Build an application

Overview

Build an Application lets you create your own Personal Application with AI — right from your user screen, using only the data nodes and actions you already have access to. No developer profile needed. When it's ready, share it with your team.

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No code required. You describe what you want in plain language, and ARPIA Codex builds the app for you.

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Before You Start

⚙️

Admin setup required. To use this AI feature, it must first be enabled in Global AI Configuration — only your Administrator can do this.

• Your app is scoped to your permissions — you can only build with the knowledge nodes and actions you have access to.
• When you share, people only see the data their own access allows. Sharing the app never widens anyone's data access.

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Build Your App

Create your application

1. From your home screen, in My Tools, press Build an Application.

   

2. A new screen loads with a form. Enter a name in the field under Application name.

   

3. Press Create & Open.

Build it with Codex

Your app opens with a short welcome screen and the Arpia Codex panel on the right. Build it in 4 steps:

1. Pick your data. Open Ontology Nodes in the top bar to set exactly what your app can use:

• Input — the knowledge nodes your app can read. Leave the variants list empty for full access (raw node + any variant), or list specific variants to limit reading to just those.
• Output — the actions your app can run. These are always explicit: pick at least one per knowledge node.
• Tools (private apps only) — AI Tools Collections and Workshop APIs for advanced AI capabilities. See Single-Page Apps (SPA) for the full setup.

2. Describe what you want. In the Arpia Codex panel on the right, tell Codex — in plain language — what the app should do.

3. Watch it build. Your app renders live in the Preview as Codex works. Keep refining by chatting.

4. Publish & Share. When it's ready, press Publish, then Share it with your team.

Not sure where to start? Try telling Codex:

• "Show my open sales orders as a sortable, searchable table."
• "Build a dashboard: total revenue this month as a big number, plus a bar chart by region."
• "Add a form to log a new customer visit and save it with my Create Visit action."
• "Build a case management app using my Cases node. Show open cases by owner, priority, and status."
• "Add a case status update form using my approved Update Case Status action."
• "Create an invoice follow-up dashboard using the Invoice node and only the actions available to my profile."

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Working With Codex

The assistant in the panel is Arpia Codex — SPA Studio. It runs in Build mode — changes apply immediately and update the live preview as Codex works.

Input bar controls

The Codex input bar gives you several tools to guide the build:

Focus Scope

The 📎 attach button opens a Focus Scope selector before attaching:

• All Files (default) — Codex has access to everything in the current app context.
• Current File — Codex focuses only on the file currently open.

Attaching images

You can share a screenshot directly with Codex — useful for showing a design reference, an existing layout you want to replicate, or a bug you want fixed. Codex will describe what it sees and use it to inform the build.

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Full Codex reference: see Arpia Codex in SPA Studio.

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Managing Your App

From the top bar:

• Preview — use your app live as you build.
• Refresh — reload the preview.
• Open Tab — open the app in its own browser tab.
• Share — give your team access (each person sees only their own data).
• Publish — make the current version live.
• Delete — remove the app.

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Access & Sharing

Your Personal Application respects ARPIA's permissions end to end:

• You build only from your nodes and actions.
• Each viewer you share with sees the app through their own access — never yours.

⚙️

Building in a Workarea as a developer instead? See Single-Page Apps (SPA) for the full in-platform and ZIP-upload workflow.