Creating an App

Requirements:

Before you can start building apps you should ensure that all of the following apply to you:

You must have a Partner Account and access to the Partner Portal
You are intending to build apps that can be installed on other Thinkific sites, if you are building an API Key integration app, go to our API documentation

Creating your first app

When creating your first app from within your Partner account, you will be expected to provide the following required information:

1. App Name

This will be used to identify your app to course creators when installing it on their site.

2. App URL

This is the URL where your app will be hosted. This link is available to course creators to easily navigate to your app.

3. Callback URLs

You must include at least one callback URL. Course creators will be redirected back to these white-labelled URLs when they complete the install of the app.

Once your app is created, you will be provided with a Client Key and a Client Secret. Use your key/secret to authenticate your app once its installed on a Thinkific site.

Choosing your app's authorization method

When installing your app on a client's site, you must use the OAuth Authorization Code flow and can choose to extend it using Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE) and/or OpenID Connect.

Learn more about the flows here: OAuth Authorization

Installing your app on a Thinkific Site

When managing an app in your Partner tools, you have the option to quickly install the app on a client site by using the available Installation UI and a site subdomain.

Installation UI

You can replicate and customize this functionality on your own pages to build an install link that your customers can use to install your app on their site. See this example Vue.JS app where authorization is done using the Authorization Code + PKCE flow

Installing your app from Thinkific's App Store

In order to have your app publicly available on Thinkific's App Store, you need to support users that are going to install your app through it.

When a user clicks the install button on your app's landing page, the App Store will redirect the user to your app. Specifically, the user will land at:

#{APP_URL}/install?subdomain={THINKIFIC_SUBDOMAIN}

So, imagine your app's url is https://my.cool.app. When the site cool-academy.thinkific.com tries to install your app through the App Store they will be redirected to:

https://my.cool.app/install?subdomain=cool-academy

The reason behind this to give you the flexibility to start the OAuth Flow with the params that make sense for your app to work.

So this endpoint should be ready to receive those requests and properly start the OAuth Flow so your app can be installed on the user's site.

Fill out your app's profile

Though not immediately required to begin building your app, there is additional information that you will be expected to add to your app settings before distributing to course creators. This includes:

1. Description (required)

This is a description of what your app will do for course creators. This is displayed to customers during the app's installation flow so you'll want to make sure it accurately represents the functionality that you are providing.

2. Customer support email (required)

This email is displayed to customers during the install flow and in their app management view so they know who to contact when they require support using your app.

3. App icon URL The app icon is displayed everywhere the app is displayed to customers. Recommended icon size: 64px by 64px

4. API contact email This email is used by Thinkific to communicate important information about your app and API changes that require your action.

5. App website This is your Marketing website or landing page, which you can use specifically for marketing and selling your app.

A detailed walkthrough of the app development process can also be found in our free course on the Thinkific Academy.

Up Next: Building a Great App Experience