What is Expanso and how does it work?

Expanso is a managed platform for deploying intelligent data pipelines at the edge. It processes data where it's generated - reducing bandwidth, latency, and costs. You deploy lightweight agents on your infrastructure, build pipelines using our visual builder or YAML, and control everything from a central SaaS platform.

Can I run AI/ML models directly in my data pipelines?

Yes! Expanso supports running ONNX, TensorFlow Lite, and other models as native pipeline steps. Execute low-latency inference on streaming data, enrich events with model outputs (like risk scores), and make decisions at the edge without cloud round-trips.

How many pre-built components are available?

Expanso provides 200+ pre-built components including inputs (Kafka, HTTP, files), processors (transformations, filtering, PII masking, aggregations), and outputs (S3, Snowflake, Datadog, Splunk). Browse the complete catalog in our Component Reference.

Do I need to write code to build pipelines?

No - use our drag-and-drop visual pipeline builder to create sophisticated pipelines without code. For advanced use cases, you can also write pipelines in YAML or use the Bloblang transformation language for complex data mappings.

How does Expanso help with data governance and compliance?

Expanso includes built-in governance features: automatic PII detection and masking, policy enforcement at the edge, RBAC, SSO integration, and comprehensive audit trails. Mask sensitive data before it ever leaves your network.

Troubleshooting

Find solutions to common issues when running Expanso Edge.

Quick Diagnostic Commands

# Check node status
expanso-cli node list

# Check job status
expanso-cli job list

# View execution details
expanso-cli execution list --state failed
expanso-cli execution list --state degraded

# Check job logs
expanso-cli job logs <job-id>

# Check edge process status
systemctl status expanso-edge

Common Issues

Issue	Typical Symptoms
Permission Denied After Bootstrap	Can't write to `/var/lib/expanso/edge` or similar directories
Job Shows Failed But Completed	Job status shows "failed" but logs show successful completion
Pipeline Progress Lost After Restart	Pipeline restarts from the beginning after edge process restart
One-Shot Jobs Restart Unexpectedly	Batch jobs run again after edge restart when they shouldn't
Restart Events Not Tracked	Restarts don't show up in failure metrics or logs
Pipeline Stuck in Failed State	409 CONFLICT errors when trying to redeploy a failed pipeline
Pipeline Stuck in Degraded State	Pipeline can't recover from degraded state automatically
Nodes Show Connected After Restart	Nodes appear connected but jobs don't start after orchestrator restart

Next Steps

Testing & Debugging - Validate and debug pipeline configurations
Fleet Monitoring - Set up monitoring for your edge infrastructure
Error Handling - Add retry logic and dead letter queues to pipelines

Quick Diagnostic Commands​

Common Issues​

Next Steps​

Quick Diagnostic Commands

Common Issues

Next Steps