App Builder Overview

App Builder

1. What it is

App Builder lets an administrator describe an app in plain language and have an AI agent build it — custom trackers, logs, check-ins, and workflows that deploy and run like first-party apps. Built apps get their own sidebar entry, mobile views, analytics, and tenant isolation with no code to write.

• Enablement: App Builder is billed by usage (per deployed app) and off by default. An administrator enables it from the Apps Marketplace; it requires no per-employee license.
• What it is not: App Builder is the tool that creates custom apps. The apps it creates run at /apps/ext/<slug> — they are separate from App Builder itself. To manage or troubleshoot a running built app, use the Your apps tab inside App Builder or the Custom Apps page under Admin → Apps & Integrations.

2. Standing it up

1. Go to Apps Marketplace and enable App Builder. It is a pay-as-you-go app — there is no seat license. Enabling it costs nothing until you deploy an app.
2. Open Apps → App Builder. Only administrators see it; the entire app is admin-only.
3. Click the Build tab to start a new build, or choose a template from the Templates tab.
4. Describe the app you want. The builder drafts a plan showing the record types, screens, and capabilities it intends to generate, then pauses for your approval before writing any code.
5. Review the plan, request changes, edit it inline, or approve it to start the build.
6. When the build finishes, click Deploy. The app appears in the sidebar for administrators. To make it available to employees, publish it from the Apps Marketplace (the same audience controls every marketplace app uses).

What silently does nothing: enabling App Builder does not make built apps visible to employees. Each built app is a separate marketplace app with its own enablement and audience controls. You must publish each built app separately through the Apps Marketplace — the same place you control visibility for every other app. An app that is deployed and enabled but not published is invisible to non-admin users.

Delegating access: a full administrator can grant another person App Builder app-admin access from the Apps Marketplace. That person can then monitor builds and deployed apps without being able to build or deploy.

3. How it fits together

Build sessions — Every time you describe a new app or reopen an existing one, you work inside a build session. The session holds the conversation with the AI agent, all generated files, and up to 10 version snapshots you can restore. A build session progresses through phases: planning → plan review → building → verifying → ready to deploy → deployed. Each session belongs to one business and one administrator, but co-admins can reopen a deployed app’s session — the session is tied to the app, not the person who started it.

Plan → approve → build — The builder never writes code without approval. It drafts a plan showing record types, screens, workflows, and the capabilities the app will declare, then pauses. You can approve, request changes with feedback (the agent revises and re-presents), edit the plan inline, or cancel to describe something different. Once approved, the agent builds to that specification. If the builder detects that a similar app already exists in the business, it pauses and asks whether to update the existing app or build a new one.

Complexity tiers — The builder classifies each request as Simple, Medium, or Rich based on the number of record types, workflows, and widgets you describe. The tier governs how many iterations the agent gets before pausing. Medium and Rich builds can auto-continue (up to 2 extra rounds) if the Auto-continue long builds setting is on; Simple builds always pause at the cap.

Templates — Reusable starting points for common app patterns. Three kinds exist side by side on the Templates shelf:

• System templates — curated starters shipped with the platform, organised into categories like Getting Started, CRUD / Data Management, HR & People, Automation & Workflows, Dashboard Widgets, and Ask AI Agents.
• Business templates — templates your team saved from successful builds or created manually via the drawer form on the Templates page.
• Central library imports — templates imported from the MangoApps gallery. They arrive as unpublished drafts for review before use.

Example: your HR team describes “a tracker for new-hire equipment requests with an approval step and a dashboard showing pending items.” The builder classifies this as Medium (two record-like nouns plus an approval), drafts a plan with two record types (Equipment Request, Equipment Item), an approval workflow, and a dashboard widget, then pauses. The admin approves, the agent builds, and after deploy the app appears at /apps/ext/new-hire-equipment. The admin saves it as a business template so another location’s admin can start from it.

Deployed apps vs. the builder — A deployed app runs independently at its own URL (/apps/ext/<slug>) with its own records, settings, and audience. It also has mobile views at /m/apps/ext/<slug> and can expose public submission forms via a shareable link (no login required). Reopening it in the builder loads the deployed files into a session so you can edit or extend it, but changes do not go live until you deploy again. The builder plans, builds, and deploys; the running app serves users.

Records and data — Each built app stores its data as records, scoped to your business. Records support file attachments (up to 10 files per record, 10 MB each), platform comments, evidence capture (photo, video, voice with GPS and timestamp), and an audit timeline showing who changed what. Records can also host Live Assist video sessions if that capability is enabled for the app.

Platform capabilities — Built apps run inside the MangoApps SDK sandbox and can only use capabilities they declare. The platform validates those declarations at deploy time. Available capabilities include notifications, approvals, tasks, e-signatures, comments, automation, scheduled jobs, AI features, feed integration, incoming webhooks, document generation, geocoding, HTTP access, and cross-app interop. A built app can read your real people, locations, departments, and schedules through declared capabilities — but only what its declaration permits, and only its own business’s data.

Health tracking — Each deployed app has a health status: Healthy, Failed validation, Failed to load, Failed at runtime, or Quarantined. The Your apps tab badges unhealthy apps. The dashboard tile shows both the total live count and the count that are not healthy, so you know at a glance whether your deployed apps are working.

