Create and Deploy Basic Node-RED Flows for Automation

This tutorial introduces you to the basics of using Node-RED for designing data flows. You will learn how to create, connect, and deploy nodes to build simple pipelines effectively.

1. Introduce Basic Node-RED Concepts

Today, you will learn how to use Node-RED and the basic knowledge you need to have.

Node-RED is a flow tool that is used to design pipelines easily. Let's do a test to see how it works.

2. Review Available Nodes

As you can see on our left, we have all the nodes. These are default nodes but be can add other ones made by the community or by Rosepetal.

3. Add Inject and Book Nodes

Let's start by dragging an inject and debug node.

4. Connect Nodes Together

We're going to connect them.

5. Open Node Connection Interface

Click and drag from here to connect the nodes.

6. Deploy the Flow

And let's deploy.

7. Click Deploy Button

Click here to deploy your flow.

8. Press Inject Button

Perfect. Now, if you press the inject button.

Click here to trigger the inject node.

9. Navigate to Debug Tab

And we go to the debug page.

10. Open Debug Tab

Click here to view debug output.

11. View Debug Output

We can see that the debug node is outputting this number. It's the property message.payload.

12. Expand Debug Message

Let's see how a message looks like.

Click here to expand the debug message.

13. Display Complete Message Object

Let's output the full message.

14. Select Complete Message Object

Click "complete msg object" to show all message details.

15. Confirm Message Selection

Click "Done" to confirm your selection.

16. Trigger Inject Node Again

Deploy, now, if we press inject again,

Click here to inject the message again.

17. Observe Full Message Output

We can see the whole message. You can see that the message looks like JSON data.

18. Add Function Node

Let's now add a function node between these two.

19. Select Function Node

Click here to open the function node.

20. Set Message Property Value

Write a new message property. Set it to "Hello Rosepetal!".

21. Confirm Function Node Changes

Click "Done" to save the function node.

22. Acknowledge Completion

If we inject, we can see that the payload property is Hello Rosepetal.

And just like that, we finished our first and simple flow. I hope you now have an idea of what is and how Node-RED works!