Step 5: How ControlBird Works
Understand the architecture that makes real-time automation possible.
Before diving into the apps, let's understand what makes ControlBird different. This mental model will help everything else make sense.
The Store: Your Central Nervous System
At the heart of ControlBird is the Store: a real-time, in-memory database that holds all your data. Every device reading, every configuration, and every automation state lives here.
Think of the Store as a shared whiteboard that everyone can see instantly. When a temperature sensor updates, the value appears in the Store immediately, and anything watching that value (dashboards, automations, alarms) reacts within milliseconds.
Entities: The Building Blocks
Everything in ControlBird is an Entity. A temperature sensor is an entity. A room is an entity. An automation rule is an entity. Even alarms are entities.
Entities are organized in a tree structure, just like folders on your computer. A house contains rooms, rooms contain devices. This hierarchy makes it easy to organize thousands of data points logically.
Fields: The Data Points
Each entity has Fields: the actual values you care about. A temperature sensor has a Temperature field. A light has an On/Off field. Fields are strongly typed: numbers, text, booleans, timestamps, or references to other entities.
Real-Time Notifications
Here's where the magic happens. Any part of the system can subscribe to field changes. When a value updates, subscribers are notified instantly.
This happens in milliseconds. No polling, no delays. When something changes, everything that cares knows immediately.
Why This Matters
Instant Updates
See changes the moment they happen. No refresh buttons, no waiting.
Unified View
One source of truth. Every app sees the same data at the same time.
Reactive Automations
Rules trigger on data changes, not schedules. Respond to events as they happen.
Scalable
Handle thousands of data points without performance degradation.
Mental Model
Think of ControlBird as a reactive spreadsheet for your devices. Change one cell (field), and every formula (automation) that references it recalculates instantly.
Built-In Capabilities
Around the Store, ControlBird provides a set of capabilities that handle everything from device communication to alarm processing, historical data, and custom logic. They all work through the same Store, so every part of the system stays in sync.
Device Connectivity
Data & Automation
Every capability works through the Store: reading data, writing changes, and reacting to notifications. This store-centric architecture keeps the different parts of the system loosely coupled, making it resilient and easy to extend.
How the Apps Fit Together
Each app in ControlBird is a different view into the same Store: