Platform Capabilities

ioLoop provides a comprehensive set of capabilities for building, running, and evolving full-stack web applications. From user interfaces and databases to server-side workflows, integrations, AI Agents, and publishing, everything comes together within a structured Project.

With AI Wiz, you can create and extend these capabilities using natural language, while the Project Editor gives you direct access to configure, customize, and manage every part of your application.

You can use these capabilities individually or combine them to build sophisticated applications. Start with what you need and introduce additional functionality as your requirements grow.

AI-Assisted Application Development

AI Wiz is ioLoop's built-in AI development assistant, helping you transform ideas into functional applications using natural language. Whether you're starting a new Project or enhancing an existing one, AI Wiz can assist throughout the development process.

AI Wiz capabilities include:

• Application Creation: Describe your idea and let AI Wiz help build a working application with user interfaces, data structures, and application logic.
• Feature Development: Add new pages, forms, functionality, database tables, backend workflows, and other application components through natural language instructions.
• Interface Design: Create and refine layouts, styling, navigation, and interactive elements.
• Full-Stack Development: Work across frontend and backend components, including JavaScript, CSS, databases, Cloud Flow, integrations, and AI Agents.
• Iterative Refinement: Request changes, improve existing functionality, extend features, and evolve your application through ongoing conversations.
• Code Generation and Modification: Generate and update application code to implement custom behavior and meet specific requirements.

AI-Powered Creation with Full Control

Unlike approaches that produce only generated source code, AI Wiz works with ioLoop's structured Project model. Pages, forms, code assets, database tables, Cloud Flow workflows, integrations, and AI Agents remain organized and accessible through the Project Editor.

You can inspect what AI Wiz creates, make changes visually, customize code directly, and return to AI Wiz for further assistance.

AI Wiz accelerates development without taking away your ability to understand, customize, and control your application.

Frontend: Pages, Forms, Media, and Code

The Frontend area of ioLoop provides the tools to create, design, and manage the user-facing experience of your application. From simple informational pages to sophisticated interactive interfaces, you can build visually, customize behavior, and extend functionality with code.

Frontend capabilities include:

• Pages & Forms: Create application pages, interactive forms, and custom HTML pages to deliver different types of user experiences.
• Visual Page Editor: Design and modify page layouts, content, and interface elements visually, without having to write code for every change.
• Page Flow: Build client-side logic using visual programming blocks, JavaScript code blocks, or a combination of both within the same flow. Handle user interactions, implement conditional logic, process data, and orchestrate dynamic page behavior.
• JavaScript Assets: Add custom JavaScript to implement specialized functionality, reusable logic, and advanced frontend behavior.
• CSS Assets: Customize the appearance of your application with styles, layouts, animations, and design enhancements.
• Media Management: Upload and manage images and other public assets used throughout your application.
• Page Configuration: Configure page URLs, metadata, access permissions, and the JavaScript and CSS assets included on individual pages.
• Data Integration: Connect frontend experiences with project data and backend functionality through supported APIs and workflows.

Visual Development with Code-Level Flexibility

ioLoop combines visual design, visual programming, and direct coding into a unified frontend development experience.

You can design interfaces visually, build interactive behavior using Page Flow's visual programming blocks, and introduce JavaScript code blocks wherever custom logic is needed. Both types of blocks can coexist within the same Page Flow, allowing you to choose the most effective approach for each part of your application.

For additional customization, JavaScript and CSS assets provide reusable functionality, advanced behavior, and complete control over styling.

With AI Wiz, you can also create and modify frontend components using natural language, then refine the results through the Project Editor.

Design visually. Program with blocks. Extend with JavaScript. All within the same Project.

Backend: Database and Cloud Flow

The Backend area of ioLoop provides the data storage, server-side processing, and automation capabilities needed to power full-stack applications. It brings together the Database and Cloud Flow, allowing you to manage application data, implement business logic, process requests, and execute workflows within your Project.

Backend capabilities include:

• Integrated Database: Store and manage application data in Project-specific tables, with configurable fields, access rules, and named queries.
• Database Operations: Create, retrieve, update, and delete records through pages, forms, Cloud Flow, AI Agents, and supported APIs.
• Cloud Flow: Build server-side logic using visual programming blocks, JavaScript code blocks, or a combination of both within the same flow.
• Webhooks: Expose endpoints that allow external services, applications, and client-side functionality to invoke server-side workflows.
• Background Tasks: Execute server-side operations independently of active user interactions, supporting automation and long-running processes.
• Agentic Loops: Orchestrate AI-driven workflows by invoking AI Agents from Cloud Flow webhooks and background tasks, combining agent responses with visual programming, JavaScript logic, database operations, and integrations to support iterative, multi-step automation.
• File Processing: Handle uploaded files, perform server-side file operations, and work with files stored in the Project's database.
• External API Communication: Connect with third-party services, exchange data, and invoke external APIs through server-side workflows.
• Secure Server-Side Operations: Execute sensitive business logic and integration calls on the server, keeping credentials and protected operations away from client-side code.

