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Classic apps tutorial

A hands-on introduction to classic apps.

Retool enables you to build classic apps using a drag-and-drop interface and component library. You can connect your apps to almost any database and API to Retool, allowing your users to interact with data.

This tutorial is split into two parts and uses sample data. You only need to complete the first part of this tutorial to build a fully working classic app.

What you'll learn​

This part covers the fundamental concepts of building a classic app. You'll create a customer management dashboard that:

  • Retrieves customer data from an API and display it in a table.
  • Populates a form with data from the selected table row.
  • Make changes to the form's input field values and save them back to the data source.

After completing this part, you'll have the necessary knowledge to:

  • Assemble a user interface using components.
  • Connect data sources by creating resources.
  • Write query code that interacts with the data source.
  • Add event handlers to trigger actions in response to user interaction.
  • Connect queries and components to manipulate data.
Customer management dashboard

Get started​

Familiarity with common technologies like APIs and JavaScript is expected to complete this tutorial. If you need to learn more about these technologies, Retool recommends the following resources:

Every Retool user account is bound to an organization in which you create classic apps.

  • If you already have a Retool account, sign in to your organization.
    • Cloud-hosted organization users can sign in using Retool's login page.
    • Self-hosted organization users must sign in using the organization's login page URL (e.g., https://retool.example.com/auth/login).
  • If you aren't yet using Retool, you can sign up and create a cloud-hosted organization for free. The creator of an organization is automatically designated as its administrator.

Once you log in, navigate to the Apps section. Then click Create > Classic app and set the name to Classic app tutorial.