Let's start by knowing what this gem is. Appwrite is a self-hosted solution that provides developers with a set of easy-to-use and integrates REST APIs to manage their core backend needs. It is a low-code application development platform that enables you to quickly build web & mobile apps without any hassle.
Appwrite is a powerful UI and a robust backend as a service for building mobile apps on iOS, Android platforms, and web platforms. Appwrite and Flutter can generate Android, iOS, and web screens from a single codebase.
You can simply call it a Secure Open-Source Backend Server for Web, Mobile & Flutter Apps.
OMG! Self-hosted backend that means no need to write custom backend APIs from scratch? Yes.
Isn't that crazy?
How Does Appwrite Work?
Appwrite is a self-hosted backend server packaged as a set of Docker containers. You can install and run Appwrite on any operating system that can run a Docker CLI. You can use Appwrite on your local desktop or cloud provider of your choice.
Installing and using Appwrite
You can use Appwrite on your local desktop or cloud provider of your choice. Please check out their official Installation Docs to successfully start using it
So are you ready to build advanced apps faster?👩💻
Let's see how and in what ways, Appwrite is beneficial for the whole developer community out there..
they're designed to help you build your next project much faster than if you had to write all your back-end APIs from scratch. So what magic is there?
The attached screenshot is Home which is the central part. This gives you an overall picture of the project and its activity.
Automating Authentication
Let's you easily manage your user signup and login into your apps
Auth service offers built-in integration with multiple OAuth providers such as Facebook, Github, Linked In & more. (No more need to build a stable & secure user authentication structure that integrates multiple third-party login methods.)
Also manages the user's email and password reset & recovery.
Users Accounts:
Find your users' information, view current sessions, and view their activity logs with this service.
The Users service also allows you to edit your users' preferences and personal information.
Database:
Create structured collections of documents, query and filter lists of documents, & manage an advanced set of permissions to read as well as write documents.
Allows you to search and query data using deep filters.
Collection rules (defines each database document structure in your project) help you ensure that all user-submitted data is validated and stored in accordance with the appropriate structure.
Storage:
Upload, view, download, and query your entire project archive through a storage service
Role of an owner(give or withdraw access to view or edit the file within the service)
Functions:
Define custom behaviors that are triggered either by Appwrite system events or by defined schedules.
With Appwrite Cloud Functions, backend code can automatically run when Appwrite triggers events or it can be scheduled to execute at a predefined time.
Tasks:
- Schedule any repeating tasks your app may need to run in the background.
Webhooks:
- Create events on Appwrite and set up integrations to subscribe to them. Whenever one of these events occurs, you'll be sent a POST payload to the URL of the webhook. Know more about webhooks in the official doc which I'll list below.
API Keys:
- With your API Keys, you can access Appwrite's services via your SDK of choice.
So much under the hood. I'm pretty sure, after considering the above-highlighted features, you would not like to delay your development. 😂. Everybody loves fast development and deployment and that's why Appwrite is your Go-to tool
Cool, Now. I know you must be wondering why to switch? Get ready for the awesome benefits 😍 Covering the most beloved ones. Though there are countless...
- Forever free, no credit card required (Fully open source)
- Global developer's community ❤️ (WE GROW TOGETHER)
- Host multiple projects on one Appwrite -> set up a Docker swarm to scale it across multiple servers.
- You get APIs for anything and everything at Appwrite -> No more googling
- Built-in Anti-Virus scanner
and many more....🤯
What's Next
That was it about introducing Appwrite to all the fellow developers and community. I hope you'll try and tell me your experience in the comments. However, For future blogs, I’ll explore some of the features in more depth and explain how to integrate them into your code as well.
Till then, Do checkout official documentation of Appwrite and get started with web , mobile or flutter development etc.
And as it's an open-source community, Do join their discord community and spread the word about Appwrite and if you would also like to contribute -> github.com/appwrite/appwrite
Happy Appwriting ♥ appwrite.io