---
title: "Communicate with Machines using Edge MC's Connector Host and Node-RED"
slug: "communicate-with-machines-using-edge-mcs-connector-host-and-node-red"
updated: 2025-12-02T15:57:30Z
published: 2025-12-02T15:57:30Z
canonical: "support.tulip.co/communicate-with-machines-using-edge-mcs-connector-host-and-node-red"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.tulip.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Communicate with Machines using Edge MC's Connector Host and Node-RED

*Learn how to use Edge MC's Connector Host to communicate with Node-RED devices*

**In the following article we will...**

- Set-up your Edge MC's Connector Host
- Build a Connector Function to communicate with your device
- Build an app to communicate with your device

**Prerequisites**

- Please make sure you've enabled Node-RED on your Edge MC. For instructions on how to do so, see [this](https://support.tulip.co/docs/using-node-red-with-edge-mc) article.

## Summary

By leveraging your Edge MC's Connector Host, you can use an App to trigger Connector Functions that communicate with Node-RED running on a Tulip Device. This will ultimately give you the ability to write to machines from a Tulip app.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_314676359.png)

## Setting up your Edge MC Connector

Note: If you're not familiar with Connectors and Connector Function in Tulip, check out [this](https://support.tulip.co/docs/what-are-connectors) article.

To get started, first navigate to your **Connectors** page, and click **Create Connector**. A modal will appear, prompting you to fill in the following information:

- **Name**: Choose a name for your Connector
- **Description**: Choose a name for your Connector
- **Connector Type:** Select **HTTP**

Next, you will need to specify the Connector's details. Click on the **production & testing & development** button to open the **Edit Connector Details** modal, and enter the following information:

- **Running On**: Select your **EMC Connector Host** Note: In the event that you don't see this, navigate to your Edge MC portal and make sure **Connector Host** has been enabled.
- **Host:** Enter **localhost**
- **Port**: Enter **1880** (this is the port Node-RED is running on)
- **TLS**: Enter **No**

There is no need to add headers or certs. Now you're reading to click **Test**, and verify your connection is passes. Finally, click **Save**.

## Creating a Connector Function

Now that you've successfully set-up your Connector, you're ready to start building connector functions to communicate with your Tulip devices. In this example Node-RED will act as a HTTP server.

To set-up your connector function you will need to configure the function in Tulip, as well as in your Node-RED editor. In this example, we will be building a simple function that takes the input of **firstName** and **lastName**, and returns a response of "Hello **firstName lastName**!", as well as a timestamp.

#### Building the Connector Function in Tulip

Navigate to the Connector for your Edge MC, and select **Create Function** in the top right corner.

Select **GET** as the Request Type, and enter the endpoint: **/helloWorld**. While this may feel arbitrary, in a later step we will configure this endpoint in the Node-RED editor:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313562844.png) Configure the inputs of the function to include **First Name** and **Last Name:**

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313565744.png) In the Request Body, select Content Type: **JSON**, and set the following keys for the inputs. These will be referenced later in the Node-RED editor:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313566597.png) Now add the following outputs to the Connector Function, **Message** and **Time**. Add the associated Body to the outputs, so they can referenced in the Node-RED editor:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313566172.png) Next, verify that your **Response Type** is set to be **JSON.**

You've now finished configuring the Connector Function on the Tulip side. Click **Save**, to save the connector function.

#### Building the flow in Node-RED

It's now time to open the Node-RED editor from your Edge MC portal, and set-up a new flow.

First, drag and drop a **http in** **node** from the network section, into your editor. Set the node to have the following configuration:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313568450.png) It's important that the **Request Method** and **Request URL** match the connector function you configured in Tulip.

Next, drag and drop a **change node** with the following configuration:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313569078.png) Set msg.payload to be **JSON**, and leave it as an empty object: {}

Now insert a **template node**. This is where you can take properties of the incoming message (connector function inputs), and build a string with them (e.g. "Hello World").

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313569613.png)

```
Hello, 

##{{req.body.firstName}} 

##{{req.body.lastName}}!
```

Now it's time to add another **change node**, to capture a timestamp, and send it back as part of the response. Configure the node like the following:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313570022.png) At this point our flow has accepted the inputs being sent from Tulip, and it's now time to configure a response. To do this, drag and drop a **http response** **node**. Configure the response to have a **Status Code** of **200**, **OK**:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313570331.png) The overall flow is now finished, and should look something similar to the following:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313570517.png) Please note the green nodes in the above flow are **debug** nodes, utilized to show your payload in the Node-RED editor.

The final step will be to **Deploy** your flow from the Node-RED editor. You will now be able to Test you connector function from the Tulip test environment,

#### Running the Connector Function through an App

Now that you've set up your connector, and a connector function that effectively communicates to your device using Node-RED as an http server, you're ready to integrate this functionality into your apps.

In this example, there are two input boxes to accept the **firstName** and **lastName** variables that will be sent in our request:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313571948.png) In the button "Say Hello!", enter the following trigger to call the connector function:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/7c6ff534-cad3-4fc8-9583-912c4016362f/Images/Documentation/Communicate%20with%20Machines%20using%20Edge%20MC%27s%20Connector%20Host%20%26%20Node-RED_313570870.png) Once you've entered your inputs, and clicked "Say Hello!" you will have effectively sent an http request to your Tulip device, and received a JSON response.

To test your app, click on the **Test** button in your App Editor to enter Development Mode!