Into The Box 2026 was not just another conference. It was a clear statement about where CFML, BoxLang, and the Ortus ecosystem are heading next.
This year, we brought the community together around one central idea: modernization with continuity.
For years, organizations running ColdFusion, and Lucee applications have faced the same uncomfortable question: do we keep maintaining legacy systems that still power the business, or do we start over?
At Ortus Solutions, we believe there is a better path. You should not have to throw away years of business logic, proven workflows, domain knowledge, and team expertise just to modernize. You should be able to move forward with confidence, one step at a time, using modern tooling, cloud-native deployment models, AI capabilities, and a supported runtime built for the future. That is the role BoxLang is now playing in the CFML ecosystem.
At Into The Box 2026, we shared major updates across BoxLang, ColdBox, CommandBox, TestBox, ContentBox, CBWire, Docker images, AI, education, and the broader Ortus ecosystem. We also introduced a new flavor of BoxLang for new runtimes powered by a new virtual machine; MatchBox. This is a new vision the Ortus team brings to the table to reach to new areas such as JavaScript, WebAssembly, ESP32 Processors, Native Images and also web. This is the same language but now powered by a new virtual machine we have created in RUST.
🎥 Watch the Keynotes and Download the Slides
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Keynote Day 1: BoxLang Modernization
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Keynote Day 2: Ortus Ecosystem Updates
The Big Theme: CFML Modernization Without Starting Over
Many organizations have mission-critical CFML applications that are 10, 15, 20, or even 25+ years old. These systems often still work. They still generate revenue. They still serve customers. They still manage operations.
But the pressure around them keeps growing: aging runtime environments, unsupported versions, security exposure, limited deployment flexibility, cloud migration pressure, shrinking CFML talent pools, increasing integration complexity, and new AI expectations from the business.
For many teams, the default modernization options have been painful: keep patching fragile legacy systems, attempt a risky rewrite, or migrate to a platform that forces abandoning years of investment.
BoxLang is designed to give CFML teams another option. It brings together three ecosystems in one:
- CFML for compatibility and continuity
- Java for enterprise interoperability
- BoxLang for modern development, multi-runtime deployment, and future-facing capabilities
That combination matters because modernization is not only a technical project. It is a business risk management strategy. BoxLang achieves this as it supports multiple parsers and a modular infrastructure. We have created a CFML parser that seamlessly transpiles your CFML code into bytecode that executes in BoxLang. The compatibility module brings about the engine capabilities of the vendor for a smooth transition with minimal and in some cases no code changes.
🏆 Customer Stories: Real Modernization at Real Scale
One of the most powerful parts of Into The Box 2026 was hearing directly from organizations using Ortus technologies and services to modernize real systems. These were not theoretical demos; these were production stories from travel, financial services, project management, and government.
Small Business Administration: A Real Path Forward for a Million-Line ColdFusion Codebase
Ian Clark, a contractor supporting the Small Business Administration, shared one of the clearest examples of why BoxLang matters. The SBA environment includes more than a million lines of ColdFusion code across more than 20 applications.
"Management was thinking about throwing everything out and starting from scratch. Then along came BoxLang."
Ian also described the speed of collaboration with the Ortus team:
"We had over a million lines of ColdFusion code, and BoxLang gave us a real path forward instead of starting from scratch. I would report an issue, and usually the same day the fix was in place. That is absolutely incredible."
InstallNet: Modernizing a 26-Year-Old ColdFusion ERP
Aaron Weinberg, CTO of InstallNet, shared how Ortus helped modernize a 26-year-old legacy ColdFusion ERP and move critical workloads toward a modern AWS-based architecture.
"Ortus helped us move a 26-year-old legacy ColdFusion ERP to a modern AWS stack."
InstallNet adopted BoxLang for a production notification system that processes thousands of external transactions each month:
"Our BoxLang system processes about 5,000 external transactions a month, and it just works. BoxLang was an easy drop-in, and with SocketBox the performance has been great."
Synaptrix: Financial Systems, BoxLang in Production, and Billions in Assets
John Wilson, CEO of Synaptrix, shared a story about building high-value financial systems with Ortus tooling, CommandBox, and the broader ecosystem.
