Data Sources
Arrivals Board can display messages from a wide variety of sources. This page catalogs suggested data sources organized by category, with tips on how to connect each one.
Multiple sources at once
Arrivals can run many sources simultaneously. Mix and match from different categories to create a board that is uniquely useful to you.
Social¶
Display posts, replies, and updates from your social networks.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mastodon | Built-in (OAuth) | Any Mastodon-compatible instance. Real-time via SSE with polling fallback. See Mastodon. |
| Bluesky | Built-in (app password) | Posts from your Bluesky feed. See Bluesky. |
| Threads | Built-in (OAuth) | Posts from accounts you follow. See Threads. |
News and media¶
Stay informed with headlines and updates from the web.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RSS / Atom feeds | Built-in (RSS source) | Any standard RSS 2.0 or Atom feed. See RSS / Atom Feeds. |
| RSS | Append .rss to any subreddit URL (e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/.rss) |
|
| GitHub Releases | RSS (Atom) | Append .atom to a releases URL (e.g., https://github.com/org/repo/releases.atom) |
| YouTube | RSS (Atom) | Use the channel's Atom feed: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID |
| News sites | RSS | Most major news outlets publish RSS feeds. Enter the site URL and Arrivals will attempt auto-discovery. |
| Blogs | RSS | Personal blogs, company blogs, Substack newsletters --- all typically offer RSS. |
Finding RSS feeds
Many websites have RSS feeds that are not prominently linked. Try appending /feed, /rss, or /atom.xml to the site URL. Arrivals also attempts auto-discovery when you enter a website URL in the RSS source configuration.
IoT and smart home¶
Connect sensors, controllers, and automation platforms.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant | MQTT | Publish sensor states and automation events to an MQTT topic. See Home Automation. |
| Node-RED | MQTT | Use an MQTT out node in your flows to send formatted messages. |
| Homebridge | REST API or MQTT | Use webhook plugins to POST to the Arrivals API, or bridge through MQTT. |
| Arduino / ESP32 | MQTT | Microcontrollers publish sensor readings directly via MQTT. |
| Raspberry Pi | MQTT | Use Python (paho-mqtt) or any MQTT client library. |
| Zigbee / Z-Wave devices | MQTT (via bridge) | Use Zigbee2MQTT or Z-Wave JS to bridge device events to MQTT. |
Productivity¶
Keep tasks, events, and work items visible.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Calendars | Built-in (Calendar source) | iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, CalDAV --- any calendar synced to your device. See Calendar. |
| Todoist | RSS | Todoist projects expose RSS feeds for completed tasks and new items. |
| Things 3 | RSS (via export) | Export a project to a shared list and use its RSS feed. |
| GitHub activity | RSS (Atom) | Follow repository activity via Atom feeds (commits, issues, PRs). Append .atom to feed URLs. |
| GitLab activity | RSS (Atom) | GitLab projects and groups provide Atom feeds for activity. |
Monitoring and ops¶
Surface infrastructure health, build status, and alerts.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime monitoring | RSS or MQTT | Services like Pingdom, UptimeRobot, and Better Uptime offer RSS feeds for incidents. Alternatively, use webhook-to-MQTT bridges. |
| CI/CD pipelines | MQTT or Push | GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins --- publish build results via MQTT or webhook to the Arrivals API. |
| Grafana alerts | MQTT or Push | Configure Grafana alert notifications to publish to MQTT or POST to the Arrivals REST API. |
| Stock prices | RSS or MQTT | Use a script or service that polls a financial API and publishes price updates via MQTT. |
| Server metrics | MQTT | Publish CPU, memory, disk, and network stats from your monitoring stack. |
Webhook-to-MQTT bridge
Many services support outgoing webhooks but not MQTT directly. A small bridge service (a few lines of Node.js or Python) can receive the webhook and publish the payload to your MQTT broker. Node-RED is also an excellent tool for this.
Weather and environment¶
Display conditions, forecasts, and atmospheric data.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Weather | Built-in (WeatherKit) | Current conditions and forecasts powered by Apple WeatherKit. See Weather. |
| Air quality | Shortcuts + Local Server | Use a Shortcut to fetch AQI data from an API and POST it to the Arrivals Local Server. |
| Astronomy | RSS or MQTT | ISS pass predictions via the NASA API, meteor shower alerts, sunset/sunrise times --- fetch with a script and publish via MQTT. |
| Pollen / Allergy | RSS or MQTT | Services like Pollen.com offer RSS feeds for allergy forecasts in some regions. |
Fun and novelty¶
Add personality and conversation starters to your board.
| Source | Connection method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia "On This Day" | RSS | Wikipedia publishes a daily "on this day" feed with historical events. |
| Random quotes | MQTT or Local Server | Use a script to fetch quotes from an API (e.g., quotable.io) and publish via MQTT or POST to the Local Server. |
| Sports scores | RSS or MQTT | Many sports news sites offer RSS. For real-time scores, use a sports API with an MQTT bridge. |
| Countdown timers | MQTT or Shortcuts | Publish "X days until [event]" messages via a daily cron job or Shortcut automation. |
| Random facts | RSS or MQTT | APIs for random facts, trivia, or "word of the day" make great ambient content. |
| ISS passes | MQTT | Query the NASA ISS pass API and publish upcoming visible passes for your location. |
Connecting sources that are not built in¶
For any data source not directly supported by Arrivals, the general pattern is:
- Find or create a data feed --- RSS, an API, a webhook, or a sensor.
- Bridge it to Arrivals via one of these methods:
- RSS if the source already publishes a feed.
- MQTT for real-time or push-based data (see MQTT).
- REST API for one-off or scripted pushes (see REST API).
- Local Server for quick manual posts or Shortcut integrations (see Local Server).
- Push Notifications for webhook-triggered messages (see Push Notifications).
- Siri Shortcuts for anything available on your iPhone or iPad (see Siri & Shortcuts).
If it produces text, Arrivals can display it
The combination of RSS, MQTT, REST API, and Shortcuts means virtually any data source that produces text can be routed to the board. If you can write a script that outputs a string, you can put it on the split-flap display.