Industrial IoT / SCADA · API / SDK

ThingsBoard REST API

ThingsBoard

Integrate device telemetry and platform resources through REST interfaces.

Official documentation Download development spec

THINGSBOARD / DEVELOPER FIELD GUIDE

Choose an interface. Define a verifiable result.

Company or project context, ten technical entry points and a practical analysis of every reference.

2026-10-08 · Integration not tested

Company / project overview

Original summary of official company or project statements; use the source for the full original page.

ThingsBoard · About
Product ecosystem	ThingsBoard offers IoT platform software plus cloud, edge and gateway products.
Integration role	Its interfaces connect device telemetry, state, rules and dashboards.
Edition boundary	This guide uses Community Edition documentation; verify feature availability for your deployed edition.

Complete official About page ↗

About reference — TA analysis
Audience	Buyers, partners and product owners shortlisting an AI provider.
Our assessment	Use positioning and company history for initial fit. Obtain project-specific deployment, support and commercial terms separately.

Official sources reviewed. No provider API or inference was run; results are illustrative internal contracts.

Top 10 technical entry points

Ten documented technical entry points selected for implementation decisions, not ten independent SDKs or an official ranking.

Choose by the work you need to complete
Interface	Purpose and audience
01 · REST APIAPI / SDK / developer guide	Manage entities and query platform data.Backend integrators
02 · MQTT connectivityAPI / SDK / developer guide	Connect devices through MQTT.Device firmware teams
03 · HTTP device APIAPI / SDK / developer guide	Submit device messages over HTTP.HTTP device developers
04 · Time-series dataAPI / SDK / developer guide	Store and query timestamped measurements.Telemetry developers
05 · AttributesAPI / SDK / developer guide	Manage scoped latest-value attributes.Device state developers
06 · Command and controlAPI / SDK / developer guide	Exchange device commands and replies.Device integration teams
07 · Rule engineAPI / SDK / developer guide	Route and transform incoming messages.Automation developers
08 · AlarmsAPI / SDK / developer guide	Represent abnormal conditions and lifecycle.Operations designers
09 · Device profilesAPI / SDK / developer guide	Apply shared device settings.Fleet administrators
10 · Gateway APIAPI / SDK / developer guide	Represent connected downstream devices through a gateway.Gateway developers

Reference analysis

Capabilities summarize official documentation. Constraints and proposed tests are our engineering assessment.

API / SDK / developer guide

REST API

REST API · TA
Target audience	Backend integrators
Documented capability	Manage entities and query platform data.
Input → output	Authorized REST request → entity or data response.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Current docs recommend API keys since4.3 and deprecate JWT; match installed version.
Our suggested validation	Test key revocation and tenant boundaries.

Official reference · REST API ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

MQTT connectivity

MQTT connectivity · TA
Target audience	Device firmware teams
Documented capability	Connect devices through MQTT.
Input → output	Device credentials and connection → protocol session.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Device credentials differ from platform REST user credentials.
Our suggested validation	Test reconnect and rejected device credentials.

Official reference · MQTT connectivity ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

HTTP device API

HTTP device API · TA
Target audience	HTTP device developers
Documented capability	Submit device messages over HTTP.
Input → output	Authorized device request → platform acknowledgement.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	HTTP acknowledgement does not prove downstream business processing.
Our suggested validation	Read back expected telemetry and inspect failures.

Official reference · HTTP device API ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Time-series data

Time-series data · TA
Target audience	Telemetry developers
Documented capability	Store and query timestamped measurements.
Input → output	Key/value/time → historical readings.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Timestamps use epoch milliseconds; server may assign time when absent.
Our suggested validation	Check units, device identity and out-of-order samples.

Official reference · Time-series data ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Attributes

Attributes · TA
Target audience	Device state developers
Documented capability	Manage scoped latest-value attributes.
Input → output	Attribute update → stored configuration/state value.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Attributes are not historical time-series storage.
Our suggested validation	Check scope, overwrite behavior and read-back.

Official reference · Attributes ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Command and control

Command and control · TA
Target audience	Device integration teams
Documented capability	Exchange device commands and replies.
Input → output	RPC method and parameters → send status or reply.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	One-way200 confirms sending, not device execution; two-way expects reply.
Our suggested validation	Correlate command IDs and verify actual device state separately.

Official reference · Command and control ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Rule engine

Rule engine · TA
Target audience	Automation developers
Documented capability	Route and transform incoming messages.
Input → output	Message and rule chain → routed actions/results.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	A failed node can block intended downstream actions.
Our suggested validation	Exercise success and failure relations with fixtures.

Official reference · Rule engine ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Alarms

Alarms · TA
Target audience	Operations designers
Documented capability	Represent abnormal conditions and lifecycle.
Input → output	Condition evaluation → alarm state.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Acknowledgement and clearing have different meanings.
Our suggested validation	Test creation, acknowledgement and recovery clearing.