"With Ortus, CommandBox, and their toolset, we built a system that helped us sell the company for $30 million in 18 months."
Today that work supports a platform operating at significant financial scale:
"Today, we manage over $4.1 billion in assets on a system built with Ortus. Our optimizer is now running in production on BoxLang, and it is performing fantastically."
Avoya Travel: Long-Term Partnership and Business Growth
Ian Woodward of Avoya Travel shared how Ortus has helped Avoya modernize systems, improve delivery, and support business growth over nearly a decade.
"Ortus took us out of the Stone Age and helped us modernize the systems that power our business."
Avoya moved from older SFTP-based workflows toward modern Docker and CI/CD architecture. Ortus also helped Avoya build a critical cruise API after a major third-party API became unavailable, enabling live pricing, booking, and cruise management capabilities for hundreds of thousands of users.
"Ortus helped us grow from $300-400 million to over $500 million in sales."
📈 BoxLang Momentum Since 1.0
BoxLang has moved fast since its 1.0 release. In just 11 months:
- 13 minor releases
- 82 new features
- 258 improvements
- 501 bug fixes
- Test coverage grew from 12,000 to more than 16,000 automated tests across core, modules, and libraries
- Open-source repositories grew from 30 to more than 86
- Official core modules grew from 30 to more than 55
- Contributors grew from 10 to more than 30
- Native runtimes grew from 5 to more than 30
- Cloud server offerings grew from 0 to more than 18
- Supported IDEs grew from 1 to more than 7
BoxLang is the foundation for the next generation of CFML-compatible, Java-integrated, cloud-ready, AI-enabled development.
🌐 BoxLang as a Multi-Runtime Platform
One of the biggest themes from the keynote was BoxLang's multi-runtime architecture. BoxLang is designed to run in many environments: CLI, web applications, CommandBox, Docker, AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Spring Boot, Jakarta EE, MiniServer, GitHub Actions, DigitalOcean, JSR-223, LSP, native runtimes, WebAssembly, and JavaScript targets.
This matters because modern applications are no longer deployed in just one way.
GitHub Actions
BoxLang now has GitHub Actions support for quick installation of any BoxLang version, with or without CommandBox, including support for CommandBox modules, BoxLang modules, and ForgeBox integration.
DigitalOcean Runtime
The BoxLang DigitalOcean starter makes it simple to clone, code, and deploy, with a low-cost path for teams that want fast cloud deployment.
Spring Boot Starter
The BoxLang Spring Boot Starter provides seamless Java integration, a BoxLang view resolver, full web scopes, Spring model integration, lifecycle management, shared app configurations, and more.
Google Cloud Functions
The Google Cloud Functions starter supports a serverless BoxLang framework, URI routing, Application.bx support, and a starter template. Azure Functions support is also in progress. Read the full release post.
BoxLang Desktop Runtime
Announced at the conference, this new runtime allows developers to create and package their applications for the Desktop https://boxlang.ortusbooks.com/getting-started/running-boxlang/desktop-applications
🦀 MatchBox: Taking BoxLang to New Places
One of the most forward-looking announcements was MatchBox, introducing a Rust-based virtual machine direction for BoxLang designed around tunable runtime behavior, instant startup, optional Java bridge support, and the ability to run the same language across different virtual machines.
The vision includes native runtime, single binary deployment, instant startup, bundled cross-compilation, ESP32 support, embedded deployment, WebAssembly targets, JavaScript interoperability, browser API access from BoxLang, and exporting BoxLang code to JavaScript. The direction is clear: BoxLang is being built to go wherever modern applications need to run.
🤖 BoxLang AI: Bringing AI Into Real Applications
Modern AI integration involves far more than calling an LLM. It requires memory, RAG, search, agents, autonomy, tools, HTTP calls, MCP, streaming, multiple providers, different model capabilities, and fast-changing standards. That is why we continue to invest heavily in the bx-ai module.
