MAVLink-Server

A MAVLink service that allows drivers to implement features based on an internal MAVLink bus.
Currently, it provides router and broker features.

As seen at the 2025 PX4 Developer Summit

Features

• Web Interface via default web server (0.0.0.0:8080)
• Software and Vehicle control via REST API

Supported Endpoints

• TLog
• Serial
• TCP
• UDP
• Fake
• Zenoh
• WebSocket
• Rest (Compatible with mavlink2rest)

Installation

Download the binaries from the latest release.

Usage

mavlink-server [OPTIONS] [ENDPOINTS]...

[ENDPOINTS] is a space-separated list of connection endpoints, that follows the same convention as other tools, such as mavlink-router, mavp2p, and etc. Examples include serial ports, UDP/TCP sockets, or log readers.

Endpoint Examples

Serial connection:

serial:COM3:57600
serial:///dev/ttyACM0?baudrate=115200

UDP:

udpserver://0.0.0.0:14550
udpclient://192.168.2.1:14550?direction=sender

TCP:

tcpserver://0.0.0.0:5760
tcpclient://127.0.0.1:5760

Log file playback:

tlogreader://C:/logs/flight.tlog

Fake MAVLink data (for testing):

fakesource://?period_us=1000000&system_id=42&component_id=66

Web Interface

By default, the server runs a web API and WebSocket on:

http://0.0.0.0:8080

You can change this with:

--web-server 0.0.0.0:9000

The WebSocket endpoint for MAVLink messages is typically:

ws://<host>:8080/v1/rest/ws

Options

Option	Description	Default
-v, --verbose	Enable debug logs	—
--web-server <ADDR>	HTTP/WebSocket server bind address	0.0.0.0:8080
--log-path <DIR>	Directory for logs	./logs
--enable-tracing-level-log-file	Enable detailed trace logs in log file	—
--streamreq-disable	Disable stream requests (not implemented)	—
--udp-server-timeout <SEC>	UDP client inactivity timeout in seconds	10
--mavlink-system-id <ID>	MAVLink System ID	1
--mavlink-component-id <ID>	MAVLink Component ID	191
--mavlink-heartbeat-frequency <Hz>	Heartbeat frequency in Hz	1
--send-initial-heartbeats	Send initial burst of heartbeats (0.1s apart)	—
--mavlink-version <1|2>	MAVLink protocol version	2
--default-api-version <VER>	Default REST API version (removes path prefix)	1
--zenoh-config-file <PATH>	Path to Zenoh config file	—
-h, --help	Show help message	—
-V, --version	Show version info	—

Example Commands

Connect to a Pixhawk via serial and expose WebSocket API

mavlink-server serial:COM3:57600 --web-server 0.0.0.0:8080

Connect to SITL via UDP and serve on port 9090

mavlink-server udpserver://0.0.0.0:14550 --web-server 0.0.0.0:9090

Replay a log file and connect Cockpit

mavlink-server tlogreader://./logs/test.tlog --web-server 0.0.0.0:8080