Launch Checklist

This checklist brings together the processes you should follow to ensure your app is launched successfully. While all tasks must be completed to submit your app to the Onshape App Store, the task sequence provided here is a suggestion.

1. Understand quality expectations

These are to ensure that the Onshape App Store remains a trusted resource and that quality is maintained Review the Quality Considerations page, and reach out to the Developer Relations team with any questions.

Sign in to your developer account at the Onshape dev portal, and ensure your developer account details are accurate. Contact our API Support team if you need assistance.

3. Authenticate your app

Please refer to the OAuth documentation for information on authenticating your app with OAuth2.

4. Build your app

While building your app, use the resources in our Onshape Developer Documentation, including this API Guide and our API Explorer. We recommend familiarizing yourself with the following pages:

5. Prepare your store entry

Prepare the descriptions, promotional graphics, screenshots, and videos you’ll add to your store entry. Make sure you include a link to if required. Watch this video for more details.

See the video below for a walkthrough:

6. Run beta tests

During the beta period, try to enlist at least 5 active testers to get feedback before making your app available to the general public.

To find beta testers, contact our Developer Relations team, and recruit via the Onshape forum.
To give beta users early visibility, first create a team, then ensure your app is shared with that team in the Developer Portal. See the Create a Team in Onshape video for a walkthrough.

7. Determine your app’s price

Once you’ve determined your monetization model, set up your price, billing, and other details. Billing should be tested, and to do so a staging environment is available. See the Billing API page for more details.

8. Sign and return the developer agreement

Email to the Developer Relations team to obtain yours.

9. Submit your app for final testing

Once you’ve returned the developer agreement, you can submit your app to the Developer Relations team for final testing. This is a comprehensive functionality and design test. During this testing period (expect up to a week, depending on complexity), changes to code are prohibited unless requested. At the conclusion of the test, you will receive one of the following notifications from our Developer Relations team:

Approved for release
Approved for release with feedback
Changes required before another round of testing

10. Integrate your support systems

Whether you use Zendesk, Jira, or email support, we’ll help you determine and set up this integration. Contact the Developer Relations team to explore these options. This is the channel we will use to test your app and provide feedback.

11. Connect via Slack

Connecting directly with our Support, Tech, and Sales teams has proven to be valuable to app developers. This dedicated channel is simple to implement if you already have a paid Slack account. If not (or if you want to use the free version of Slack), we can add members of your team as guests to our account. Please contact Aaron Magnin to establish this connection.

12. Final check and publish

First, double-check you’ve done everything on this list. Now you’re ready to publish your app to the production channel! Send an email detailing when you’d like this to happen to the Developer Relations team.

13. Promote your app

Start promoting your app with the Onshape badge and by presenting it to our internal teams in one of the following ways:

To the Onshape Tech and Sales teams in a small meeting (~1 hour, Wednesdays at noon Eastern Time)
To the entire Onshape organization in a company-wide meeting (~5-10 minutes, Thursdays at 11am Eastern Time).

14. Encourage reviews from users

The value of reviews is not to be underestimated. Reviews give users an opportunity to provide feedback, and can also signal to others that your app is worth investigating.

15. Maintain your app

Continually fix stability and performance issues. Improving the user experience will result in more engaged users, higher ratings, and in turn, more success.

Failure to respond to customer tickets in a reasonable time will lead to the removal of your app from the Onshape App Store.

16. Increase engagement and retention

Aim to increase user engagement, retain and grow your audience, and earn more revenue by:

Encouraging repeat visits with a nurture stream and training materials
Integrating more features from user requests
Interacting with and understanding your audience via the Onshape forum, social media, etc.

17. Address app security

At some point, a prospect or user will enquire about your app’s security controls. To address this, we recommend that you understand SOC 2 Compliance requirements, and consider filling out the Consensus Assessment Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ). Onshape/PTC cannot and will not attest to your compliance. More on SOC Compliance can be found at the following links: