Add a Backend to Your App
Most real apps need more than screens — they need to remember things. A notes app has to store notes. A language app has to track progress. A community app needs user accounts.
In AppX, all of that is one switch. Flip the Backend chip in the chat composer (right next to the model selector) and your app gets a real database, user accounts, and file storage — created, hosted, and managed by AppX. There's no external service to sign up for, no keys to paste, nothing to configure.
Backend requires a paid plan (Starter or above) and is free during beta on all paid plans — no extra charge on top of your subscription. On the Free plan, the chip shows an upgrade prompt instead. See Plans & Pricing.
What You Get
| What it means for your app | |
|---|---|
| Database | Your app can save and load real data — notes, favorites, orders, progress. Data survives restarts and follows the user across devices. |
| User accounts | People who use your app can sign up and sign in with email and password, right inside the app. |
| File storage | Your app can upload and serve files — profile pictures, photos, attachments. |
Turning It On
- Open your project and find the Backend chip in the chat composer, next to the model selector.
- Click it. (On the Free plan you'll see an upgrade prompt here.)
- Wait a moment while AppX sets everything up.
Here's the good part: AppX doesn't hand you an empty database. It reads your app and automatically creates the right tables for it. If you built a language-learning app, you'll get tables like lessons, notes, and favorites — matched to what your app actually does.
When it's ready:
- The chip switches to Backend on — click it any time to jump to the Backend panel.
- The Backend panel (in the left rail) shows an Active badge and how many tables are ready.
You can also enable or disable the backend from the Backend panel directly.
User Accounts
Once the backend is on, your app's end users — the people who install and use your app — can create accounts and sign in with email and password, inside the app itself. Ask for it in chat:
"Add sign up and login with email and password"
The important part: every user only ever sees their own data. If two people save notes in your app, each one sees only their own notes. This isolation is automatic — you don't write any code or rules to get it.
End-user sign-in is email + password today. Social logins (Google, Apple) for your app's users aren't available yet.
Growing Your Backend from Chat
Your backend isn't frozen at whatever was created on day one. You evolve it the same way you build everything else in AppX — by asking:
- "Add a Favorites feature backed by the database"
- "Save my notes to the database so they sync across devices"
- "Add a profile screen where I can edit and save my info"
- "Let me upload a profile picture"
When a request needs a database change — like creating a new table — AppX always asks first. An approval card appears in the chat showing exactly what it wants to create. Approve, and the change is applied live; decline, and nothing is touched. Your database never changes without your explicit OK.
The Overview tab of the Backend panel has ready-made prompt suggestions ("Add login", "Save user data", …). Click one and it's pasted into the chat input — it never sends automatically, so you can edit it first.
Viewing Your Data
Open the Backend panel from the left rail (or click the Backend on chip). It has four tabs:
- Overview — status, table count, prompt suggestions, and the disable button.
- Database — browse your tables and the actual rows your app has saved. Great for checking that a new feature really writes data.
- Storage — the files your app has uploaded.
- Providers — sign-in options for your app's users.
Current Limits
Backend is in beta, and we'd rather be upfront about what it doesn't do yet:
- No realtime sync yet. When data changes, other open screens pick it up on the next refresh — changes don't push to every device instantly.
- Preview and published apps both work. Backend features run in the live preview and in your published app.
- Export includes your data schema. If you export your code, your data structure comes with it.
- Email + password only for end-user sign-in (see above).
Troubleshooting
The panel says setup is incomplete, or shows fewer tables than you'd expect. First, just ask in chat — for example: "Set up the database tables my app needs." If that doesn't resolve it, toggle the backend off and back on: AppX will re-read your app and derive the tables fresh.
Turning the backend off deletes its database and all the data in it — AppX asks you to confirm before doing so. That's harmless right after enabling (there's nothing in it yet), but if your app already holds real user data, prefer asking in chat instead of toggling.
Still stuck? Contact support via the help menu and include your project name.