> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.workshop.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Build Internal Tools

> Build admin panels, CRMs, and operational tools connected to your databases and APIs. Deploy securely with built-in authentication.

## What you'll build

A custom internal tool — an admin panel, CRM, operations dashboard, or workflow tracker — connected to your real data and deployed with authentication so only your team can access it.

## Before you start

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a Workshop account">
    Sign up at [app.workshop.ai](https://app.workshop.ai). Workshop Cloud is recommended for internal tools — it handles hosting, auth, and deployment.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your data sources">
    Internal tools are most useful when connected to your existing systems. Set up the connectors you need:

    * **Databases**: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Supabase, Neon, Microsoft SQL Server, TiDB
    * **Data warehouses**: BigQuery, Snowflake
    * **Cloud storage**: AWS S3, Google Drive
    * **APIs**: Use the custom connector to store API keys and secrets for any third-party service
    * **Spreadsheets**: Google Sheets (public or private)

    Go to **Hub** → **Connectors** to set them up.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Step-by-step flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect your databases and APIs">
    Open the **Hub** → **Connectors** and add connections to the systems your tool needs to read from or write to. For custom APIs, use the **Custom Connector** to securely store API keys and endpoints.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Describe the tool you need">
    Tell Workshop what the tool should do, who will use it, and what data it needs.

    **Example prompts:**

    * *"Build a customer support admin panel with ticket management, customer lookup, response templates, and performance metrics. Connect to my Postgres database for ticket and customer data."*
    * *"Create an inventory management tool with product catalog, stock level tracking, low-stock alerts, and purchase order generation. Include search, filtering, and CSV export."*
    * *"Build a sales CRM with a Kanban pipeline view, contact management, activity logging, and deal forecasting."*
    * *"Create an employee onboarding tracker with task checklists, progress visualization, and an admin view."*
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add CRUD operations and workflows">
    Internal tools typically need to read and write data. Ask Workshop to add the operations your team needs:

    * *"Add a form to create new customers with validation on the email field."*
    * *"Let users change the ticket status by clicking a dropdown in the table row."*
    * *"Add a bulk action to mark selected orders as shipped."*
    * *"Add CSV export for the filtered table view."*
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deploy with authentication">
    Click **Publish** and Workshop handles hosting and compute. Built-in authentication means your team members sign in to access the tool — no one else can see the data. You can restrict access to specific people or teams without building a login system yourself.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Tips and best practices

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Describe the user, not just the tool">
    Tell Workshop who will use this: *"This is for our customer success team — they need to quickly look up a customer by email, see their subscription status, recent tickets, and usage metrics."* Context about the user produces better UX decisions.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Start with the most critical workflow">
    Don't try to build the entire tool at once. Start with the single most important workflow — e.g., *"I need to be able to search for a customer and see all their orders"* — and expand from there.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Use real data during development">
    Connect to your actual database (or a staging copy) so you can validate that queries return correct results. Dummy data hides schema mismatches and edge cases.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Ask for validation and error handling">
    Internal tools handle real business data. Ask Workshop for safeguards: *"Add a confirmation dialog before deleting a record. Validate that the email format is correct before saving. Show an error message if the database update fails."*
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Think about permissions">
    If different team members need different access levels, describe it: *"Managers can edit and delete records. Regular users can only view and create."* Workshop can build role-based access into the tool.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next steps

* [Connectors](/connectors) — Set up database and API connections
* [Publishing](/workshop-cloud/publishing) — Deploy your tool with authentication
* [Sharing and teams](/workshop-cloud/sharing-and-teams) — Control who can access the tool
* [Working with the Agent](/core-concepts/working-with-the-agent) — Prompting tips and communicating with Workshop

***

<Card title="Start Building Free" icon="arrow-right" href="https://app.workshop.ai">
  No more waiting on engineering backlogs. Describe the tool and deploy it today.
</Card>