Planning your app
Define a project plan for building your monday app, from product research to marketplace review
Thinking of integrating monday.com with your platform, but not sure what the process entails? Below, we outline exactly what to expect when building a monday app.
App development phases
When building an app, you will go through four distinct phases:
| Phase | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | App definition | Identify the gaps your integration app will address and how it will bring value to both your own software's users as well as monday.com users |
| Phase 2 | Technical scoping | Research and familiarize yourself with the apps framework components you will need to leverage in your app |
| Phase 3 | Building | Build and deploy your app |
| Phase 4 | App review | Submit your app for review to be listed in our marketplace |
Phase 1: App definition
In this phase, you will determine what type of monday app to build. What industries and use cases overlap between monday.com and your product? How would users expand their existing workflows with a connection to your product?
Our marketplace already features a wide variety of apps, some of which share similar features or functionality. To encourage innovation and reduce redundancy, we identify areas each quarter that were heavily covered in the previous one. This gives you a better idea of what types of apps to avoid building for the time being.
As of 2025 Q2, we recommend avoiding these areas:
- Zendesk integrations
- Embedded Google apps (particularly Calendar and Docs)
- WhatsApp integrations
Keep in mind that the most successful apps are often part of a broader solution, rather than standalone tools. If you're unsure what to build, explore our idea board for inspiration!
Sign up for a monday.com account
To get hands-on experience with our platform, we recommend signing up for a monday.com account. While you can build apps on any account type, we offer a dedicated developer account that includes all the benefits of the free plan, plus a few extra perks tailored for app builders. Learn more here!
Phase outcome
By the end of this phase, you should have a solid idea of the value your app will bring to users and the functionality it will need to have.
Related resources
- monday.com Developer Account Signup
- Introduction to the monday Apps Framework
- API Documentation
- Quickstart Guide: Views & Widgets
- Quickstart Guide: Integration Recipes
- Frequently Asked Questions
Phase 2: Technical scoping
The technical scoping phase is where you will define the technical components needed for your app. This will include determining the exact API queries and monday app framework tools you will be utilizing. When doing your technical scoping, we recommend familiarizing yourself with our relevant technical documentation.
Scoping checklist
The following is a checklist for building custom integration recipes:
-
Authorization and authentication
What authorization method will your app be utilizing? -
Trigger and action recipe blocks
Are your custom blocks designed for reusability for multiple recipes? -
Input and output fields for each recipe block
Have you selected the appropriate settings for your input fields? Are you returning the correct output fields in your recipe blocks? -
Applicable custom field types
Do you need to set up custom field types, such as remote options or dynamic mapping? -
Database evaluation
Does your app need to implement a database? Do you need to store some user data? Is your database implemented securely and compliant with our security protocols?
Phase outcome
This is the most critical step in the app development process, as a well-scoped app will save development time later. If you do not scope and plan your app correctly during this phase, you may need to adjust your app functionality.
Related resources
- Choosing an Authentication Method
- Manage your Apps
- Views: Design System, React components, SDK Reference
- Integrations: Built-In Action Blocks, Built-in Trigger Blocks, Custom Actions, Custom Triggers, Custom Fields, Item Mapping and Custom Entities
Phase 3: Building
In the building phase, your team will build your app by applying all of the knowledge gained from the previous phase. This phase should go smoothly and efficiently if you have thoroughly scoped out your app.
Taking the integration recipe example from above, the building phase is where you will be creating your custom trigger, action, and field type blocks.
Iterative development
It’s important to note that the technical scoping and the building phases may be iterative. For instance, it might be the case that you realize you need to utilize a database for your app in the middle of your build phase. This will require you to revisit technical scoping.
Phase outcome
After completing this phase, you will have your new monday app that’s ready for submission to our apps review team. As such, we recommend preparing the graphical assets and marketing copy that will accompany your application in this phase as well.
Related resources
- Submitting Your App to the Apps Marketplace
- Versioning in Apps
- Multitenancy Best Practices
- Example Apps
Phase 4: App review
The last phase in the monday app development cycle is the review phase.
At this point, your app should be built and should be ready for submission to our apps marketplace. In the review phase, you can expect some feedback from our team on your app.
Phase outcome
Once finished, your app will be available in our marketplace for our users!
Related resources
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! 😎
Updated 12 days ago