Apps are small interactive tools the Dema Agent builds for you inside a conversation: a dashboard-style view, a calculator, a report, or any focused mini-app. Once built, an app is saved to your app library so you (and the agents you choose) can reuse it instead of rebuilding it from scratch every time.
Apps belong to you, the person who created them (or on whose behalf the agent created them). Linking an app to an agent doesn’t transfer ownership. It just lets that agent open, reuse, and update the app.
The app library
Every app you own lives in one place: the Apps panel on the left side. From there you can open an app, see who it’s shared with, and see which agents (if any) it’s linked to.
Whether an app needs to be linked to an agent comes down to one thing: what it takes to keep it current.
| If keeping the app current means… | Then… |
|---|
| A plain data refresh (same view, newer numbers) | A Refresh button in the app is enough. It doesn’t need to be linked to an agent. |
| Reasoning or a skill (re-ranking, summarising, flagging anomalies, or deciding what to include) | Link it to an agent and let the agent update it, on demand or on a schedule. |
Example: a standalone app
A Promo Margin Calculator where you type in a discount and see the margin impact. It pulls current product costs when you open it, and a Refresh button re-pulls the latest numbers. There’s nothing to reason about between uses, so it doesn’t need to be linked to an agent. It simply lives in your library and you open it whenever you need it.
Example: a linked app kept current on a schedule
A Weekly Margin Review that ranks markets, calls out the biggest movers, and writes a short summary. Keeping it current isn’t just a data refresh. Each week the numbers need to be re-analysed and the commentary re-written. So you link it to an agent and set that agent to run on a schedule (for example, every Monday at 7am). On each scheduled run the agent updates the app, so the latest review is waiting for you when you arrive.
An app can exist on its own, without being linked to any agent. It still appears in your library, and you can open, rename, and update it.
Linking an app to an agent
Linking gives an agent access to one of your apps so it can reuse and update it during its runs.
- Open the agent and go to its Apps section in the configuration view.
- Click + Add to open the Add app dialog.
- Search for the app and click Add next to it.
The agent’s Apps section shows both kinds of apps it can use: ones it generated in earlier conversations, and ones you linked from your library.
To unlink later, hover the app in the agent’s Apps list and click the trash icon (Remove app). Removing the link doesn’t delete the app. It stays in your library.
Telling the agent how to use a linked app
Linking makes the app available to the agent. To shape when and how the agent reaches for it, add it to the agent’s instructions. Instructions are sent to the agent on every message, so the agent will know about the app without you having to mention it each time. For example:
“When I ask for a weekly performance review, open the Weekly Margin app and fill it in for the latest full week.”
You can update instructions two ways: edit them directly at Agents → Configuration → Instructions, or simply ask the agent in a conversation (“From now on, use the Weekly Margin app for weekly reviews”), and it will save the instruction for you.
Keep instructions short and specific: name the app and the situation that should trigger it.
Visibility and the share-and-link prompt
An app’s visibility controls who can see it:
| Visibility | Who can see it |
|---|
| Private | Only you |
| Team | Everyone on the selected team(s) |
| Org | Everyone in your organization |
Share app and link? Linking this app to the agent requires the app to be visible to the agent’s audience. The app stays yours. This only widens who can see it.
Choose Share and link to widen visibility and link in one step, or Cancel to leave things unchanged.
The reverse also applies. If you narrow an app’s visibility while it’s linked to agents whose audience is no longer covered, those links are automatically removed. People who can use those agents but don’t own the app will lose access to it through them.
Updating an app
The app’s name, visibility, and lifecycle are managed from the Actions (⋯) menu in the library. Rename, Visibility, and Delete work whether or not the app is linked to an agent (renaming, changing visibility, and deleting are owner-only).
To change what the app does (its layout, logic, or data), an agent edits it inside a conversation. You have two ways to start that:
Updating an app that’s linked to an agent
If the app is already linked to an agent, just open a conversation with that agent and ask it to make the change (“Add a column for return rate”, “Group this by market”). Because the app is linked, the agent can edit it directly, and your changes apply to the live app.
Updating an app that isn’t linked to an agent
An app in your library that isn’t connected to any agent can still be updated. You don’t have to link it first.
- Open the app from the library.
- Click Ask app to open the Open app dialog.
- Choose:
- Continue in latest session: pick up the last conversation where this app was built or changed (if one exists and you have access to it), or
- Start new session: open a fresh conversation with the app loaded, ready to edit.
- Tell the agent what to change. Your edits apply to the same app in your library.
If you’d rather a specific agent own the ongoing work, link the app to that agent first, then ask that agent to update it. Either path edits the same app. Linking just makes the app reusable from that agent going forward.
Removing vs. deleting
These two actions are different:
| Action | Where | Effect |
|---|
| Remove app | Agent’s Apps list | Unlinks the app from that agent. The app stays in your library. |
| Delete | App Actions (⋯) menu | Permanently deletes the app and all its versions. This cannot be undone, and it’s owner-only. |
