What's new and changed in Orchestration Pipelines

Orchestration Pipelines updates can include new features and fixes. Releases are listed in reverse chronological order so that the latest release is at the beginning of the topic.

You can see a list of the new features for the platform and all of the services at What's new in IBM Software Hub.

IBM watsonx™ Version 2.2.2

A new version of Orchestration Pipelines was released in October 2025.

This release includes the following changes:

New features
This release of Orchestration Pipelines includes the following features:
Enhanced control over creating duplicate pipelines within the UI
You can now define the name of the duplicated pipeline flow when you create it by using the new interface. You can also use the new interface to pick the specific folders you want duplicated within the pipeline flow.
Enable the Send Email node functionality
You will need to update the configuration in order to display the Send Email node in the node palette and use it in new pipelines. Existing pipelines that already use Send Email nodes will continue to work even when the configuration changes controlling visibility in the node palette are not applied.
Updates
The following updates were introduced in this release:
Arrange nodes in the UI
Using the toolbar action, you can now arrange pipeline nodes in the UI both horizontally and vertically.
Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
For a list of customer-reported issues that were fixed in this release, see the Fix List for IBM Cloud Pak® for Data on the IBM Support website.

IBM watsonx Version 2.2.1

A new version of Orchestration Pipelines was released in August 2025.

This release includes the following changes:

New features
This release of Orchestration Pipelines includes the following features:
Embedded runtime option for Orchestration Pipelines
You can now use a new, embedded runtime option for Orchestration Pipelines to eliminate the dependency on the Tekton runtime. Using the new runtime resolves known compatibility issues with Red Hat® OpenShift® Pipelines and achieves significant performance improvements.
To activate the new runtime, enable the feature using a simple configuration change in the Custom Resource (CR).
Easily replace one pipeline with another within a project
You can now replace the pipeline for your project with another pipeline by using the new Replace pipeline option on the toolbar. The replacement action is tracked in the undo and redo history so that you can quickly reverse the changes if needed.
You can also now disable the autosave feature so that you can review your pipeline replacement changes.
After you replace a pipeline, you can click a link to view any associated jobs that reference the pipeline.
Orchestration Pipelines is now available on IBM® Power® hardware
You can now install the Orchestration Pipelines service if you have a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on IBM Power (ppc64le) hardware.
Orchestration Pipelines is now available on IBM Z and LinuxONE hardware
You can now install the Orchestration Pipelines service on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on IBM Z and LinuxONE (s390x) hardware.
Updates
The following updates were introduced in this release:
Send email node
You can now configure the send email node with a new sender input selection type. You can choose between a sender address, which takes a valid email address and encrypts the value, or a sender file.
Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
For a list of customer-reported issues that were fixed in this release, see the Fix List for IBM Cloud Pak for Data on the IBM Support website.

IBM watsonx Version 2.2.0

A new version of Orchestration Pipelines was released in June 2025.

This release includes the following changes:

New features
This release of Orchestration Pipelines includes the following features:
Secure your projects by using the secure proxy setting
You can now secure your projects by turning on the secure proxy setting. When secure proxy is enabled, users can only select assets or job-related inputs from the current project. This is a project-level setting.
New pipeline nodes
You can now use the following new nodes in your pipelines:
  • Run Spark Application Job: Use this new node to run Spark applications.
  • Run Structured Ingestion Job: Use this new node to run structured ingestion jobs.

Both of the new pipeline nodes require IBM watsonx.data™ to be installed. Without watsonx.data, the new nodes will not be visible in the node palette.

Quickly move pipelines between folders for easier pipeline management
You can now quickly and easily move a pipeline to a different folder within the same project by editing its location from the Pipeline information panel.
Updates
The following updates were introduced in this release:
Performance improvements during job runs
Job node logs can now only be viewed once the node is in a finished state. They will not be polled during the run.
Additional node name restrictions
There are new restrictions and rules about naming nodes:
  • Node names can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores.
  • Job node names that are automatically updated when a job is selected will have any special character sequences replaced with an underscore.
  • Any existing nodes will retain their names, but if they are edited, the new validation requirements will be enforced.
Expression usability enhancements
The following new enhancements have been added for expression usability:
  • Expressions referencing a node (node output or loop info) can now use the node name if it adheres to the new validation requirements.
  • If a node ID is used, it will automatically be converted to the node name if the node name meets the new validation requirements, ensuring backward compatibility.
  • Existing expressions will be automatically updated if any node references have a node name that meets the new validation requirements.
  • Expressions referencing a node will automatically be updated whenever the node name is updated.

All these usability enhancements apply only to the Pipelines UI. Expressions used in the API or pipeline JSON must still use node IDs.

Customer-reported issues fixed in this release
For a list of customer-reported issues that were fixed in this release, see the Fix List for IBM Cloud Pak for Data on the IBM Support website.