# How apps work

Software your team and agents use together, built around your business.

Source: https://docs.opser.com/apps/overview/

## Software that fits your business

An app is a working part of your Opser workspace: it stores business records, gives people an interface to work with them, and can give agents tools to do the same work. Your team can use the screen, ask an agent, or combine both in one workflow.

You can install an available app or describe a workflow and have an agent build an app for it. The apps offered to your workspace can change. These guides explain the system they share; the App Store and your workspace show what is available to you.

## People and agents work on the same records

An app might track equipment, review requests, or coordinate a process specific to your business. Its interface presents those records as forms, lists, boards, or other views. Its agent tools expose supported actions, such as finding a record or updating its status.

For example, you could open an equipment record and change its return date, or ask an agent to make that change. A well-built app puts both actions through the same business rules. The agent does not need to imitate mouse clicks when the app provides a tool for the task.

An app's [skills](https://docs.opser.com/agents/skills/) explain its workflow and how to use its tools. Permissions decide which people and agents can use them. See [Inside an app](https://docs.opser.com/apps/anatomy/) for how these pieces fit together.

## Describe what you need

Start with the workflow, not a feature list:

> We lend equipment to staff. Build a place to request a checkout, approve it, and track returns. Requesters should see their own requests; coordinators should manage all checkouts. Let the agent find overdue items and prepare reminders.

The agent can inspect existing apps before building so it can extend the right one or reuse an operation another app already provides. You review a draft with test data before installing the result into the workspace. [Build an internal app](https://docs.opser.com/capabilities/internal-apps/) walks through that process. Building must be enabled in your environment.

## Apps connect through explicit interfaces

An app can offer an operation another app calls, emit an event when something changes, or send a notification to a person. Those are different capabilities with different purposes. A connection needs to be implemented and declared; installing two apps does not automatically join their workflows.

Read [How apps work together](https://docs.opser.com/apps/connected/) to understand contracts, events, notifications, and live views.

## Your workspace decides what is available

The sidebar reflects installed apps and your access. Installation, publication, and updates need the relevant permissions. An installed app can be available to one group and hidden from another.

Use [Install & manage apps](https://docs.opser.com/apps/managing/) for the lifecycle and [Permissions](https://docs.opser.com/workspace/permissions/) for access. A separate customer website or portal has a different deployment boundary; see [external apps](https://docs.opser.com/capabilities/external-apps/).