Changelog

Recently, we introduced "Flows Explainer" to the FlowFuse Assistant. It provides a concise description of the selected flows. This turned out so well we thought "wouldn't it be good if the generated explanation could be persisted as built in documentation" so we added a single click option to add the documentation as a comment node to your flows. We also provided a Copy to Clipboard button so you can grab it and add it to the Documentation section of a flow tab, node group or external documentation.

Let's see it in action

Demo of documenting flows with the Flows Explainer

While this feature is just a simple quality of life addition, we are hopeful it is small touches like these that improve your daily workflow.

We've renamed our Team tier to Pro tier to better reflect what it's truly designed for: using Node-RED professionally to build applications, replace and augment software in your organization, and scale professional Node-RED deployments.

The Pro plan empowers developers and engineers to move beyond collaboration and into production-ready industrial applications that optimize operations and drive real business value.

All existing Team plan subscribers will automatically transition to Pro. Your applications, instances, and team configurations remain exactly the same.

What's new:

• A name that better represents professional Node-RED application development
• Clearer positioning for organizations ready to scale their Node-RED implementations

Ready to build professional Node-RED applications? Get started with Pro or contact us to learn more.

In conjunction with the release of Node-RED 4.1.0 and FlowFuse 2.20.0, we have added smart suggestions to the Editor.

When you drop a node onto the editor workspace, the upstream connected nodes in your flow are analysed and a next node suggestion is presented for quick insertion via the keyboard TAB key or the click of your mouse. It presents up to 5 of the most common following nodes which can be cycled through using your keyboards UP and DOWN arrows, so even if the first suggestion isn't correct, it's very likely that the correct choice is only a key press away.

To achieve this, we processed thousands of real working flows and built a decision tree model for the greatest accuracy possible.

Let's see it in action

Demo of smart suggestions

We hope this new feature makes the process of writing flows for Node-RED flows in FlowFuse even easier.

As part of the FlowFuse v2.20.0 release we are adding an option for a Team level hosted relational database.

Screenshot of the FlowFuse Tables onboarding wizard

Tools to create tables and to show sample data are included, but we will be iterating on these moving forward.

Screenshot of Table Explorer

Paired with the Database is a new FlowFuse Tables node which will automatically pick up the credentials when deployed in FlowFuse Hosted Instance running on a v2.20.0+ Stack, or when running with the latest version of the FlowFuse Device Agent.

Screenshot of Node-RED with FlowFuse Tables Node

The database is a Postgres instance and you will be able to connect 3rd party clients using the credentials provided.

This feature will be available to FlowFuse Cloud Enterprise Tier customers and to Enterprise Licensed Self Hosted customers on Kubernetes to start with, we hope to make it available to Docker Compose users in a future release.

It is currently marked as a Beta Feature while we continue to iterate on adding new features and observe how it is used.

We’ve rolled out a redesigned Applications Page interface to give you sharper insight into instance status across hosted and remote deployments.

Key Updates

• Application Shortcuts Maintained The existing shortcuts to instances, devices, device groups, snapshots, and pipelines have been retained in the new layout for easy access.

• Summary Tiles for Each App Instead of listing every instance individually, you now get compact summary tiles with counts of Running, Error, and Not Running instances for both hosted and remote groups. Visual layout is clean and instant to scan.

• Grouped Instances by Status Each application shows two separate tiles: one for hosted instances and one for remote. That way you see app health at a glance, without needing to drill into details.

• Aggregate Status Tiles Each status tile represents an aggregate count of instances in a given state (e.g. Running, Error). Clicking on a tile takes you to a filtered view of the underlying instances.

Why This Matters

• Page load times have been significantly improved by reducing the number of rendered elements and simplifying data fetching.
• Cuts out clutter—no more scrolling through long lists.
• Quick status view helps you spot issues fast.
• Cleaner separation between hosted vs remote gives context instantly.

Screenshot of the Simplified Applications page

FlowFuse provides a growing library of blueprints that provide a great way to get started quickly with a pre-built solution across a range of scenarios.

With the 2.19 release of FlowFuse, instances that have been updated to the latest version can now import blueprints directly into their editor.

The Node-RED import dialog (Ctrl-i or the import menu option) now has a blueprints section. Under that you can browse the available blueprints by category and select one to import.

Screenshot of the Node-RED import dialog

When you import a blueprint, you may get an error about 'unknown' nodes. This will be because the blueprint depends on Node-RED nodes you haven't currently got installed. You can check the blueprint library for details on what the blueprints require and then install them via the Palette Manager within Node-RED.

We recognise that isn't as smooth an experience as we'd like - but the good news is it's about to get much better. With the imminent Node-RED 4.1 release, the editor will be able to automatically install any missing modules for you. Keep an eye out for the 4.1 release announcement and update your instances to take full advantage.

