Approved AI skills
Skills agents are allowed to build with
Build in TypeScript with AI, inside your policy.
Your team sets the rules once. Your coding agent writes the backend with the Xano SDK. Nothing ships without review.
Write with AI · Run locally · Deploy to Xano
How you build a backend in TypeScript with AI on Xano
Your coding agent writes the backend in TypeScript with the Xano SDK, you run it on the Xano Engine on your machine, then you deploy it to Xano, where your workspace rules gate the release.
- 01 · Write with AI
Your coding agent writes the backend in TypeScript.
Claude Code, Codex or Cursor writes tables, APIs, realtime channels, tasks, MCP servers and AI agents as TypeScript objects in your repo, with the Xano SDK. The
$xano-backendskill and theAGENTS.mdthatinitwrites keep it on your rules.npx @xano/sdk init my-app && cd my-app - 02 · Run locally
You run it on the Xano Engine, on your machine.
A single binary with Postgres built in. No account, no network, starts in seconds. The engine version is pinned in
$package.json, so every checkout runs the same one.npm run xano:deploy - 03 · Deploy to Xano
You deploy it to Xano, where the workspace rules gate the release.
The same code lands in a disposable ephemeral and runs its tests. Only a stored release that came up and answered can be promoted, and promotion fails, naming anything that did not arrive.
$npx xanosdk deploy --ephemeral --test
Set once by your team
Your workspace rules, listed.
What your team mandates before anyone builds. Inherited automatically by every workspace.
The test suite
What every build must pass
Allowed dependencies
The code that’s permitted in
Auth patterns & identity
How access works, every time
Environments & residency
Where things run and data lives
Agent rules
Standing instructions agents inherit
On the line
Policy that runs, and a path every build takes.
- 01 · Enforce
Enforced in the request path, not in a PDF.
Policy here isn’t documentation. Middleware enforces it on every request, before input validation and before the response leaves, assigned at the workspace level so no endpoint can skip it. Sensitive fields: encrypted in and out, no matter who built the endpoint.
- 02 · The flow
The flow.
Connect any agent (Claude, Cursor, Codex). Your agent scaffolds against your workspace rules by default. Deploying creates an immutable, sandboxed release. IT inspects and promotes the exact artifact to production.
Connect your coding agent
Same agent
Claude Code with and without workspace rules
Same agent. Different software. See Claude Code on Xano →
Claude Code alone.
- The rules are one developer's markdown files: advisory, easy for the agent to drift from, different in every repo.
- Context gets re-prompted every session.
- The output deploys anywhere; the only person who can vouch for it is the person who prompted it.
- Review means reading a wall of generated code after the fact.
Claude Code on Xano.
- The same agent connects and inherits your organization's workspace rules: specs, agent rules, skills, docs, and business rules as standing context.
- It scaffolds against approved auth patterns, dependencies, and environments by default.
- Builds land in a sandbox, ship as an immutable release, and pass your review gate before promotion.
- Enforced per environment and per tenant.
Experiments
Try a hundred ideas. Ship the one that works.
Experiments on Xano start within your policy. The one that works goes to production on the path that IT already trusts.
“When one of these becomes real, I'm not rebuilding it. It ships from where it started.”
Questions
Building with AI on Xano
How do I build a backend with AI on Xano?
Your coding agent writes it in TypeScript with the Xano SDK, you run it on the Xano Engine on your machine, then you deploy it to Xano. Start with npx @xano/sdk init my-app. On Xano, a build lands in a disposable ephemeral, runs its tests, and only a reviewed release is promoted to production.
Which coding agents can build on Xano?
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Amp and OpenCode. npx @xano/sdk agent-skill install adds the xano-backend skill to each coding agent on your machine, so it writes valid Xano code in TypeScript and follows the AGENTS.md that init writes. Connect your coding agent.
What are workspace rules?
Workspace rules are what your team mandates once and every build inherits, whichever agent is driving: approved AI skills, the test suite, allowed dependencies, auth patterns and identity, environments and residency, and agent rules. Every workspace inherits them automatically. How AI code governance works on Xano.
Where are the rules enforced?
In the request path. Middleware assigned at the workspace level runs on every request, before input validation and before the response leaves, so no endpoint can skip it, whoever or whatever built it. Sensitive fields are encrypted in and out, and the release gate checks the rules again before anything promotes.
Do I need a Xano account to start?
No. The Xano Engine runs your whole backend on your machine with no account and no network, so local deploys need no sign-in. You need an account when you deploy to Xano’s cloud, where npx @xano/sdk login connects your terminal. Get started with the Xano SDK.
AI builds software. Xano makes it trustworthy.
Anyone builds with any tool. Nothing ships without review.