Developer Overview

Build on Sourceful's energy coordination infrastructure with APIs for real-time data and energy optimization.

What is Sourceful?

Sourceful builds local energy coordination infrastructure — the software layer that gives utilities, integrators, and developers actual visibility into distributed energy resources (DERs) at speeds cloud-only systems can't match.

The platform is built on Novacore, a NATS-based distributed coordination system that connects edge devices (Zaps) to cloud services with sub-200ms latency.

Architecture

Energy Devices → Zap (Edge Gateway) → NATS/MQTT → Novacore → Your Application
                    ↑                                  ↓
              Local Execution (under 200ms)    REST API / SSE Streams
  • Zap: ESP32-based gateway running at the edge, connecting to devices via Modbus, P1, MQTT
  • Novacore: Cloud platform handling auth, device management, telemetry storage, and optimization
  • Your App: Consumes REST APIs and real-time SSE streams to build on top of the platform

Key Concepts

Organizations

Everything in Sourceful is organized under Organizations. An org owns sites, devices, and gateways. Members have roles (owner, admin, operator, viewer) that control what they can do.

Sites, Devices & DERs

  • Site: A physical location with energy resources (a home, building, or facility)
  • Device: Physical hardware you communicate with (inverter, charger, meter)
  • DER: A logical energy resource on a device (solar, battery, meter, EV charger port)

See Data Models for the full hierarchy.

The Zap

The Zap is our edge gateway — a ~$20 device that connects to your energy assets locally and streams data to Novacore. It handles real-time data with sub-200ms response times.

See Zap for Developers for details.

What You Can Build

  • Monitoring Dashboards: Real-time visualization of energy production, consumption, and storage
  • Analytics Applications: Historical analysis, reporting, and forecasting
  • VPP Integrations: Virtual Power Plant aggregation and coordination
  • Utility Integrations: Grid services, demand response, and flexibility markets

Full API Reference

The complete, auto-generated API documentation is always available at the Novacore Swagger UI. It stays in sync with the latest deployed version and includes every endpoint, request/response schema, and parameter detail. Use it as your go-to reference when building integrations.

The docs on this portal provide guides, examples, and context — the Swagger UI is the source of truth for the raw API surface.

Quick Links

Community

Join our community on Discord for support, discussions, and updates.