Cloud Flow: Visual Server-Side Programming

Just as Page Flow provides visual programming for client-side behavior, Cloud Flow brings the same approach to server-side development.

You can construct backend workflows using visual programming blocks to define operations, conditional logic, data processing, and execution paths. When more specialized functionality is needed, you can introduce JavaScript code blocks directly into the flow.

Both types of blocks can coexist within the same Cloud Flow, allowing you to combine the simplicity of visual programming with the flexibility and power of custom code.

Cloud Flow can interact with the Project's database, process files, call external APIs, implement business rules, and coordinate complex operations.

This approach makes server-side development accessible without limiting what you can build.

Integrated Data and Server-Side Logic

The Database and Cloud Flow work together to provide a connected backend development experience.

Your application can store structured information in database tables, retrieve and update records, enforce business rules through Cloud Flow, and expose functionality to frontend pages or external systems.

For example, a customer placing an order might trigger a Cloud Flow workflow that validates the request, checks inventory, creates database records, communicates with an external payment service, and initiates fulfillment operations.

You can implement this workflow visually, use JavaScript for specific operations, or combine both approaches within the same flow.

Automation Beyond the User Interface

Cloud Flow isn't limited to responding to actions performed on a page.

You can create server-side workflows that respond to incoming webhooks, execute background tasks, process data, and coordinate operations across external systems.

For more sophisticated automation, Cloud Flow also supports agentic loops, enabling iterative, AI-driven processes that can execute multiple steps, evaluate results, and continue working toward defined objectives.

These capabilities allow applications to perform useful work independently of active user interactions, supporting everything from routine business automation to complex, AI-powered operations.

One Programming Approach, Frontend and Backend

ioLoop provides a consistent development experience across both sides of your application.

• Page Flow handles client-side logic and interactions using visual programming blocks and JavaScript code blocks.
• Cloud Flow handles server-side logic, data processing, webhooks, background tasks, and automation using the same hybrid programming approach.

You can move between frontend and backend development while working with a familiar programming model, choosing visual blocks, JavaScript, or both according to your requirements.

With AI Wiz, you can also create, modify, and extend these workflows using natural language.

Build visually. Extend with code. Power your entire application—from frontend interactions to backend automation.

AI Agents

The AI Agents area of ioLoop lets you build intelligent, AI-powered experiences directly into your applications. Unlike traditional chatbots that primarily generate text responses, ioLoop AI Agents can interact with application data, execute functions, connect with external services, and participate in business workflows.

Each AI Agent can be configured with its own behavior, instructions, and knowledge sources, allowing you to create intelligent assistants tailored to your application's specific requirements.

AI Agent capabilities include:

• Custom AI Agents: Create and configure AI Agents with project-specific instructions, behavior, and capabilities.
• Knowledge Sources: Extend agents with access to project data, functions, connections, files, and supported external tools.
• Table Knowledge Sources: Enable agents to retrieve, interpret, and interact with data stored in Project database tables.
• Function Knowledge Sources: Give agents the ability to invoke custom functions implemented through Cloud Flow, enabling them to perform application-specific operations.
• Integration-Backed Intelligence: Connect agents with external services and APIs to retrieve information or perform actions beyond the Project.
• Context-Aware Interactions: Build AI experiences that use relevant application data and configured knowledge sources to provide more meaningful responses.
• Access and Authorization: Control access to agent capabilities and implement authorization rules around the data and operations available to agents.
• Application Integration: Incorporate AI Agents into application experiences and workflows to deliver intelligent functionality to users.
• Cloud Flow Integration: Invoke AI Agents directly from Cloud Flow webhooks and background tasks, enabling server-side AI processing, automated workflows, and agentic loops without requiring direct user interaction.

Knowledge Sources: Connecting AI to Your Application

Knowledge Sources extend what an AI Agent can understand and do.

Rather than relying only on the general knowledge of an AI model, an agent can use knowledge and capabilities provided by your Project.

