Full Glide App Documentation — Every Table, Screen, and Workflow. Here's the Breakdown

I originally built this for myself :laughing:

When you’re managing a complex Glide app — dozens of tables, computed columns stacked on computed columns, workflows scattered across screens, security logic that grew organically over months — you reach a point where even you don’t fully know what your app is doing anymore. Let alone being able to hand it off to someone else, onboard a client, or pick up where you left off after a few weeks away.

So I built a documentation tool for Glide apps. It’s something I’ve been refining across real projects, and the more complex the app, the more useful it becomes.

Here’s exactly what it captures:


:bar_chart: Data Model

Every table in the app, documented to the column level:

  • Table name, type (Glide Table, Big Table, Google Sheets, Airtable, etc.), and approximate row count

  • Every column: name, type, category (basic / computed / user-specific), whether it’s required or protected

  • Full configuration of every computed column type:

    • Relations — target table, match columns, single vs. multiple

    • Lookups — which relation, which target column

    • Rollups — source, calculation type (count, sum, average, min, max, count_true, etc.)

    • If → Then → Else — every condition branch and fallback value

    • Math Columns — formula, variable-to-column mappings, precision, unit

    • Templates — full template string with all column placeholders

    • Queries / Filter-Sort-Limit — conditions, sort, limit, this-row matching

    • Joined List — source relation, separator

    • Single Value — source, which row (first / last / random)

    • Split Text, Make Array, Construct URL, Date Difference, Distance

    • AI Columns — Generate Text / Generate Image with prompt

    • Experimental Code Columns — full JavaScript source

  • Which columns are Row Owners

  • Which columns are User-Specific

  • The full relationship graph between tables — every relation, lookup, and query visualized as a dependency map


:desktop_computer: Layout & Screen Structure

Every screen documented, component by component:

  • Tab inventory — name, icon, source table, screen type, visibility conditions

  • Screen hierarchy — which screens exist, how they’re reached, what table/relation they’re scoped to

  • For every component on every screen:

    • Component type (Hero, Text, Inline List, Container, Button, Form Field, Chart, Map, Image, Separator, etc.)

    • Every data binding — which column feeds title, subtitle, image, meta, description

    • Style settings — card vs. list vs. grid, size, alignment

    • Visibility conditions — exactly when and for whom the component appears

    • For lists: applied filters, sort rules, search enabled/disabled, page size, CRUD permissions

    • For containers: nested components with their own bindings and conditions

    • For buttons: the full action or workflow triggered on tap

    • For forms: every field, which column it writes to, placeholder text, required/optional


:high_voltage: Workflows

Every workflow captured in full:

  • Complete inventory — name, trigger type (app interaction vs. scheduled automation), source table, which screen/button triggers it

  • Step-by-step documentation of every workflow:

    • Conditions — the exact logic that must be true before proceeding

    • Set Column Value — destination column and value source

    • Add Row — target table and every column assignment

    • Delete Row — conditions and target

    • Send Email — to/from/subject/body template, plugin used (native, Outlook, SendGrid, etc.)

    • Show Notification / Toast — message and icon

    • Navigate — target screen

    • Trigger Workflow — which workflow is called

    • Loop (For Each) — source rows and what happens per iteration

    • Wait — duration

    • Webhook / API Call — URL, method, headers, body, response mapping

    • Plugin Actions — DocsAutomator, CSV export, and others fully documented

    • AI Actions — prompt, model, output column

  • Scheduled workflows — day/time pattern, source table, filter conditions


:locked: Security & Auth

  • Authentication method (Email PIN, Google, Public, etc.)

  • Whether sign-in is required or optional

  • User Profile table — which table, which columns map to email, name, role

  • All roles defined — how they’re stored and referenced

  • Row Owners configuration — which tables have it enabled, which columns are set as owners

  • Protected Columns — which columns are write-protected per role

  • User-Specific Columns — what data is stored per-user rather than per-row

  • Security findings — where visibility conditions are doing the work that Row Owners should be doing (a surprisingly common pattern, and a real risk in larger apps)


The Output

The documentation is delivered in two formats depending on what you need:

Option A — Visual HTML Report: A structured, designed document you can share with clients, stakeholders, or handoff partners. Includes a screen-by-screen mockup generated from the structural analysis (not pixel-perfect screenshots, but accurate component hierarchy), full tables, and security findings.

Option B — Markdown Documentation: Four separate files — data model, layout structure, workflows, security & auth — formatted for readability and version control. Easy to maintain, update, and diff over time as the app evolves.


Who this is actually useful for

This started as something I built for my own projects. But I’ve found it valuable in a few specific situations that keep coming up:

  • Larger apps where no single person holds the full mental model anymore

  • Handing off a build to a client who wants to understand what they’re owning

  • Onboarding a collaborator or second developer onto an existing app

  • Pre-refactor audits — before reworking a data model or workflow structure, document what’s there first

  • Security reviews — knowing exactly which tables have Row Owners and which don’t

  • Apps you haven’t touched in months — getting back up to speed fastPreformatted text

If you’d like a documentation of your Glide app, feel free to reach out.
Always happy to talk through what’s possible. :sign_of_the_horns: Happy Gliding! :rocket:

8 Likes

This is an amazing concept. As a solopreneur, I’d love to trial this. DMing you!

3 Likes

Some reach that point very early in the building process. Speaking of a friend :laughing:

The tool you built is impressive and seems very useful.

2 Likes

Does it use Glide code with playwright or something similar?

I also became to documenting the app, but i do it manually with Atlas browser and GPT. Then Cursor IDE formatting raw data to git and publishing to Github.

Aslo, i created external service to access to private git, retrieve docs and return html to show in webview component.

Really interesting for automatic exploration.