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:

10 Likes

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

5 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.

1 Like

how are you doing this? This seems great! Does it require you to go through every action inside the app, or can it investigate on its own without actually submitting any data?

Yes every action. In the Atlas enabling side bar agent and it can see everything on main tab.
In addition I enabling voice recording and sent portion every 30..60s

1 Like

Hey,…

no, it´s way smarter :wink:

1 Like

@Christopher_Geyer it will be extreme important for any project for such a documentation

I would very much like to know how you are accomplishing this

1 Like

Hey sounds awesome! Would love to give it a try :flexed_biceps:t3:

1 Like

Very impressive, would love to see how it works. Let me know how we can do that!

1 Like