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Get Started with HiveMQ CE

Follow these steps to get HiveMQ Community Edition running quickly.
1

Download or Pull Image

Choose your preferred method to get HiveMQ CE:
docker pull hivemq/hivemq-ce
Java 11 or higher is required to run the binary package.
2

Start HiveMQ CE

Launch the broker:
docker run -d --name hivemq-ce -p 1883:1883 hivemq/hivemq-ce
HiveMQ CE starts on port 1883 (MQTT) and 8000 (WebSocket) by default.
3

Connect a Client

Test the connection with an MQTT client:
# Subscribe to test topic
mosquitto_sub -h localhost -p 1883 -t "test/topic"

# Publish a message (in another terminal)
mosquitto_pub -h localhost -p 1883 -t "test/topic" -m "Hello HiveMQ!"
4

Verify

Check that messages are flowing:
  • Subscribe to a topic in one terminal
  • Publish to the same topic in another terminal
  • Verify the message is received
You can also check the HiveMQ CE logs to confirm clients are connecting successfully.

What’s Running?

Once started, HiveMQ CE provides:
  • MQTT Broker on port 1883 (TCP)
  • WebSocket Endpoint on port 8000 at /mqtt
  • Local file-based persistence for QoS 1/2 messages
  • Default configuration allowing all clients

Next Steps

Installation Guide

Detailed installation options for all platforms

Configuration

Configure listeners, security, and MQTT settings

MQTT Protocol

Learn about MQTT features and capabilities

Deployment

Production deployment strategies

Common Issues

Another MQTT broker or service is using port 1883.Solution: Stop the other service or configure HiveMQ CE to use a different port in config.xml.
HiveMQ CE requires Java 11 or higher.Solution: Install JDK 11+ and verify with java -version.
The run script or binary doesn’t have execute permissions.Solution: Run chmod +x bin/run.sh on Linux/macOS.

Resources

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love