App Settings
Per-app configuration — design guidelines, management settings, custom instructions, automations, and workspace controls.
App Settings control how each individual app is configured. Access them by clicking the app name in the top left of the App builder, then selecting Settings.
App Design
Set the visual rules the Riff agent follows when it generates or updates your app's UI. The agent reads these guidelines before making any interface change.
Design Guidelines
Summary of your app's visual purpose — edit to match your brand
Design Approach
Overall philosophy (e.g. "minimal and data-dense", "clear and accessible")
Key Features
Elements to emphasise (e.g. "tables over charts", "mobile-friendly")
Shapes
Preferred geometry (e.g. "rounded corners", "sharp rectangles")
Typography
Font and text hierarchy guidance
Favicon
The icon shown in browser tabs
App Design is a guide for the Riff agent, not a hard constraint. For specific components, give the agent more detailed instructions in chat. Design guidelines are auto-generated when you first create the app — they are often generic by default, so review and edit them early.
Changes to App Design affect future generations. Existing UI components are not automatically updated.
App Management
Tell the Riff agent what your app is for. The more context you provide here, the better its decisions about structure, naming, and logic.
Name
Display name of your app. Changing this does NOT change the deployed URL.
Pitch
One-sentence description — the Riff agent uses this as its primary framing
App Description
Full description of features, integrations, and key workflows
Target Audience
Who will use this app (e.g. "procurement team, 20 users, internal")
Examples for procurement and operations apps:
Pitch
"Monitors open POs and chases supplier confirmations automatically"
App Description
"Connects to Infor LN via the ION API, pulls open POs daily, and sends confirmation requests to suppliers. Escalates overdue items to the procurement manager via email."
Target Audience
"Procurement team — 5 buyers and 1 procurement manager. Internal use only."
App Management context is read by the Riff agent on every request. Keep it accurate as the app evolves. A clear pitch and description reduce the number of clarifying questions the agent asks.
Custom Instructions
Give the Riff agent rules that apply specifically to this app. Custom Instructions take priority over the agent's default behaviour and over global preferences.
When to use them:
Your app handles regulated data and you want the agent to always add data handling notes to code comments
Your team follows a specific naming convention for database tables or API endpoints
Your procurement workflow has an escalation rule the agent must always respect
You want consistent date formats, currency conventions, or language standards throughout
Examples:
"This app integrates with SAP S/4HANA. All API calls must include the X-CSRF-Token header. Never cache authentication tokens."
"PO values above €50,000 must always require a second approver flag in the database. Never remove this check."
"Use ISO 8601 date formatting (YYYY-MM-DD) throughout. Supplier IDs are always six digits, zero-padded."
Keep instructions concise — 50 to 500 characters is the recommended range. Longer instructions slow the agent down. If the agent ignores an instruction, check whether it conflicts with a platform constraint.
Automations
Schedule work inside your app to run automatically — at a set time, on a repeating pattern, or triggered by a time-based rule. Once configured, the job runs without anyone pressing a button.
Automations are a feature, not a build type. On Riff you build Apps and Agents. Automations are something you add to them — the mechanism that tells your app when to run a job without manual input.
When to add an Automation:
The job repeats on a fixed schedule — daily, weekly, end-of-month, or any recurring pattern
No one should have to remember to kick it off — supplier chasing, exception digests, overnight syncs
The trigger is time, not a human action
Common examples for procurement and manufacturing teams:
Chase open supplier confirmations every morning at 6am before buyers arrive at their desks
Push a weekly open-PO summary to the team every Friday at 4pm
Trigger an overnight ERP data reconciliation at 2am when systems are quiet
Send a procurement exception digest each day at 7am so buyers start with a clear picture
Actions available:
Add a cron schedule
Set a time-based rule to trigger a workflow automatically
Target an API endpoint
Point an automation at an endpoint inside your app
Pause / resume
Suspend a schedule without deleting it
Run multiple automations
Each fires independently
Common cron patterns:
0 7 * * 1-5
Every weekday at 7:00am
0 6 * * *
Every day at 6:00am
0 2 * * *
Every night at 2:00am
0 16 * * 5
Every Friday at 4:00pm
*/30 * * * *
Every 30 minutes
If cron syntax is unfamiliar, describe the schedule in plain language in chat and the Riff agent will suggest the right expression.
Workspace Management
Control the runtime state of your app — from routine maintenance to taking a live app offline.
Upgrade
Moves your workspace to the latest Riff runtime
When new features or fixes are available
Restart workspace
Restarts app services — clears in-memory state, reloads environment
After changing secrets, after an upgrade, or when a process is stuck
Undeploy
Removes the app from the public internet — workspace stays editable
To take a live app offline without deleting it
Hibernate
Pauses the workspace to reduce resource usage
For apps that are built but not yet in active use
Notes:
Restart clears in-memory state only — your database, files, and secrets are not affected
Undeploy is reversible — you can redeploy at any time
Upgrade may require a restart to take full effect — the Riff agent will prompt you if needed
Hibernate pauses the workspace — scheduled automations will not run while hibernated
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