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Genie App Builder

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.

Genie App Builder lets you build Databricks apps in the Databricks UI by describing them in natural language. Describe the app you want, and Genie App Builder generates it with Databricks AppKit, the Databricks framework for data and AI apps. You review a working preview, refine it with follow-up prompts, and then deploy it.

Genie App Builder builds apps inside an App Space. An App Space is a governance boundary where admins define who can create and use apps, what permissions those apps have, and which spend policies apply to them. The Governed agentic app-building preview turns on both Genie App Builder and App Spaces. See App Spaces.

Use Genie App Builder to build internal data and AI apps quickly without writing code. To control the app code, runtime, or scaling yourself, create an app from a template or create a custom app instead.

Requirements​

To use Genie App Builder, you need the following:

  • A workspace in a supported region:

    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

    AWS GovCloud regions are not supported.

  • Partner-powered AI features turned on at both the account and workspace level. See Partner-powered AI features.

  • Cross-Geo processing turned on, if your workspace's Geo requires it. See Enable cross-Geo processing.

  • CAN CREATE APP permission on an App Space. See App Space permissions.

Build an app​

Describe the app in natural language, then refine it with follow-up prompts until it works the way you want.

  1. In your Databricks workspace, open the Apps home page and click the Build tab in the left navigation.
  2. Select the App Space to build in.
  3. (Optional) Enter a name for the app.
  4. Enter a natural-language prompt that describes the app. See Tips for better results.
  5. Genie App Builder generates a preview of the app. When prompted, click Sign in and complete the sign-in in the new browser tab. See Sign in to the preview.
  6. Refine the app with follow-up prompts.
  7. When the app works the way you want, deploy it.

Deployed apps scale to zero when idle and start again when a user requests them. See App runtime.

To keep improving a deployed app, click Genie App Builder on the app details page.

Sign in to the preview​

The preview loads from a different domain than your workspace, so you sign in to it separately. Sign-in opens in a new browser tab. If your browser blocks pop-ups for the workspace, allow them and click Try again.

The preview also needs third-party cookies. If your browser blocks them, allow third-party cookies for the workspace in your browser settings, or click Open in new tab to view the preview in its own tab.

Share an app​

After you deploy an app, share it so that other users can run it:

  1. On the app details page, click Share.
  2. Add users or groups, and select a permission level:
    • CAN USE: Run and interact with the app.
    • CAN MANAGE: Edit, share, and delete the app.

The App Space's user authorization setting limits who can use the app. If the space uses Any role, you can share the app with any user. If the space uses Only the selected role, you can share only with users who can assume that role, and they must assume it to use the app. See Role-based access control and Configure permissions for a Databricks app.

Data access​

An app built with Genie App Builder accesses data in one of two ways:

  • As the signed-in user: With user authorization, the app acts with the identity of the user who signs in to it. The app can reach only the data and resources that the user can already access, and only within the scopes that the App Space allows. If the space requires a role, the app acts with the permissions of that role instead. See Scopes.
  • As the app: Admins can add Shared data, such as Unity Catalog tables and volumes, and Shared resources, such as SQL warehouses and serving endpoints, to the App Space. Every app in the space can use these with its own identity. See Add resources to a Databricks app.

For example, when a user opens a dashboard app that uses user authorization, the app queries only the Unity Catalog tables that the user has permission to read.

Tips for better results​

To get better results from Genie App Builder, follow these tips:

  • Start simple, then iterate: Start with a short prompt, then add features with follow-up prompts instead of describing the whole app in one large prompt. Short iteration cycles work best, especially when you're getting started.
  • Be specific about the UI and behavior: Describe the pages the app should have, the inputs users enter, the charts or tables to show, and the actions users can take. Also say how the app should behave, including which filters to apply, what default values to use, and where the app writes data.

For example:

  • General: "Build a sales dashboard."
  • Specific: "Build a sales dashboard with one page. Show a bar chart of monthly revenue by region and a table of the top 10 accounts by revenue. Add a region filter that defaults to EMEA."

App runtime​

Apps built with Genie App Builder run on isolated, on-demand serverless compute. Each app runs on at most one instance and scales to zero after a period of inactivity. The first request after the app scales down takes longer while the app starts.

State in memory or on local disk is lost when the app scales down. To keep state across scale-downs, store it in a Lakebase table, a Unity Catalog volume, or another external store. See App state. If you need an always-on app or horizontal scaling, create an app from a template or your own code instead. See Horizontal scaling for Databricks apps.

Limitations​

Apps built with Genie App Builder have the following limitations:

  • Apps have no general public internet egress. Outbound access is limited to the Databricks workspace and the Databricks-managed npm and PyPI package proxies.
  • Workspace-level Secure Egress Gateway and serverless Private Link configurations don't apply to these apps. See Configure networking for Databricks Apps.
  • Packages install only through the Databricks-managed package proxies. Custom package repositories aren't supported.

Pricing​

During Beta, there is no charge for Genie App Builder, App Spaces, or the apps built with Genie App Builder. Pricing for Beta features is subject to change.

Additional resources​

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