAdapter()

STEP 2: Start discovering

In order to find a Bluetooth Low Energy device out, you have to start a discovery operation.

if (! await adapter.isDiscovering())
  await adapter.startDiscovery()

STEP 3: Get a device, Connect and Get GATT Server

Use the adapter instance in order to get a remote Bluetooth device, then connect and interact with the GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) server.

const device = await adapter.waitDevice('00:00:00:00:00:00')
await device.connect()
const gattServer = await device.gatt()

STEP 4a: Read and write a characteristic.

const service1 = await gattServer.getPrimaryService('uuid')
const characteristic1 = await service1.getCharacteristic('uuid')
await characteristic1.writeValue(Buffer.from("Hello world"))
const buffer = await characteristic1.readValue()
console.log(buffer)

STEP 4b: Subscribe to a characteristic.

const service2 = await gattServer.getPrimaryService('uuid')
const characteristic2 = await service2.getCharacteristic('uuid')
await characteristic2.startNotifications()
characteristic2.on('valuechanged', buffer => {
  console.log(buffer)
})
await characteristic2.stopNotifications()

STEP 5: Disconnect

When you have done you can disconnect and destroy the session.

await device.disconnect()
destroy()

Changelog

• 0.x - Beta version
• 1.0 - First official version
• 1.1 - Migrates to gh-workflows
• 1.2 - Upgrades deps
• 1.3 - Adds typescript definitions #10
• 1.4 - Upgrades deps
• 1.5 - Adds write options configuration async writeValue (value, optionsOrOffset = {}) #20; Upgrades deps
• 1.6 - Upgrades deps and removes some dependencies; migrates to npm; improves gh-actions
• 1.7 - Fixes compatibility issue #30; Adds JSdoc; Deprecates NodeJS 10 and 12; Upgrades deps;
• 1.8 - Upgrades deps and gh-actions os; Adds Bluetooth.activeAdapters() func #45;
• 1.9 - Upgrades deps; Adds writeValueWithoutResponse() and writeValueWithResponse methods #47; Improves typescript definition #48
• 1.10 - Upgrades deps and gh-actions; Fixes memory leak #37; Makes MAC Address case insensitive
• 1.11 - Upgrades deps; Fixes doc #69; Adds getManufacturerData and getAdvertisingData functions on Device #67; Adds getServiceData functions on Device; Improves pre-requisite doc section #68
• 1.12 - Upgrades deps and actions; Fixes memory leak #75; Improved docs with copy-and-paste configuration scripts.

Contributors

• chrvadala (author)
• pascalopitz
• lupol
• altaircunhajr
• derwehr
• mxc42
• tuxedoxt
• raffone17
• gmacario
• ianchanning

References

• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/bluetooth/bluez.git/tree/doc/adapter-api.txt?h=5.64
• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/bluetooth/bluez.git/tree/doc/device-api.txt?h=5.64
• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/bluetooth/bluez.git/tree/doc/gatt-api.txt?h=5.64
• https://webbluetoothcg.github.io/web-bluetooth - method signatures follow, when possible, WebBluetooth standards
• https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/07/interact-with-ble-devices-on-the-web - method signatures follow, when possible, WebBluetooth standards

Similar libraries

• https://github.com/noble/noble
• https://github.com/abandonware/noble (noble fork)
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-web-bluetooth

Useful commands

Command	Description
rm -r /var/lib/bluetooth/*	Clean Bluetooth cache
hciconfig -a	Adapter info
hcitool dev	Adapter info (through Bluez)
d-feet	DBus debugging tool
nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=never	Only on Parallels
inxi --bluetooth -z	Bluetooth device info