Understanding Apps

Spacelift Flows extends core functionality through a comprehensive app ecosystem. Apps provide specialized blocks for integrating with external services, automating complex workflows, and adding utility functions.

Apps primarily integrate with external platforms like AWS, Slack, GitHub, and other developer tools and services.

You can install the same app multiple times within a project for scenarios like:

Separate AWS installations for different regions (us-west-1, us-east-1)
Different Slack workspaces for various teams
Multiple GitHub organizations or repositories

Each app installation is configured separately.

Apps are managed at project level, controlling which integrations are available to specific flows and team members.

Registry

There are two centrally-managed registries with Flows apps:

Core Registry

Core registry contains apps built and maintained by Spacelift, available at https://registry.useflows.com/core. These apps are:

Officially supported by Spacelift
Covered by quality and support policies
Regularly updated and maintained
Designed for most common integration scenarios

Community Registry

Community registry hosts apps contributed by the Flows community, available at https://registry.useflows.com/community. Community apps are:

Contributed and maintained by community members
Curated by Spacelift for basic quality standards
Not officially endorsed or supported by Spacelift
Not covered by Spacelift quality and support policies

Third-party Registries

Additionally, third-party registries, both public and private (for self-hosted setups) are supported, too. You can learn more about configuring registries in the App Registries guide.

Custom Apps

For organizations with unique requirements or internal systems, Spacelift Flows supports custom app development. Custom apps let you:

Create blocks integrating with internal APIs and services
Extend platform capabilities beyond standard registry

Other than the distribution mechanism, custom apps differ in no way from registry apps and have all the same capabilities.

Getting Started

You can use the template repository on GitHub to get started with creating your own app (https://github.com/spacelift-io/flows-app-template). Feel free to also reference other apps available in the Spacelift GitHub Organization, with the repo pattern “flows-app-*”.

Setup Process:

Use official template to create new repository
Run automated setup script to customize placeholders
Implement custom block logic
Configure CI/CD pipeline for automated releases
Tag and release your app