GSoC 2026 Proposal Submission – Multiplayer, IoT, and Home Assistant support via two MQTT bricks
Paras
Hey Wolfgang and Paul,
Hope you're doing well!
I wanted to share that I’ve successfully submitted my GSoC 2026 proposal for the International Catrobat Association under the project idea “Multiplayer, IoT, and Home Assistant support via two MQTT bricks”
The goal of this project is to extend Pocket Code beyond single-device interaction by introducing MQTT-based communication through visual programming bricks. The system is designed around a shared connection manager with lazy initialization, enabling efficient and secure communication across scripts. It supports real-time message handling, wildcard topic subscriptions, and reliable delivery through offline queuing and retry mechanisms. On top of this, I’ve proposed a standardized topic structure for IoT integrations (e.g., Home Assistant) and a multiplayer synchronization layer over MQTT, extending existing Bluetooth-based multiplayer to Wi-Fi-based interaction.
As part of the application, I also completed the required entry task, which includes:
- Full MQTT settings UI integrated into the app
- Persistent storage using SharedPreferences
- Clean accessor API for all MQTT configurations
- Input validation (including port constraints)
- Comprehensive automated tests (28 unit tests using Robolectric)
- Test-Driven Development workflow with proper commit structure
- Local test coverage report and verification
To further support the proposal, I have prepared:
- A detailed architecture and implementation plan aligned with GSoC timeline
- System design for connection management, message routing, and event integration
- Reliability mechanisms including offline queue and reconnection handling
- Security considerations (TLS, authentication, credential handling)
- Example use cases for IoT integration and multiplayer synchronization
I’m really excited about this project and its potential to make Pocket Code a more connected and powerful platform. While I’m still learning in some areas, I’ve put significant effort into understanding the system design and ensuring a realistic implementation plan.
I would really appreciate any feedback on the proposal, architecture, or implementation approach. I’m happy to iterate and improve based on your suggestions.
Thanks a lot for your time and for the opportunity to contribute!
Warm regards,
Paras