Constellation

Purpose

Arthexis Constellation is a Django-based software suite that centralizes tools for managing electric vehicle charging infrastructure and orchestrating energy-related products and services.

Visit our Changelog Report to browse past and future features and other updates.

Suite Features

• Compatible with the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 1.6 by default, while allowing Charging Stations to upgrade to newer protocols if they support them.

  Charge point → CSMS

  Action	1.6	2.0.1	2.1	What we do
  Authorize	✅	✅	✅	Validate RFID or token authorization requests before a session starts.
  BootNotification	✅	✅	✅	Register the charge point and update identity, firmware, and status details.
  DataTransfer	✅	✅	✅	Accept vendor-specific payloads and record the results.
  DiagnosticsStatusNotification	✅	—	—	Track the progress of diagnostic uploads kicked off from the back office.
  FirmwareStatusNotification	✅	✅	✅	Track firmware update lifecycle events from charge points.
  Heartbeat	✅	✅	✅	Keep the websocket session alive and update last-seen timestamps.
  LogStatusNotification	—	✅	✅	Report log upload progress from the charge point for diagnostics oversight.
  MeterValues	✅	✅	✅	Persist periodic energy and power readings while a transaction is active.
  SecurityEventNotification	—	✅	✅	Record charge point security events for audit trails.
  StartTransaction	✅	—	—	Create charging sessions with initial meter values and identification data.
  StatusNotification	✅	✅	✅	Reflect connector availability and fault states in real time.
  StopTransaction	✅	—	—	Close charging sessions, capturing closing meter values and stop reasons.

  CSMS → Charge point

  Action	1.6	2.0.1	2.1	What we do
  CancelReservation	✅	✅	✅	Withdraw pending reservations and release connectors directly from the control center.
  ChangeAvailability	✅	✅	✅	Switch connectors or the whole station between operative and inoperative states.
  ChangeConfiguration	✅	—	—	Update supported charger settings and persist applied values in the control center.
  ClearCache	✅	✅	✅	Flush local authorization caches to force fresh lookups from the CSMS.
  DataTransfer	✅	✅	✅	Send vendor-specific commands and log the charge point response.
  GetConfiguration	✅	—	—	Poll the device for the current values of tracked configuration keys.
  GetDiagnostics	✅	—	—	Request a diagnostics archive upload to a signed URL for troubleshooting.
  GetLocalListVersion	✅	✅	✅	Retrieve the current RFID whitelist version and synchronize entries reported by the charge point.
  RemoteStartTransaction	✅	—	—	Initiate a charging session remotely for an identified customer or token.
  RemoteStopTransaction	✅	—	—	Terminate active charging sessions from the control center.
  ReserveNow	✅	✅	✅	Reserve connectors for upcoming sessions with automatic connector selection and confirmation tracking.
  Reset	✅	✅	✅	Request a soft or hard reboot to recover from faults.
  SendLocalList	✅	✅	✅	Publish released and approved RFIDs as the charge point's local authorization list.
  TriggerMessage	✅	✅	✅	Ask the device to send an immediate update (for example status or diagnostics).
  UnlockConnector	✅	✅	✅	Release stuck connectors without on-site intervention.
  UpdateFirmware	✅	✅	✅	Deliver firmware packages to chargers with secure download tokens and track installation responses.

Role Architecture

Arthexis Constellation ships in four node roles tailored to different deployment scenarios.

Quick Guide

1. Clone

• Linux: open a terminal and run git clone https://github.com/arthexis/arthexis.git.
• Windows: open PowerShell or Git Bash and run the same command.

For preloaded environments without Git remotes configured, see the remotes note in the Install & Lifecycle Scripts Manual.

2. Start and stop

Terminal nodes can start directly with the scripts below without installing; Control, Satellite, and Watchtower roles require installation first. Both approaches listen on localhost:8888 by default.

For local bootstrapping, run ./install.sh --terminal to install with defaults, start the server with ./start.sh (optionally passing --reload, --debug, --show LEVEL, --log-follow, or --clear-logs), and execute a quick smoke test with pytest -k smoke. Override the role, port, and test selection with the script flags when needed, and refer to the Install & Lifecycle Scripts Manual for full runtime option details.

• VS Code

  • Open the folder and go to the Run and Debug panel (Ctrl+Shift+D).
  • Select the Run Server (or Debug Server) configuration.
  • Press the green start button. Stop the server with the red square button (Shift+F5).

• Shell

  • Linux: run ./start.sh and stop with ./stop.sh.
  • Windows: run start.bat and stop with stop.bat.

3. Install and upgrade

• Linux:

  • Run ./install.sh --terminal to bootstrap a default Terminal node (pass --control, --satellite, or --watchtower as needed). Override the port with --port 8888 (the default fallback), use --celery to enable Celery support, and use --embedded or --systemd when you need to force a service-management mode explicitly. Use ./install.sh --help to see every available option.
  • WebRTC streaming requires system media libraries (libavcodec, libavformat, libavutil, libvpx, opus) for the aiortc dependency.
  • Use ./upgrade.sh with --stable (weekly) or --latest/-l/--unstable (daily) to follow the preferred release cadence.
  • Consult the Install & Lifecycle Scripts Manual for complete flag descriptions and operational notes.
  • Review the Auto-Upgrade Flow for how delegated upgrades run and how to observe them.

• Windows:

  • Run install.bat to install (Terminal role) and upgrade.bat to upgrade.
  • To run as a background service, install NSSM and use service.bat install --name arthexis (add --port if needed).
  • Installation is not required to start in Terminal mode (the default).

Upgrade channels (selected during install/upgrade and used by scripts/delegated-upgrade.sh when auto-upgrade is enabled):

Use --auto-upgrade during install when you want unattended checks; without it, upgrades stay operator-driven by default.

4. Administration

• Access the Django admin at localhost:8888/admin/ to review and manage live data. Use --port with the start scripts or installer when you need to expose a different port.
• Browse the admindocs at localhost:8888/admindocs/ for API documentation that is generated from your models.
• Follow the Install & Administration Guide for deployment, lifecycle tasks, and operational runbooks.
• Onboard and service chargers with the EVCS Connectivity & Maintenance Cookbook.
• Configure payment gateways with the Payment Processors Cookbook.
• Reference the Sigils Cookbook when configuring tokenized settings across environments.
• Understand seed fixtures and per-user files with Managing Local Node Data.
• Manage exports, imports, and audit trails with the User Data Cookbook.
• Plan feature rollout strategies using the Node Features Cookbook.
• Curate shortcuts for power users through the Favorites Cookbook.
• Connect Slack workspaces through the Slack Bot Onboarding Cookbook.

5. Development

• Browse the Developer Documentation Library for architecture references, protocol manuals, and contribution workflows.

Support

Arthexis Constellation is still under very active development and new features are added every day.

If you decide to use our suite for your energy projects, you may contact us at tecnologia@gelectriic.com or visit our web page for professional services and commercial support.

License and Sponsorship

Arthexis is distributed under the Arthexis Contribution Reciprocity License 1.0. In addition to code, docs, reviews, and maintenance, we also consider sponsoring Arthexis and doing paid or volunteer work for the open-source dependencies we rely on to be a valid and important form of contribution.

If Arthexis helps your team, please review the license terms in LICENSE and consider sponsoring or directly supporting the maintainers of the libraries, frameworks, and infrastructure projects that make this suite possible. Supporting those dependencies helps keep the whole Arthexis ecosystem healthy.