Build Budibase apps directly with Codex/Claude Code

[loureirodnl]

Hi Budibase team

We have been really loving Budibase so far. But we are facing a dilemma now:

• On one side we spend several days building apps on budibase with deep understanding of budibase required (even if it's nocode/lowcode it still requires some experience)
• On the other side there are solutions like Loveable / Base44 that provide codex/claude code like app development abilities on top of managed databases with auth layers.

What is the vision of Budibase on that question ? Do you plan at one point to allow us to build budibase apps directly from claude code / codex and leverage user and database management currently provided by Budibase ?

Because the "precise specs to app" AI workflow is working on apps like Loveable and Base44 and works in production. So we are really asking ourselves questions about what we should do in the future.

Thank you very much for everything you have built

[joebudi]

Yes, this is something we will start work on in Q4. Right now, our focus is on delivering 4.0: Agents operations and requests, approval workflows, projects, templates, and more. After that, we will focus on AI generation, LDAP and other really cool and highly requested features.

You can follow progress here:
Product (view)

If possible, could you outline your preferred/expected UX when it comes to AI app generation?

[loureirodnl]

Ok thank you for your answer. Regarding a possible UX I would think about a MCP server for Budibase and we would connect Codex or Claude Code so the coding agent can develop the front end instead of us doing drag and drop to build the front end. The experience we have is that prompting is tremendously faster than drag and drop and also produce better UI. Also we don't really care if the code that the AI is producing for the frontend is not the best in the world. The only thing that we realy care about is that the backend logic is governed (user management, groups, authentification, API integrations, ....) and that's already something Budibase manage correctly. So my point of view is that we don't see anymore the added value of a drag and drop interface now that AI frontend development have proven to be so fast, beautifull and functionnal.

[joebudi]

Thank you for the response. This will help hugely when deciding on a solution. Cheers.

[benaunt]

I agree with the above.

An MCP or other integration into the preferred code editor of choice will allow us to leverage all the context and data that Budibase does not contain such as business requirements/mock ups via the code editor. We can they just rapidly generate app front ends and the required structure/manifest for the Budibase back-end and enact larger changes to an app due to changes in business requirements.

If using the typical Budibase front end components - a user can then tweak manually through your already decent designer.

But an option to have a full AI generated front end (custom svelte/css) as well would be good.

[alexuvlab]

yeah, i’d keep the builder. prompting the whole thing is nice until it’s one weird spacing or binding issue. then i’d rather just fix it there than try another prompt.