WeatherNode — Open Source Self-Hosted Weather Dashboard

See it in action

Why open source?

You own your data — Run it on your server; no vendor lock-in.
Transparent and auditable — See how data is fetched, cached, and displayed.
Extensible — Add providers, widgets, and locales via a clear service layer.
Community-friendly — GPL-3.0; use, modify, and share.

What makes it different

Speed

Cache-first: dashboard reads only from cache. No API calls on page load — ~10ms response instead of 5+ seconds.

Reliability

Health checks and self-healing: missing cache is detected and refetched automatically. Sensor/API staleness triggers OFFLINE badges and optional email alerts.

Scope

One app: live station, 14-day forecast, air quality, astronomy (sun/moon/aurora/ISS), rain radar, satellite, earthquakes, lightning, aviation METAR, and worldwide weather alerts (Meteoalarm, NWS, Environment Canada, Met Office, BOM).

Flexibility

FX (rich effects) or Flat theme, drag-and-drop widgets, configurable data sources, multi-language and multi-unit (metric/imperial/UK/Scandinavia).

Features at a glance

Local weather devices

Connect your local weather station or device — Ecowitt, WeatherLink, or a local file/API — for real-time temperature, humidity, wind, rain, and pressure
Auto-refresh every 60s; UI updates only when data changes
Sensor health monitoring and optional email alerts when the station stops sending data

External data (all optional)

Forecasts — 14-day + hourly (Yr.no)
Air quality — WAQI and/or Luftdaten/Sensor.Community
Astronomy — Sun/moon times, phases, aurora Kp-index, ISS/Tiangong passes, sky events
Alerts — Meteoalarm (EU), NWS (US), Environment Canada, Met Office (UK), BOM (Australia)
Radar, satellite, aviation METAR, earthquakes, lightning

Experience

Weather-based effects (rain, snow, lightning, fog) and optional Flat theme
Smart polling, per-card timestamps, OFFLINE badges with age in minutes
Drag-and-drop layout, mobile-responsive, dynamic sitemap and SEO-friendly error pages

Admin and aggregator

Enable/disable widgets, set theme, configure all data sources and API keys (masked in UI)
Community telemetry — In Admin → Settings → Community Telemetry you can enable telemetry and set the aggregator URL (and optional API key); your station then appears on the community map. The telemetry aggregator is part of this project and can be hosted alongside this site.
Visitor analytics, user management, in-app updates (browser-based or manual)

Public API

REST API for integrations and automation: dashboard, current conditions, today summary, 14-day forecast, astronomy, air quality, METAR, history, sensors
Data endpoints: earthquakes, weather alerts. All dashboard data is cache-first for fast responses.

Tech stack

PHP 8.2+
Laravel 12
SQLite / MySQL
Blade, Tailwind CSS, Alpine.js
Basmilius Weather Icons

Quick start

Three ways to install — pick the one that fits your host:

On a fresh install, create the first administrator by visiting /admin — the login page links to one-time setup at /setup/admin while no users exist. Optionally, run php artisan admin:create from the command line instead.

1. Prebuilt ZIP — fastest, no build tools. Composer dependencies and compiled assets are bundled, so you need neither Composer nor Node.js. Ideal for shared hosting.

curl -L -o weathernode-deploy.zip \
  https://github.com/centauri/WeatherNode/releases/latest/download/weathernode-deploy.zip
unzip weathernode-deploy.zip -d weathernode && cd weathernode
curl -L -o .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/centauri/WeatherNode/main/.env.example
php artisan key:generate
# edit .env: set APP_URL and your database
php artisan migrate && php artisan db:seed

Point your web server's document root at the public/ folder, open your site, and go to /admin to complete first-time setup. Or run php artisan admin:create before signing in.

2. From source (Git) — build it yourself. Requires Composer and Node.js.

git clone https://github.com/centauri/WeatherNode.git
cd WeatherNode
composer install && npm install
cp .env.example .env && php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate && php artisan db:seed
npm run build && php artisan serve

Open your site and go to /admin to complete first-time setup, then sign in. Or run php artisan admin:create before visiting /admin.