For example:

• A Table Knowledge Source can allow an agent to look up customer records, retrieve order information, or work with other structured application data.
• A Function Knowledge Source can allow an agent to execute business logic through Cloud Flow, such as checking availability, creating a reservation, or initiating a workflow.
• A Connection can enable an agent to communicate with external services or retrieve information from integrated systems.
• Files and supported external tools can provide additional information and capabilities relevant to an agent's responsibilities.

By configuring appropriate knowledge sources, you can create agents that understand your application's context and interact with the systems needed to complete tasks.

From Conversations to Actions

An AI Agent can do more than answer questions. When equipped with appropriate knowledge sources and functions, it can help users accomplish tasks within your application.

Consider a customer service assistant built into an order management application.

A customer might ask, "Where is my order?"

The AI Agent can use a Table Knowledge Source or a configured function to retrieve the relevant order information and provide a contextual response.

If the customer then requests a change to their order, the agent can invoke a Cloud Flow function that validates the request, checks applicable business rules, and performs the permitted operation.

This combination of conversational intelligence and application-specific functionality makes it possible to create AI experiences that are genuinely useful within business processes.

Intelligence with Application-Level Control

AI Agents operate within the capabilities and knowledge sources you configure.

You determine which data, functions, and integrations are made available to an agent. Cloud Flow can implement additional validation, authorization, and business rules to control how requested actions are executed.

This provides a foundation for building AI-powered experiences that combine intelligent decision-making with structured application logic.

AI-Driven Automation and Agentic Loops

AI Agents aren't limited to responding to users through conversational interfaces. They can also be invoked programmatically through Cloud Flow, allowing AI capabilities to participate in automated backend processes.

Both Cloud Flow Webhooks and Background Tasks can invoke AI Agents, providing a foundation for building intelligent automation and agentic loops.

This enables several powerful patterns:

• Event-Driven AI: Invoke an AI Agent when a webhook receives a request or an external system triggers an event.
• Background AI Processing: Execute AI-powered tasks independently of active user sessions.
• Multi-Step AI Workflows: Combine AI Agent invocations with Cloud Flow logic, database operations, and integrations to complete complex processes.
• Agentic Loops: Build iterative workflows where Cloud Flow invokes AI Agents, processes their results, and determines subsequent actions or additional agent invocations.
• Automated Decision Support: Use AI Agents to analyze information and return results that Cloud Flow can evaluate before executing application-specific operations.

For example, an application could receive a customer inquiry through a webhook, invoke an AI Agent to analyze its content, retrieve relevant information from the database, and initiate an appropriate workflow.

For more complex operations, Cloud Flow can coordinate multiple steps, invoke agents as needed, evaluate intermediate results, and continue processing according to the workflow's logic.

This creates a framework for applications that don't just respond intelligently to users, but can also perform AI-powered work automatically in the background.

AI Wiz and AI Agents: Different Roles

ioLoop provides AI capabilities for both application development and application functionality.

• AI Wiz is your AI development assistant. It helps you create, modify, and extend Projects using natural language.
• AI Agents are intelligent components you build into your applications to assist users, interact with data, and execute configured operations.

You can use AI Wiz to help build and configure AI Agents, then incorporate those agents into the experiences your application delivers.

Build applications with AI Wiz. Bring intelligence into your applications with AI Agents.

Integrations and Connections

The Integrations area of ioLoop enables your applications to communicate with external services, access third-party APIs, and exchange information with other systems.

Through Connections, you can configure and manage external service access within your Project, making integrations available to frontend functionality, Cloud Flow, and AI Agents as appropriate.

Instead of scattering API configurations and credentials throughout your application, ioLoop provides a structured way to manage and reuse connections across different parts of your Project.

Integration capabilities include:

• API Secret Connections: Securely configure and manage API keys, tokens, and other credentials required to access external services.
• API Call Connections: Configure reusable API requests for communicating with external services, retrieving information, and performing operations.
• Third-Party Service Connections: Connect with supported external platforms and services through their available integration capabilities.
• Cloud Flow Integration: Use connections within server-side workflows to retrieve information, exchange data, invoke external APIs, and automate operations.
• AI Agent Integration: Extend AI Agents with connection-backed knowledge sources and tools, enabling them to interact with external systems.
• Credential Management: Keep sensitive authentication information out of client-side code by using appropriately configured connections and server-side operations.
• Reusable Integrations: Configure connections once and use them across supported components and workflows within your Project.

Connecting Applications to External Services

Modern applications frequently depend on services beyond their own databases and backend logic.

