Data for Apps
Copy a prompt, paste it into NocoAI in any base, and replace the words in [brackets] with your own.
- Build an app on the [orders] and [customers] tables for [the support team]
- Add a [Comments] table that the app uses to track [notes on each deal]
- Build a dashboard page that shows [open tickets] from our [GitHub] sync by [assignee]
A NocoDB app runs on the data of its base. That data can be NocoDB tables, an external database that you connect to the base, or data that syncs into the base from other tools. You do not move your data into a new database for the app, and the app has no record limit.
Where the data of an app can come from
| Source | What it is | How to add it |
|---|---|---|
| NocoDB tables | Tables that you, your team or NocoAI create in the base. | Create tables in the base, or ask NocoAI. Build with AI creates the tables and the app from one description. |
| Your database | An external PostgreSQL or MySQL database that you connect as a data source. Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle are add-ons for Enterprise customers. | Connect a data source to the base. |
| Synced tools | Data that syncs into the base from tools such as HubSpot, GitHub, GitLab, Linear, Zendesk and your calendar or HR system. | Set up App Sync in the base. |
The app can use all of these sources at the same time. For example, an app can read orders from your Postgres database, tickets from a GitHub sync, and notes from a NocoDB table.
Let NocoAI design the data
When the app needs data that the base does not have, NocoAI adds the tables and fields in the base as part of the build. You describe the app, and NocoAI decides the data model. You can see and edit every table that it creates, like any other table in the base.
To start from nothing, use Build with AI when you create a base. NocoDB designs the data model, creates the tables, fields and views, and assembles the app from one description. See Create an app.
Call live data and services
The data of the base is not the only data an app can use. App actions can also read external data and call services at the moment that they run, through connections:
- SQL connections to query a database directly.
- HTTP connections to call an API.
- Redis connections.
- Integrations such as an email provider or a chat tool.
Good to know
- The data stays in its source. When the base uses your own database, the app reads and writes that database.
- Fields that App Sync creates are read-only, because the sync goes one way, into NocoDB. You can add your own fields to a synced table, and the app can use them.
- Each base has at most one app.
- The app can see only the data that its actions use, and each team can run only the actions that it is granted. See Secure vibe coding.
Availability
- Apps on the data of a base are available on every plan that includes Apps.
- Actions that read external data through SQL, HTTP or Redis connections are available on the Plus plan and above.
- Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle data sources are add-ons for Enterprise customers.
Related
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