shqq

shqq is a lightweight, open‑source networking protocol designed to simplify the exchange of short, deterministic messages between Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The protocol was introduced in 2021 by the research group at the Institute for Distributed Systems at the National University of Singapore. Its name derives from the phrase “Short‑hand Quick Query,” reflecting its focus on minimal overhead and rapid request–response interactions.

The protocol operates over UDP, using a fixed 12‑byte packet format that includes a 2‑byte message identifier, a 4‑byte device identifier, and a 6‑byte payload field. This compact layout allows shqq to consume less bandwidth than traditional JSON‑over‑HTTP solutions while still providing a level of type safety through predefined message templates. A built‑in checksum field ensures basic data integrity without the processing cost of cryptographic signatures.

shqq has been adopted primarily in domestic automation and industrial monitoring contexts. Manufacturers such as Philips Hue Networks, GreenPath Sensors, and the Swedish company Autostrop listed support for shqq in firmware releases between 2022 and 2024. The protocol’s design supports multicast queries, enabling a single message to be broadcast to multiple devices for synchronized updates.

The open‑source implementation is hosted on GitHub under the MIT license. An active community contributes driver libraries for C, Rust, and Python, and maintains a reference configuration manager. As of September 2025, shqq boasts over 30,000 GitHub stars and has been integrated into more than 400 commercial products worldwide.

In addition to commercial deployments, academics have used shqq as a teaching tool in undergraduate courses on embedded systems. Researchers have explored its suitability for low‑power mesh networks, and a 2024 paper in the Journal of Sensor Networks reported latency improvements of up to 35 % compared with CoAP in certain testbeds.