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Governed agentic app building

Beta

This feature is in Beta. To use it, a workspace admin must turn on Governed agentic app-building from the Previews page. See Manage Databricks previews.

Databricks Apps introduces three capabilities that work together so that nontechnical users can build governed data and AI applications:

  • Genie App Builder lets nontechnical end users develop Databricks apps in the Databricks UI using natural language. All created apps are governed inside an App Space, and your data stays on the Databricks platform during development.
  • App Spaces are governance boundaries where a workspace admin defines who can create apps, what those apps can do, and which resources they can use for groups of app developers. An App Space contains only Serverless Micro Apps.
  • Serverless Micro Apps run on a lightweight, on-demand runtime that scales to zero when idle and back up when requested by a user.

These three capabilities are bundled together as one offering in Beta. In other words:

  • Serverless Micro Apps only exist inside an App Space.
  • App Spaces only have Serverless Micro Apps.
  • Genie App Builder only builds apps that are inside an App Space.
  • App Space apps can only be built and deployed through Genie App Builder.

Requirements​

To use these capabilities, your workspace and account must meet the following requirements.

Preview enablement​

Beta features are enabled by default for some workspaces but not others. As a workspace admin, check whether the Governed agentic app-building preview is already enabled, see Manage Databricks previews, and turn it on if needed. If it isn't available, contact your Databricks account team. Enablement might be blocked by one of the requirements below or for other reasons.

Supported regions​

Available only in the following regions during Beta:

  • AWS: ap-northeast-1, ap-south-1, ap-southeast-1, ap-southeast-2, eu-central-1, eu-west-1, us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-1, us-west-2
  • Azure: australiaeast, brazilsouth, canadacentral, centralindia, centralus, eastus, eastus2, francecentral, germanywestcentral, japaneast, northcentralus, northeurope, southcentralus, southeastasia, uksouth, westeurope, westus, westus2

Not available on GCP, in GovCloud regions, or in Mooncake (Azure China).

Partner-powered AI features​

Partner-powered AI features must be enabled at both the account and workspace level. See Partner-powered AI features.

Other requirements​

The workspace and account must also meet the following requirements:

  • Networking: Not supported if a customer-managed proxy is applied to the workspace. Existing workspace-level Secure Egress Gateway (SEG) and serverless Private Link configurations are not respected. App Space apps have no general public internet egress. Outbound access is limited to the Databricks workspace and the managed npm/PyPI package proxies.
  • Role-based access control (RBAC): Must be enabled at the account level to use the Only the specified role user authorization setting in an App Space. See Configure an App Space.
  • Cross-Geo processing: Depending on the region, cross-Geo processing might need to be enabled.

Pricing​

During Beta, there is no charge for App Spaces, Genie App Builder, or Serverless Micro Apps. However, cost and pricing for features in Beta are subject to change.

Getting started​

To build an app with these capabilities, follow these steps:

  1. Confirm the Governed agentic app-building preview is enabled on your workspace. See Manage Databricks previews.
  2. If it's enabled, App Spaces and Build will show up in the left navigation of the Apps home page.
  3. A workspace admin creates an App Space (see App Spaces) and grants builders permission to it.
  4. A builder with permission to the App Space opens the Build tab and starts building (see Genie App Builder).
  5. Click Deploy, or ask the Genie App Builder agent to deploy your app when ready.
  6. The deployed app scales to zero when idle and back up when requested by a user.
  7. Continue iterating on your app by clicking Genie App Builder in the app details page.

Frequently asked questions​

The following are common questions about these capabilities during Beta:

Can I build apps in an App Space without Genie App Builder? Not during Beta. Genie App Builder is the only way to create apps in an App Space.

Can I use Genie App Builder without an App Space? No. During Beta, Genie App Builder builds only into an App Space.

Can I enable scale-to-zero for my existing apps? Not during Beta. Only apps created with Genie App Builder in an App Space run as Serverless Micro Apps.

Do Serverless Micro Apps also scale horizontally? No. There are two hosting models: dedicated instances that are always on and scale horizontally, and Serverless Micro Apps that scale to zero and back up to one. A single app can't do both.

What is the pricing for these capabilities? There is no charge for any of the three capabilities during Beta. See Pricing.

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