Build an external app

A separate web experience#

An external app is a website or web application outside the Opser workspace interface. Use it for a public site, a customer portal, or another audience that needs a separate experience. An internal app instead runs inside the workspace.

Build an onboarding portal with a welcome page, a checklist, and a company-details form. Show which pages are public, what requires sign-in, and where submissions will be stored.

The builder supports a static frontend connected to Opser's platform services. Describe the experience and data boundaries rather than assuming a separate server or unrestricted workspace connection is available.

Declare data and access#

The app declares the data tables and capabilities it needs. The platform uses those declarations when preparing the app's data and publishing it. Access to an installed app or a user-bound capability needs the corresponding grant.

Review what a visitor may read or change and whose authority a capability uses. A public page must not expose workspace data merely because the app's owner can access it. If publication reports a missing capability grant, the agent can request that grant for review in the conversation.

Who can see an app#

Each external app has its own access list. The person who creates it becomes its owner, and nobody else sees it until they are added. Open the app and select Sharing to see who has access. The owner can add people as an editor, who can change and publish the app, or a reviewer, who can look at it. The owner can also change a role, remove someone, or make someone else the owner.

Admins see every external app in Settings → Apps, together with its owner. An app they are not on opens read-only, with Join as editor and Take ownership. Taking ownership keeps the previous owner on the app as an editor. Admins can also change any app's access list. This comes from the external-apps.manageAll permission, which admins hold; grant it on Settings → Access to give someone else the same oversight. Permission to build external apps does not by itself show other people's apps.

Agents follow the access list only. An agent works on an app only when its person is on that app's list.

Preview and verify#

Opening an external app takes you to its dashboard while the protected preview loads in the background. Select Preview to view the app. Switching between Preview and Dashboard keeps the same preview open, so you can review settings without restarting it. A first start can take longer while dependencies and the preview environment are prepared.

The agent can build the app, run its checks, inspect logs, and open a protected preview. Review navigation, forms, loading states, mobile layouts, and access by an unauthorized visitor.

Preview data is separate from production. Capability calls can be stubbed in the preview, so a successful preview is not evidence that a live integration completed an action. Verify the granted capability flow on the published app as well.

Publish and connect a domain#

Publishing creates a deployment revision and returns its public URL. Inspect that result before sharing it. Building and publishing depend on the services configured in your environment.

For a custom domain, the setup returns the required traffic and ownership-verification DNS records. Create the exact records shown and check domain status. A verified domain can still be waiting for its certificate; confirm HTTPS is active before treating the domain as ready.

Update, unpublish, and restore#

Source history lets you review changes and restore an earlier source version as a new revision. Source restoration and data restoration are different operations; do not assume returning to an earlier interface also returns the database to an earlier state.

Unpublishing removes the public deployment while preserving the app, source, settings, history, and data for later publication. Review the specific operation before a teardown or data restore. Confirm where user submissions are stored and how they will be handled after the app is taken offline.