iot-cloud-platform

name	iot-cloud-platform
description	Connect IoT devices to cloud — AWS IoT, Azure IoT, MQTT, device shadows, fleet management, and data pipelines
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Grep"]
effort	medium

When to activate

• Connecting IoT devices to AWS IoT Core or Azure IoT Hub
• Implementing MQTT communication patterns
• Designing device shadow/digital twin systems
• Building IoT data pipelines and analytics
• Managing device fleets (provisioning, monitoring, OTA)

When NOT to use

• For consumer mobile app backends
• For web application cloud architecture
• For non-IoT cloud deployments

Instructions

1. Choose platform. AWS IoT Core (X.509 certs, Shadow, Rules), Azure IoT Hub (DPS, Twins, Streams), or self-hosted (EMQX + TimescaleDB).
2. Device identity. X.509 certificates (most secure), SAS tokens (simpler), JIT provisioning. Unique per device.
3. MQTT patterns. Publish telemetry (device → cloud). Subscribe to commands (cloud → device). QoS 1 for reliability.
4. Device shadow/twin. Desired state (cloud → device), Reported state (device → cloud). Device syncs on reconnect.
5. Data pipeline. MQTT → Rule Engine → Lambda/Function → Time-series DB → Dashboard. Batch for analytics.
6. Fleet management. AWS Fleet Provisioning or Azure DPS. Group devices. Monitor connection health. Alert on offline devices.
7. Security. TLS 1.2+ for all communication. Rotate certificates. Least-privilege IAM policies. Audit logging.

Example

IoT Architecture: Smart Building Sensors (500 devices)

Device → Cloud:
  MQTT Publish: sensors/{deviceId}/telemetry
  Payload: {"temp": 22.5, "humidity": 45.2, "co2": 650}
  Frequency: every 5 minutes
  QoS: 1

Cloud → Device:
  MQTT Subscribe: sensors/{deviceId}/commands
  Shadow: sensors/{deviceId}/shadow (desired/reported)

Pipeline:
  IoT Rule → Lambda → DynamoDB (latest state)
  IoT Rule → Kinesis → S3 (historical data)
  IoT Rule → SNS (alerts when thresholds exceeded)

Fleet:
  Provisioning: JITR with fleet provisioning templates
  Monitoring: CloudWatch alarms for disconnections >5min
  OTA: AWS IoT Jobs for firmware deployment