What Databricks Apps does
Everything in this section comes from Databricks’ documentation, read on the date above.
- Hosting next to the data. The overview says Databricks Apps lets developers “build and deploy secure data and AI applications directly on the Databricks platform”.
- The frameworks Claude Code tends to write. Python frameworks including Streamlit, Dash and Gradio are supported, as are Node.js frameworks such as React and Express.
- Serverless, with platform governance. Apps run on the serverless platform and integrate with Unity Catalog for data governance, Databricks SQL for queries, and OAuth for authentication.
- Two ways to reach data. The Genie App Builder page describes an app acting as the signed-in user, limited to what that user can already access, or acting with its own identity on resources an admin has shared.
- Sharing by permission level. An app is shared with “CAN USE” or “CAN MANAGE”.
- Building by description. Genie App Builder generates an app from a natural-language description inside an App Space. The docs mark it as Beta.
For a company whose data is in Databricks and whose builders work there, this is a strong answer. Permissions the data team already maintains apply to the app without extra work.
Where the two differ
intrium is pre-launch. The right-hand column describes the product as planned.
| Databricks Apps | intrium (planned) | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | The Databricks workspace | A repository on the builder’s machine, written with Claude Code |
| Data it is designed around | Data governed in Unity Catalog | Postgres and Snowflake through read-only credentials IT registers, or files the builder drops in |
| Who can open an app | People granted a permission on the app in Databricks | Members of an Okta or Google group that IT chooses |
| Where it runs | Databricks’ serverless platform | Hosted by intrium to start. Your own AWS account is planned as the Enterprise option. |
| IT’s view | Apps within Databricks | A catalog of every app with a named owner and a last-used date |
One limit is worth knowing if you plan to use Genie App Builder. Its documentation says those apps “have no general public internet egress” and that outbound access is limited to the Databricks workspace and Databricks’ package proxies. We have not checked the network rules for custom apps, so we make no claim about them.
When Databricks Apps is the better choice
- The data the app needs is in Databricks.
- The people who will use the app already have Databricks access.
- Your data team wants one permission model for tables and for apps.
When to look for something else
- The app reads a Postgres database or a Snowflake warehouse, or joins more than one system.
- The app runs on spreadsheets and exported reports, not a warehouse.
- The viewers are people across the company who have no reason to be in a data platform.
- You want the same place for every app staff build with Claude Code, whatever data it uses.
That set of requirements is what intrium is being built for.