The bx-ai module is now in its 3.x series and includes:
- Unified LLM provider API across 15+ providers
- Memory and RAG capabilities
- 30+ document loaders
- Fluent AI pipelines
- Autonomous agents with tooling
- MCP servers and invokers
- Multi-modal support: chat, audio, transcription, translation, image capabilities
- 700+ tests, a documentation book, a Bootcamp course, and 50+ AI examples
BoxLang AI v3.1 is already out with audio, async, and parallel pipelines.
BoxLang Skills AI
We also introduced skills.boxlang.io — a centralized, public, agent-agnostic skills repository for the BoxLang ecosystem. Read the full launch post.
Skills include core team skills, community contributions, audited and supervised skills, and lazy-loaded contexts. Skills are usable across providers and repositories accept contributions through pull requests.
⚡ BoxLang Framework Enhancements Since 1.0
Compiler and Performance
- Sourceless deployment
- Compiled and optimized bytecode with mapping support
- Three BoxPilers: JIT, Noop, and Java Source
- 68%+ bytecode reductions
- Across-the-board performance improvements
Language Enhancements
- Destructuring and spread operator
- Range operator:
1..50 castasoperator- Enhanced
forloops - New array and member methods
- Custom assertion messages
Framework Enhancements
- JSON logging and pretty JSON
- SSE servers and clients
- HTTP streaming and fluent HTTP builders
- Fluent SOAP builders and HTTP state tracking
- Runtime UDF typing
- Java logging category bridge
- Environment support for
systemExecute()andbx:execute
Module Enhancements
- Automated class mappings
/publicconvention for URL access/binfolder convention- OS integration and
box.jsoncontrol
MiniServer Enhancements
miniserver.jsonwith folder aliases- Healthcheck endpoints
- WebSockets and STOMP support
- Undertow options and warmup URLs
- Hidden file protection
.envand.boxlang.jsonconventions
🔄 BoxLang Async: Modern, Fluent, Fast
Scheduling and Task Framework
Write schedulers in BoxLang, Java, or both and use them in CLI, web, Lambda, and other runtime environments.
bx:schedule
The new bx:schedule component makes it easier to create HTTP tasks, persist tasks in BoxLang configuration, support cron, handle webhooks, ping endpoints, trigger callbacks, and eventually bring scheduled tasks over from Adobe ColdFusion and Lucee through CFConfig.
Directory and File Watchers
BoxLang now supports directory and file watchers with created, modified, deleted, and overflow events, closure listeners, struct listeners, class listeners, global and application watchers, and virtual executor support.
BoxFuture and Async Pipelines
Fluent async pipelines and new BIFs including futureNew(), asyncAll(), asyncAllApply(), asyncAny(), and asyncRun(). BoxLang continues to embrace modern Java capabilities including virtual threading support across thread usage and async operations.
💼 BoxLang + and BoxLang ++
BoxLang Community remains free and open source under Apache 2. For organizations that need professional support and enterprise capabilities, two commercial subscriptions are available.
BoxLang + includes professional support, SLA, enterprise modules and features, dedicated Slack channel, priority patches, cache connectors, PDF+, AI+, and more.
BoxLang ++ includes everything in BoxLang+, plus a stronger SLA, custom builds, a dedicated language engineer, consulting discounts, and yearly sneak peeks.
Both tiers include access to 12+ exclusive modules covering CSV, Couchbase, Redis, Meilisearch, LDAP, PDF, Spreadsheet, SOAP, REST, AI+, Insights, and more.
🛠️ Tooling: IDEs, Formatter, LSP, and Debugger
BoxLang continues to expand IDE and developer tooling support across VSCode, TextMate, Cursor, Windsurf, Monaco, OpenVSX, IntelliJ, Vim, and Neovim.
BoxLang Formatter
BoxLang 1.13 introduced a new formatter written from scratch, powered by BLAST, compatible with cfformat JSON configuration, and including conversion tools.
BoxLang LSP
The BoxLang Language Server now includes 600+ tests, improved memory management, faster background processing, dozens of new language-aware hints and rules, and a built-in formatter behind a feature flag.
BoxLang Debugger v2
The debugger continues to improve with Docker container debugging, right-click WriteDump, the ability to connect to any running server, performance improvements, and upcoming inline value hints and in-editor datasource access.
