Creating Apps
Start an app from a template - Auto, Form, Dashboard, Result only, App or Blank - and find your way around the app editor.
Every app starts from a template. The template gives the app its kind and a working first version; the assistant and you take it from there.
The create dialog
Open the workspace's Apps section and click Create (or use Create app in the sidebar tree). The dialog asks "What do you need?" and offers six starting points:
| Card | What you get |
|---|---|
| Auto | Describe it, we suggest the template. You describe the app; FlowTrux suggests one of the templates below and a name. |
| Form | Visitors send answers and files; each submission starts your workflows. A form with three fields (name, email, message) and its page. |
| Dashboard | The visitor enters something, a workflow answers right on the page. A result page with an input that runs a workflow and shows its answer. |
| Result only | Shows a workflow's latest result and refreshes on its own. A result page that reads the latest completed run of a source workflow. |
| App | A custom app with its own logic: sign-in, calculations, maps, several tasks on one page. |
| Blank | An empty page to start from scratch. A custom app with only an index.html. |
Below the cards, From a template opens the template gallery with app templates - ready-made descriptions you adjust before the app is built (see Templates).
Then Name your app and click Create. The app is created as a draft and opens in the app editor.
Auto
Choose Auto when you are not sure which template fits. Under Describe what you need, write who uses the app, what they type or see, and where the data comes from - for example "Customers report a damaged delivery with photos; the workflow files a ticket and replies with its number". Click Suggest a template: FlowTrux names the template it recommends and why, may add one that Also fits, and proposes a name. Create as the suggestion, or pick another template.
Your description is sent to the assistant as its first message when the editor opens, so the assistant starts building right away.
If no suggestion can be made (or you have asked for many in the last hour), pick a template yourself with Pick manually.
Plan limits
If your plan's limit for the kind is reached, the dialog says so - for example "Forms limit reached on your plan - upgrade or delete a form." Custom apps (App and Blank) need a plan that includes them.
The app editor
The editor has a header with the app's name and status (Draft or Published v<n>), four tabs, and the Assistant panel on the right (open by default; drag its edge to resize).
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Preview | The draft as a visitor will see it - "Draft preview - only you see it; visitors see the published version." Workflows bound to the app really run from the preview. Reload and Open in new tab are in the bar above it. |
| Files | The app's files: create, edit, upload and delete. |
| Settings | Name, description, address, access, external hosts, limits, and the sections of the app's kind (fields, source workflow and so on). |
| Publish | Publish the draft, copy the address, see versions and switch the served one. |
| Submissions | Appears when the app takes submissions (or still holds some). See Forms & Submissions. |
The draft preview needs edit rights in the workspace.
The first time you open the app editor (on a desktop screen), a short guided tour points out the assistant, the preview, files, settings and publishing; replay it any time with Help > Show tour in the user menu.
Files
An app is a small website: an index.html plus any styles, scripts, data files, images and fonts it needs.
- New file creates a text file (for example
app.jsorcss/main.css); Upload file adds images, fonts and other binary files. - Click a file to edit it. The editor highlights HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JSON and more; Save (or Cmd/Ctrl+S) writes it to the draft.
- If the assistant changes a file you have open, the editor tells you instead of overwriting your edits: load its version, or save yours over it.
- Deleting a file removes it from the draft only - "The published version keeps it until you publish again."
Allowed file types include html, css, js, mjs, json, csv, tsv, xml, yaml, md, txt, svg, png, jpg, gif, webp, avif, ico, woff/woff2/ttf, mp3, mp4 and pdf. Each file can be up to 2 MB, and one version of an app up to 20 MB in total. Uploaded files count toward your organization's storage.
A few rules every app follows - the assistant knows them, and they matter if you edit by hand:
- Code lives in files. Inline
<script>blocks andonclick="…"-style handlers do not run; load your code with<script src="app.js"></script>. - Use relative paths (
app.js,img/logo.png), not paths starting with/. - Calls to outside services work only for hosts the app declares under Settings > External hosts - see JavaScript API.
- Nothing in an app is secret. Everything in its files is visible to visitors; keys and credentials belong in a workflow. Publishing refuses a draft that contains them.
Settings
Every app has Name, Description, Address, Access, External hosts, Libraries in the app, the run limits, and Workflows this app can run. Apps of kind Form (or any app that takes submissions) also get Fields, After submit, Result workflow and Limits (form); result pages (or any app that reads a source) get Source workflow, What the page may read, Refresh and Cache.
Changes are collected and sent with one Save in the bar at the bottom of the tab (Discard drops them). The details of each section are on Forms & Submissions, Connecting Apps to Workflows and Publishing & Access.
Next steps
- App Assistant - let the assistant build the app
- Publishing & Access - make it live