vue-cot

A focused Vue 3 library for Cursor on Target (CoT) — the XML messaging protocol used by NATO/US tactical systems such as ATAK, WinTAK and TAK Server.

Status: feature-complete v0.1. A well-scoped, self-contained library — not a work in progress. Actively maintained.

Live demo: vue-cot-demo.vercel.app — runs entirely in the browser with a built-in mock CoT feed.

Related packages (@vue-tactical/map, @vue-tactical/symbols, @vue-tactical/coords) would be interesting to build but are not currently planned — open an issue if you'd like to collaborate. PRs welcome.

What it does

vue-cot connects to a live CoT stream over a WebSocket, parses each tactical message into typed objects, and keeps a reactive store of entities (units, vehicles, sensors) that updates and expires itself in real time — ready to render in any Vue 3 app.

WebSocket stream  ->  connection layer  ->  parse CoT XML  ->  reactive entity store  ->  your Vue app
   (CoT XML)          reconnect/keepalive    XML -> typed         Map<uid, Entity> + TTL     list / detail

Features

• useWebSocket / useReconnectingWebSocket — WebSocket lifecycle with exponential backoff + jitter.
• useTakConnection — application-level keepalive (ping/zombie detection) and newline-delimited CoT framing.
• useCoTStream — parses framed CoT into typed CoTEvent objects.
• useEntityStore — reactive Map<uid, Entity> with single-rAF TTL expiry and derived projections.
• parseCoT / serializeCoT — pure, fully-typed, unit-tested CoT XML parser/serialiser.

Install

npm install vue-cot vue

vue (3.5+) is a peer dependency.

Usage

import { useCoTStream, useEntityStore } from 'vue-cot'

const { upsert, list, count } = useEntityStore()
const { status, reconnect } = useCoTStream('wss://your-tak-server:8087', {
  onEvent: upsert,
})
// `list` is a reactive array of live entities; `status` reflects the connection.

Not in scope for v1

mTLS client certificates, a Web Worker parser, the CoT Protobuf variant, TAK Server federation, mission packages, and map/symbology rendering. These may come in later releases if there's demand — file an issue.

Links

• Live demo: https://vue-cot-demo.vercel.app/
• Repository & issues: https://github.com/belblue/vue-cot
• Contributing: issues and PRs welcome; safe fixes and dependency updates get merged, larger changes are best discussed in an issue first.

License

MIT