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ThingSpeak website screenshot

ThingSpeak

ThingSpeak is an IoT analytics platform from MathWorks that lets devices aggregate, visualize, and analyze live data streams in the cloud. Devices push telemetry to channels via a REST update endpoint or the `mqtt3.thingspeak.com` MQTT broker, and the platform layers in MATLAB Analysis for compute, MATLAB Visualizations for plotting, React for rules, TalkBack for cloud-to-device commands, ThingHTTP for outbound webhooks, and TimeControl for scheduling. ThingSpeak is the only mainstream IoT platform with first-class MATLAB and Simulink integration, making it widely used in academic research, environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, and energy applications. Compatible with Arduino, ESP8266/ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Particle, LoRaWAN gateways, and industrial controllers.

agent ready

Solid contracts, transparent operations, and an easy start — typically complete on four or five facets with one clear soft spot.

Kin Score

API Evangelist profiles ThingSpeak the way a machine reads it — 69 machine-readable artifacts across 12 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.

Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — ThingSpeak scores 68.2/100 (strong), with a separate agent-readiness read of 54/100 (agent ready). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.

Kin Score

This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 68.2/100 · strong
Contract Quality 18.3 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 13.0 / 20
Commercial Clarity 14.2 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13
Governance 7.9 / 12
Discoverability 10.0 / 10
Agent readiness — 54/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

How we profile ThingSpeak

Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for ThingSpeak. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.

APIs 12

Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

ThingSpeak Channels API

List, create, read, update, and delete ThingSpeak channels — the primary container for time-series IoT data. Each channel holds up to eight numeric fields plus latitude, longitu...

ThingSpeak Update API

Write a single channel entry via `/update` or push high-volume telemetry via `/channels/{channel_id}/bulk_update.json` (CSV or JSON batches). The write surface is the workhorse ...

ThingSpeak MQTT API

Lightweight pub/sub MQTT broker at `mqtt3.thingspeak.com` over TCP (1883), TLS (8883), WebSocket (80), and secure WebSocket (443, path `/mqtt`). Publish to `channels/{channelID}...

ThingSpeak React API

React lets channels react to incoming data — running ThingHTTP requests, MATLAB Analysis snippets, TalkBack commands, or Twitter/Tweet posts when conditions (numeric threshold, ...

ThingSpeak Alerts API

Send email alerts from a channel via the alerts API or React, and retrieve alert history. Useful for environmental monitoring, threshold-based warnings, and inactivity notificat...

ThingSpeak Charts API

Server-rendered chart embeds for any channel/field — line, bar, column, spline — with parameters for color, scale, axis, timezone, title, bgcolor, transparent, and dynamic optio...

ThingSpeak MATLAB Analysis API

Run scheduled or React-triggered MATLAB code against channel data — the differentiator that separates ThingSpeak from generic MQTT brokers. Read channel data with `thingSpeakRea...

ThingSpeak MATLAB Visualization API

Generate custom plots from MATLAB code and embed them on ThingSpeak channel pages or external dashboards. Supports `plotyy`, `geoplot`, `histogram`, custom colormaps, and any ot...

ThingSpeak ThingHTTP API

Outbound HTTP requests stored as named "ThingHTTP" actions and fired by React, TimeControl, or device pollers. Lets ThingSpeak push data into third-party services (Twilio, IFTTT...

ThingSpeak TimeControl API

Cron-style scheduler that fires ThingHTTP, TalkBack, or MATLAB Analysis actions at a chosen time, recurring frequency, or after a delay. Pairs with React and TalkBack to close t...

ThingSpeak Channels.json API

The Channels.json API from ThingSpeak — 1 operation(s) for channels.json.

ThingSpeak Talkbacks API

The Talkbacks API from ThingSpeak — 3 operation(s) for talkbacks.

Scroll within the panel for all 12 ·

Postman Collections 4

A runnable collection turns the contract into something a developer can execute in seconds. We profile them because the fastest way to trust an API is to make a real call against it.

Ready-to-run Postman collections for exercising this provider's APIs.

Open Collections 4

Open, tool-agnostic collections carry the same runnable value as Postman without locking you to one client — the portable, forkable form of the same exercise.

