Devices

Devices are the primary IoT entities in ThingsBoard. They represent physical or virtual things — sensors, controllers, gateways, emulators — that publish telemetry, report attributes, and respond to RPC commands.

1. Navigate to Entities → Devices.
2. Click + and select Add new device.
3. Enter a Name (must be unique within the tenant).
4. Optionally set a Device profile, Label, or Description.
5. If this device will proxy data for other devices, enable Is gateway (see Gateway Devices).
6. Click Add.

A connectivity check dialog opens automatically — use it to verify the connection or close it to continue later.

1. Click the pencil icon next to the device in the list.
2. Update the name, profile, label, firmware, or software version.
3. Click Apply changes.

Click the trash icon next to the device and confirm, or open the device details page and click Delete device.

1. Open the device details page.
2. Click Manage credentials.
3. Select the credential type and fill in the required fields.
4. Click Save.

A gateway device proxies data for multiple downstream devices over a single connection using the Gateway API. Enable gateway mode when creating or editing a device.

Setting	Description
Is gateway	Grants the device access to the gateway topic namespace for proxying downstream devices.
Overwrite activity time	When enabled, the gateway’s own connection activity keeps connected downstream devices in Active state. Useful when downstream devices are connected through the gateway but not actively sending telemetry — RPC commands and shared attribute updates can still be delivered to them.

To enable gateway mode, toggle Is gateway in the device creation form (step 4 of Create a Device) or in the device edit form.

Opening a device reveals a details panel with the following tabs:

Tab	Contents
Attributes	Client, server, and shared key-value pairs (serial number, firmware version, thresholds)
Latest Telemetry	Real-time sensor readings; supports manual entry and deletion by time range
Calculated Fields	Values computed from telemetry or attributes using formulas
Alarm Rules	Conditions, thresholds, and triggers configured for alarm generation
Alarms	Active and historical alarms for this device
Events	Lifecycle events, logs, warnings, and errors
Relations	Directed connections to other entities (assets, dashboards, rule chains)
Audit Logs	History of user actions: creation, updates, deletions
Version Control	Git-based export and restore for backup and collaboration

Verify that the device can communicate with ThingsBoard:

1. Open the device details page and click Check connectivity.
2. Select the protocol (MQTT, HTTP, or CoAP) and your operating system.
3. Copy the generated command and run it in your terminal.

On success, the device status changes from Inactive → Active and telemetry appears under the Latest telemetry tab.

You can change the owner of a device to control which Customer (or the Tenant) has access to it.

1. Click the device to open its details.
2. Click Manage owner and groups.
3. In the Owner field, select the Tenant or a specific Customer.
4. Add the device to relevant device groups or create a new group.
5. Click Update.

The Include customer entities toggle on the Devices page controls whether devices owned by customers appear in the list alongside tenant-owned devices.

Devices can belong to one or multiple groups for organization and access control. Every device is automatically added to the "All" group of its owner.

1. On the Devices screen, go to the Groups tab.
2. Click +.
3. Enter the group name.
4. Optionally configure shared access for your customers.
5. Click Add.

Add devices to a group:

1. Open any device group (e.g., "All").
2. Select devices using the checkboxes.
3. Click the Add to group icon.
4. Select an existing group or create a new one.
5. Click Add.

Move devices to another group:

1. Open a specific (non-"All") group.
2. Select devices and click Move to group.
3. Select the target group and click Move.

Remove devices from a group:

1. Open a specific (non-"All") group.
2. Select devices and click Remove from group.
3. Confirm removal.

Click the Make public icon next to a device group to expose all its data publicly, or Make private to revoke access.

1. Click the Share icon next to the device group.
2. Select the target customer.
3. Optionally specify a user group within that customer.
4. Click Share.

To manage permissions after sharing, click the pencil icon on the group, navigate to the Permissions tab, and add, edit, or delete permission entries.

• Dashboards — visualize telemetry, attributes, and alarms via widgets
• Rule Engine — process incoming telemetry, trigger alarms, route messages
• Calculated Fields — compute derived values from device data
• Relations — model hierarchies (e.g., Gateway → Contains → Sensor)
• REST API — query, create, and manage devices programmatically