The best backend for AI-coded apps
Give your AI a real backend. You get auth, permissions, storage, presence, and streams — everything you need to ship apps your users will love.
Built for AI
Get a backend designed to be operated from the CLI. Your agent can do everything a human can do with a dashboard, and when things go wrong, undo is built in.
Never leave your terminal
Create an account, spin up a database, push schema, and build from the terminal. No dashboards. No clicking through UIs. Just you, your agent, and your code.
1// ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Real-time Chat2// ----------------------------------3// * Updates instantly4// * Multiplayer5// * Works offline67import { init, id } from "@instantdb/react"89const db = init({ appId: "your-app-id" })1011function Chat() {12 // 1. Read13 const { data } = db.useQuery({ messages: {} })1415 // 2. Write16 const addMessage = (msg) => {17 db.transact(db.tx.messages[id()].update(msg))18 }1920 // 3. Render!21 return <UI data={data} onAdd={addMessage} />22}2324export default ChatEasy for humans, perfect for LLMs
Instant has a tiny API surface. Modern LLMs already know it from their training data. And it takes only 1% of context for advanced features.
Here's how a real-time chat app looks like with Instant. Simple to read, and even easier for your AI to understand and generate.
End-to-end type safety
Instant comes with types for your schema, permissions, queries, and transactions. This makes it easy to catch errors early. Your AI can understand your data model and generate correct code on the first try.
Undo destructive changes
LLMs can make mistakes. For destructive actions like schema deletions, Instant comes with built-in undo. Restore deleted columns instantly.
Startups love Instant
Some of the best developers have bet their infrastructure on Instant. They do it because it helps them move fast and focus on wowing their users.
“Before Instant every feature we shipped came with a handoff: a frontend engineer communicated with a backend engineer. Today, everyone is a full-stack engineer. The very first piece of frontend already comes with persistence.”
“When I was choosing a backend for HeroUI, I was looking for speed: I wanted creating objects, modifying them, just about every detail, to feel fast. With Instant not only did we get optimistic updates, but we got real-time updates, and collisions. Just about all the problems we were worried about came solved. At that point I do not want to use any database other than Instant.”
“Instant gave us real-time collaboration out of the box. Our users drag images, text, and links onto shared moodboards and see each other’s changes live — we went from months of sync engine work to shipping multiplayer in a week. This is a fake testimonial.”
“InstantDB is the reason we are able to build applications that feel "instant" to the user. When we were using Supabase, we had to manually create optimistic updates and struggled to keep client state in sync with the backend. InstantDB removes all of that complexity and has become our competitive advantage. That immediate responsiveness consistently gives us a better user experience than our competitors.”
“Instant lets us move fast without cutting corners. The schema and permissions are a joy to work with, recovery features have saved us a couple of times, and real-time sync eliminates a ton of boilerplate. The best part? Every time we demo our WhatsApp integration and every action instantly shows up on the web dashboard, clients are in awe. And it took zero effort on our part to achieve that magic.”
“InstantDB completely changed how I build Tiny Harvest. I didn't have to think about backend logic, syncing, or infrastructure - I could just focus on building the game. Real-time updates work out of the box, and everything feels incredibly smooth. As a solo dev, that's exactly what I need: less setup, more building.”
Batteries included
As your app grows, you start needing more services. Instant comes with a bunch of the fundamental ones built-in, and they're designed to work well together.
Auth
Magic Code emails, Sign in with Google, Apple, GitHub, and LinkedIn are all built-in with your app. Agents can set these methods up in minutes and they're extendable too.
Sign in
Permissions
Inspired from Google's Zanzibar and Facebook's EntPrivacy, get a permission system that lets you write both simple and complicated rules.
messages
allow
bind
Storage
You don't need a separate service to upload images and videos. Storage lets you upload files, and they feel like any other row in your database.
stopaPayments
Build apps that monetize. Easily add one-time purchases, subscriptions, or usage-based billing by telling AI to add Stripe to your Instant app.
Presence
Make your apps feel alive. You can use Presence and Broadcast services to share who's online, who's typing, or who's cursor is moving.
Streams
Broadcast large data streams without worrying about RAM or durability. The streams service lets you send infintely large data, and multiple listeners can join at any time.
Stopa
Drew
DanielA database in your frontend
Instant apps aren't like traditional CRUD apps. Instead of endpoints your frontend gets a real-time database. This is the same tech that makes Linear and Figma so delightful.
Instant updates
Click a button, toggle a switch, type in a field — whatever you do, you see the result right away. Your apps feel fast, so your users stay in flow.
With InstantUpdates right away
Waits on the server
Daniel's phone
Joe's phoneReal-time sync
Multiplayer experiences work out of the box. If one person makes a change, everyone else can see it right away. No need to refresh or re-open the app to see the latest.
Works offline
Instant apps keep working when you lose connection. When your users get back online, everything syncs up without them having to do a thing. Pure magic.
Joe's phoneJust shipped!
Perf is looking great
Deploys are green
Drew's phoneJust shipped!
Perf is looking great
Deploys are green
Relational at the Core
Real apps aren't flat. Data needs to connect. Most backends make you choose between real-time sync and relational queries. Instant gives you both.
Ship something delightful.
You can start building out your dreams today. We never limit or freeze your projects.
Backed by the best