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

ThingSpeak Channels API

OPEN COLLECTION

ThingSpeak Feeds API

OPEN COLLECTION

ThingSpeak TalkBack API

OPEN COLLECTION

ThingSpeak Update API

OPEN COLLECTION

Arazzo Workflows 12

Real integrations are rarely a single call. Arazzo describes the multi-step sequences — auth, then create, then confirm — so both a human and an agent can follow the choreography, not just the endpoints.

Multi-step API workflows described with the Arazzo specification.

ThingSpeak Bulk Update and Read Field Feed

Upload a batch of cached readings, then read a single field's recent feed.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Decommission Channel

Clear all feed entries from a channel, then delete the channel itself.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Discover Public Channel and Read Feed

Search public channels by tag, then read the feed of the first match.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Inspect Channel and Aggregate Feed

Read a channel's settings, then pull an averaged feed over a recent window.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak List Channels and Read Feed

List the user's channels, then read recent feed entries from the first channel.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Post Status and Read Status Updates

Write an entry carrying a status message, then read the channel's status update feed.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Provision Channel and Seed First Reading

Create a new channel, write an initial entry to it, then read that entry back.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Queue and Execute TalkBack Command

Add a command to a TalkBack queue, then dequeue it as a device would.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Relabel Field and Read Last Field Entry

Update a channel's field label, then read the last value for that field.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Revise Queued TalkBack Command

Queue a command, revise its text before a device runs it, then read it back.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Sweep Executed TalkBack Commands

List a TalkBack queue, then delete the first command to keep the queue tidy.

ARAZZO

ThingSpeak Write Update and Read Last Entry

Post a new feed entry via the form-encoded update endpoint, then read the last entry back.

ARAZZO

Scroll within the panel for all 12 ·

Pricing Plans 1

Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Thingspeak Rate Limits

8 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 19

The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

IoT analytics platform from MathWorks integrating natively with MATLAB and Simulink
Channels with up to eight numeric fields plus latitude, longitude, elevation, and status string
REST API over `api.thingspeak.com` for channel CRUD, feed read/write, and bulk updates
MQTT broker at `mqtt3.thingspeak.com` on ports 1883 / 8883 / 80 / 443 (WebSocket path `/mqtt`)
MATLAB Analysis app for scheduled/triggered compute against channel data
MATLAB Visualizations app for custom embeddable plots
React app providing a rules engine triggered by channel data conditions
TalkBack queue for asynchronous cloud-to-device command delivery
ThingHTTP for outbound webhooks to third-party services
TimeControl scheduler (cron-like) for periodic actions
Server-rendered chart embeds via the Charts API
Email alerts via the Alerts surface
Public and private channels with read/write API keys
Bulk update endpoint for high-volume devices (JSON and CSV batches)
Native client libraries for Arduino, ESP8266, ESP32, and Particle
Free tier (~3M messages/year) plus Standard, Home, Academic, and Student licenses
33M messages/year per paid unit (~90,400 messages/day)
Inactivity monitoring and last-entry timestamps for device health
Sharing channels publicly via read-only links and embedding charts in third-party sites

Scroll within the panel for all 19 ·

Event Specifications 1

Not every API is request/response. AsyncAPI describes the event-driven and streaming side — the webhooks and channels — so the asynchronous half of the interface is documented the same way the synchronous half is.

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

ThingSpeak MQTT API

ThingSpeak's MQTT broker at `mqtt3.thingspeak.com`. Devices publish channel updates and subscribe to channel/field feeds using MQTT credentials (Client ID, Username, Password) p...

ASYNCAPI

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Thingspeak Context

26 classes · 3 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 3

Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.

ThingSpeak API Rules

7 rules · 7 warnings

SPECTRAL

ThingSpeak API Rules

5 rules · 4 warnings

SPECTRAL

ThingSpeak API Rules

5 rules · 1 errors · 3 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 2

Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

ThingSpeak Channel

21 properties

JSON SCHEMA

ThingSpeak Feed Entry

14 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Examples 5

Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Thingspeak Authentication

apiKey · 2 schemes

SECURITY

Thingspeak Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Thingspeak Agentic Access

21 operations · 9 acting

21 operations · 9 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Every other property we hold for ThingSpeak — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.

Get Started 4

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 3

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 4

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Other 2

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/thingspeak · machine-readable index on apis.io