Overview

Turn an architecture sentence into a clean flow shape you can read at a glance.

Node-RED — start here

Node-RED is a visual programming platform for integration and logic: you build by wiring pre-built nodes into flows. The connectors and the syntax are handled for you, so your effort goes into what the system should do — the logic — not the plumbing to connect things or the boilerplate of a language.

New here? Start with the Foundations →
Writing flows? Keep to Good form → — the habits that keep a flow readable and out of spaghetti: call shared things, one path per beginning, decouple UI from logic, catch errors where you can see them.

The patterns, by family

Design patterns

  • Find the seams — Name the three or four components hiding in a flow.
  • Levels of reuse — Reuse each piece at the lightest rung: link in/out, link call, subflow, or packaged node.

Handling data (PLC)

  • Classify the data — Name each signal by shape, purpose, and direction.
  • Separate the paths — Give telemetry and control their own routes.
  • Batch / rate-limit — Pace a fast source into a slow sink so memory doesn't blow.
  • Hold state in context — Keep a logical object in context, not threaded through wires.
  • Config — Static in env vars, runtime in persisted context.

Worked examples

  • OEE - Edge Aggregator — the edge piece as a reusable subflow: poll, read, compute, publish.
  • OEE - Central Dashboard — subscribe, compute, dashboard, fanning out via link out to a second link in for batched history.