Launch Checklist

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

If you do not have access to Developer Licenses yet, please contact the Developer Relations team.

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 the Onshape Dev Portal, and ensure your developer account details are accurate. Contact our API Support team if you need assistance.

Authenticate your app

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

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:

Prepare your store entry

Prepare the descriptions, promotional graphics, screenshots, and videos you’ll add to your store entry. If necessary, include a link to Download or sign in. Watch this video for more details.

See the video below for a walkthrough:

Questions about preparing and submitting a Store Entry? Contact our Developer Relations team.

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 and then ensure your app is shared with that team in the Onshape Dev Portal. For a walkthrough, read the Create a team in Onshape article.

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 Account and Billing APIs for more details.

We also strongly encourage offering a free trial period to allow potential customers to try out your product before purchasing.

Sign and return the developer agreement

Email the Developer Relations team to obtain yours.

Submit your app for final testing

Once you’ve returned the developer agreement, you can submit your app for final testing. To submit your app for QA testing, review the Testing Guidelines, and reach out to your Developer Relations contact for our most current testing suggestions.

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

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.

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 the Developer Relations team to establish this connection.

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 your app to be published, to the Developer Relations team.

Promote your app

Start promoting your app with the Onshape Logo on social media, and by posting in Onshape communities such as:

We also recommend completing this Co-Marketing Packet and sending a copy to the Developer Relations team. This provides the Onshape Marketing team with the necessary information to promote your app via official Onshape channels.

Note: Promotion of your application by the Onshape Marketing team is up to the sole discretion of the Onshape Marketing team. Completion of the Co-Marketing Packet does not guarantee promotion.

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.

We strongly encourage you to request reviews from your users. Reviews can help elevate your listing’s standing in the Onshape App Store. Point users of your app to your app listing in the Onshape App Store to leave a review.

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 result in your app being removed from the Onshape App Store.

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.

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: