Connectors Overview
A connector lets the build agent understand and configure an external service such as Supabase, Stripe, Mapbox, or OpenAI. It gives the agent a verified, project-specific integration instead of making it guess which provider or credential you intend to use.
The most important boundary
Connecting a service gives the Appsanic build system permission to use that connection for one project. It does not automatically give the app you publish a secret at runtime.
- A publishable value such as a Mapbox public token or Supabase anon key can
be placed in client code when the provider designed it for that purpose.
- A secret value such as a Stripe secret key, OpenAI key, or Twilio Auth
Token must never be placed in a mobile or web client. The agent can generate a narrow backend proxy or function and the setup instructions, but you must deploy that backend and add the secret to its own server-side secret manager.
- Appsanic does not copy a saved connector secret into a published app, an
exported repository, a generated credential screen, or a generic runtime proxy.
That separation prevents anyone who downloads your app from extracting a key that can spend money or modify your provider account.
Connections belong to projects
Each connection belongs to one Appsanic project. Connecting Supabase in Project A does not silently make that database available to Project B. This keeps test and production apps, client projects, and different provider accounts isolated.
The Dashboard → Connectors page is a read-only overview grouped by project. To connect, update, test, or disconnect a service, open that project's build and use its connectors button. Owners and admins can manage credentials; other members can see status without seeing secret values.
What the AI can use
During a build, the agent receives only a secret-free view of each connection: its provider, health, approved public metadata, available capabilities, and whether Account access is enabled. A raw secret never enters the model prompt or chat history.
There are three common behaviours:
- Public app configuration. For publishable identifiers and keys, the agent
can wire the value into the generated app.
- Build-time account actions. Some providers offer narrowly defined
server-side actions. With Account access enabled, an eligible action can use the encrypted credential without exposing it to the model. Actions are schema-validated, bounded, and recorded in the connector's AI activity feed. Operations that are not approved for automatic execution remain manual.
- Secret runtime integration. The agent generates client code that calls a
backend and explains how to deploy it and provision its runtime secret. Connecting the provider verifies and stores the build credential; it does not complete that deployment step for you.
Managed connector catalogue
Appsanic provides managed setup for these services:
| Service | Primary use |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Authentication, database, storage, and server functions |
| Stripe | Payments, products, prices, subscriptions, and webhook guidance |
| Resend | Transactional email and sending-domain setup |
| OpenAI | GPT, embeddings, transcription, and image generation |
| Anthropic | Claude chat, reasoning, and structured output |
| Replicate | Hosted image, video, and audio models |
| PostHog | Product analytics and feature flags |
| Sentry | Crash and performance monitoring |
| RevenueCat | Native in-app purchases and subscriptions |
| Twilio | SMS, phone verification, and WhatsApp |
| OneSignal | Push notifications |
| Expo Push | Server-side Expo push delivery |
| Mapbox | Maps, geocoding, and directions |
| Google Maps | Maps, geocoding, and routes |
| Algolia | Typo-tolerant search |
| AdMob | Mobile advertising IDs and units |
| Custom API | A constrained, read-only OpenAPI description for build planning |
The build may ask you to connect one of these only when the requested feature actually needs it. You do not need to connect the whole catalogue in advance.
Connecting and managing a service
Open the project, select the connectors button in the build composer, and choose a provider. The same secure surface also opens from an in-chat connect card.
The connector surface provides:
- a provider-owned walkthrough showing where each value comes from;
- a manual credential form with masked secret fields;
- provider-specific server-side validation before save: a bounded live read
where safe, and an explicit format/shape-only check where the provider offers no safe credential probe;
- status and the last verification time;
- Test now to check saved credentials again;
- Disconnect, with confirmation, to remove that project's encrypted values;
- an AI activity feed for secret-redacted account actions;
- an Account access control only where build-time account actions exist.
Connector OAuth is not currently available. Use the credential form and create a revocable, least-privilege key for this project. Saved secret values display as dots and are never returned to browser JavaScript.
Connection tests and credential updates are management events, not AI account actions, so they do not appear in the AI activity list.
When the connector does not exist
You can still ask the agent to integrate another service. Give it non-secret information such as the service name, official documentation, desired feature, API origin, and authentication method. The agent should clarify the minimum unknowns and generate a safe integration plan.
Never put a credential in chat. If the service needs a secret and has no managed connector, create a narrow backend endpoint, store the credential in that backend's secret manager, and let the app call only that endpoint. Use a new, minimum-permission key and rotate any key that was ever exposed in chat, source control, logs, screenshots, or a client bundle.
Custom API connector
Custom API is safer than handing the model a generic URL and token, but it is intentionally limited. It accepts:
- one fixed public HTTPS origin with no path, credentials, custom port, query,
or fragment;
- a bounded OpenAPI 3.0 or 3.1 document in JSON;
- at most 32 explicitly selected
GETorHEADoperation IDs; - one selected, parameter-free path that supports a HEAD connection test;
- no authentication, bearer authentication, or a safe custom API-key header.
It rejects mutation methods, request bodies on selected operations, unsafe paths, redirects during the test, external references, callbacks, webhooks, and document/path/operation server overrides. The connection test uses an IP-pinned HTTPS transport and sends HEAD only, so it never invokes a selected GET implementation or returns a response body. Builds do not probe Custom API automatically.
The agent receives only a reduced, bounded description of the selected operations so it can plan and generate code. It cannot execute arbitrary Custom API requests, use write operations, read the credential, or turn the connection into a runtime proxy. Your published app still needs a narrow backend you deploy and, when the API requires authentication, a separately provisioned runtime credential in that backend's secret manager.
If a connect card appears
When a managed connection is required but missing, the agent pauses and shows a card explaining why. Complete the form and the card verifies the exact provider and required fields before continuing. Resume is idempotent, so browser remounts and retries do not intentionally create duplicate builds. If a newer user message has already changed the task, the older card remains historical and does not resume stale work.
Security checklist
- Never paste secrets, passwords, private keys, tokens, service-account JSON, or
webhook signing secrets into chat.
- Prefer a separate least-privilege provider key for each Appsanic project and
environment.
- Use test-mode accounts and keys while building.
- Keep Account access off unless you want the agent to perform the listed
build-time account actions.
- Test after rotating a key; reconnect if the provider reports it invalid.
- Disconnect a connection you no longer need and separately revoke the key in
the provider dashboard.
- Configure secret runtime values in the deployed backend's secret manager,
never in app code or a client-side .env file.
For the pause-and-resume flow, read In-Chat Connect Cards. For runtime-secret placement, read Environment Variables.