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NetBox Pathways

Physical cable plant infrastructure documentation for NetBox.

NetBox Pathways extends NetBox with comprehensive outside and inside plant documentation — structures, pathways, conduit systems, cable routing, and GIS integration. Think SmallWorld or ArcGIS with ArcFM, but integrated directly into your network source of truth.

Key Features

  • Structures

    Document poles, manholes, cabinets, equipment rooms, and other infrastructure with full geographic coordinates and metadata.

    Structures

  • Pathways

    Model conduits, aerial spans, direct buried routes, innerducts, cable trays, and raceways connecting your structures.

    Pathways

  • Cable Routing

    Track which cables run through which pathways with entry/exit points, sequencing, and slack loop documentation.

    Cable Routing

  • Interactive Map

    Leaflet-based map with structure markers, pathway lines, layer toggles, search, filtering, and hover details.

    Interactive Map

  • Pull Sheets

    Generate field crew documents showing cable routing through pathways with lengths and slack requirements.

    Pull Sheets

  • GIS Integration

    GeoJSON REST API endpoints plus QGIS project generator for seamless GIS client integration.

    QGIS Integration

  • Plugin Extensibility

    Map layer registry allows other NetBox plugins to display their data on the Pathways map.

    Map Layer Registry

Plugin Scope

NetBox Pathways handles physical infrastructure — where cables physically go. It does not handle splice connections, cable internals, or fiber strand management. Those capabilities are planned for a separate splice/connectivity plugin.

The boundary is NetBox's native dcim.Cable model: Pathways tracks physical routing; the splice plugin tracks what's inside cables and how strands connect.

Requirements

Component Version
NetBox 4.5.3+
Python 3.12+
PostgreSQL 16+ with PostGIS 3.4
Django 5.2+ (ships with NetBox 4.5)
GDAL/GEOS System libraries for PostGIS

Quick Start

pip install netbox-pathways

Then add to your NetBox configuration:

PLUGINS = ['netbox_pathways']

See the Installation Guide for full setup instructions.