Track any traditional MDB vending machine with a Raspberry Pi.
Open MDB is an open-source telemetry stack for MDB-compliant traditional vending machines — AMS, Crane, Dixie-Narco, Vendo, Royal, National, and others. Built around the Raspberry Pi and the Qibixx MDB Pi HAT. No vendor cloud, no monthly fees, no protocol lock-in.
- Real-time vend events — see sales the moment they happen
- Inventory tracking — current stock per slot, restock alerts
- Sales dashboard — daily/weekly/monthly revenue, top sellers, dead stock
- Mobile-friendly — restock from your phone, no laptop needed
- You own your data — Postgres database you control, no vendor extraction
| Cost | |
|---|---|
| Hardware (per machine, one-time) | ~$290 |
| Cloud services (Supabase + Cloudflare + Vercel) | $0/month on free tiers |
| Vendor licensing fees | $0 |
Compare to commercial alternatives charging $20-40/month per machine.
| Part | Approx Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB) | $60 | Any model from Pi 3B+ onward works |
| Qibixx MDB Pi HAT | $189 | The hardware that speaks MDB — qibixx.com |
| 16GB+ microSD card | $8 | For Pi OS |
| MDB pigtail / harness | $25 | To connect HAT to machine's MDB bus |
| USB-C 5V power supply | $10 | Official Pi PSU recommended |
| Small enclosure (optional) | $15 | Inside the machine |
| Total per machine | ~$307 |
Full details: docs/01-bill-of-materials.md
┌─────────────────┐ MDB ┌──────────────┐ HTTPS ┌─────────────────┐ SQL ┌──────────┐
│ Vending Machine │ ─────────► │ Raspberry Pi │ ─────────► │ Cloud Ingestor │ ────────► │ Postgres │
│ (MDB-capable) │ (serial) │ + Qibixx HAT │ (POST) │ (Cloudflare WK) │ │(Supabase)│
└─────────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └────┬─────┘
│
REST │
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Dashboard │
│ (Next.js) │
└──────────────┘
Full architecture: ARCHITECTURE.md
- Order hardware — see BOM above
- Deploy the database — paste
supabase/001_initial_schema.sqlinto a free Supabase project (docs/06-supabase-schema.md) - Deploy the cloud ingestor —
wrangler deployto Cloudflare (docs/07-cloud-ingestion.md) - Deploy the dashboard — one-click to Vercel (
docs/08-dashboard-quickstart.md) - Set up the Pi — flash, install dependencies, run listener (
docs/04-raspberry-pi-setup.md) - Wire it to the machine — MDB harness connection (
docs/03-wiring-the-machine.md) - Make a vend — see it show up on the dashboard live
- 01 — Bill of Materials
- 02 — Understanding MDB Protocol
- 03 — Wiring the Machine
- 04 — Raspberry Pi Setup
- 05 — Running the Listener
- 06 — Supabase Schema
- 07 — Cloud Ingestion
- 08 — Dashboard Quickstart
- 09 — Adding More Machines
- 10 — Troubleshooting
Tested or community-verified compatibility with:
| Machine Family | Status |
|---|---|
| AMS 39 Combo (Sensit 3) | Reference platform |
| Crane Merchant series | Community-tested |
| Dixie-Narco 5000 | Needs verification — PRs welcome |
| Vendo 721 | Needs verification |
| Royal Vendors 660 | Needs verification |
| National 167 | Needs verification |
Add your machine to docs/supported-machines.md via PR after you confirm it works.
MIT — see LICENSE
See CONTRIBUTING.md. New machine compatibility reports, troubleshooting tips, and alternative implementations (Rust, AWS Lambda, Svelte, etc.) all welcome.