An application might need to process payments, send notifications, retrieve information from a third-party platform, synchronize records with another system, or interact with specialized APIs.

With ioLoop, you can configure the required connections and incorporate them into your application's functionality.

For example, an order management application might use connections to:

• Communicate with a payment processing service.
• Send order confirmations through an email service.
• Retrieve shipping rates and tracking information.
• Synchronize customer information with an external CRM.
• Exchange order information with an inventory management system.

These integrations can be incorporated into Cloud Flow workflows, allowing external service interactions to become part of your application's business logic.

Integrations with Cloud Flow and AI Agents

Connections are not limited to simple API requests. They can also participate in more sophisticated workflows and intelligent application behavior.

Cloud Flow can use configured connections to communicate with external services, process responses, update application data, and coordinate operations across multiple systems.

Cloud Flow webhooks and background tasks can also invoke AI Agents, enabling workflows that combine external integrations with AI-powered processing and decision-making.

AI Agents can use connection-backed knowledge sources and tools to retrieve information or interact with external systems as part of their configured capabilities.

For example, an AI-powered support application could use an external CRM connection to retrieve customer information, invoke an AI Agent to analyze an incoming request, and execute Cloud Flow logic to perform the appropriate follow-up actions.

This allows you to combine traditional integrations, application logic, and AI capabilities within a single connected workflow.

Organized and Secure Integration Management

Connections provide a centralized approach to configuring external service access within a Project.

Sensitive credentials can be managed separately from frontend code, while API configurations can be reused across supported application components.

For operations involving protected credentials or sensitive information, Cloud Flow provides a server-side environment where requests can be validated, authorized, and executed without exposing secrets to the browser.

As your application grows, you can introduce additional connections and extend existing workflows without having to rebuild your integration architecture.

Connect your services. Automate your workflows. Extend your applications beyond ioLoop.

Users, Groups, and Access Control

ioLoop provides built-in user management and access control capabilities, allowing you to create applications that support public visitors, authenticated users, and different levels of access to application functionality and data.

Through Project Users and User Groups, you can manage who can access your application and control the resources and operations available to different users.

These capabilities provide the foundation for building everything from public-facing websites to secure customer portals, internal business applications, and multi-role systems.

User management and access control capabilities include:

• Project Users: Manage users who can sign in to and interact with your application.
• User Groups: Organize application users into groups and assign access permissions based on their roles or responsibilities.
• Public and Authenticated Access: Create experiences accessible to everyone or restrict access to signed-in users.
• Page-Level Access Control: Configure which users or groups can access specific pages and forms.
• Database Access Rules: Control access to application data and database operations according to configured permissions.
• Resource-Level Permissions: Manage access to supported Project resources, including Cloud Flow modules, assets, and AI Agents.
• Custom Authorization Logic: Implement additional access checks and business rules through Page Flow, Cloud Flow, and application logic.
• Role-Based Application Experiences: Deliver different functionality and experiences to users based on their group memberships and permissions.

Managing Application Users

Project Users represent the people who access your application.

Depending on your application's requirements, you might allow visitors to interact with public pages, require authentication for certain features, or provide entirely different experiences for different categories of users.

For example, a customer portal might allow public visitors to browse information while requiring users to sign in before viewing their accounts, submitting requests, or accessing personal records.

User management and access controls help you structure these experiences within the same Project.

Organizing Access with User Groups

User Groups provide a way to organize users and manage permissions collectively.

Instead of configuring access separately for every individual, you can assign users to appropriate groups and define which resources and operations those groups are permitted to access.

For example, an application might have:

• Customers: Access their account information, submit requests, and use customer-facing features.
• Staff: Access operational pages, process customer requests, and perform permitted business functions.
• Administrators: Access administrative interfaces, manage application information, and perform privileged operations.

These roles are examples. You can define groups appropriate to your application's requirements and configure their access accordingly.

Controlling Access Across Your Application

Access control extends beyond deciding which pages a user can open.

Applications often need to protect sensitive data, restrict specific operations, and ensure that users can only perform actions appropriate to their permissions.

ioLoop allows access rules to be configured for supported Project resources, including pages, database tables, Cloud Flow modules, assets, and AI Agents.

For more specialized requirements, you can implement additional authorization checks through Cloud Flow and application logic.

For example, an order management application might allow customers to view their own orders, staff members to process orders, and administrators to perform management operations.

Cloud Flow can enforce additional business rules before executing sensitive operations, such as modifying order information or processing a cancellation.

