Command Signing

How Teslemetry signs vehicle commands

Tesla requires most vehicle commands to be cryptographically signed using the vehicle command protocol (a protobuf-based scheme secured with a vehicle key), not mTLS - mTLS is used by Fleet Telemetry's transport instead, a separate feature. See Virtual Key for the distinction.

Command Signing requires the Teslemetry virtual key to be installed and the vehicle paired, since the key is what Teslemetry uses to sign commands on your behalf.

Paired and unpaired vehicles

  • Paired vehicles (virtual key installed) - Teslemetry sends commands using the signed vehicle command protocol.
  • Unpaired vehicles - Teslemetry falls back to proxying the command through Tesla's Fleet API, which may fail if your vehicle requires the command to be signed.

Support for signed commands has expanded significantly and now covers the large majority of commands, including ones that could not be signed in the past (such as window control). A small number of commands, such as upcoming calendar entries, are still only available by proxying to Tesla's Fleet API.