Atlassian DeveloperAtlassian Developer

Atlassian DeveloperAtlassian Developer

Last updatedJun 29, 2020

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Start building with Atlassian

Welcome to developing apps with Atlassian. Apps are how developers integrate with and customize our products.

App development process

You can build apps to help your team, or sell solutions in the Atlassian Marketplace. This page describes how to plan and build apps with our development platforms, product APIs, and other resources.

Step 1: Choose a product

Atlassian makes products that help teams get stuff done. Each product has development frameworks, REST APIs, and other tools to help you create apps and solutions.

If you aren't sure which product you want to customize, take a look at our list of products to learn more about Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Jira Service Desk, and others.

Step 2: Pick a deployment option

Atlassian offers three deployment options for our products: cloud, server, or Data Center. Cloud products are hosted by Atlassian. Server and Data Center products are hosted by our customers.

Cloud apps use different frameworks from server and Data Center apps, so you can't run the same app across different platforms without some adjustments.


Cloud appsServer and Data Center apps
  • Can be written in any language
  • Hosted by the developer (you)
  • Access to product REST and JS APIs
  • Can access the public internet
    		•
  • Use a Java backend
  • Hosted by the customer (not you)
  • Access to product Java and REST APIs
  • May not have access to the public internet

    • See Cloud, server, and Data Center for an in-depth comparison of building apps for the different deployment options. Note that some products, such as Trello and Status page, are only available on cloud, while others are only server.

    Step 3: Get set up

    Each product has a set of developer documentation, including basic platform information, getting started guides, and API reference materials.

    • Read the Getting started guide to set up your environment with a simple app.
    • Next, use Tutorials and guides to build more complex apps.
    • Explore what's possible with product REST APIs and modules in the Reference.

    Check out the cloud or server and Data Center documentation for each product.

    These guides focus on Atlassian Connect apps and integrations. For details on the new development platform, see the Forge documentation (beta).

    Step 4: Build your app

    Once your development environment is set up for the product and platform you're interested in, it's time to start building. If you're extending the UI, see our design guidelines and frontend components.

    Step 5: Distribute your app (optional)

    Share your app with your team by installing it in your team's instance.

    Next, list your app in the Atlassian Marketplace so that others can benefit from your solution. You can make money by selling your app, or list the app for free. See the Marketplace documentation to review the guidelines for listing apps.

    Get help and support

    If you can't find the answers to your questions in our documentation, remember to leave feedback on the pages you use.

    See Help and feedback for a full list of resources available to developers, like the developer community, Marketplace support, status page, and more.

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