Introduction

JC AppVanta is a no-code app maker. You build an app from three things: screens (what people see), tables (the data the app keeps), and steps (what happens when someone clicks, a screen opens, or a timer fires). When you are done, you export the app as a Windows .exe desktop program, a single .html file, a phone app, or a widget for your website.

Stuck? The built-in AI assistant can build an app or make changes for you from a plain-English request.

Nothing you build needs code. Every setting is a box, a dropdown, or a checkbox, and every step reads like a plain-English instruction.

Requirements

AppVanta runs in a modern web browser. For the full feature set, use a current version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a desktop or laptop.

The workspace

The workspace has seven areas. You will use all of them in almost every app.

The status bar along the bottom shows whether your changes are saved, which mode you are in, the current screen, how many components it has, what is selected (with its position and size), and the zoom level.

Build your first app

This walkthrough builds a small sign-in log in about ten minutes.

1. Open Templates and choose Blank app. You get one empty screen and a starter table.
2. Press Data. Rename the table to Visitors and give it three columns: Name (Text), Company (Text), and Signed in (Created at (auto)).
3. Press Design. From Insert, add a Heading, two Text box components, a Button, and a List.
4. Select the first text box and, in the Inspector, connect it to the Name column. Connect the second to Company. Point the List at the Visitors table.
5. Select the button, change its text to Sign in, open Actions, and add two steps: Save the form to a table (Visitors) and Show a message ("Thanks, you're signed in").
6. Press Preview, fill in the boxes, and click Sign in. The row appears in the list.
7. Open Export and download the app, or build it as a Windows .exe.

Templates

Open Templates from the top bar (or File → New from template…). Choosing one replaces the app you have open. Undo brings your last app back.

Screens

A screen is one page of your app. Add screens from the Screens strip or Insert → New screen. The first screen people see is marked Start.

With nothing selected on the canvas, the Inspector's Screen tab holds that screen's settings:

Components

Components are the pieces you place on a screen. Open Insert on the left rail, find one (or type in Search components), and click or drag it onto the canvas. AppVanta has 44 components in five groups.

Basics

Form

Data

Navigation and status

Tools

Component settings

Select a component and the Inspector's Design tab shows its settings, grouped into Layer, Position and size, Settings (what it shows and which table or column it connects to), Font, Look, and Animation. Press Play it now to try an animation on the canvas. The Actions tab holds the component's steps.

The buttons beside the component's name lock it (so it can't be moved by accident), duplicate it, or delete it.

Arranging and layout

The canvas toolbar and the Arrange menu line things up precisely.

• Align selected components to their left, center, or right edges, or their top, middle, or bottom.
• Distribute three or more components evenly, horizontally or vertically.
• Match widths or Match heights across a selection.
• Layers: bring forward, bring to front, send backward, send to back. The Layers panel on the left rail lists everything on the screen in stacking order.
• Snapping, grid, and rulers can each be turned on or off from the toolbar.
• Lock a component (or everything) to stop accidental moves.
• Zoom in and out, zoom to fit, or view at actual size.

Data and tables

Press Data in the top bar. Tables hold what your app saves. Each column is one piece of information a row holds, and each row is one record. Boxes on your screens fill these columns when a Save step runs.

1. Press New table and give it a name.
2. Add columns with Add column and pick a type for each.
3. Add starter rows with Add row, or leave the table empty.
4. Optional: tick Keep an edit history for this table to log every add, change, and delete.

Column types

Where data is kept

Choose this in Settings → Data and history.

Steps: how logic works

Steps are the instructions your app follows. Select a button (or another component), open the Actions tab, and press Add step. Steps run top to bottom. Use the arrows to reorder them and the × to remove one.

Conditions

There are two ways to make a step depend on something:

• Only run this step if… — tick it on any step. If the condition isn't met, that one step is skipped and the rest still run.
• Continue only if… — a step of its own. If the condition isn't met, it shows your message and the remaining steps are skipped.

A condition compares a box, column, or variable using one of these checks: is, is not, contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, is filled in, is empty, is more than / is at least / is less than / is at most (for dates: is after, is on or after, is before, is on or before), is between, is not between, is one of, is not one of, matches a pattern, is longer than, is shorter than, is a number, is not a number, and is an email address. Press And another condition to require more than one.

When steps run

You can also run one component's steps from another with Run another component's steps, so shared logic only has to be built once.

Step reference

AppVanta has 93 steps, grouped the same way they appear in the Add step list.

Data

Form

Values and math

Lists

Navigate

People and accounts

AI

Feedback

Change the screen

Flow

Browser

This computer

Files and folders

Network

Web

App settings

Settings for the whole app live in one window. Open it with Settings in the top bar, App settings in the Inspector, or Ctrl,.

People and sign-in

In Settings → People and accounts, tick Ask people to sign in when the app opens. A sign-in screen lists everyone you add.

Anything typed in the app can use {user} and {role}. The Sign out step sends people back to the sign-in screen, and Manage people lets an admin add or change people.

Subscriptions

Sell the apps you build. People sign in with their email, pick a plan, and pay through your checkout. Subscriptions need sign-in turned on in People and accounts.

1. Open Settings → Subscriptions and tick Charge for this app with plans.
2. Tick Require an active plan to use the app to show a paywall. Set a free trial in days and choose which role skips the paywall (for example, Admin).
3. Write the paywall title and message. The message can use {{user}}.
4. Add plans: a name, a price, per month or year, button text, one line per feature under What they get, and a checkout link — a Stripe Payment Link, Gumroad, or any checkout page. {{email}} is filled in for you.

Checking who has paid

Point a status request at your server. It is called with {email} after sign-in and by Check the subscription steps, and should answer like {"active": true, "plan": "Pro"}. Without a status request, an admin sets plans with the Manage people step — handy for invoices and small customer lists.