🎓 FIU Partnership: Investing in the Next Generation
One of the announcements we are most excited about is our partnership with Florida International University in Miami, Florida. BoxLang is being introduced through a pilot course with more than 56 students. Students are contributing to real areas of the ecosystem including Google Cloud Functions runtime, Azure runtime, AI middleware, audio and image capabilities, text-to-speech, and more runtime and platform capabilities.
The course is becoming part of computer science studies across the FIU university network, with new classes expected in the fall and more than 100 students collaborating with BoxLang every semester.
🎂 ColdBox 8: The OCHO
ColdBox is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and the next generation continues to push the framework forward. The ecosystem now includes 720+ ColdBox modules, 4,500+ pull requests, and 350,000 installs in the past 12 months. ColdBox maintains both a 7.x LTS series and the active 8.x series with a 3-year roadmap.
ColdBox 8.1.0 is out now. Read the full release post.
ColdBox 8 highlights:
- Native BoxLang support with
bx-coldbox, the BoxLang compiled and enhanced version - BoxLang Prime support: no more CFML compatibility module required
- All documentation books now have MCP Servers (open in Claude, ChatGPT, or VSCode directly from the docs)
- Exclusive BoxLang-only features: AI Routing, Virtual Threading, Java Interop, Custom Executors
🤖 ColdBox CLI and Agentic ColdBox
ColdBox CLI received one of its biggest updates yet: new app templates, a new app creation wizard, Vite integration, Docker integration, and AI tooling.
The CLI can now inspect your app, generate agent instructions, refresh context when modules or libraries change, and create the guidelines, skills, and lazy-loaded contexts needed to teach your AI assistant about ColdBox and your application. Read the full CLI 8.11 release post.
📋 cbMCP: The ColdBox MCP Server
We introduced cbMCP, the official ColdBox MCP Server. Install it with box install cbmcp, start the server, connect to your favorite chat agent, and get live read-only introspection across the entire ColdBox platform: routing, handlers, modules, WireBox, CacheBox, LogBox, schedulers, interceptors, and async executors.
- 40+ Tools
- 5+ Resources
- 5+ Prompts
Read the full cbMCP release post.
🏗️ New BoxLang and Modern CFML Application Templates
New BoxLang and modern application templates are designed to help teams start with better architecture from day one:
- Non-root security architecture
- Complete Docker ecosystem with multi-stage builds
- Database migration support with CF Migrations
- Comprehensive monitoring and structured logging
- Modular design with clear separation of concerns
- Enterprise tooling preconfigured
- CI/CD readiness with GitHub Actions
- Frontend flexibility for traditional or modern JavaScript frameworks
🐛 AI-Powered Whoops
Whoops received a complete rewrite with a modern approach, new AI integrations, improved look and feel, enhanced stack contexts, and a better debugging experience. The goal: make it easier to understand and fix bugs the moment they happen.
🚀 CBGenesis
We introduced work on CBGenesis, now under sponsored development thanks to Gary Knight and Loeb Electric. CBGenesis is BoxLang-only and designed to provide a fast path to common application needs: secured admin (SSO, passkeys), password reset, email verification, registration, profiles, admin dashboard, settings, and more.
✅ TestBox 7: Streaming, Dry Run, and Better Developer Feedback
TestBox continues to define modern testing for CFML and BoxLang. The ecosystem now includes more than 4.5 million installations.
TestBox RUN
- BoxLang-only streaming test IDE
- Talk to any TestBox runner via HTTP/S
- Apply labels, filters, and more
- Visual stack traces and exceptions
- VSCode integration with dark/light mode
- Included in every ColdBox 8 + BoxLang app
Dry Run Support
Visualize what will be tested before execution. Powers RUN, VSCode Tests, IntelliJ, auditing, BoxLang CLI runner, and HTTP runner workflows.
Streaming
The TestBox CLI now supports streaming through testbox run --streaming and the new StreamingRunner.bxm|cfm.
BoxLang Runner
The BoxLang runner includes CLI runner, streaming, discovery, Application.bx mapping autoload, and power flags: --stacktrace=short|full, --show-failed-only, --show-paced, --show-skipped, --max-failures, --slow-threshold-ms, and --top-slowest.
