Quickstart

From prompt to production in 5 minutes.

This guide walks you through creating and deploying your first Backdrift backend.

Prerequisites

• A Backdrift account (sign up here)
• A modern web browser

That’s it. No AWS account, no CLI tools, no infrastructure knowledge required.

Step 1: Create a Project

1. Log in to the Dashboard

   Go to backdrift.ai and sign in.

2. Click 'New Project'

   From the dashboard, click the New Project button.

3. Name Your Project

   Give your project a name like “Task Manager” or “My First Backend”.

Step 2: Describe Your Backend

You have two options:

Start from Template

Choose from pre-built templates:

• Task Management - Projects, tasks, team members
• E-commerce - Products, orders, customers
• CRM - Contacts, deals, activities
• Blog - Posts, authors, comments

Describe from Scratch

Write a natural language description:

A task management app where users can create projects,
add tasks with due dates and priorities, and assign
tasks to team members. Each organization should have
isolated data.

Step 3: Refine with AI Chat

After your initial description, you can chat with the AI to refine your spec:

User: "Add a comments feature to tasks"
AI: "I've added a comments entity with author, content, and timestamp fields..."

User: "Tasks should have file attachments"
AI: "I've added file storage support with S3 buckets configured..."

Step 4: Preview & Validate

Before deploying, click Preview to see:

• Infrastructure Changes - What resources will be created
• Cost Estimate - Monthly cost at different usage tiers
• Validation Report - Security and architecture checks

Step 5: Deploy

Click Deploy and watch the magic happen:

1. ✅ Database tables created
2. ✅ Authentication configured
3. ✅ API endpoints deployed
4. ✅ Frontend application built
5. ✅ Health checks verified

In about 2-3 minutes, you’ll have:

• A live API URL (e.g., https://xyz123.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com)
• A live Frontend URL (your React admin app)
• A Cognito User Pool for authentication

Step 6: Test Your Backend

Health Check

curl https://your-api-url.amazonaws.com/health

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "service": "task-manager-health-handler"
}

Create a User

Use the generated frontend to sign up, or use the AWS Console to create a test user in your Cognito User Pool.

Make API Calls

# Get an access token (from Cognito)
TOKEN="your-jwt-token"

# List tasks
curl https://your-api-url.amazonaws.com/v1/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# Create a task
curl -X POST https://your-api-url.amazonaws.com/v1/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "My first task", "priority": "high"}'

What’s Next?

Download SDKs

Get Python and TypeScript clients for your API.

Integrate with Lovable

Use the Design Doc to build a frontend with Lovable.

Add Features

Use Spec Chat to add authentication, jobs, or file storage.

Manage Data

Use the Admin Dashboard to browse and edit records.