Official reference · Alarms ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Device profiles

Device profiles · TA
Target audience	Fleet administrators
Documented capability	Apply shared device settings.
Input → output	Profile configuration → device behavior defaults.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Profile changes can affect multiple devices.
Our suggested validation	Verify scope on representative devices before broad rollout.

Official reference · Device profiles ↗

API / SDK / developer guide

Gateway API

Gateway API · TA
Target audience	Gateway developers
Documented capability	Represent connected downstream devices through a gateway.
Input → output	Gateway messages and device mapping → per-device data.
Execution environment	Selected ThingsBoard edition/version and authorized tenant/device connection
Our decision constraint	Gateway identity must not collapse distinct downstream devices.
Our suggested validation	Check mapping, disconnect and duplicate device names.

Official reference · Gateway API ↗

Official documentation

Official documentation · Supporting reference analysis
TA	Developers and technical product owners
Our validation advice	Pin the release and follow the target-specific support requirements before implementation.

Official reference · Official documentation ↗

04 / INPUT · EXPECTED OUTPUT · ACCEPTANCE

Expected results before implementation

Illustrative telemetry read-back contract; sample measurements are invented. No device connection, telemetry write or RPC was executed.

Illustrative contract · no API call or model execution · not measured provider output

Telemetry stored and retrieved

Expected behavior — illustrative, not executed
Input	Authorized device sample with explicit units and timestamp.
Expected result	ok after matching device/key/value is read back.
Acceptance	Verify epoch milliseconds and configured retention.

Empty time window

Expected behavior — illustrative, not executed
Input	Valid historical query with no stored samples.
Expected result	ok with empty measurements.
Acceptance	Do not replace missing readings with zero.

Command only sent

Expected behavior — illustrative, not executed
Input	One-way RPC acknowledgement.
Expected result	sent with execution_verified=false.
Acceptance	Require device feedback or observed state before claiming actuation.

Revoked credentials

Expected behavior — illustrative, not executed
Input	REST key or device credential rejected.
Expected result	error/denied; no new trusted telemetry.
Acceptance	Preserve tenant isolation and redact credentials.

Map the expected result to your application

Map your actual runtime response into this proposed application contract. All values are invented examples; no credentials or live execution are included.

Expected output JSON — illustrative, not measured · ThingsBoardAPI-expected-results.json

{
  "schema_version": "1.0.0",
  "example": true,
  "provider": "ThingsBoard",
  "status": "ok",
  "input_id": "sample-001",
  "data": {
    "device_id": "example-device",
    "measurements": [
      {
        "key": "temperature",
        "value": 23.5,
        "unit": "C",
        "timestamp_ms": 1791417600000
      }
    ],
    "command_execution_verified": false
  },
  "error": null,
  "verification": "illustrative-only;not-provider-response"
}

Download specification, example and acceptance plan

Engineering handoff — our proposed contract and gates
State semantics	Valid empty results differ from errors. Pending work must not appear successful before completion.
Evidence	Record service and SDK versions, request identity, configuration and response mapping. No execution or performance was measured here.
Acceptance proposal	Agree numerical tolerances and workload targets before testing on representative authorized samples.

Development assessment

Equipment telemetry dashboard

Development concept · integration not tested

Provider capabilities above are based on official documentation or repositories. The proposed product, inputs, deliverable and acceptance criteria below are our development assessment.

Small prototype

Test one documented operation with a small real sample after access is confirmed. This is a development judgment, not a delivery estimate.

Proposed inputs: A test device or simulator, a tag map and documented units.
Proposed deliverable: Timestamped device values with freshness, unit and connection state.
Acceptance criterion: Verify scaling and timestamps against the source; a disconnected device must not appear healthy.
Dependencies: A gateway or service account, an equipment schema and access to a test environment.

Development sequence

Confirm access to ThingsBoard REST API, license and the exact supported version.
Prepare the sample above and implement one documented operation for “Equipment telemetry dashboard”.
Normalize the result with source, time and explicit error state; keep the provider response for review.
Run the acceptance criterion before estimating rollout effort or committing a customer deliverable.

How to validate demand

Record product views, documentation clicks, specification downloads and contextual hub clicks. These are event counts, not unique people or completed integrations.

This feasibility assessment uses implementation conditions. No traffic-based rank or delivery-time promise is assigned.

ThingsBoard REST API

Choose an interface. Define a verifiable result.

Company / project overview

Top 10 technical entry points

Reference analysis

Official documentation

Expected results before implementation

Telemetry stored and retrieved

Empty time window

Command only sent

Revoked credentials

Map the expected result to your application

Equipment telemetry dashboard

Development sequence

How to validate demand

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