The full-stack AI app builder that writes the backend
Build a full-stack app with AI: the API, the database layer, and the frontend, generated as code you own in Node.js, Python, C#, or Java, with sign-in built in. Designed contract-first, built feature by feature, and ready to deploy.
One full-stack app free. No credit card.
What is a full-stack AI app builder?
A full-stack AI app builder generates both halves of an application from a description: the frontend people use, and the backend behind it, meaning the API, the data model, the database layer, and authentication.
The test that separates it from a frontend builder is where the server-side logic lives. If it is code in your project that you can read, change, and run yourself, the tool generated a backend. If it lives inside a hosted service, the tool generated an integration. Both are useful. Only one is AI full-stack development.
Shipd is an AI app builder that generates the backend. The longer argument is in what “full-stack” should mean in an AI app builder.
Does a full-stack AI app builder create the backend?
It should, and Shipd does. The contract, the routes, and the data model land in your project as code, not as settings on someone else’s platform. Sign-in and per-user data come built in, so every feature can assume a real user from day one.
An API contract
The endpoints, payloads, and status codes are designed first. The backend and the frontend are both generated against that one spec, so the two halves cannot drift.
Real routes and handlers
A server you can open and read: real routes, validation, and status codes in your chosen framework. Not a set of generated endpoints hidden inside a platform.
A data model and migrations
Entities and schema expressed in code, in your stack’s idiom, with the database connection read from a DATABASE_URL so you can point it at your own Postgres.
End-user sign-in, built in
Sign-up and sign-in work the moment the generated app loads, with no auth provider to configure, so every feature can assume a real, authenticated user.
Per-user data, built in
Each user’s records are isolated from everyone else’s and rate-limited, with zero setup on your side.
The frontend on top
A React, Vue, Svelte, or vanilla interface built against the contract, one feature at a time, calling the API it was designed with.
These sit alongside everything else Shipd does, from live preview to Figma import. See the full list on the capabilities page.
Can AI generate APIs and databases?
Yes. The API is designed first, then the route handlers and the data layer behind them are generated in the stack you pick. Every stack reads its database from a DATABASE_URL, so it works against a Postgres you own.
Node.js
Live in previewPython
C#
Java
Contract first, then both halves against it.
Full-stack builds run through the AI team, with a backend engineer and a frontend engineer working from one spec. Here is the hand-off in detail.
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01
Contract
Devin, the backend engineer, designs the API: resources, endpoints, and the shape of every request and response.
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02
Backend
The server and data layer are generated in your chosen stack, against that contract.
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03
Frontend
Sam, the frontend engineer, builds the interface against the same contract, feature by feature.
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04
Checks
On a Node backend, each feature is exercised in the running app, and a save is re-read to prove it persisted. A failed check is fixed first.
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05
Deploy
Publish to a live URL, push to GitHub, or export the full source and run it wherever you like.
Why one feature at a time? Because a backend built in one giant pass is where AI-generated apps quietly break. We stopped generating whole apps in one shot.
Can the generated backend be deployed?
Node: one click to production
Shipd wraps the same Express app you tested in the preview as a Vercel serverless function and connects it to Postgres: your own DATABASE_URL if you set one, or a database Shipd provisions if you did not. The app you tested is the app that ships.
Python, C#, Java: your host, your rules
These generate as complete, runnable projects with a README and run steps. Push them to GitHub or export the source, then deploy to any host that runs the stack. They do not run inside the browser preview, because that runtime is Node.
Every project can also be pushed to GitHub, exported as a ZIP, or served on a custom domain. Already have a backend in a repo? Shipd can read your existing codebase and build on it instead.
A generated backend is not a hosted one.
Many builders call themselves full-stack because they connect your frontend to a managed backend platform. That is a fine choice for plenty of apps. It is a different product.
Tool by tool: Shipd vs Lovable, Shipd vs Bolt.new, Shipd vs v0.
Full-stack AI app builder questions
Short, direct answers.
What is a full-stack AI app builder?
A full-stack AI app builder generates both halves of an application from a description: the frontend people use, and the backend behind it, meaning the API, the data model, the database layer, and authentication. The test that separates it from a frontend builder is where the server-side logic lives. If it is code in your project that you can read, change, and run yourself, the tool generated a backend. If it lives inside a hosted service, the tool generated an integration.
Does a full-stack AI app builder create the backend?
A true one does. Shipd generates the backend as code in your project: a server in Node.js, Python, C#, or Java with real routes, a data layer, and migrations. It is designed contract-first, so the frontend is built against the same API the backend implements. Many tools described as full-stack instead connect a generated frontend to a managed backend such as a hosted database platform, which is useful but is not the same as generating one.
Can AI generate APIs and databases?
Yes. Shipd designs the API first (resources, endpoints, request and response shapes), then generates the route handlers and the data layer that backs them: Express with a SQL data layer for Node, FastAPI with SQLAlchemy and Alembic for Python, ASP.NET Core with EF Core for C#, and Spring Boot with Spring Data JPA for Java. The database connection comes from a DATABASE_URL, so the generated code works against a Postgres database you own.
Can the generated backend be deployed?
Yes. A Node backend publishes with one click: Shipd wraps the same Express app you tested in the preview as a Vercel serverless function and connects it to a Postgres database, using your own DATABASE_URL if you set one or provisioning a database if you did not. Python, C#, and Java backends are generated as complete, runnable projects with a README and run steps, which you can push to GitHub or export and deploy to any host that runs that stack.
What programming languages does Shipd support?
For generated backends: Node.js (Express), Python (FastAPI), C# (ASP.NET Core), and Java (Spring Boot). For frontends: React, Vue, Svelte, and vanilla JavaScript. The Node backend also runs live inside the in-browser preview while you build. Separately, Shipd’s cloud environment can run existing repositories in stacks including Go, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Python, and Node.
Build the whole stack.
Your first full-stack app is free: frontend, backend, and database, built feature by feature. No credit card.
Further reading: What full-stack should mean in an AI app builder · The AI team now ships the backend too · AI app builder for real applications