Have you ever wondered how all the apps we use or interact with retain our information? It isn’t magic. From online publishing platforms to social media platforms, online e-commerce stores, email services, note-taking apps, task management tools, and even mobile device keyboards — you name it — these apps all have one thing in common: They manage your data!
Slack, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Airtable, WordPress, Medium, Instagram — chances are you have most likely interacted with or used at least one of these platforms, if not all at some point. These apps amongst others are what we refer to as CRUD apps.
For example, Medium, a popular online blogging platform, runs on CRUD operations:
- Create (users can create new posts or stories)
- Read (the audience can read published stories)
- Update (Authors can update their posts or stories)
- Delete (authors can delete news, posts, or stories they no longer want to share with their readers or the public).
At the heart of these apps is what we basically refer to as CRUD, which means CREATE, READ, UPDATE, and DELETE. We perform CRUD operations daily without knowing.
They organize our lives. They provide us with entertainment. They digitize our businesses. They allow us to share our opinions. They allow us to share our thoughts. CRUD apps are literally everywhere. However, not many know this; even if they do, they do not know how easy it is to build one.
In this article, I will share everything you need to know about a CRUD app and how to build one. Consider this post as the only go-to guide you’ll ever need!
This guide is divided into the following sections:
What is CRUD?
CRUD simply refers to the four basic operations any software application should be able to execute — Create, Read, Update, and Delete. In other words, CRUD are basic but important actions you can perform based on the data stored in the apps you use.
Below is a quick breakdown of what each operation entails:
Create: Create means adding new data. For example, when you sign up for an account on Softr, you’re automatically creating a new user profile. This involves inputting your details such as your full name, email, and password, which are then stored in the database.
Read: Read operation involves retrieving data. Every time you log in to your Softr Studio (where you build your CRUD apps, web applications, and internal tools without coding), you’re accessing and retrieving modals such as your account settings, application configurations, and existing projects.
Update: An update involves modifying or changing the existing data in the system. A good example is changing your email address or updating your data source or profile picture.
Delete: This operation involves permanently eliminating records that are no longer needed. For example, if you delete your Softr account (which we hope doesn't happen🥺), all associated data, including your user profile and applications created, will be deleted from the database.
Keeping this in mind, let’s explore what a CRUD app is…
What is a CRUD app?
A CRUD app performs four basic operations (CRUD) needed for a wide variety of functions, from performing simple to-do lists or enhancing productivity to intricate social networks. CRUD apps provide the basic operations needed to interact with data when using them.
A CRUD app typically consists of three main parts:
User Interface (UI)
The user interface consists of visual elements and controls that allow users to perform certain CRUD operations. For example, forms allow you to create new entries or update existing ones. Tables or lists will enable you to present data while the buttons or links let you navigate through the app or perform delete operations.
Database
The database is where data is stored and managed. It contains all the information handled by the CRUD app and it works alongside CRUD operations to:
- Create: Add new records to the database.
- Read: Select records from the database.
- Update: modify or change existing records in the database.
- Delete: Remove records from the database.
Backend server
The backend server communicates with the database to create, read, update, and delete data based on requests from the UI. Its responsibilities consist of:
API endpoints: To handle CRUD operation requests from the frontend. The table below shows each CRUD operation and its endpoints.
Data validation: To ensure complete adherence to data integrity and security.
Why build a CRUD app?
Whether you are a business owner or startup founder looking for a practical, cost-effective way to manage data and communicate with your technical team, a non-technical user who needs to build and manage apps without coding, or even a software or web developer interested in user-friendly app creation — building a CRUD app is great for many reasons.
No-code solutions for non-technical users
Not everyone can build an app or web application from scratch, and that’s understandable. For non-technical users, they need simple, practical, and no-code tools to build and manage their apps. A CRUD app offers the perfect solution to manage data without expert technical knowledge; thereby, enabling entrepreneurs (including small-business owners) and startup founders to efficiently streamline their operations.
Demystifying and simplifying CRUD operations for beginners
Not everyone is tech-savvy or knowledgeable about software development; and for people in this category, the thought of building an app is enough to send them running for the hills. Therefore, the thought of grasping what CRUD operations are might seem daunting. What a CRUD app does is to break down these functions into simple, manageable, easy-to-execute, and real-world tasks; making it easier to understand how data is managed in these applications.
Inherently, gaining this hands-on experience not only signifies a beginner's confidence in handling data operations but also boosts your self-confidence.
Cost-effective means for custom app development
Building custom apps from scratch is draining in a lot of ways. From either trying to build one yourself or going through the rigorous and time-consuming process of selecting and hiring a development team — custom app development isn’t child’s play. This is why building a CRUD app is a great alternative. In the most basic sense, CRUD apps serve as a blueprint for anyone looking to customize them to suit their various needs without a hefty price tag.