Last month we introduced a way for the FlowFuse Device Agent to import Node-RED flows during the setup process. Today, we have built on that and added some new features:

• Automatically scan common file locations and offer any flows found for immediate selection
• Scan common directories and present any that contain multiple flows as a quick browse selection
• Offer a "Browse filesystem" option to let you navigate and select any flows on your device

Lets see it in action

Import automatically located ~/.node-red/flows.json flows file

Screenshot of the Importing an Automatically located flows file during Device Agent Setup

Using the "Browse filesystem" option to navigate the filesystem to chose a different flows file

Screenshot of Browsing the filesystem for flows file during Device Agent Setup

We hope these new enhancements make the process of migrating existing Node-RED flows to FlowFuse even easier.

Following on from the recent improvements we made earlier this month, we have added even more goodness to the FlowFuse Assistant:

We have:

• Added a menu for quick access to the new features
• Improved the look and feel of the Flow Explainer
• Added a codelens to assist you creating HTML, VUE, Vuetify & CSS in FlowFuse Node-RED Dashboard templates

And there more to come in the next week - stay tuned!

New Menu

Screenshot of the new Assistant Menu

Flow Explainer updated look & feel

Animated GIF showing the Flow Explainer Updated Layout

New Codelens for building ui-templates

Animated GIF showing the Assistant building HTML & VUE template code

Animated GIF showing the Assistant building CSS styles

Updating the Assistant

If you are running Node-RED v4.x, head over to the Palette Manager, update the plugin and restart your instance.

Screenshot of Updating the Assistant for a Node-RED 4 instance

If you are still running Node-RED v3.x we strogly recommend you update your stack to use Node-RED v4.x but you can still manually update the plugin by adding @flowfuse/nr-assistant to the instance settings then restart it.

Screenshot of Updating Assistant for a Node-RED 3 instance

We’re excited to announce the release of the all-new Home Page, designed to simplify navigation and provide relevant information at a glance.

Key Features

• A more intuitive and dedicated landing page, replacing the dual-purpose "Applications" view.
• Recently Modified Instances: The Home page highlights recently modified hosted and remote instances, providing key statistics at a glance:
  • Number of running, error, and not running instances.
  • Each tile is clickable for direct access.
• Recent Activity Section: A comprehensive view of the latest 50 changes made within the current team is now integrated, enabling better tracking of team activities and updates.

These enhancements are intended to make managing your instances and reviewing activity smoother and more effective.

Screenshot of the new home/landing page in FlowFuse

This improvement aligns with the feedback we received from the community, aimed at delivering a more user-friendly and focused experience.

We're excited to announce an enhancement to the existing Performance view for Hosted Instances in FlowFuse. We've expanded the view to include a new Memory Utilization chart.

Screenshot of the Performance view with Memory Utilization

This update provides additional insight, allowing you to monitor not only CPU usage but also memory consumption over time. The inclusion of memory metrics makes it easier than ever to detect performance issues and optimize your Node-RED Flows.

Last year, we introduced the FlowFuse Assistant, a Node-RED plugin designed to assist FlowFuse users with tools for developing their Node-RED instances. Today, we are excited to announce that the Assistant has been updated with a new feature powered by AI: the Flows Explainer. This feature uses AI to analyze your Node-RED flows and provide a detailed explanation of what they do, making it easier for you to understand and manage your flows.

Stay tuned; this is just a taste of what is to come.

Flows Explainer

Screenshot of the FlowFuse Assistant Flow Explainer

Updating the Assistant

If you are running Node-RED v4.x, head over to the Palette Manager, update the plugin and restart your instance.

Screenshot of Updating assistant on Node-RED 4

If you are still running Node-RED v3.x we strogly recommend you update your stack to use Node-RED v4.x but you can still manually update the plugin by adding @flowfuse/nr-assistant to the instance settings then restart it.

Screenshot of Updating assistant on Node-RED 3

We’ve given the top navigation in FlowFuse a visual refresh as part of our effort to constantly improve and modernise the user experience of FlowFuse.

Menus now use a clean white background, with updated colors, spacing, and transitions across the user menu, team switcher, and notification buttons. Mobile menus have also been cleaned up for better usability.

This is the first step in a broader UI modernization effort based on community feedback.

Screenshot of the re-designed top navigation

We've expanded the Performance feature with an exciting new addition: Team Performance metrics.

Team-Wide CPU Monitoring: Get a complete overview of CPU usage across all hosted instances in your team, helping you track and analyze resource allocation efficiently.

These enhancements are designed to improve operational visibility and resource management based on user feedback from our community.

Overview of CPU Usage in the Team Performance Feature

We've added a new view for every Hosted Instance in FlowFuse, Performance.

Screenshot of the Performance view for a Hosted Instance

This view provides a comprehensive insight into the performance of your hosted Node-RED instances, focussing on CPU usage over time, better enabling you to detect performance issues within your Node-RED Flows.

This feature is available today for Enterprise tier teams on FlowFuse Cloud and will be available for self-hosted Enterprise customers as part of the 2.18 release later this week.

We released support for pushing snapshots to a Git repository as part of the DevOps Pipelines feature last month. As promised, we've now added the ability to pull snapshots back from the repository.

This unlocks a number of powerful workflows with the Pipelines.

