Last updated Dec 12, 2024

Cloud and Data Center development

If you'd like to build an Atlassian app or extension for our products, we offer two deployment options:

Cloud (recommended)
Data Center

Server end of life is February 15, 2024. Check more details on how this impacts Marketplace listings and a timeline of the changes.

If you're building your server or Data Center app in cloud, check out our App migration platform. If you're an Atlassian Marketplace Partner, you can also find more information in our dedicated resource hub in the Partner Portal.

Cloud

You can build an Atlassian cloud app on Forge or Connect. To compare the two platforms, check out our Cloud development options.

Before you build with Connect, consider Forge

Forge is our recommended platform for building Atlassian cloud apps. All new extensibility features will be delivered only on Forge.

Get started with Forge

Have an existing Connect app? Find out how to incrementally adopt Forge from Connect.

To get started, sign up online to create an instance of one of our cloud products such as Jira or Confluence. Your instance will be:

Hosted on Atlassian's infrastructure, with a default .atlassian.net subdomain
Accessed through the public internet

Use these tutorials to get started and visit each platform's documentation:

Forge getting started guide
Connect tutorials for Jira, Confluence, or Bitbucket Cloud

Data Center

If you have an app or customer business requirement that prevents you from building your app on cloud, we recommend moving to Data Center.

Data Center products let customers host on their own infrastructure, and their deployments can run on a cluster.

Free Data Center developer licenses are available to billing and technical contacts of active (not expired) commercial Data Center licenses in my.atlassian.com. Click View Developer License in the Actions menu of your Data Center license.

To learn more, check out:

Server

Server end of life is February 15, 2024.

Check more details on:

Comparing deployment options

So, what's the difference between Jira Cloud and Jira Server? Or Confluence Cloud and Confluence Server?

It may be the same Atlassian product, but that doesn't mean all apps work on all deployment options.

For developing your app, here are some key differences between the deployment options:

	Cloud	Server and Data Center
Distribution	Web apps Hosted by developer (you) with Connect, or by Atlassian with Forge	Java backend Hosted by customer
Internet availability	Can access the public internet	No guarantee of access to the public internet Many customers keep their instances inside secure, private intranets (behind the firewall).
Tools and languages	Written using any framework or language appropriate for the authentication method Forge allows you to write apps with serverless Node.js functions Atlassian provides starter kits for: NodeJS Java Spring Boot	Written in Java Uses the Atlassian SDK
Persistent storage	For easy storage, use Forge's native key value database. Use entity properties to store data by a Jira issue or content properties to store data by a Confluence page. Use the database of your choice with Connect. If you store any user-identifying data, you must follow GDPR specifications.	For an advanced database interface, see Active Objects. For simple storage, use entity properties to store data by a Jira issue or content properties to store data by a Confluence page.
Authentication	Forge automatically authenticates API calls on behalf of the app. Connect authenticates apps using JWT tokens. OAuth 2.0 is also available for REST APIs. OAuth 1.0a is available for REST APIs. This method requires site admins to generate a private/public key pair and configure an incoming application link for your app.	Java APIs need no special authentication beyond requesting the needed permissions upon install. OAuth 1.0a is available for REST APIs. This method requires site admins to generate a private/public key pair and configure an incoming application link for your app.
Versioning	Atlassian manages all product updates.	Customers are responsible for product updates. When listing your app on Marketplace, you must specify the range of product versions your app is compatible with.

It's also possible for a cloud app to interact with server and Data Center.

For this to work:

The customer's instance must be accessible to the internet (see Internet availability in the table above)
You must authenticate using OAuth 1.0a (See Authentication also above).

Learn more about the differences between cloud and server from a customer's perspective.