Signal K Server is a NodeJS application which can be installed on a variety of devices and operating systems.
It is available for installation via:
See the relevant section below for instructions based on your target system.
Signal K server requires NodeJS version >= 18 be installed on the target system prior to commencing installation.
Install Signal K Server on Raspberry Pi outlines the process for getting Signal K Server up and running (including supporting services) on Raspberry Pi OS.
Signal K Server is available as a Docker image on Docker Hub and cr.signalk.io/signalk/signalk-server.
To simply run a Signal K Server with some sample data on a device with docker installed, enter the following into a terminal:
docker run -it --rm --publish 3000:3000 signalk/signalk-server
This will start an instance of Signal K Server on port 3000 which you can then access via the web based Admin UI by pointing your web browser at http://localhost:3000.
If you are wanting to use docker to deploy Signal K Server on your vessel you will need to:
Example: Run as background process and store server configuration in the current folder:
docker run -d --init --name signalk-server -p 3000:3000 -v $(pwd):/home/node/.signalk signalk/signalk-server
You are ready to now configure your installation and connect data from devices on your boat.
Signal K Server can be installed directly using NPM.
Windows:
Linux / macOS:
sudo npm install -g signalk-server
Once installation is complete, enter the following in a terminal window, to generate a settings file and configure the server to start automatically:
sudo signalk-server-setup
If you choose not to use signalk-server-setup you can start the server by entering the following in a terminal window:
signalk-server
Please use the Signal K installer for Windows to install Signal K Server on a Windows device.
Installation from the GitHub repository is useful when developing plugins and components.
To do this enter the following commands in a terminal window:
# Copy the files to your device
git clone https://github.com/SignalK/signalk-server.git
# change to the folder containing the downloaded files
cd signalk-server
# install the dependencies
npm install
# build all packages in the repository
npm run build:all
To start Signal K Server with a sample configuration file and some sample data, enter the following into a terminal: To use NMEA0183 sample data:
bin/nmea-from-file
To use NMEA2000 sample data:
bin/n2k-from-file
The server will start playing back data from the specified sample file that can be viewed using the Data Browser in the Admin UI (http://localhost:3000) or via REST API / websocket connection.