Getting Started with FlowFuse

This guide will help you learn how to use the FlowFuse platform to quickly create new Node-RED applications after a successful installation or sign-up for FlowFuse Cloud.

Creating a Node-RED Instance

  1. Automatic Creation: Your first Node-RED instance should be automatically created upon your initial login to FlowFuse. To access the Node-RED Editor, simply click on Open Editor.

    Open Editor

  2. Additional Instance: For utilizing various other FlowFuse features (e.g., DevOps Pipelines), it's highly beneficial to create a second Node-RED instance. A second Node-RED instance is included in both our Starter Tier and the Trial Phase of FlowFuse Cloud. To do so, select your application— in our example, "Demo's Application"— and click Add Instance.

    Add Instance

Learn more about Instances

Creating Your First Flow

If you are already familiar with Node-RED, you can skip this section.

  1. Access the Node-RED Editor.

  2. Add Nodes: Drag an "http in" node into the editor. This node will listen for incoming HTTP requests. Next, drag in the "change" and the "http response" nodes.

  3. Connect Nodes: Connect the "http in" node to the "change" node, and then the "change" node to the "http response" node. Your flow should look like this:

    The three nodes

  4. Configure 'http in' Node: Double-click on the "http in" node to open its properties. Set the URL to "/hello" and the method to "GET".

  5. Configure 'change' Node: Double-click the "change" node. Add "Hello World" to the field that says "to the value".

    Configure the change node

  6. Configure 'http response' Node: Double-click to open its properties. Set the "Status Code" to be 200.

    Configure the http response node

  7. Deploy: Now that we have our flow set up, we can deploy it by clicking the "Deploy" button in the top right corner of the editor. Once the flow is deployed, you can test it by opening up a web browser, take the URL of your Instance and add "/hello" to the end, it should looks something like this https://your-project.flowforge.cloud/hello. You should see "Hello World!" displayed in the browser.

Learn more about Flow creation

Creating Your First DevOps Pipeline

DevOps Pipelines enable you to link multiple Node-RED instances together in a deployment pipeline.

  1. Add a Pipeline: Select your application and click Add Pipeline.

    Add Pipeline

  2. Name Your Pipeline: Enter a suitable name.

  3. Add Stages: You can now add stages to your pipeline. In our example, we add a Development Stage and a Production Stage.

  4. Execute the Pipeline: It is now easy to execute the pipeline with one click, promoting your recently created flow to your Production Node-RED instance.

    Execute Pipeline

Learn more about DevOps Pipelines

Working with Devices

FlowFuse supports managing Node-RED on your own hardware.

Working with Teams

Working with Files and Context

FlowFuse supports reading and writing persistent files and persistent context.

Working with Instances