External Sensor API

Quick overview

The External Sensor API stores weather and environmental measurements for cameras in the AllSkyKamera network. It is intended for technical users who want to connect their own weather station, SQM meter or small sensor node to their camera page.

Typical sources are weather stations, SQM devices, BME280, DS18B20, TSL2591 and custom environmental measurements. Values are stored first and can then be configured for display in the user area.

Basics

Authentication

Every request must include the camera secret key in the X-API-Key header. The key maps the request to the correct camera ID internally; GET queries are automatically filtered to that camera via the Influx tag kamera.

X-API-Key: DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY

Never put this key into public websites, GitHub repositories or client-side JavaScript.

POST: write sensor data

POST writes external sensor data into the shared InfluxDB. All uploaded values are stored in ext_sensors and tagged with your camera ID as kamera. If supplied, ext_sensor is added as an additional tag.

JSON structure

{
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T21:15:00Z",
  "ext_sensor": "Dachstation",
  "fields": {
    "BME280_temp_c": 22.9,
    "BME280_hum_pct": 48.5,
    "DS18B20_temp_c": 21.3
  }
}

Field names are sanitized before writing: characters outside A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and underscore become underscores. Use clear units in the field name, for example temp_c, hum_pct, pressure_hpa or sky_brightness.

Successful response

{
  "status": "ok"
}

GET: read sensor data

GET reads measurements from InfluxDB. The API key determines your camera, and the query always includes r["kamera"] == "ASKxxx". You cannot query another camera by passing a camera parameter.

Possible values for measurement and fields can be discovered with mode=metadata.

Query parameters

Long format

Long format is the default. Every row contains one field value.

[
  {
    "time": "2026-05-20T21:15:00Z",
    "value": 18.42,
    "field": "raspiDiskFree",
    "measurement": "raspistatus",
    "ext_sensor": null,
    "kamera": "ASK999"
  }
]

Pivot / wide format

pivot=1 returns one row per timestamp with fields as columns. Numeric strings are cast to numbers; empty values become null.

[
  {
    "time": "2026-05-20T21:15:00Z",
    "_measurement": "ext_sensors",
    "kamera": "ASK999",
    "ext_sensor": "Dachstation",
    "temp_c": 22.9,
    "hum_pct": 48.5
  }
]

GET: metadata

With mode=metadata, users can discover which measurements and fields are available for their own API key. The response is automatically restricted to the camera assigned to the key via the Influx tag kamera.

curl

curl "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php?mode=metadata" \
  -H "X-API-Key: DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"

curl "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php?mode=metadata&measurement=raspistatus" \
  -H "X-API-Key: DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"

Example response

{
  "status": "ok",
  "mode": "metadata",
  "kamera": "ASK001",
  "range": "-30d",
  "measurements": [
    {
      "name": "raspistatus",
      "fields": ["raspiDiskFree", "raspiTemp"],
      "last_seen": "2026-05-20T12:34:00Z"
    },
    {
      "name": "ext_sensors",
      "fields": ["temp_c", "hum_pct", "pressure_hpa"],
      "ext_sensors": ["bme280_aussen", "tsl2591"],
      "last_seen": "2026-05-20T12:40:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Invalid measurement filters return HTTP 400 with {"status":"error","error":"invalid_measurement"}. The metadata range is currently the last 30 days.

Measurements and fields

The current endpoint does not enforce a fixed measurement list for GET. These names are visible in the code or existing examples and are examples, not a complete catalog.

Response formats

POST

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "status": "ok"
}

GET

GET returns a JSON array. It may be empty if no matching values exist.

Error codes

Limits

The limits are enforced per camera and tracked separately for writes and reads.

Please coordinate permanently higher frequencies with the administration before using them.

Examples

curl POST

curl -X POST "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY" \
  -d '{"timestamp":"2026-05-20T21:15:00Z","ext_sensor":"Dachstation","fields":{"temp_c":22.9,"hum_pct":48.5,"pressure_hpa":1002.8}}'

curl GET

curl "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php?measurement=ext_sensors&fields=temp_c,hum_pct&start=-6h&aggregate=mean&every=5m&pivot=1&limit=100" \
  -H "X-API-Key: DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"

Python POST

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import requests
from datetime import datetime, timezone

API_URL = "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php"
API_KEY = "DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"
payload = {"timestamp": datetime.now(timezone.utc).strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"), "ext_sensor": "Dachstation", "fields": {"temp_c": 22.9, "hum_pct": 48.5, "pressure_hpa": 1002.8}}
response = requests.post(API_URL, headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json"}, json=payload, timeout=10)
print(response.status_code, response.text)

Python GET

import requests

API_URL = "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php"
API_KEY = "DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"
params = {"measurement": "ext_sensors", "fields": "temp_c,hum_pct", "start": "-6h", "aggregate": "mean", "every": "5m", "pivot": 1, "limit": 100}
response = requests.get(API_URL, params=params, headers={"X-API-Key": API_KEY}, timeout=10)
print(response.status_code)
print(response.json()[:3])

ESP32 / Arduino POST

#include <WiFi.h>
#include <HTTPClient.h>

const char* ssid = "DEIN_WLAN";
const char* password = "DEIN_PASSWORT";
const char* apiUrl = "https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php";
const char* apiKey = "DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY";

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) delay(500);
}

void loop() {
  if (WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED) {
    HTTPClient http;
    http.begin(apiUrl);
    http.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
    http.addHeader("X-API-Key", apiKey);
    String payload = R"({"timestamp":"2026-05-20T21:15:00Z","ext_sensor":"ESP32_Weather","fields":{"temp_c":23.4,"hum_pct":51.2}})";
    int httpCode = http.POST(payload);
    Serial.printf("HTTP: %d\n", httpCode);
    Serial.println(http.getString());
    http.end();
  }
  delay(60000);
}

Raspberry Pi minimal example

from datetime import datetime, timezone
import requests

requests.post("https://allskykamera.space/api/v1/weather.php", headers={"X-API-Key": "DEIN_GEHEIMER_KAMERA_KEY"}, json={"timestamp": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z"), "ext_sensor": "RaspberryPi", "fields": {"cpu_temp_c": 48.2}}, timeout=10)

Security and privacy

• Keep the API key secret and use it only in trusted server-side or device-side code.
• Do not send personal data in ext_sensor or field names.
• Do not send location data unless you intentionally want it to be stored and potentially shown.
• Measurements are assigned to the camera in the network through the API key.

Display on the camera page

Values are stored first. In the user area you can name fields, group them, assign units and decide whether they are visible. Only activated sensors appear on the public camera page.

1. External sensors in the user area

In your user profile you can open the configuration for external sensors.

2. Sensor configuration

In the sensor configuration you define display names, groups, units and visibility.

3. Display on the camera page

On the camera page the selected sensors are shown as grouped charts.