Clusterio allows factorio mods to communicate outside the game. This is the client side mod. To work, it also requires a server side mod located at https://github.com/clusterio/factorioClusterio . It also has the full readme, so head over there.
Another practical side project is the clusterio client, which is a standalone app that makes it easier to connect to clusterio servers. Its still very much WIP at the point of writing and not really recommended.
https://github.com/Danielv123/factorioClusterioClient
Install Node.js version 10 or later and run npm install then run node build. It will output the
built mod into the dist folder by default. See node build --help for options.