3. Docker. Uses the repo's compose file (builds the image locally):

git clone https://github.com/centauri/WeatherNode.git
cd WeatherNode
# In docker-compose.yml set APP_URL, and APP_KEY to a generated key.
# Generate one without a local PHP install:
echo "base64:$(openssl rand -base64 32)"
make docker-up

Optional: set ADMIN_EMAIL and ADMIN_PASSWORD in docker-compose.yml for first-run admin creation.

Choosing a hosting layout — and whether one-click in-app updates will work — is covered in HOSTING.md. For full setup, deployment, and options see the WeatherNode repository on GitHub.

Open data and community

Open data framework — Pluggable providers (e.g. KNMI); admin UI to enable/disable and suggest new agencies.
Community stations — Optional telemetry to a central aggregator; /community-stations shows stations on a map. Enable in Admin → Settings → Community Telemetry; the aggregator is hosted alongside this marketing site so the map stays up to date.

Frequently asked questions

Can I self-host a weather dashboard for my Ecowitt station?

Yes. WeatherNode is an open source, self-hosted weather dashboard that reads live data straight from your Ecowitt station — as well as WeatherFlow, Davis WeatherLink, Ambient Weather, Weather Underground, or a local file — and runs entirely on your own server.

Which weather stations does WeatherNode support?

WeatherNode works with Ecowitt, WeatherFlow, WeatherLink (Davis), Ambient Weather, and Weather Underground, plus local file sources. There is also an optional secure push mode for Ecowitt receivers.

What do I need to run it, and where can I host it?

WeatherNode needs PHP 8.2 or newer and SQLite or MySQL. You can host it on a VPS, on shared hosting (a prebuilt package means no Node.js is required on the server), or with Docker.

Can I run WeatherNode in Docker?

Yes. An official image is published on the GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io/centauri/weathernode). The compose-first setup runs database migrations automatically on first start.

Is WeatherNode free and open source?

Yes. WeatherNode is open source under the GNU GPL v3 licence — free to run, modify, and share.

Does the dashboard keep working if a weather API goes down?

Yes. WeatherNode is cache-first: it refreshes data in the background and serves public pages from cache, so the dashboard loads fast and stays usable even during API outages.

What weather data can it show besides my own station?

Alongside your live station, WeatherNode can show forecasts (Yr.no, OpenWeatherMap, Weather Underground, Environment Canada, Wxsim), regional weather alerts, air quality (WAQI and Sensor.Community), astronomy, aurora and ISS passes, earthquakes, lightning, and aviation METAR.

What pages and maps does WeatherNode include?

It includes radar and satellite pages, forecast, air quality, astronomy, earthquakes, lightning and pressure map pages, history and statistics pages, and a community stations map.

Does WeatherNode have an API?

Yes. WeatherNode provides a JSON REST API for integrations and automation. It is protected by API keys, which you manage in the admin panel at /admin/api-keys.

Can I customize how the dashboard looks?

Yes. There are two public themes (FX and Flat), drag-and-drop widget ordering in the admin panel, and optional visual effects such as rain, snow, wind, lightning, and fog.

Does WeatherNode support multiple languages and units?

Yes. The admin sets default language and units, with optional browser-based locale and region detection that falls back to the site defaults.

Do I have to share my station data or put it on a public map?

No. You run WeatherNode on your own server and keep ownership of your data. Community telemetry — which adds your station to a shared community map — is optional and turned off unless you enable it.

Can WeatherNode update itself?

Yes. WeatherNode has a built-in in-app updater with update previews, automatic backups, and rollback.

Does WeatherNode use AI?

Only if you want it to. A built-in forecast narrator generates short forecast text without AI; optional AI rephrasing of that text is available and is off by default.

Credits and license

License: GNU GPL v3. See the project LICENSE.

Data: Yr.no, WAQI, Sensor.Community, NOAA SWPC, Meteoalarm, NWS, Environment Canada, Met Office, BOM, USGS, Open Notify, KNMI, and others (see project README).

Icons: Basmilius Weather Icons (MIT).