This makes it an ideal alternative for anyone who needs a no-code app builder (like Softr) to build functional, practical, and scalable apps without hiring a full-blown app development team.
Fun fact: Did you know that the Softr website itself was built using Softr? This shows just how powerful and versatile the platform is.
Scalability and maintenance
So you want to build an app. What’s next on your agenda? Scalability and ease of maintenance should be the next items on your checklist. CRUD apps are designed to provide a solid and robust foundation that grows with your needs as they increase; allowing you to add more new features and manage more data volumes easily.
Basic CRUD app examples
Some examples of CRUD apps we use daily include:
- Social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube allow users to create posts, read feeds, update profiles, and delete comments and posts.
- Email service providers like Gmail and Outlook allow users to create(compose) messages, read incoming (inbox) messages, update drafts or the time to send out a scheduled message and delete unwelcome messages or spam.
- Note-taking apps like EverNote or the inbuilt iPhone Notes app allow users to create new notes, read saved notes, update existing notes with new information, and old delete notes.
- Online shopping stores such as Amazon, eBay, or even your favorite Instagram vendor with a Shopify website allow users to create user accounts, browse products, update their carts, and delete orders.
- Inventory management systems like QuickBooks, Monday.com, Xero, and Odoo allow new items to be added to the inventory with accompanying details (Create), view a list of all inventory items and their details (Read), update item details such as the quantity left or price (Update), and remove items that are no longer in stock (Delete).
Tools for building CRUD apps
As I’ve reiterated in the other sections, building a CRUD app isn’t difficult, thanks to the wide array of tools at your disposal. And the best news? They cater to different levels of expertise.
Some of these tools are:
- Softr (the best no-code platform and popular CRUD builder).
- Front-end frameworks and libraries - React, Vue.js, and Angular.
- Backend frameworks - Node.js with Express, Django, and Ruby on Rails.
- Databases - Airtable, Excel, Sheets, MongoDB, Firebase, and SQL.
Did you know that Softr now integrates with SQL databases? This three-minute read answers any questions you might have!
What are CRUD projects?
CRUD projects can either be systems or applications built to showcase the basic operations of Create, Read, Update, and Delete on a dataset. Some common examples of CRUD projects and their use cases are:
- To-do list app: A simple application for users to add new tasks, view the order or list of tasks, update task details, and delete completed tasks.
- Employee management system: A system for managing employee data within an organization. Users can add new employees, view employee details, update employee information (such as new contact address or new role/department), and delete the information of employees no longer with the organization.
- Library management system: A system for managing books in a library. It allows users to add new books, view available books, update book information, and delete books no longer in the library/collection.
- Event management app: An application for managing users. Users can create new events, view a list of current or upcoming events, update event details, and delete canceled or past events.
- Expense tracker: An app for tracking business or personal expenditures. Users can add new expenses, view a summary of expenses, update expense details, and delete past expense reports, and unnecessary or incorrect expense entries.
These CRUD project examples also serve as an inspiration for anyone looking for CRUD app ideas or CRUD platforms they could build.
How to build a CRUD app with Softr in easy steps
Step 1: Get Softr
Getting started with Softr takes only a few minutes. You can sign up for free here.
Step 2: Create a new Softr application
After signing up, you’ll be redirected to your Softr Studio with a prompt to create your app. You can either build your CRUD app from scratch, generate from data by starting with a template, or generate with AI. For this app development tutorial, I’ll be using the “generate with AI” option.
Step 3: Generate with AI
When you click on the “generate with AI” option, you’ll be redirected to a window that looks like this.
Select the category of the app you want to build. In the screenshot above, I selected a directory because I want to build an app that lists physical storage vendors and allows visitors to browse, check vendor details, check for availability status, and book anyone that meets their requirements. After clicking on the app type, write your prompt ( as seen in the picture above) and click on “preview your app.”
Step 4: Preview your app
You’ll be redirected to a landing page that looks like the image below:
Softr’s AI will automatically generate a name for you (this can be changed in the Studio). Select the theme and accent color you want and voilà, you’ll be redirected to the Studio.
Your screen would look like the image below. Click on the “Get Started” button at the bottom far right as illustrated below.
Step 5: Get started and select a data source!
When you click on the “Get Started” button, a pop-up with numerous options will appear. Click on “Connect with a data source.”
Click on it and select your preferred database. For this tutorial, I have a demo Google Sheet populated with data of physical storage space vendors.
Step 6: Sync database
After clicking on your preferred data source, you will get another pop-up that tells you the data between your Softr app and database are now synced.
Step 7: Continue and customize
Click on the ‘Continue button.” Below you can see that my app has been populated with the list of vendors from my database.
What is Softr
Softr is the easiest way to turn your data into powerful business apps—no code required. Connect to your spreadsheet or database, customize layout and logic, and share with your team or clients.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
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Wuraola Ademola-Shanu
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