HiveMQ platform getting started: Broker to live data

TL;DR

Getting started with the HiveMQ platform takes five steps: sign up, find your way around, deploy a broker with Docker, confirm it's connected and publish simulated data. You don't need your own devices to see data moving.

• The free deployment gives you a self-hosted HiveMQ broker with 100 connections and 100 messages per second, enough to test a real topic hierarchy.
• The platform generates the Docker command for you, including your license key, so deployment is a copy and paste.
• Built-in simulated data lets you validate the full data path before you connect production equipment.

Who this blog is for: Developers and integration engineers who want hands-on experience with the HiveMQ platform on their own machine.

There’s no need for industrial data projects to stall before the first message moves. Rather than wasting days wiring up infrastructure just to find out whether the data path works, this guide gets you from sign-up to live data on a self-hosted broker in five steps, using the HiveMQ platform and a laptop running Docker.

HiveMQ platform is the industrial data platform for agentic AI. It connects, contextualizes, analyzes and acts on industrial data right where it's created, all running on HiveMQ's reliable, secure and scalable broker, built on the MQTT protocol.

This walkthrough focuses on the first layer, Connect. By the end, you'll have a broker running locally, connected to the platform and carrying data on a structured MQTT topic hierarchy.

That's the foundation every later step depends on, because you can't contextualize or analyze data you can't see.

Step 1: How do I sign up for the HiveMQ platform?

You sign up from the HiveMQ website. It takes one click to reach the login screen.

1. Go to hivemq.com.
2. Select Start free.
3. Create an account, or log in if you already have one.

Once you're in, you land on the platform home screen.

Step 2: How is the HiveMQ platform organized?

The platform is organized into six tabs across the top of the screen. Four of them match the platform's layers, so the navigation mirrors the path your data takes.

Start with the Explore tab

Explore is the first screen you see. At the center is a prompt where you can ask Bea, the platform's AI assistant, anything about getting started. Ask "How do I start with HiveMQ?" and Bea walks you through the steps, taking into account the brokers you already have running.

Below the prompt, Explore lays out the full journey: connect a broker, start streaming data, discover and govern your namespace, then deploy agents. It also shows AI insights, which get more relevant the more you use the platform.

Bea is available in every tab, so you can ask for help at any point in this guide.

Know where to find help

The Learn tab collects the resources you'll want as you go deeper:

• HiveMQ University courses and certifications
• The HiveMQ Community Forum
• MQTT Essentials, plus guides on brokers and the unified namespace

Step 3: How do I deploy a self-hosted HiveMQ broker?

You deploy a self-hosted broker from the Connect tab, and the platform generates the command for you. In this example, the broker runs in Docker on a laptop.

The Connect tab shows your network and every broker attached to it. If you already have cloud brokers running, you'll see them listed here.

Choose how to add a broker

Select Get broker or an edge. You'll see three options:

• Connect what you already run. The platform generates a connection string that links your existing broker to the platform, so it can discover your traffic later.
• Choose how to run. Choose to run HiveMQ on Cloud or your own infrastructure. Please note, we use the latter option for our demo (HiveMQ Software).
• Deploy a new broker. The platform walks you through a fresh deployment. This guide uses this option.

Pick a deployment target and package

Choose where the broker will run. Options include Docker, Kubernetes, a local install, AWS and Azure.

Select Docker. You'll need Docker installed and running on your machine before you continue.

Next, pick your package. The free deployment includes 100 connections and 100 messages per second, which is plenty for testing. See HiveMQ pricing for other options.

Run the generated command

The platform generates a docker run command with everything filled in: an auto-generated container name, the ports and your license key. The broker version is HiveMQ "4.55 LTS" or later.

docker run --name <container-name> \
-p <host-web-port>:8080 \
-p <host-mqtt-port>:1883 \
--pull=always \
-e HIVEMQ_LOG_BASED_CLUSTERING_ENABLED=true \
hivemq/hivemq4:<image-tag>

1. Copy the command from the platform.
2. Open a terminal on your machine.
3. Paste the command and press Enter.

Troubleshooting tip: If Docker reports that the container name is already in use, an earlier container with that name still exists. Remove it with docker rm <container-name>, or change the name in the command, then run it again. Also, ensure that the network ports are correct and not occupied.

Step 4: How do I know my broker is connected?

The platform tells you. Once the container is up, the broker card in the Connect tab moves from starting to connected.

Startup can take a minute. Watch the container logs in your terminal, and you'll see the broker start its services, such as the audit logger, before it opens connections. You can also run docker ps to confirm the container is running.

When the broker is ready, the platform establishes connectivity and marks it as connected. At that point, the broker is ready to carry data.

Step 5: How do I get data flowing through my broker?

Select your connected broker and choose how to send data. You have two options, and both are guided in the platform.

• Connect your own devices. If you already have MQTT clients, the platform gives you copy-and-paste commands for Java, Python, Arduino and common MQTT command-line and desktop clients such as Mosquitto and MQTT.fx.
• Use simulated data. The platform generates sample data for you, so you can test without any hardware. This guide uses this option.

Design a topic hierarchy first

Before you publish, decide how your topics are structured. A clear hierarchy now makes your data far easier to find and govern later.

This example models a fictional manufacturer, DemoCorp. The Docker broker represents Site 1, which has two production lines. Each line reports data from its equipment:

DemoCorp/
Site01/
  Production/
    LineA/
      Filler01/
      Capper01/
    LineB/
      Mixer01/
      Packer01/

Publish the simulated data

1. In the platform, go to Connect my devices and select Simulated data.
2. Copy the generated bash script for your site.
3. In your terminal, move to the root folder of your Docker setup.
4. Paste and run the script.
5. Publish the sample data set from the platform.

Once the script runs, your broker starts carrying messages on the DemoCorp topics. Return to the Connect tab and select Discover traffic to see the data arriving.

What should I do after my data is flowing?

Move to the Contextualize tab. Getting data onto a broker is the foundation, but raw topics alone don't tell anyone what a signal means or whether it can be trusted. Contextualize is where you discover and govern that data so it's ready to analyze and act on.

Not sure where to go next? Ask Bea. It knows which brokers you have running and can suggest the next step. For a deeper grounding, the MQTT Essentials series and HiveMQ University courses are good places to start.

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