Application Users vs. Project Collaborators

It is important to distinguish between the people who use an application and those who build and manage it.

• Project Users are the users of your application. Their access to application functionality and resources is managed through Project-level user management, groups, and permissions.
• Account Collaborators are people who participate in developing or managing Projects through the ioLoop development environment. Their access is managed separately through account and collaboration features.

This separation allows you to manage your application's users independently from the people responsible for its development.

Building Secure, Multi-Role Applications

By combining user authentication, User Groups, resource permissions, and custom authorization logic, ioLoop provides the building blocks for applications with different types of users and access requirements.

You can start with a simple public application and progressively introduce authenticated experiences, restricted functionality, and more sophisticated authorization rules as your requirements evolve.

Manage your users. Organize permissions. Deliver the right experience to the right audience.

Scale, Publishing, and Launch

ioLoop provides the tools and infrastructure to take applications from development to production and support them as their needs evolve.

You can develop and test your application within the Project Editor, configure its resources, and publish it when ready. Once published, your application can serve users, interact with databases, execute backend workflows, and communicate with external services.

Scale, publishing, and operational capabilities include:

• Application Publishing: Publish your Project to make your application accessible to its intended users.
• Development and Production Separation: Continue developing and testing changes without automatically affecting the published application.
• Application URLs and Domains: Configure how users access your published application, including supported domain options.
• Application Launch: Open and access the published version of your application to verify its functionality and user experience.
• Application Resources: Manage the compute resources and capacity allocated to your application through Scale.
• Always-Running Backend Capabilities: Support server-side operations, incoming webhooks, and background tasks according to your application's runtime configuration and plan.
• Checkpoints: Track important stages of Project development and manage Project progress.
• Continuous Development: Extend functionality, refine designs, update workflows, and publish new versions as your application evolves.

Scale: Resources for Your Application

Applications have different resource requirements depending on their functionality, workload, and usage.

A simple application serving a small number of users may require relatively few resources, while a sophisticated business application with backend processing, integrations, AI Agents, and concurrent users may require additional capacity.

The Scale area provides controls for managing application resources and capacity, allowing you to align the resources available to your application with its requirements.

As your application's needs change, you can adjust its resources within the capabilities and limits of your ioLoop plan.

Publish: From Development to Production

The Publish area lets you make your application available to users.

ioLoop separates the development experience from the published application. This allows you to continue modifying pages, updating JavaScript and CSS assets, refining Cloud Flow workflows, and adding new functionality without automatically changing what users experience.

When you're ready to make your changes available, you can publish the updated application.

This separation gives you control over when new functionality becomes available to users, helping you develop and improve applications while maintaining a stable published experience.

Launch: Access Your Published Application

Once your Project is published, you can launch the application through its configured URL.

The published application provides the experience intended for its users, including its frontend interfaces and the backend functionality that powers them.

Depending on how your Project is configured, users can interact with public pages, authenticate to access restricted functionality, submit forms, work with application data, and use AI-powered features.

Through Cloud Flow, published applications can also respond to incoming webhooks and execute background tasks, enabling server-side processes that operate independently of active user sessions.

Continue Building After Launch

Publishing an application doesn't mean development is finished.

You can return to the Project Editor to introduce new features, modify existing functionality, improve designs, update integrations, and enhance AI capabilities.

With AI Wiz, visual editing, Page Flow, Cloud Flow, and direct coding, you can continue evolving your application using the same development tools you used to create it.

Checkpoints provide an additional way to manage development progress as your Project changes over time.

When your updates are ready, you can publish again to make them available to your application's users.

Build with flexibility. Publish with control. Scale as your application grows.

Built to Grow with Your Application

Every application starts somewhere. Whether you're building a simple utility, an internal business tool, or a sophisticated SaaS platform, ioLoop gives you the flexibility to begin with what you need and expand as your requirements evolve.

A Project might initially contain just a few pages and forms. As your application grows, you can introduce database tables, implement business logic with Page Flow and Cloud Flow, integrate external services, add user authentication, and incorporate AI Agents.

You don't have to adopt every capability from the beginning. Each capability can be introduced when it becomes useful, while remaining part of the same structured Project.

One Platform. Endless Possibilities.

With AI Wiz accelerating development, visual programming simplifying implementation, and JavaScript providing deeper customization, ioLoop accommodates different development styles and levels of complexity.

From interactive user interfaces to sophisticated backend automation and agentic workflows, the platform provides a connected environment for building applications that can continue to evolve.

Start with an idea. Build what you need. Expand without limits to your creativity.