i3X Connector for Mendix Studio Pro

A Mendix Studio Pro extension that connects your Mendix app to the CESMII i3X Smart Manufacturing Platform. It browses i3X object types and generates the corresponding Mendix domain model artifacts — entities, attributes, associations, JSON structures, import mappings, and microflows — directly inside Studio Pro.

This is a proof of concept. It is not an official product of, endorsed by, or affiliated with CESMII.

Quick install

The extension is available on the Mendix Marketplace. For Mendix Studio Pro 11.10+, download it from the Marketplace and follow the in-product import flow.

Alternatively, you can install the prebuilt module package directly from Packages/i3X_Connector.mxmodule: in App Explorer, right-click the App node, choose Import Module Package, then select the file.

How to use

Once the extension is installed, open it from the Studio Pro top menu: Extensions → i3X Connector. This opens the connector panel where you configure the connection and generate artifacts.

Using with Maia

From Studio Pro 11.15, the extension also registers tools that Maia can call. You can then ask Maia to browse the i3X server and generate artifacts without clicking through the panel.

Tool	What it does
i3x_list_object_types	Lists the object types on the connected i3X server
i3x_list_objects	Lists the objects of one type
i3x_generate_artifacts	Generates value query, history, write or subscription artifacts for one type in i3X_Implementation

To set it up:

1. Open View > Extensions and grant the Register AI Tools permission to the i3X Connector.
2. Open Extensions > i3X Connector, enter the server URL and credentials, and press Load. The tools use this connection. It stays in memory for the current Studio Pro session, so credentials never pass through the Maia chat.
3. Ask Maia in plain words. For example: "Which pumps are on the i3X server?" or "Build me a microflow that reads the current pump values".

The module ships a Maia skill, i3x-connector-tools (source in skills/), that tells Maia when to use the tools and how to chain them. Without the skill, Maia tends to search the app's i3x_* modules instead; naming the tool in the prompt then helps. Maia asks for confirmation before every tool call.

What it does

1. You enter your i3X API base URL and auth credentials in the extension panel.
2. The extension fetches the available object types from the i3X API.
3. You pick an object type and the extension generates:
   • Mendix entities (one per object type, plus nested group entities)
   • Attributes mapped from the JSON schema properties
   • Associations between base and group entities
   • A JSON structure and import mapping for deserializing API responses
   • A microflow that calls the i3X API and imports the result
   • An objects list microflow for querying /objects?typeElementId=...
4. Optionally, a separate "write values" microflow can be generated for pushing values back to i3X.

Requirements

• Mendix Studio Pro 11.15 or later (built against @mendix/extensions-api 0.14.0)
• An i3X API endpoint (self-hosted or CESMII-hosted) with valid credentials

Installation

There are three ways to install the extension.

Option A — install from the Mendix Marketplace. Download the i3X Connector from the Marketplace and follow the in-product import flow.

Option B — import the prebuilt module package. In App Explorer, right-click the App node, choose Import Module Package, and select Packages/i3X_Connector.mxmodule.

Option C — build from source (see Development below), then copy the dist/i3X-Connector/ folder into your Mendix app's extensions/ directory.

Development

The extension is a standard Mendix Studio Pro extension. The Mendix documentation on building extensions explains the overall setup, project structure, and how to load an extension in Studio Pro during development.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A local Mendix Studio Pro app to test against

Setup

1. Clone this repository.
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Open build-extension.mjs and update the appDir variable to point to your local Mendix app's root directory. The build script will copy the built extension there automatically.
4. Build:

   npm run build

   Or watch for changes during development:

   npm run build:dev

The build runs TypeScript type-checking first, then bundles via esbuild into dist/i3X-Connector/. If appDir exists, the output is also copied there so Studio Pro picks it up on the next restart.

Project layout

src/
  main/index.ts:           registers the menu item and the Maia tools (main process)
  main/i3xTools.ts:        Maia tool definitions (list object types, list objects, generate artifacts)
  main/aiTools.ts:         Maia tool registration, gated on the register-ai-tools permission
  main/connectionStore.ts: holds the connection the UI tab shares with the Maia tools
  shared/messages.ts:      message types passed between the UI tab and main
  ui/index.tsx:            React app entry point (UI process)
  ui/components/:          Loader, List, DetailPanel
  ui/services/:            auth, URL normalization, Studio Pro code generation
  ui/types/:               shared TypeScript types
  manifest.json:           extension manifest
skills/
  i3x-connector-tools/:    Maia skill; the build copies it to the app's skillssource/_modules/i3x_connector/

Auth support

The extension supports three auth modes for the i3X API:

• None — unauthenticated requests
• Basic — username and password (sent as a Base64-encoded Authorization header)
• Token — a custom header with an optional prefix (e.g. Bearer)