Intelligent OPS: A Strategic Leap in DevOps Innovation

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Introduction

In the dynamic landscape of IoT and industrial applications, development teams often face challenges such as limited visibility into application behavior, fragmented tooling, and time-consuming troubleshooting processes. To address these pain points, PTC has launched a DevOps initiative aimed at strengthening the ThingWorx low-code platform. This initiative delivers key enhancements in debugging, source control, monitoring, alerting, logging, and AI-driven development support. As ThingWorx continues to evolve, our commitment remains centered on improving the day-to-day experience for both developers and administrators. We've been listening closely to your feedback—this new project reflects our response, focusing on smoother DevOps integration and empowering users with deeper control and visibility into their applications.

While many enterprises already rely on IT-recommended tools to manage the application lifecycle and Day-2 operations, PTC is committed to complementing these investments by delivering additional capabilities and guidance tailored to the ThingWorx platform. Key features of the new devOps project initiative include real-time debugging and version control, the ability to roll back to previous versions, hot-fix deployments, and distributed team development through seamless integration with repositories like GitHub. Furthermore, streamlined application packaging and deployment significantly simplify the management of ThingWorx-based applications. These enhancements go beyond routine updates and reflect a meaningful evolution in how teams develop, troubleshoot, and optimize IoT applications in production environments. 

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Debugging : Preview in ThingWorx 10.0

The first major feature introduced under DevOps is the debugging capability, currently available in a private preview (alpha version). Debugging has long been a challenge in ThingWorx applications, where troubleshooting JavaScript code within the platform was often cumbersome and time-consuming. With the new JavaScript Debugger, developers can now debug their scripts directly within ThingWorx Composer, reducing the time spent identifying and fixing issues. This feature brings real-time issue resolution, allowing developers to pinpoint errors efficiently without needing external tools.

Security and seamless integration into the existing ThingWorx environment were critical design considerations for this feature. The debugging actions are logged securely for audit and compliance, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected. Furthermore, support for major browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari enhances the accessibility of this feature across different development environments. The debugging capability is expected to significantly improve developer productivity by offering better visibility into JavaScript execution and real-time error tracking, reducing the trial-and-error approach that developers previously relied upon. Here is a brief video offering a preview of upcoming features included in the ThingWorx 10.0 release, with general availability planned for the 10.1 release later this year.

Debugger Capability (Preview)

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Logging and Monitoring : Continuous improvement

In addition to the new debugging capabilities, we’ve delivered several enhancements focused on monitoring and alerting—specifically designed to support the needs of IT administrators responsible for maintaining the uptime and reliability of ThingWorx environments in the last major release. The integration of OpenTelemetry has transformed logging and performance monitoring, allowing better observability of system operations. This enhancement enables third-party integrations with monitoring tools such as Sumo Logic, Datadog, and Splunk, providing developers and administrators with deeper insights into system performance. These improvements have made ThingWorx more resilient and responsive, allowing teams to proactively detect and address issues before they impact operations.

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Mashup Builder : Continuous improvement

We have been continuously enhancing Mashup development capabilities, starting with the introduction of Read-Only Mashups in ThingWorx 9.6 and extending through to the latest improvements in recent releases. Also, a new Export Function replaces the legacy Data Export Widget, offering a more secure and efficient data export process. Binding Verification & Debugging introduces a powerful capability to detect and resolve broken bindings after mashup migrations, reducing errors and improving reliability. Improved UI Management features, such as widget highlighting and container zooming, make mashup creation and debugging more intuitive. Additionally, developers can now customize Tab Titles & Favicons, enabling better branding and a more polished user experience for ThingWorx applications.

Mash up improvements in ThingWorx 9.7

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The Road Ahead: AI-Powered Development and Version Control

The next phase of the DevOps initiative is set to deliver major advancements in source control and AI-driven development. One key enhancement is the addition of IDE-like features for source code management, enabling developers to better track, iterate, and roll back changes. Planned integrations with GitHub and other repositories will support seamless collaboration in distributed teams.

We welcome your feedback as you explore the new Debugger Feature Preview included in the ThingWorx 10.0 release. In parallel, we are actively working with customers and partners to enhance key capabilities such as source code version control and application lifecycle management within the ThingWorx platform. If you're interested in contributing to the future of low-code development, we encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments below—our team will be in touch to connect.

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Vineet Khokhar

Principal Product Manager, IoT Security

Stay tuned for more updates as we approach the release of ThingWorx 10.0, and as always, in case of issues, feel free to reach out to <support.ptc.com>

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