Microapps

Create and manage domain-focused microapps inside a single project.

What Are Microapps?

Microapps are independent app modules that each own a clear domain, such as users, billing, or reporting.

In Buildpad, a project usually has:

• Main App for primary navigation and user experience.
• Microapps for domain-specific features and services.
• One shared DaaS backend and one shared Supabase auth setup across all apps in the project.

This gives you clear boundaries without splitting your platform into disconnected data silos.

Use this diagram as a quick map: the Main App orchestrates the experience, domain microapps deliver features, and all apps share one backend and auth foundation.

Recommended Domain Boundaries

Define microapps around business domains, not technical layers.

• Users microapp: profiles, roles, preferences
• Billing microapp: plans, invoices, payments
• Analytics microapp: events, reports, dashboards

Each domain can evolve independently while still using the same project-level auth and backend.

Architecture Model

• All microapps in a project share one DaaS backend.
• Domain ownership is a team convention, not a separate database per microapp.
• Independent deployments: Each microapp can be deployed on its own lifecycle.
• Shared authentication: Users sign in once at project level.
• Client-side composition: Main App can embed microapps in iframe-based flows.
• Centralized permissions: RBAC is managed in the shared backend.

Keep boundaries clear by assigning collections by domain (for example, billing collections owned by the billing microapp).

Creating a Microapp

1. Open a project and click Microapps in the sidebar.
2. Click New Microapp.
3. Enter a name and domain focus (for example, users-app for identity features).
4. Open the microapp details page to configure and manage it.

Practical Workflow

1. Create the microapp in Buildpad.
2. Define domain boundaries and data collections.
3. Download the AI IDE starter from AI IDE Setup.
4. Implement features in your chosen IDE (VS Code, Kiro, or Antigravity).

What You Can Do Today

• Create and list microapps inside a project.
• Open microapp details and environment configuration.
• Use AI IDE Setup to download a starter project for external development tools.
• Manage domain data in the shared DaaS backend.

Context-Aware AI

Starter projects include MCP connections that pass organization, project, and microapp context to your assistant while you build in your IDE.

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