BoxLang, ColdBox, TestBox, AI & More to modernize and improve your Web Apps! 🚀
October brought a packed month of releases and new resources across the Ortus Solutions ecosystem. BoxLang expanded across cloud, AI, browser automation, audio, observability, and new runtimes, while ColdBox, TestBox, CBSecurity, Sentry, and CommandBox introduced new capabilities for testing, security, deployment, and application development.
We also continued exploring a challenge many development teams know well: how to keep business-critical ColdFusion and CFML applications secure, tested, and moving forward without turning every modernization effort into a complete rewrite.
Here’s everything we published in October.
BoxLang Platform, AI & New Capabilities
From BoxLang 1.18 and BoxLang AI 3.6 to observability, audio, new runtimes, and developer tooling, October significantly expanded what developers and AI agents can do across the BoxLang platform.
BoxLang 1.18 expands the platform with Azure serverless support, cluster-safe scheduled tasks, and documentation and skills built for developers and AI agents working together. The release continues BoxLang’s focus on portability, reliability, operability, and modern application development across multiple deployment targets.
BoxLang AI 3.6 connects AI agents more deeply with the rest of the BoxLang platform. Agents can now work with real browsers through BxPlaywright, create and process audio with BxAudio, stream text-to-speech, and connect to MCP servers using the same BoxLang development experience.
BxMCP is now free to use, giving MCP-capable AI assistants and automation tools access to live BoxLang runtime information such as JVM metrics, caches, datasources, requests, schedulers, and logs. It provides agents with runtime context instead of requiring them to troubleshoot applications by guessing from code alone.
MatchBox 0.12 expands BoxLang’s Rust runtime with an improved JIT, new compatibility updates, prebuilt native modules, and a richer web runtime. The release also introduces a dedicated MatchBox website with a browser-based playground, documentation, and a ten-lesson course for developers ready to explore BoxLang beyond the JVM.
BxAudio 1.0 brings audio creation and processing directly into BoxLang on the JVM, with capabilities for synthesis, mixing, mastering, speech, audio analysis, video scoring, and more—all without requiring Python or additional native tooling.
The BoxLang image module now supports generating and reading QR codes. Developers can customize size, format, colors, error correction, and even embedded logos while working with QR codes through the same image APIs already available in BoxLang.
BoxLang now has official support for Sublime Text 4, bringing syntax highlighting, intelligent completions, inline documentation, syntax checking, formatting, build tools, and TestBox integration directly into the editor.
Testing, Frameworks & Developer Tooling
October also brought major updates across TestBox, ColdBox, browser automation, application security, observability, business rules, and container workflows.
TestBox 7.2 introduces real-browser testing powered by BxPlaywright, along with spec retries, improved HTML reports, AI-assisted failure analysis, and a new Agent reporter designed to make test results easier for AI agents to consume.
BxPlaywright brings Microsoft Playwright-powered browser automation to BoxLang. Developers can drive Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, test complete user journeys, generate screenshots and PDFs, and give AI agents a real browser for validating the applications they help build.
ColdBox 8.3 brings real-browser testing directly into ColdBox test suites, along with browser-based PDF and screenshot rendering, improved route composition, named route middleware, enhanced integration testing, and additional security-focused defaults.
CBSecurity 3.9 introduces 12 ready-to-use security middleware that can be attached directly to ColdBox routes and route groups. This makes authentication, authorization, permissions, roles, and other protections easier to understand directly from the routes they secure.
Sentry 2.2 adds tracing, structured logs, metrics, browser feedback, and additional fixes for CFML and BoxLang applications. Teams can now get deeper visibility into slow requests, queries, background jobs, CacheBox operations, HTTP calls, and other application activity.
RuleBox 2.0 introduces a BoxLang-based rules engine for organizing business decisions into readable, testable, and auditable rules. It includes rules as data, declared rulebooks, dry runs, audit trails, and a built-in visualizer for applications using BoxLang and ColdBox.
A new generation of CommandBox Docker images is on the way. Version 4 moves CLI operations to the BoxLang CLI, reduces startup overhead, adopts a more standard Linux filesystem layout, simplifies runtime account management, and standardizes base images on Java 21.
ColdFusion Modernization & Release Readiness
Not every modernization project starts with a new framework or a new runtime. October’s CFML resources focused on practical ways to reduce risk, improve testing, maintain supported environments, and modernize existing applications incrementally.
Inherited a legacy application with limited test coverage? This guide explains how to begin with the workflows that matter most to the business, identify observable outcomes, and gradually build useful test coverage without putting every other development priority on hold.
A successful server restart doesn’t necessarily mean an upgrade is finished. This article explores why teams should validate the complete workflows their users depend on—including scheduled processes, email, APIs, authentication, file operations, and other dependencies—not just whether the application loads.
ColdFusion updates can affect libraries, JVM integrations, security behavior, packages, permissions, and runtime behavior. This article explains why updates should be approached like application deployments, with preparation and validation before considering the job complete.
Adobe ColdFusion 2021 reaches the end of extended support on November 10, 2026. For teams still running this release, this article explains what the support milestone means and why now is the time to evaluate upgrades, modernization plans, and the dependencies surrounding business-critical applications.
Modernization doesn’t always require replacing an application from scratch. This article looks at incremental approaches for improving legacy ColdFusion applications while preserving years of working business logic, integrations, and institutional knowledge.
Past Events & Recordings
Missed one of our October sessions? Catch up on the recording and explore the technologies demonstrated during the event.
BoxLang Under the Lens: Observability Meets AI
On October 28, Luis Majano explored how observability and AI come together across the BoxLang ecosystem, including BxLens for application diagnostics, Lensy for AI-assisted troubleshooting, and BoxLang+ monitoring capabilities.
Missed the live session or want to watch it again?
Watch the BoxLang Under the Lens Recording:
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More About the Webinar:
Stay Connected with the Ortus Solutions Ecosystem
October brought a lot to explore, from new BoxLang and AI capabilities to real-browser testing, ColdBox and TestBox releases, application security, observability, and practical strategies for maintaining and modernizing CFML applications.
And there’s always more on the way.
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