Assets

• How to create, edit, and delete asset
  • Creating asset
  • Creating asset group
  • Editing asset
  • Deleting asset
• Asset details
• Manage owner and groups
• Make asset group public
• Share asset group

Asset is an abstract entity in the IoT system of ThingsBoard that represents any physical object, space, or organizational unit. Examples include a building, room, production area, field, streetlight, substation, or vehicle.

Key characteristics of an asset:

• Does not generate telemetry on its own but can be associated with devices that do.
• Can have its own attributes, such as location, type, or responsible personnel.
• Used for grouping devices and other entities.
• Can be part of a hierarchy, e.g., Substation ⟶ Line ⟶ Streetlight.
• Participates in ThingsBoard business logic, such as rule chains, alarms, and dashboards.

Assets help logically and efficiently structure your IoT project, making it easier to manage and scale.

ThingsBoard supports asset management functions via both the web UI and the REST API.

Practical video course 🎥

Watch the practical video course, which includes a detailed explanation of how to create and use assets in ThingsBoard.

The course includes hands-on examples to help you better understand how to manage dashboards, assets, and devices — including their configuration and real-world usage.

How to create, edit, and delete asset

Tenant administrators and users with appropriate permissions can create, edit, or delete assets in ThingsBoard.

Creating asset

To create a new asset:

• Navigate to Entities ⟶ Assets. By default, you will see the “All” asset group.
• Click the “+” icon in the upper-right corner and select “Add new asset” from drop-down menu.
• In the asset creation form, fill in the required fields:
  • Name – a unique name for the asset.
  • Asset profile – by default, the profile is set to “default”, but you can choose a different profile if needed.
• Optional fields such as label or description can be filled in if needed.
• Click “Add”.

The asset has been successfully created and is now available in the list.

Creating asset group

Assets can be logically organized into groups for easier management.

To create a new asset group:

• From the Assets screen, go to the “Group” tab.
• Click the “+” icon in the upper-right corner.
• Enter the name of the new asset group.
• (Optional) Configure shared access to this group for your customers, if needed.
• Click “Add” to create the group.

Editing asset

To edit an existing asset:

• In the Assets list, locate and click on the desired asset.
• Click the “pencil” (✏️ Edit) icon on the right.
• In the edit window, you can modify the following fields:
  • Name
  • Label
  • Asset profile
  • Description
• After making the necessary changes, click “Apply changes” to save.

Deleting asset

To delete an asset or asset group:

• Find the item in the list and click the "trash bin" icon next to it.
• Confirm the deletion in the popup dialog.

Note: Deleting an asset does not delete the devices or other entities linked to it, but it will break all existing relations (such as links to devices, alarms, dashboards, etc.).

Asset details

Clicking on an asset opens a window where you can access and manage various aspects of that asset:

• Copy the asset Id to the clipboard using the “Copy asset Id” button.
• Manage server-side attributes of the asset.
• Perform additional computations on telemetry and attributes using the Calculated fields feature.
• View current and historical alarms of the asset.
• Browse asset-related events, such as errors, warnings, and other key lifecycle moments.
• Manage relationships between this asset and other entities, such as devices, dashboards, etc.
• Track user actions and changes related to the asset in the Audit log.
• Use the ThingsBoard Version control system to export and restore the asset as part of Git-based object management.

Manage owner and groups

You can change the owner of an asset. This ensures that only users associated with the selected customer will have access to the asset and its data.

This step is essential for maintaining strict data access control. Each customer user will only see their own assigned assets and will not have visibility into assets or data belonging to other customers.

To change asset ownership:

• Click asset to open its details view.
• Click the “Manage owner and groups” button.
• Select the new owner of the asset from the list.
• If needed, add the asset to an existing group or create a new one.
• Confirm the change to update the asset's ownership.

You can reassign or revoke the ownership change of asset if needed.

Include customer entities

The “Include customer entities” option allows you to show or hide customer-owned entities in the list view.

Make asset group public

You can make an asset group public to ensure that all data within it is accessible to everyone. This is ideal for:

• Creating public demo dashboards that require access to asset data.
• Supporting open data use cases.

You cannot share an individual asset directly — only the asset group that contains it.

To make an asset group public:

• Locate the desired asset group in the list.
• Click the “Make public” icon next to it.
• Confirm your action in the popup dialog.

Once public, any dashboards or external systems referencing assets in this group will have access without requiring authentication.

To make the group private again, follow the same steps using the “Make private” icon.

Share asset group

You can share an asset group with one or more customers. This is useful, for example, when multiple customers need access to the same asset.

You cannot share an individual asset — only the asset group that contains it.

To share an asset group:

• Locate the desired asset group in the list.
• Click the “Share” icon next to it.
• Select the target customer from the dropdown list.
• (Optional) Specify the user group within that customer to share the asset group with.
• Confirm the action by clicking “Share”.