FAQ
What is Device Agent?
Device Agent is an AI assistant that describes device capabilities through DeviceSpec and communicates with devices over MQTT.
What kinds of devices is Device Agent for?
It fits devices and systems that can be described with clear state, commands, or events.
How is Device Agent different from general AI assistants?
General AI assistants center on conversations or tasks. Device Agent centers on device semantics. DeviceSpec defines commands, properties, and events; Device Agent uses that definition for device access, online state, command execution, and event handling.
What is DeviceSpec?
DeviceSpec is the device semantic definition for a device category. It describes basic device information, commands, properties, and events, so the Agent, SDKs, simulator, and A2A cards use the same capability model.
Does one Device Agent manage only one device?
No. One Device Agent maps to one device category and one DeviceSpec. That device category can have many real devices connected under it. Each device has its own deviceId, online state, reported property values, and event history, while sharing the same capability definition.
Do I have to rebuild my existing device system?
Not necessarily. Existing firmware, gateways, or backend services can connect as long as they report state, respond to commands, and send events using the MQTT topics and payloads shown by Device Agent. New devices can use SDK code generated by the console.
Can Device Agent run automation?
Yes. Conversations and scheduled tasks can run operations, while workflows can process telemetry, device events, status, command responses, and validation errors. Use A2A for cross-device collaboration.
Does Device Agent support voice and vision?
Yes. Voice handles input and spoken replies. Vision adds images or image frames to the device context.
What is A2A?
A2A is Device Agent's collaboration capability based on A2A over MQTT in EMQX 6.2.0 and later. When enabled, Device Agent publishes an A2A card from the DeviceSpec and maps commands into skills that other agents can discover and call.
EMQX provides card registration and discovery, online state, optional schema validation, and MQTT routing. Device Agent generates the card, handles SendMessage requests, invokes device capabilities, and returns results.