Eclipse Ditto is a technology in the IoT implementing a software pattern called "digital twins." It provides a virtual, cloud-based representation of real-world "Things" — devices like sensors, smart heating systems, connected cars, smart grids, and EV charging stations.

Unlike full IoT platforms, Ditto focuses specifically on the digital twin abstraction layer. It does not provide software running on IoT gateways, nor does it define device communication protocols. Instead, it complements existing connectivity solutions like Eclipse Hono and Eclipse Kura by providing the backend digital twin infrastructure.

Key capabilities

Device as a Service: Abstract physical devices into digital twins with synchronous and asynchronous APIs
State Management: Handle reported state (what the device reports), desired state (what should change), and current state with automatic synchronization
Access Control: Fine-grained, resource-based authorization through the Policies service
Multi-Protocol Support: Connect via AMQP 0.9.1/1.0, MQTT 3.1.1/5, HTTP 1.1, and Apache Kafka 2.x
Payload Mapping: Custom mapping logic to adapt almost any message format and encoding
Web of Things: W3C WoT standard integration for describing device capabilities

Architecture

Ditto follows a microservices architecture with these core services:

Policies: Handles authorization and access control
Things: Manages digital twin entities and their state
Things-Search: Provides search and query capabilities across twins
Connectivity: Manages protocol connections to external systems
Gateway: Exposes APIs (HTTP, WebSocket) to clients

Deployment options

Method	Best For
Docker Compose	Development, small deployments
Kubernetes (Helm)	Production, scalable deployments
OpenShift	Enterprise container platforms

System Requirements:

Minimum 2 CPU cores
Minimum 4 GB RAM
MongoDB 4.2+ (backing datastore)

Integration patterns

Ditto excels at scenarios requiring:

API abstraction from hardware specifics
Request routing between devices and applications
Authorized access control with fine-grained permissions
Last-reported state persistence and caching
Change notifications for backend services
Signal enrichment and history streaming

Use cases

Industrial IoT: Digital twins of manufacturing equipment, predictive maintenance data aggregation
Smart Grid: Virtual representations of power infrastructure, grid monitoring
Connected Vehicles: Fleet management, vehicle state tracking
Smart Buildings: HVAC systems, energy management, facility monitoring
Agriculture: Environmental sensors, irrigation systems

Relationship to Eclipse ecosystem

Ditto is designed to work alongside:

Eclipse Hono: Device connectivity and protocol abstraction
Eclipse Kura: IoT gateway software
Eclipse BaSyx: Asset Administration Shell for Industry 4.0

Limitations

Requires MongoDB as the only supported backing datastore — no alternative database options
Minimum 2 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM makes it unsuitable for edge or resource-constrained deployments
No built-in device connectivity — requires Eclipse Hono or a custom MQTT/AMQP adapter for device communication
Microservices architecture (5 separate services) adds operational complexity compared to monolithic platforms
Smaller community (~860 GitHub stars) compared to commercial digital twin platforms

Licensing

Eclipse Public License 2.0 (EPL-2.0) — permissive open source license suitable for commercial use.

Categories:

Digital Twins

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