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Apps for developers

The in-Informer builder is the fastest way to make an App, and for many Apps it's all you'll ever need. But an App is, in the end, just files: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and configuration. That means it can also live as its own codebase: developed on your machine with Claude Code and your editor, and published to Informer with one command. If you can run npm run dev, you can do this; the step-by-step directions live in the developer documentation, and this page is the big picture.

An App is files you can read, diff, version, and build, like any other software.

Why give an App its own codebase?​

A described-in-one-prompt App is quick, but a codebase gives you the things software teams already rely on:

Version control, at your own pace

A normal git repository from day one: every change has history you can roll back. Push to GitHub whenever you want pull requests, review, and teammates, but nothing requires it.

The npm ecosystem

Apps are standard Vite projects, so any npm package is available: chart libraries, date utilities, component kits, whatever the job needs.

Production-grade builds

Deploys run a real build: minification, tree-shaking, and code splitting, so a large App still loads fast.

Your stack

React is the default scaffold, but anything Vite supports works: Vue, Svelte, Solid, TypeScript, Tailwind, or plain JavaScript.

Environments and CI

Develop against one Informer server and ship to another with separate dev, test, and production configs; deploys can run from your CI pipeline like any other release.

Claude with the whole picture

Entrinsik's plugin teaches Claude Code Informer's App conventions, and Claude iterating inside a codebase, files and history in front of it, is far more reliable than a one-shot description.

The full App surface, file by file

Server routes, a database workspace with SQL migrations, webhooks, AI agents and tools, and custom roles, all declared in files you can see and diff.

See it live while you work​

A nice extra, not a requirement: run npm run dev and the App opens locally with hot module reload, talking to your actual Informer server. API calls are proxied with your credentials, so you develop against live Datasets and watch every save land instantly, no deploy round-trips.

Every save re-renders instantly, against real data.

There's no release ceremony: npm run deploy publishes the App straight from your machine to Informer's gallery, and you can run it at any point, the first afternoon included. GitHub enters the picture only when you want it to:

One command ships it, any time. GitHub is there when the App, or the team, grows.

An App published this way is maintained at the source: it can't be edited in the in-Informer builder, so a teammate can't accidentally fork it in the UI. Update the App by changing the codebase and deploying again. Everything else works the same as any App: sharing, external links, roles, printing, and the admin panel.

Start in the builder, graduate later

The two paths aren't either-or. Many Apps start as a conversation in the in-Informer builder and never need more. If one outgrows it, a developer can rebuild it as a codebase and take over from there.

Ready to build?​

The developer documentation is the source of truth for the workflow itself, kept current with the tooling:

  • Getting Started: install the Claude Code plugin, connect to your server, scaffold and deploy your first App.
  • Magic Apps guides: tutorials by example (dashboards, integrations, AI agents) and reference for the Vite plugin, server routes, webhooks, deployment, and informer.yaml.
  • Informer API reference: the REST API Apps build on.
Also available through the REST API
Everything on this page is built on Informer's public REST API, the same one the product uses, so your scripts and integrations can do it too. Developer reference: the App API overview.