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Introduction

What Admin as a Service is, who uses it, and the core workflow from data source to the screens users work in.

3 min read

Admin as a Service is a platform for building internal admin tools. Engineers connect existing databases or APIs and package each operation as an action with parameters. Other users run that action through a generated form or a custom screen. Permissions control who can run which action in which environment, and every run is recorded in the audit log.

Intended users

Section titled “Intended users”

Operations and customer support

Look up orders, change statuses and handle day-to-day requests through ready-made forms. No SQL knowledge or database admin tool is required.

Data and reporting

Package frequent queries as parameterized actions, schedule them and export CSV. Write actions can also run in the background or in bulk.

Internal-tools engineers

Write SQL or JavaScript that orchestrates several actions. Build React/TSX screens with types generated from the project’s own actions.

Administrators and security

Manage accounts, roles, access to each environment and IP allowlists. Search the audit log of every run.

Core workflow

Section titled “Core workflow”

  1. Connect a data source. A project admin adds a PostgreSQL, MySQL or HTTP API data source, then enters separate connection details for each environment (for example dev and prod). Credentials are encrypted and never sent back to the browser. HTTP data sources currently only store configuration and support a connection test; actions that call an HTTP API are not available yet.

  2. Define an action. An editor writes a SQL statement with parameters such as {{status}}, or a JS action that calls other actions. The action is saved as a draft, then published with Publish after it passes the safety checks. Each publish creates a version that you can roll back to.

  3. Run it from a form or a screen. Users open the Run action page. The form is generated from the parameters, and results appear as a table. When a form is not sufficient, an editor writes a view in React/TSX. Published views appear for users under Screens.

The Run action page with a parameter form and a multi-row result tableThe Run action page with a parameter form and a multi-row result table

There are three levels of UI. Choose the simplest one that meets the requirement:

  • Generated form: available as soon as the action is published, with no configuration.
  • Transformer: a short JavaScript function that renames columns and adds links or images before results are shown.
  • View: a hand-written React/TSX screen for dashboards, tables that combine several sources, or multi-step flows.

Problems addressed

Section titled “Problems addressed”
  • No separate admin page for each small task. A parameterized SQL statement is enough to get a working form.
  • No direct database access for end users. Users only run published actions and never see the SQL, the data source or the connection details.
  • Control over who runs what, and where. Project roles, per-action run permissions, environment access and IP allowlists are checked on the server for every run.
  • Test data separated from real data. Every project includes dev and prod environments. When a production environment is selected, the switcher in the top bar turns red and write actions require confirmation.
  • Full traceability. Every run, including denied runs, is in the audit log. The log records the number of rows returned, not the data itself.

See also

Section titled “See also”
Key concepts Projects, environments, actions, views, jobs and how they relate.
Quickstart From an empty project to your first action run.