Menus, taskbar, and panels

Menu bar

In Settings → Taskbar and menus, turn on Show a menu bar at the top of the app. Menus sit above your screens, like File and Help in a desktop program. Each menu item runs steps, just like a button, on whichever screen is open. Add File and Help gives you a starting set.

Taskbar

Show a taskbar while the app runs adds a bar with the app name, screen buttons for switching screens, and a settings panel that shows the app's version and changelog. You choose its style, position, background, text color, and height. Taskbar extras include a live clock and network status. Untick a screen to keep it out of the taskbar.

Panels

Panels are screen-level bars along an edge (see Screens). Use them for sidebars and footers that hold navigation buttons.

API connections and servers

Connect your app to a server once, then add requests that pull data in or send it out.

1. Open Settings → API and add a connection. Give it a name (for example "Our server") and the Web address every request starts with.
2. Choose how it signs in: None, Bearer token, API key header (for example X-API-Key), or Username and password. Add extra headers if your server needs them.
3. Add a request: a name (for example "Get open orders"), the connection, a method (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE), a path, and what to send — the boxes on the screen, the selected or just-saved row, or your own JSON.
4. Choose when it runs: only when a step calls it, on a timer, whenever a row is saved, or when the app opens.

To keep every table on a server, set Where data is kept to A server or database, then pick a request to load rows (runs when the app opens) and one to save rows (runs a moment after anything changes and sends every table as JSON). Download SQL and server starter gives you CREATE TABLE lines built from your columns plus a short PHP example.

AI assistant

The AppVanta assistant builds and changes apps for you. Open it from the bubble in the bottom right corner or with CtrlI, then just say what you want: build an app, change something, set up a setting, or ask a question. Everything it changes can be undone.

Connect your AI

1. Open Settings → AI setup.
2. Pick an AI service and a model.
3. Paste your API key (the page links to where to get one) and press Test the connection.

Supported services: Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google Gemini, xAI (Grok), Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, OpenRouter (one key for every brand), Ollama (free, on this computer, no key needed), or any other OpenAI-style service. Creativity runs from 0 to 1; lower is more predictable, which suits building apps.

Build AI apps

The apps you build can use AI too. This is separate from the assistant that helps you build. Your app can use four AI tools:

Build an AI parts expert in five minutes

1. Open Templates and choose Parts inventory.
2. Open Settings → AI in your app, pick a service and model, and choose where the key comes from (see below).
3. Add a new screen. Insert a Heading ("Ask the parts expert") and an AI chat.
4. Select the AI chat. Give it a title and first message, and set Let it read a table to Parts. Add a List of the Parts table beside it if you like.
5. Press Preview and ask, "Which parts are below their reorder level?"

Helpers

Helpers are AI personalities with their own instructions, like a parts expert or a polite email writer — for example, "You know every part in our inventory. Answer with part numbers and bins." Each helper can use its own model and creativity, or the app's. AI chat boxes and AI steps can each pick a helper.

Chat bubble

Turn on Show an AI chat bubble in the app to add a round button in the corner of every screen. People tap it to chat with the AI you set up. You can style its colors, gradient, header, and message bubbles.

Where the key comes from

Under How it behaves, write instructions for every answer (placeholders like {user}, {role}, and {today} work), and set creativity and the longest answer. Send a test question checks the setup.

Automation and scheduled exports

Settings → Automation holds steps that run on their own, without anyone clicking a button: When the app opens, When the app closes (with an option to warn people before they close), and timers.

Scheduled exports

Save a file on a schedule while the app is open. If it was due while the app was closed, it runs the next time someone opens it.

Edit history

Turn on Keep a history of changes in Settings → Data and history, then tick Keep an edit history for this table in Data for each table you want logged. Every add, change, and delete is recorded with who did it and when. Choose how many entries to keep; the oldest drop off after that. Show the log with the Edit history component.

Preview and testing

Press Preview to run your app exactly as people will see it. Click buttons, fill in forms, and watch the data change. Rows you add in Preview go into your tables.

• Restart app runs it again from the start screen, including the "When the app opens" steps.
• Delete all rows clears test data from every table.
• Desktop / Mobile switches between layouts on Hybrid and Mobile apps.
• Back to design returns to the Design view.

Versions and changelog

Save versions as your app grows, so you can see what changed and go back if you need to. Open Settings → Version:

1. Pick the kind of change: big changes (1.4.2 → 2.0.0), new features (1.4.2 → 1.5.0), or small fixes (1.4.2 → 1.4.3).
2. Give it an optional title, like "Phone layout."
3. Save it. AppVanta compares your app to the last saved version and writes the changelog for you. You can edit the notes afterward.

Turn on Show what's new when people open a new version to greet users with the changes. Any saved version can be restored with Go back to this version. The version number shows in the Export panel and the taskbar's settings panel.

App types

You can change the app type at any time in Settings → General.

Exporting and sharing

Open Export (CtrlE). The exported app is one file that runs on its own and keeps its own saved data on that computer.

Putting an app on your website

1. Set the app type to Embedded.
2. Open Export and choose Copy app code.
3. In Wix, Squarespace, or your own site, add an HTML embed block and paste the code.

Keyboard shortcuts

On a Mac, use Cmd where you see Ctrl. Press ? inside AppVanta to see this list, or CtrlK to search every command.

Troubleshooting

Pricing and support

JC AppVanta is $119.99. That includes every template, all five app types, and exporting to a Windows .exe.

Questions, bug reports, or feature requests: email contact@jcsoftwarefoundry.com. JC AppVanta is made by JC Software Foundry LLC in Mankato, Minnesota.