monday.com is a customizable workOS that empowers teams to build processes, create projects, and complete day-to-day work according to their needs. It enables teams and organizations to develop tailored solutions to manage their workflows through various methods, including monday apps.

These apps expand the core platform's capabilities by allowing developers to create new building blocks, or apps, on top of monday using the apps framework. Each app comprises one or more app features built with the same framework.

The framework supports a wide range of app features that enable you to create innovative and functional apps to improve workflows. The options are infinite when you use the platform's building block features like board views, dashboard widgets, integrations, automations.

This guide will walk through the basic details about building an app for monday and answer some of the most frequently asked questions. Let's get started!

Who can build apps?

Any developer can build on top of monday.com using the apps framework. We made the framework function independently of your technologies (i.e., languages, frameworks, infrastructure, etc.). The apps framework provides tools to help you build your app quickly so you can focus on what matters.

Who can use your monday apps?

It all depends on the type of app you create - private, public, or for the app marketplace!

You can build and install private apps that are exclusive to your monday.com account. These apps enable you to build on top of the platform to create custom functionalities that automate your workflows, integrate with your organization's other systems, and create visuals and custom reports for your needs. Users outside of the account cannot access your app.

You can also create a public app to share with the monday community. Like private apps, public apps enable you to build on top of the core platform to improve your workflows and bridge gaps in the system. The only difference is that people outside the account can access the app. You can build apps that enhance the monday.com product and sell them on your own or become a monday.com partner and create apps as a service you provide to your clients.

We also have an app marketplace where other monday.com users can browse for public third-party apps to install on their accounts. After building your app, you can submit it for review for the app marketplace.

What type of app features can I build?

The monday apps framework allows you to build a variety of features, including:

• board views
• item views
• custom objects
• account settings views
• doc actions
• dashboard widgets
• workspace templates

Views and widgets

These features let users visualize and manage data from their boards in a number of ways like charts, custom tables, and Kanban views, just to name a few.

Each feature can display and manage monday.com data, but lives in a different context:

• Board views are connected to a single monday.com board
• Dashboard widgets are connected to multiple boards
• Item views are connected to a single item on a board

Board view

Item view

Custom objects

Custom objects give you the ability to create a view separate from a workflow while simultaneously providing more real estate on the monday platform.

Traditional views and widgets must be connected to a specific dashboard, board, or item on monday. While this format works for some features, others may require a separate space to visualize data outside of a board, item, or dashboard.

That's where custom objects come in. They allow features to live independently in the left-pane menu, so users can access the view outside of the context of a specific dashboard, board, or item. Users can access the feature by clicking the +Add button at the top of the left pane menu, just like they would for a doc or board. You can use the view as a standalone app or for a specific feature within an app.

The content displayed in custom objects will span the entire screen aside from the title and top header. This view gives your app more visibility to users in the account, ultimately providing a better customer experience.

You can implement custom objects just like you would any other view. It is rendered as an iframe served from a custom URL or directly from our CDN. Read more about implementation in our quickstart guide!

Account settings view

The account settings view provides a dedicated space to display the global settings that impact the entire account. It is not a view that users can add to a board, unlike board and item views. This feature allocates space for developers to share the app's settings while simultaneously making it easier for users to access them.

Adding this view allows users to access the app's settings in the settings tab, the button in the view settings, and in the admin section.

Doc actions

Using the doc action feature, developers can create a plug-in that integrates their app with monday workdocs. Users can access the app in two places: the contextual toolbar and the add block menu.

The doc action feature is a valuable tool that helps expand the workdocs functionality, eventually leading to more complex or automated workflows. For developers, this feature increases app exposure in a whole new market and leads to additional app usage opportunities in a different monday.com product. Check out our documentation to find more details about this feature!

Dashboard widget

Want to build your first view or widget? Read our Quickstart Guide!

Building integration recipes

Through custom integrations, users can connect any system to monday.com, sync all of their information, and automate their workflow across multiple services. Integrations contain multiple recipes; each recipe defines a rule (Trigger → Action) that users can use to enhance their workflow.

Integration feature

Integration recipes

Want to build your first integration recipe? Read our Quickstart Guide!

Finding you app's features

Once an app is installed in an account, every user on that account can use the app features by adding them to their board/dashboard.

Users can add a view to your board from the views' center:

Users can add a widget to their dashboard from the widgets' center.

Users can add the item view to their board from the item views' center.

Users can add integrations to their board from the board power-ups center.

Start building

All you need is a monday account to start building your first app!

If you do not already have a monday.com account, sign up for a free developer account here. Once you have an account, navigate to your Avatar menu and then pick the developers section.

Learn more about how to create and manage your apps here.

Build your first dashboard widget or board view by following our views and widgets Quickstart Guide.

Build your first integration recipe by following our integrations Quickstart Guide.

📘

Join our developer community!

We've created a community specifically for our devs where you can search through previous topics to find solutions, ask new questions, hear about new features and updates, and learn tips and tricks from other devs. Come join in on the fun! 😎