Two-tier admin access — App Builder has two permission tiers:

• Full administrator (admin or above) — can build, deploy, and change settings. Sees all tabs: Build, Your apps, Builds, Templates, Analytics, and Settings.
• Delegated app-admin — granted via the Apps Marketplace admin delegation. Can view the dashboard, Your apps, Builds, Templates, and Analytics, but cannot open the builder or change settings. This is a monitoring role — the tabs it shows match the actions it allows.

Members (non-admins) cannot see App Builder at all. They interact only with the built apps that have been published to them.

4. Running it

Starting a new build

1. Go to Apps → App Builder → Build.
2. Type what you want or pick a template. You can also attach up to 5 images (screenshots, wireframes) to show the agent what you have in mind — each must be under 10 MB.
3. The agent drafts a plan and pauses. Review the plan, then Approve, Request changes (with feedback), or Cancel plan to start over with a different idea.
4. Once approved, the agent builds the code. You can watch progress in real time, cancel mid-build, or click Continue if it pauses at the iteration limit.
5. When the status reads Ready to deploy, click Deploy. The deployer runs a security scan and file validation before anything goes live. If the files match the already-deployed version byte for byte, the deploy is skipped and you see “already up to date.”

Editing a deployed app

Open a deployed app in the builder from the Your apps tab (click the row, then use Edit with AI) or from the builder’s welcome screen. Describe what to change in the chat — the agent modifies the existing code in the same session. Changes are not live until you redeploy.

You can also hand-edit individual files in the built-in code editor. The editor accepts .rb, .erb, .json, .yml, .yaml, .css, .js, .txt, and .md files. Ruby files are syntax-checked and security-scanned before saving. The version history panel lets you restore any of the last 10 saved snapshots.

Fixing a failing app

The Your apps tab shows each app’s health status (Healthy, Failed to load, Quarantined, etc.). If an app is deployed but not loading, click Retry load to clear the error and ask the platform to reload it. If the problem is in the generated code, open the builder and click Fix with AI — the agent receives the error context and attempts a code-level fix.

Saving and managing templates

After a successful build, click Save as template in the builder to save the app’s specification as a reusable business template. From the Templates tab you can also create templates from scratch, edit, or delete your business’s own templates using the drawer form. System templates are read-only. To import templates from the central MangoApps gallery, click Template Library at the top of the Templates page.

Reviewing build history

The Builds tab lists every build session in the business. Filter by status (Draft, Generating, Ready to deploy, Deployed, Failed) or search by name. Each row links back into the builder to resume or inspect the session. Both Your apps and Builds support CSV export of the full filtered set.

Viewing analytics

The Analytics tab shows business-scoped numbers:

• Deployed app count and records per app (total and last 30 days).
• Build sessions in the last 30 days by status, with a deploy success rate (deployed vs. failed, excluding drafts and in-progress builds).
• AI token spend attributed to the builder (limited to retained telemetry — the retention window is stated on the page).
• Top templates used by this business, ranked by builds started.

Analytics can be exported as CSV. All numbers are scoped to your business.

Using the Ask AI agent

If the App Builder agent is enabled for your business, you can ask the AI assistant about your built apps from any page — without opening App Builder. The agent can list your built apps and their health, show audit trails, report on recent build sessions, and enable or disable a built app (with confirmation). It cannot deploy, roll back, or delete an app.

Downloading and sharing built apps

From an open build session you can download all generated files as a ZIP. Built apps can also be submitted to the community marketplace for other businesses to install — use the listing editor under Admin → Apps & Integrations → Custom Apps to manage the listing and submit for review.

API keys

The builder includes an API key surface for programmatic access. Keys are business-scoped and carry scopes (builder, query, manage). A generated key is shown once — copy it immediately. Keys can be revoked but not re-displayed.

5. Settings

Settings are at Apps → App Builder → Settings (full administrators only).

Setting	Default	What it changes
Auto-continue long builds	On	When a Medium or Rich build hits its iteration limit mid-build, the builder automatically extends it (up to 2 extra rounds) instead of pausing. Turn off to review progress before each extension.
Alert on health problems	On	Sends a notification when a built app is quarantined, fails to load, has an event handler suspended, or has an auto-update rolled back. Alerts are deduplicated per app per event — at most one every 6 hours.
Alert when an update is available	On	Sends a notification when a newer published version of an installed app can be applied. Informational only — at most one per new version.
Additional notification recipients	None (the app’s builder + App Builder admins only)	Widens built-app alerts to an additional admin-configured recipient group. Without a builder or group, alerts fall to the business’s App Builder admins — or, if none are designated, to every administrator.

Per-app settings (record visibility, notifications, automations) live on each built app’s own settings page, not here. Licensing and who can open the builder are managed from the Apps Marketplace.

6. More help

• App Builder FAQ — specific setup and operating questions, limits, troubleshooting, and allowed ranges for settings.
• Admin → Apps & Integrations → Custom Apps — the platform-level registry of all deployed custom apps, including community marketplace installs.
• Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about App Builder and your built apps from any page, without opening the app.