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Applications Overview

Last reviewed: 2026-05-13
Maintained by: Engineering

This page explains the main Zgrid applications at a practical level: what each app does, who uses it, where it lives, how to run it locally, which configuration matters most, and what deployment target is currently documented.

Status legend used below:

  • Implemented: current behavior is backed by the repo and current docs
  • Partial: present, but not fully automated, fully documented, or fully complete across all surfaces
  • Template-ready: placeholder structure exists, but a production-grade workflow is not yet documented

API Backend​

Status:

  • Implemented: backend runtime, auth, RBAC, business logic, data access, migrations, and typed API contracts
  • Implemented: tenant, manager, technician, and admin-facing route groups documented in the current runbooks and feature inventory

What it does:

  • serves the application API
  • enforces auth, tenant isolation, and role/scope rules
  • owns business workflows such as onboarding, issues, service requests, notifications, billing, and admin operations

Who uses it:

  • all client apps indirectly
  • engineers working on backend logic, integrations, migrations, and environment contracts

Where it lives:

  • apps/api

How to run locally:

corepack pnpm run dev:api

Main commands:

corepack pnpm run dev:api
corepack pnpm run build:api
corepack pnpm run check:api
corepack pnpm run test:api
corepack pnpm run db:migrate
corepack pnpm run seed:demo

Main environment variables:

  • PORT
  • DATABASE_URL
  • JWT_ACCESS_SECRET
  • JWT_REFRESH_SECRET
  • WEB_ALLOWED_ORIGINS
  • EMAIL_PROVIDER
  • R2_ACCOUNT_ID
  • SENTRY_ENABLED

Deployment target:

  • Implemented: Render is the current documented API host
  • Partial: detailed Render operational ownership and dashboard links are still intentionally placeholder-based in this portal

Related docs:

Back Office​

Status:

  • Implemented: super_admin web workspace and admin operational surface
  • Partial: hosting is documented as Vercel, but the current repo deploy workflow does not show a dedicated Back Office deploy step

What it does:

  • provides the super_admin interface for platform-wide operations
  • exposes organization, subscription, issue, privacy, audit, and system health views

Who uses it:

  • super_admin
  • engineers debugging platform-level admin flows

Where it lives:

  • apps/back-office

How to run locally:

corepack pnpm run dev:back-office

Main commands:

corepack pnpm run dev:back-office
corepack pnpm run build:back-office
corepack pnpm run check:back-office
corepack pnpm run lint:back-office

Main environment variables:

  • NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_ENABLED
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN

Deployment target:

  • Implemented: Vercel is the documented host target
  • Partial: the current repo automation documents Manager Desk and API deployment explicitly, but not Back Office deployment steps

Related docs:

Manager Desk​

Status:

  • Implemented: organization-scoped manager workspace
  • Implemented: current deploy workflow includes Manager Desk deployment through Vercel

What it does:

  • provides the manager-facing workspace for buildings, issues, service requests, onboarding, announcements, documents, voting, and subscription controls

Who uses it:

  • manager
  • engineers working on organization-bound web workflows

Where it lives:

  • apps/manager-desk

How to run locally:

corepack pnpm run dev:manager-desk

Main commands:

corepack pnpm run dev:manager-desk
corepack pnpm run build:manager-desk
corepack pnpm run check:manager-desk
corepack pnpm run test:manager-desk

Main environment variables:

  • NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_ENABLED
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN

Deployment target:

  • Implemented: Vercel

Related docs:

Mobile App​

Status:

  • Implemented: Expo mobile app for tenant and technician flows
  • Partial: some feature areas remain gated or intentionally reduced, such as resident payments fallback states

What it does:

  • provides tenant and technician mobile workflows
  • handles authentication, issues, documents, notifications, service requests, onboarding states, and technician job surfaces

Who uses it:

  • tenant
  • technician
  • engineers working on mobile user journeys and push-related integrations

Where it lives:

  • apps/zgrid-mobile

How to run locally:

corepack pnpm run dev:zgrid-mobile

Main commands:

corepack pnpm run dev:zgrid-mobile
corepack pnpm run ios:zgrid-mobile
corepack pnpm run android:zgrid-mobile
corepack pnpm run check:zgrid-mobile

Main environment variables:

  • EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL
  • EXPO_PUBLIC_APP_ENV
  • EXPO_PUBLIC_EAS_PROJECT_ID
  • EXPO_PUBLIC_ENABLE_RESIDENT_PAYMENTS
  • EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_ENABLED

Deployment target:

  • Implemented: Expo / EAS is the documented hosted build environment

Related docs:

Docs Portal​

Status:

  • Implemented: Docusaurus workspace and local docs portal
  • Implemented: repo-level docs/ folder remains the source of truth
  • Template-ready: public deployment target is intentionally not added yet

What it does:

  • renders internal engineering documentation as a browsable portal
  • organizes onboarding, applications, environments, architecture, operations, QA, product, and reference pages

Who uses it:

  • engineers
  • QA
  • future team members onboarding into the repo

Where it lives:

  • Docusaurus shell: apps/docs
  • content source: docs

How to run locally:

corepack pnpm run docs:dev

Main commands:

corepack pnpm run docs:dev
corepack pnpm run docs:build
corepack pnpm run docs:serve

Main environment variables:

  • none required for the current local docs portal workflow

Deployment target:

  • Template-ready: no public deployment target is currently documented

Related docs: