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Apps

4 min read

An app is something you open in the browser: a notebook, an editor, a dashboard or a web service. Each app runs in its own pod, from a template, with your home folder attached.

Templates

Section titled “Templates”

Press New app and pick a card. The built-in templates are grouped like this:

Group Templates
Notebooks JupyterLab, marimo, Pluto.jl, RStudio, VS Code
Dashboards Bokeh, Dash, Gradio, Panel, Streamlit, Voila
Web FastAPI, Static site, Node back-end, Go back-end, Custom command, Container image
Agents Claude Code, herdr (agents in a terminal), pi coding agent

Your admin may turn some off, and template admins can add their own. Templates that only run jobs do not show here.

Container image runs an image of your choice: give its reference, the port it listens on (8080 is offered first) and, if you like, a command that replaces the image’s own. The app’s URL prefix is removed before requests reach it, so an image that serves at / works. It runs under the same restrictions as every app (never as root, no extra privileges); an image that needs root fails with a reason saying so. Admins can limit which registries images may come from.

Where the code comes from

Section titled “Where the code comes from”

Templates that run your code ask Where is the code?

  • Home folder: choose a file from your home folder, or keep the template’s sample.
  • Git repository: Javo clones the repository into the app’s pod each time it starts.
    • Repository address: an https:// address.
    • Branch, tag or commit: empty means the default branch.
    • App file: the file the template runs.
    • Under the options: Folder in the repository, and an Access token for a private repository. The token is one of your secrets; pick None, the repository is public otherwise.

Static site also takes a build command and an output folder.

Apps from a GitHub repository can have a preview for every pull request. An app from Git can bring its own pixi.toml and pixi.lock: see Environments.

Size

Section titled “Size”

Pick one of the sizes your admin defined. A size sets the CPU and memory the app gets (and GPUs, for GPU sizes). Some sizes may be limited to certain groups, and some people may type a custom CPU and memory amount instead. A size bigger than every machine in the cluster shows disabled.

Advanced options

Section titled “Advanced options”
  • API access: None, Read, or Read and write. With access, the app gets JAVO_URL and JAVO_TOKEN in its environment and can call the API as you. Read allows only reads. Changing the level restarts the app and revokes the old token.
  • Environment variables: typed values or secrets.
  • When nobody uses it: stop when idle.

The app page

Section titled “The app page”

The app page has Open, Start, Restart, Stop and Delete, an Overview tab and a Sharing tab.

While the app starts, a timeline shows each step: find a machine, attach your home folder, download the image, build the site (static sites), start the app, check it answers. If a step fails, it says why, and shows the events, the latest app log and the build log next to it. A live log view follows the app’s output.

Addresses

Section titled “Addresses”

Your admin picks one of two shapes:

  • Path: https://<javo address>/u/<owner>/<app>/, or the same path on a separate apps host.
  • Subdomain: https://<owner>-<app>.<apps domain>/. Long names are shortened and end in a short hash.

Stop when idle

Section titled “Stop when idle”

When your admin allows it, the Stop when idle switch and Stop after choice (from 15 minutes to 7 days, within your admin’s limits) stop an app that has had no visits and no open connections for that long. An open JupyterLab or terminal tab counts as use. The app shows Stopped when idle; its files and settings are kept, and it starts again from its card. Jobs are not affected.

Export and import

Section titled “Export and import”

Export and import go through the API, not a page. GET /api/workspaces/export returns your apps as a YAML file; POST /api/workspaces/import/preview shows what importing such a file would do, and POST /api/workspaces/import does it. Both take {"yaml": "...", "onExists": "skip"}, where onExists says what to do when a name is taken: skip it or rename (add a copy). Imported apps arrive stopped. Exports carry environment variable values you typed and the names of secrets, never a secret’s value.

Terminal window
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $JAVO_TOKEN" -o javo-apps.yaml https://javo.example.com/api/workspaces/export