MQTT^{on EC2}

Facilitated by AWS UG Cebu

This session is run by AWS User Group Cebu community leads together with Student Builder Group leads from Cebu, as guest facilitators for AWS Community Day Davao 2026.

• We are volunteers, not vendor staff. We are not here to sell anything.
• We are from Cebu, and we are guests in your community. Tell us what is different here.
• We do this because someone did it for us, and the fastest way to learn is to teach.

Real talk, and our goal

• 1.5 hours, mixed audience of beginners and intermediate developers.
• Not everyone will finish a complete build today. That is completely normal.
• Your 1,000 Kiro credits stay active days after the workshop.

Ask. Honestly. Out loud.

If you are confused about something, you are almost certainly not the only one. Asking is the fastest tool you have, and it costs nothing.

• Stop us mid-sentence. There is no such thing as interrupting a workshop.
• "I do not understand" and "why does that work" are both complete questions.
• Ask us, ask a facilitator, or ask Kiro to explain it a second way.

Windows users: begin the download

Ubuntu is 1 to 3 GB. Start it now and it downloads while we talk. Do not wait for it.

• Open the Microsoft Store.
• Search Ubuntu 24.04.
• Click Get, then move on.

Confirm your Linux shell works

Windows browses. Linux runs servers. WSL2 is a real Ubuntu kernel inside Windows, with its own filesystem, networking, and always-on services.

# verify you are on a Linux kernel
uname -a

The command line route

# right-click Start, choose Terminal (Admin)
# or PowerShell (Admin), then run:
wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

# if it asks to restart, do it now

Two things that confuse everyone

Kiro introduction and credits

What is Kiro? An agentic development environment that turns plain English specification into working code, tooling, and terminal workflows.

Kiro history and spec-driven value

Steering via a single plain English file such as project.md beats unstructured chat prompts: the intent stays stable, reviewable, and repeatable across sessions.

Kiro versus closed platforms

Under the hood, Kiro harnesses powerful models such as Claude or Sonnet. Raw model quality is the engine, not the whole vehicle.

What Kiro adds is a spec-driven workspace and orchestration harness that manages context, files, tools, and execution order.

Keep strict control

Because the harness owns context and execution order, you stay in charge of what actually gets written. The spec steers, you approve.

History and reach of Linux and Unix

Interactive check. Who here uses Linux or Unix devices?

You have been using Unix and Linux for years without calling it that. Today we just give it a terminal.

Linux and SSH terminal basics

# connect to your server
ssh user@host

# confirm who and where you are
whoami
hostname
uname -a

# packages need root
sudo apt update

Install sshd on your own machine

Needed only when connecting to localhost. On a cloud instance it already runs.

# WSL2 / Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y openssh-server
sudo service ssh start

# macOS -- ships with OpenSSH
sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin on

HTTP REST versus MQTT

What is MQTT?

• Topics replace endpoints: workshop/chat
• Decoupled by design. Publisher and subscriber never need to know each other exists.
• QoS levels trade speed for guaranteed delivery.

One publish, many subscribers

The publisher sends once and stops caring. The broker copies it to every client subscribed to that topic.

Topics and wildcards

Topics are hierarchical paths separated by slashes. Matching is literal.

Install Mosquitto on Linux

# install the broker and clients
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mosquitto mosquitto-clients

# start it. WSL2 has no systemd, so use service
sudo service mosquitto start

# browsers need a WebSocket listener, 1883 is MQTT only
sudo tee /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/ws.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
listener 9001
protocol websockets
allow_anonymous true
EOF
sudo service mosquitto restart

Test pub and sub by hand

# terminal 1: subscribe to the workshop broker
mosquitto_sub -h 159.223.45.148 -u workshop -P mqtt-davao-2026 -t workshop/chat

# terminal 2: publish
mosquitto_pub -h 159.223.45.148 -u workshop -P mqtt-davao-2026 -t workshop/chat -m "hello"

The project.md steering file

# Project: Minimal MQTT Chat WebApp and Linux Broker Setup

## Objective
Help the user learn how to set up an MQTT broker on a Linux SSH server,
test it using terminal commands, and build a barebones web application
to demonstrate real-time pub/sub messaging.

## Tech Stack
- Broker: Mosquitto MQTT Broker running on Linux via SSH
- Terminal Tools: `mosquitto_pub` and `mosquitto_sub`
- Web Frontend: Simple HTML, CSS, and JS using MQTT.js via CDN

What the spec must demand

## Core Requirements
1. Linux and SSH Instructions: Provide clear terminal commands to
   install and start Mosquitto on Linux.
2. Terminal Testing: Show how to open two terminal windows to publish
   and subscribe to a test topic (`workshop/chat`).
3. Chat WebApp: Generate a single `index.html` file with a basic input
   field, send button, and raw message log box without complex styling.

Prompting Kiro for the web app

Leverage the steering file to have Kiro generate a barebones web app tied to the broker. One file, no build step, no framework.

Real-time messages across browsers

A shared broker is running for anyone whose local build did not work. Open the demo, connect, and talk to the room.

Wrap-up and Q&A

You have a broker running on Linux, a terminal-proven pub/sub path, and a browser client you built by describing it.

• Unfinished build? Your 1,000 Kiro credits stay active for days. Finish at home.
• Where to go next: TLS and auth on the broker, cloud VPS deployment, then firmware and IoT sensors.

You have the tools. Now use them.

You built a broker, proved pub and sub in a terminal, and shipped a browser client by describing it. That is a foundation, not a finish line.

• Containerise the broker with Docker and run it anywhere
• Harden it with TLS, authentication, and topic access control
• Deploy it to a real VPS and keep it running
• Connect hardware and publish real sensor data

Join and contribute to communities

• Local: find your city's cloud, Linux, Python, and hardware meetups. Attend, ask questions, then give a talk.
• Global: contribute to open source, join project chat channels, answer questions in forums, submit issues and pull requests.
• Teach: write up what you built today. Explaining one topic cements it better than reading ten.

Explore other tech and other advocacies

Technology is one lens. The same skills apply to problems that matter to you.

• Open source and open data
• Digital literacy and education
• Climate, disaster response, and civic tech
• Accessibility and inclusive design
• Documentation and mentoring

What we are actually selling you

Nothing. We have no product, no service, no subscription, and no interest in you needing us.

What we brought is an idea: that the path to learning and upskilling is far more attainable when you join a community and contribute to it.

• AI removed the wall. The thing that used to stop people, not knowing where to begin, is now a conversation away.
• A community removes the rest. Someone nearby has already hit your problem, and most people genuinely want to help.
• You already have enough. A laptop, the willingness to ask, and a little push. That is the whole entry fee.

Thank you.

You showed up, you installed things that fought back, and you asked questions. That is the whole workshop working as intended.

Scan or type it. It works from your phone.