IoT App Development

Build IoT applications using any programming language and use it with the devices in your project.

What Is an App?

An IronFlock app is much more than a piece of software running on a device. It is a complete, self-contained product unit that brings together everything needed to operate a device in the field:

• An edge component — your application logic, running on the device inside a container. This is only one part of the app.
• A board — the dashboard users open in their browser to visualize data and interact with the device, defined as part of the app itself.
• A data schema — the table definitions that tell IronFlock what telemetry to collect and store in the time-series database.
• Parameters — configurable settings that operators can adjust per device or group without touching the code.
• Remote access configuration — tunnel definitions that expose device-side web UIs (like Node-RED or Grafana) directly in the browser.
• AI integrations — optional AI agent configurations that can answer questions about the device’s data.

When an app is added to a device or a group, IronFlock deploys the edge component, wires up the data collection, and makes the board and remote access available — everything at once, over the air.

When to Develop Your Own App

The IronFlock App Store offers ready-made apps for common use cases. But building your own app makes sense when:

• You have existing software — if your application can run in a container, it can become an IronFlock app. Wrap it with an IronFlock app definition and you immediately gain a dashboard, data collection, OTA updates, and fleet management.
• You need full control over business logic — custom sensor processing, edge AI inference, protocol conversion, or domain-specific algorithms.
• You want a tailored dashboard — the built-in board editor lets you design exactly the visualization and controls your operators need, without writing frontend code.
• You are building a product — package your software as an IronFlock app and distribute it to customers via the App Store, with optional paid licensing.
• You need to standardize across a fleet — one app definition, deployed identically to thousands of devices, with centralized parameter management.

What You Get

Developing an app on IronFlock gives you:

• Over-the-air deployment — push updates to all devices with a single click, no SSH required.
• Out-of-the-box data storage — define a table schema once; IronFlock creates the time-series database and starts collecting data automatically.
• A built-in dashboard — no separate frontend service needed; the board is part of the app and hosted by IronFlock.
• Configurable parameters — expose settings (API keys, thresholds, addresses) that operators can change per device or per group without touching the code.
• Remote access tunnels — surface web UIs running on the device directly in the browser through IronFlock’s tunnel infrastructure.
• App distribution — publish to the App Store and make your app available to other IronFlock users or customers.

App Architecture

An IronFlock app is a self-contained package with six components:

All configuration files in the .ironflock/ directory are optional. At minimum, an app needs a Dockerfile and your application code.

In This Section

• App Structure — How an app is organized
• Writing Edge Code — The cloud IDE and code editing workflow
• Docker & Compose — Containerizing your app
• Data Backend — Defining tables, collecting telemetry, latest-flag tracking, and soft deletes
• Building Boards — Creating dashboards
• App Parameters — Exposing configurable settings
• Git Integration — Using GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket
• Releases — Publishing and deploying your app
• Pricing Your App — Setting up billing