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Home, Messages, Files, and Payments are already on in your workspace, so you don’t need to add those. Your first app is where you add what’s unique to your firm. There are two ways to do it:
  • Start from a template. Pick from 30+ ready-made apps and add one in a click. You can tweak it afterwards to fit how you work.
  • Build your own. Describe an app for your clients or your team, and the app builder builds it.
Not sure which? Start with a template if one is close to what you need. It’s the fastest way to get a working app, and you can still change anything later. See App templates for the full catalog.

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Open Add App

Click Add App in the Dashboard sidebar, or Add your first app on the Getting started checklist. On your first visit, a short intro explains your options. Click Explore apps to jump to the templates.

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Start from a template

1

Pick a template

Pick one under Start from a template, below the prompt box, or scroll down to Browse all apps to filter and search the full catalog.
2

Add it

Adding a template copies a finished, working app into your workspace as a draft. It appears in your Dashboard sidebar, and you can try it before you publish.
3

Make it yours

Open the app’s build chat and describe what you’d like changed. See Iterating on apps.

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Build your own

1

Describe your app

Type what you want in the prompt box, in plain English. Be specific about the outcome, vague about the implementation.Good: “A weekly check-in app where each client fills out a short form on Monday, and our team sees everyone’s responses in a dashboard with red flags surfaced at the top.”Less good: “A form.”Don’t overthink it. You can iterate after the app is built.
2

Answer a few questions

The app builder runs a short interview before building. Expect one to three questions about how your team works, what counts as a trigger event, or which audience the app is really for.Answer with your real workflow. The questions are how the app builder tailors the app to your firm instead of a generic version.
3

Review the plan

The app builder returns a one-page plan: what the app does, who uses it, the core flows, the notifications. If something is wrong, say so in the chat and the plan will update.Don’t try to make the plan perfect. You’ll be able to change anything after the app is built.
4

Start building

Click Start Building. The build takes a few minutes. You’ll see tasks complete in real time and a live preview that updates as the app comes together.Some apps pause partway through to ask for an API key or your approval on a sensitive task. If yours does, follow the prompt; the build resumes automatically.
5

Open your app

When the build finishes, your app appears in the Dashboard sidebar as a draft.If you built a client-facing app, your team gets two views: a global view in the sidebar, and a per-client view inside each contact’s record.

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Publish it

Whichever way you added it, the app stays a draft until you publish it. Click Publish in the top right, check who will be able to see it, then click Publish again. Publishing checks off Add your first app. To see it as your test client, the app needs to be visible to clients. Before you make it visible to everyone, check whether any real clients can already sign in, such as clients you’ve invited or ones who signed up themselves. On plans with custom visibility, you can limit the app to your test client until you’re ready. See Launching apps and Controlling app visibility.

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Check it as a client

The client view is half the app. Sign in as your test client and look at it the way a client would. See Preview the client experience.

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What just happened

Apps that need to store data get their own database, provisioned during the build. Your data is yours, scoped to your workspace.
Branding, contacts, companies, internal roles, notifications — none of that needed to be configured. The app picked it up from your Assembly workspace.
Apps you add install into your workspace the same way Messages, Files, and Payments do. You can configure visibility, hide an app from clients while you test, or uninstall it like any other app.

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Next step

Add your clients

Bring in your real clients, one at a time or from a CSV.

Iterate on your app

Refine, add features, fix what’s wrong. Same chat, same flow.