34 terms, defined
The words you meet building and publishing an app without code — from prompt and credit to AAB and data-safety form — in one or two sentences each.
AI app builder
A no code app builder that generates an app from a natural-language description using a large language model, rather than from a visual canvas. See what is an AI app builder.
No code
Building software without writing code — by configuring, dragging or, increasingly, describing. The result is real software; the author just did not program it.
Low code
Tools that do most of the work visually but expect some code for custom parts. AI app builders blur the line: no code is required, but the exported code is there if you want it.
Prompt
The text you give the AI: your description of the app, or a request for a change. Good prompts name the screen, the change and the behaviour.
Agent
An AI that plans and uses tools over several steps — interviewing, writing files, editing — rather than answering once. AI App Builder's generator is an agent.
Credit
The unit of AI work you pay with. Deducted by tokens: 10,000 input tokens or 1,000 output tokens per credit. See pricing.
Token
A chunk of text roughly three-quarters of a word long; the unit language models read and write in and that credits are measured by.
Manifest (project.json)
The small file that describes an app's screens, tabs, name, colours and capabilities. Written first; everything else follows from it.
Screen
One page of the app — a menu, a detail, a form. In AI App Builder each screen is one HTML/JS file, which is what makes targeted edits possible.
Native shell
The real Android app (Kotlin, Jetpack Compose) that hosts the screens and provides the app bar, tabs, back stack, permissions and native features.
Bridge
The channel between a screen and the native shell: screens call it to navigate, request a photo, schedule a notification, and so on.
Capability
A native feature the app declares — camera, location, notifications, biometrics, barcode — bundling its permission, library and adapter. Exports carry only declared capabilities.
Permission
Android's consent mechanism for sensitive features. Generated apps request each one when the feature is first used, not at launch.
APK
Android Package — the installable file. Can be shared directly and installed from a phone's file manager.
AAB
Android App Bundle — the publishing format Google Play requires. Play generates optimised APKs from it per device.
Android Studio
Google's free development environment for Android. The exported project opens in it and builds with one click.
Gradle
Android's build system. The export includes a pinned Gradle wrapper so it builds identically on any machine.
Signing key / keystore
The cryptographic identity of your app. Every update must be signed with the same key; back it up.
Play App Signing
Google's service that holds your app's final signing key so a lost upload key can be reset.
Play Console
The website where you create the listing, upload bundles, fill in the data-safety form and publish.
Closed testing
A private Play track. Personal developer accounts must run one with 12 testers for 14 days before their first production release.
Data safety form
Play's declaration of what an app collects and shares. Answer from the exported manifest and the app's actual behaviour.
Privacy policy
A public page describing what the app collects. Required by Play for almost every app, even one that collects nothing.
Target SDK
The Android version an app is built for. Play raises the minimum yearly; rebuilding the export keeps up.
Local notification
A reminder or alert scheduled on the phone itself — no server. Used for reminders, timers and 'new post' alerts from cached data.
Push notification
A message sent from a server to phones instantly. Needs a provider such as Firebase Cloud Messaging in the exported project.
Biometric lock
Fingerprint or face authentication to open the app or a screen, falling back to the device PIN.
Deep link
A URL that opens a specific screen in an app — or opens another app, such as WhatsApp with a prepared message.
WebView
Android's built-in browser component. Website-to-app converters wrap a site in one; AI App Builder uses it inside a native shell to host generated screens.
Published sheet
A Google Sheet shared as a CSV URL that an app reads on launch — the simplest way to update content without an app update.
Backend
Server-side software: accounts, databases, payments, real-time features. Optional for most small apps; bring your own (Firebase, an API) when needed.
Firebase
Google's backend platform — authentication, database, storage, push. The common choice when a generated app needs accounts or shared data.
MVP
Minimum viable product — the smallest version that tests whether an idea works. Exactly what an AI builder produces in an evening.
Iteration
Refining a generated app through follow-up requests. One specific change per message, named screen, described behaviour.
Build your first app tonight
Describe it in a sentence, watch the screens appear, tap through them on your phone. Free to start — 100 credits, no card, no code.
Get AI App Builder — free Android 7.0+ · Google Play