🐳 Docker and Containers
The Ortus container ecosystem continues to grow. CommandBox Docker images are approaching 1.96 million pulls. Recent updates include 13+ releases since May 2024, RHEL base images updated to UBI 10, multi-site environment updates, the BoxLang MiniServer image with 10k downloads, a CLI image for CI/CD, an NGINX image with a preconfigured reverse proxy, and an Alpine image at only 95MB including the OS.
Coming next: BoxLang-native CommandBox images, faster runtime starts, better GitHub dev container debugging, smaller image sizes, faster pulls, reduced CVE exposure, and hardened Docker Hub submissions.
📝 ContentBox 6.x and ContentBox 7 Planning
ContentBox is now 14 years old and remains extremely stable, powering all Ortus sites. Recent 6.x updates include blazing-fast performance with ColdBox 8, admin reactivity enhancements using Alpine.js, content templates, automatic and manual redirects, CBFS-integrated media manager, more API and headless deployment updates, and BoxLang compatibility through bx-compat-cfml.
ContentBox 7 is now in planning with focus areas including BoxLang Prime, BoxLang AI integration, a new admin, API tokens, and a desktop admin.
📦 CommandBox 6.3 and BX-CLI
CommandBox continues to power the CFML world: 13 years of development, 49 total releases, 775 pull requests, and strong adoption growth. BoxLang installs through CommandBox grew from 8,000 to 61,000, a 225% increase.
CommandBox 6.3 includes package lock files (box-lock.json, install --lock), package link for BoxLang modules, environment variable overrides for module settings, BoxLang-aware rewrites, updated dependencies, and a digitally signed box.exe.
BX-CLI is the next step: a pure BoxLang-powered version of CommandBox. No more Lucee dependency. Installs from ForgeBox and will soon bundle with BoxLang installers. It installs as a module into your OS BoxLang home, is smaller with fewer dependencies, and can register native binary aliases for commands or other BoxLang modules. Ready for testing today.
⚡ CBWire 5
CBWire continues to help developers build reactive UI components and modern UIs with minimal JavaScript.
CBWire 5 includes BoxLang Prime support, BoxLang single-file components, five new Livewire directives (wire:current, wire:cloak, wire:show, wire:text, wire:replace), external module components with @module, onSecure() and cbSecurity integration, dot notation in wire:model for cleaner nested data binding, event object in templates, secure file uploads, dropped Adobe CF 2018/2021 support, and works on ColdBox 6, 7, and 8+.
🔐 QB, Quick, CBQ, and cbSecurity
QB received TestBox helpers, query parameter struct validation, correct alias handling in subselects, new performance settings, and 20+ bug fixes.
Quick is now BoxLang Certified and includes more robust relationship query methods, better child entity and single table inheritance support, lazy loading controls, automatic eager loading for specified relationships, and bug fixes.
CBQ includes persistent job records, cleanup tasks, clean worker shutdown, better database provider locking, interception restrictions through jobPattern, and lifecycle methods.
cbSecurity now includes production-ready passkey support, simplified passkey registration and authentication, ForgeBox passkey support, simplified SSO for ColdBox apps through cbSSO, multi-provider support, custom providers, and full cbSSO documentation at cbSSO.ortusbooks.com.
📅 What's Next: ITB USA 2027
The next Into The Box USA conference is planned for Orlando, Florida in Fall 2027. Mark your calendars.
🙏 Thank You to the Community
None of this happens without the community. Into The Box 2026 was also a celebration of contributors, speakers, sponsors, customers, partners, and open-source supporters who continue to make the Ortus ecosystem possible.
From ColdBox's 20th anniversary to BoxLang's rapid rise, from customer modernization stories to the next generation of students learning BoxLang at FIU, one thing is clear: the future of CFML is not about standing still.
What Comes Next
If you are running a ColdFusion, Lucee, or CFML application and asking what the next decade looks like, BoxLang is our answer. Not because every system needs to be rewritten. Because most systems do not.
Modernization should protect your investment, reduce your risk, and expand what your team can do next.
Ortus is not asking organizations to start over. We are giving them a way to move forward.
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