Review-based Pipelines

The Git Pipeline stage can be configured to push and pull from different branches of the Git Repostory. By making use of a GitHub Pull Request, you can create a workflow where the snapshot is reviewed and merged before the pipeline can deploy the snapshot to the later stages.

Deploying snapshots across Teams

By using an external Git Repository, it is simple to create a workflow that enables moving snapshots between two different Teams on the platform whilst maintaining the security and auditability of the individual Teams.

This feature is available today for Enterprise tier teams on FlowFuse Cloud and will be available for self-hosted Enterprise customers as part of the 2.18 release later this week.

We still only support GitHub.com hosted repositories, but we're looking at support for Azure hosted repos in the near future.

Screenshot of a Git Pipeline Stage

FlowFuse Device Agent now supports importing Node-RED flows during the setup process. This feature streamlines the configuration of your Remote Instance by allowing you to:

• Select an existing Node-RED flows directory from your device.
• Choose a specific flows file to import.
• Automatically import associated credentials and package files.

How it works

1. Setup Command: Run the setup command provided in the FlowFuse interface.
2. Flow Selection: During setup, you will be prompted to import existing Node-RED flows. Options include:
   • Skipping the import.
   • Selecting a default Node-RED directory (e.g., .node-red).
   • Specifying a custom path.
3. File Selection: If a directory is selected, you can choose a specific flows file to import.
4. Automatic Import: The Device Agent will handle importing credentials, package files, and generate a snapshot to the FlowFuse Platform, setting it as the "Target Snapshot" for the device.

Notes

• When your Remote Instance is started, it will install all the necessary pieces and run your new Snapshot.
• The Remote Instance must be assigned to an application before running the Setup Command
• Requires Device Agent v3.3.1
• Available on FlowFuse Cloud today. For self-hosted customers, you'll need FlowFuse version 2.17

Screenshots

Screenshot of the FlowFuse interface for configuring a Remote Instance

Screenshot of the new import options in the Device Agent during setup

We hope this enhancement simplifies the process of migrating existing Node-RED flows to FlowFuse.

We've improved the log handling within our Hosted Node-RED instances. Previously we were using a fix sized buffer in memory; meaning the noiser your Node-RED instance was, the less history you'd have. The UI for browsing the logs was also awkward when you wanted to jump back to an earlier section of the logs.

With this release, once you update your instances to the latest version, we will now store the last 7 days worth of logs for each hosted Node-RED instance.

To go along side this, we've added the ability to jump to a specific time/date in the logs without having to endlessly scroll.

To start benefiting from the extended logs, make sure you update the latest version via your Instance Settings page.

Screenshot of browsing Node-RED logs by timestamp

From today, Enterprise tier teams on FlowFuse Cloud are able to add a Git Repository stage to their deployment pipelines. When the pipeline is triggered, the latest snapshot will get pushed to the configured repository.

This has been one of those features that has come up a number of times with our users; we knew we wanted to have Git integration in the platform, but we also wanted it to fit in a natural way with the developer workflows we provide.

This is very much a "first-iteration" of the feature that will allow us to get feedback early and continue to iterate.

With this release, the following restrictions apply:

• Only GitHub.com hosted repostories are supported
• Users must create a GitHub Personal Access Token and add to their Team Settings
• We currently only support pushing snapshots to a Git repository

This last point is important; this release lets you backup your flows to git, but we haven't yet enabled the return journey of pulling a snapshot from a Git repository back to your Node-RED instance. That'll come in the near future and will unlock a full git-based review workflow within the pipelines.

We'll also look at enabling other Git hosting providers - let us know which you'd like to see on the list.

Screenshot of a Git Pipeline Stage

As part of the upcoming FlowFuse 2.16.0 release we will be updating which version the latest tag points to for the flowfuse/node-red containers.

This change will impact self-hosted Docker and Kubernetes installs that have not changed the default stack.

The latest tag currently points to the latest version of the FlowFuse Stack container but contains Node-RED version 3.0.2 and NodeJS 16. After the update it will contain Node-RED version 4.0.9 and NodeJS 20.

It will then continue to track the latest stable Node-RED version as they are released.

You can update the tag by creating a new version of the Stack under the Admin Settings -> Stacks page as a FlowFuse Admin user.

We make the following tags available which track the latest version of FlowFuse:

• flowfuse/node-red:latest as described above
• flowfuse/node-red:latest-2.2.x which contains Node-RED 2.2.2 NodeJS 16
• flowfuse/node-red:latest-3.0.x which contains Node-RED 3.0.2 NodeJS 16
• flowfuse/node-red:latest-3.1.x which contains Node-RED 3.1.15 NodeJS 18
• flowfuse/node-red:latest-4.0.x which contains Node-RED 4.0.9 NodeJS 20 (same as flowfuse/node-red:latest)

We also publish tags explicitly pinned to a FlowFuse version with the following format <version>-<node-red-version> e.g. flowfuse/node-red:2.15.0-4.0.x which would be FlowFuse 2.15.0 and Node-RED 4.0.x.