How to Start (and Scale) a Software Development Agency
Few things are more thrilling than deciding to become your own boss and launch a software development company. And few things are more terrifying!
8base's backend-as-a-service removes the hassle of manual infrastructure management, enabling front-end developers to focus more on what they love and back-end developers to expedite their workflows.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up a serverless GraphQL backend on 8base, allowing you to build fast, efficient and scalable APIs for your application.
Before we get started, you’ll need a free 8base account. The process to sign up is simple: sign up here with your email and password, and confirm your account via email.
Once your account is confirmed, you’ll be redirected to a default project. This project will serve as the foundation for your serverless GraphQL backend and can be connected to one of 8base’s starter applications or your own frontend application.
Each project is treated individually in 8base, similar to having separate Git repositories for different code bases. This approach makes it easy to stay organized and upgrade individual projects as your app or service scales.
Creating a new project in 8base is a breeze. Simply follow these steps:
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Once your project is ready, you can begin designing and creating data models using 8base’s Data Builder. Accessible through our backend UI, Data Builder is a powerful tool that allows you to define tables and fields for your serverless GraphQL backend.
In the project, head to the Data Builder page and click on [+ Create Table]. For demonstration purposes, we're going to create a table and name it Notes for our data model with the following fields.
Notes
Field Type Description Options
title Text The notes title mandatory=True
body Text The notes body mandatory=True
Next, let’s click the “Data” tab and add a row. We can call the title “Hamlet” and body, “A play about Denmark”.
As we mentioned above, it’s possible to use 8base as a backend-as-a-service when you connect your application to the 8base backend using the project API. This creates a very clear separation between the server-side (8base) and client-side (an app / frontend).
However, 8base really shines when you use its frontend App Builder to create a versatile full-stack application on the platform.
To make a request to your backend from App Builder, simply navigate back to the project dashboard and click to open the Frontend UI. Next,
You now have your backend data flowing into the application.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up a serverless GraphQL backend using 8base and connected it to your frontend application. Now that you have a solid foundation, it's a great time to dive into 8base's documentation, including:
With the power of serverless GraphQL backends at your fingertips, the sky’s the limit for your app’s potential.
We're excited about helping you achieve amazing results.