Introducing Spaces in Biscuit

Biscuit now organises each workspace into spaces. A space keeps related apps, tasks, integrations and conversations together, with its own settings for who can see and change what.

Why we built spaces

When we started Biscuit, we pictured one person with one idea, building one app. Many people did exactly that and their feedback shaped our product into what it is today.

We spent months talking to teams at companies of different sizes and we heard their stories. One theme emerged from this research: some teams needed a tool that nobody had time to build, and others had a tool that nobody could maintain after the person who built it left.

Anyone on a team can ask Biscuit for the tool they need, and Biscuit builds it on the company's shared data and permissions. When they need to update a tool, they ask Biscuit for the change instead of waiting on a developer. And once the tool is live, Biscuit proactively maintains it, so nobody on the team has to.

Spaces are how this works for a whole company: each team gets its own place to build, with its own members and data.

In this post, we'll walk through how spaces work in detail, from setting up your workspace to sharing apps and keeping your data safe.

How it works

Get a new workspace

When you sign in to Biscuit for the first time, you can choose between a Work or Personal workspace. If you are setting up Biscuit for your team, choose “Work” and proceed.

Every workspace now includes:

• Personal: a private space only you can see, until you choose to share what you build.
• A shared team space: everyone in the workspace is a member, including anyone who joins later.
• Spaces you create: decide who can find each space and how people join, from everyone in the workspace to only the people you invite.

Your personal space

Every user in Biscuit gets their own personal space. Everything inside this space is private to you until you share the app with others.

When you are ready to share, go to “Share App” and invite members to use it.

Create a new space

From the side panel, go to “Spaces” and click the “+” icon. Name your space and click “Create Space.” Only members can access the apps, data, files, and tasks inside a space. When you create a space, use the “Access” setting to decide who can find it and how people join, from everyone in the workspace to only the people you invite.

You can create one space per team or one space for all teams. It depends on how your company decides to organise.

Manage team and apps

Start by adding new members to the workspace. From the top left corner, go to Settings → Members. Add your teammate by entering their email address or copy the invite link and share it.

Once you add members to the workspace, you can add them to a specific space.

For example, add Smith Jones, your accountant, to the Accounting space.

Now that your team is in a space, bring the apps they need there too.

You can move any app from one space to another. When an app you built in your personal space becomes important to your team, move it into a team space. Members of that space can then use and maintain it, and the app stays with the team even if you change roles or move on.

You can also move apps between team spaces. For example, if Sales takes over a tool Marketing built, move it from the Marketing space to the Sales space.

You can share apps with someone outside the space as well. Choose “Can edit” if they should be able to change the app or “Can use” if they only need to use it.

Do you want to share your app publicly? Then simply change General Access to “Anyone on the web with the link” under sharing settings and click Publish

How Biscuit ensures data safety

Let’s understand what we mean by data. When you create a new app, for example, a CRM for your sales team, the database holds records like customers and deals. The sales team may have uploaded contracts or sales pitch decks — these are files. This data belongs to the space, and the space owner decides who it's shared with.

Biscuit handles data safety in three layers:

1. Workspace — only the workspace owner can invite new members to your workspace. Every member signs in through Biscuit's authentication, and access can be revoked anytime.
2. Space — the space owner decides who can access the apps, data, and files inside, and whether members can use them or also edit them.
3. App — for each app, you can give specific access: either Can edit or Can use. When you share an app, Biscuit shows what it depends on (which data it reads and which connected accounts it uses) before anything changes.

What this looks like in a real team — example

Say your marketing team builds an app called Lead Finder that collects new leads. Marketing can't tell which leads are worth pursuing until someone follows up, so they share Lead Finder with the sales team. Now sales can see the leads and reach out to them.

When a lead becomes a customer, sales adds them to their CRM app.

Meanwhile, the Accounting team has an Invoice app, and they need customer details to send invoices. Instead of copying data from one app to another, they ask Biscuit: "Use the customer records from the CRM app to create invoices." Biscuit finds the customer records in the CRM and connects them to the Invoice app.

Each team keeps its own apps in its own space, and they still work together.

Build together with your team in spaces

Spaces give every team a place to build what it needs, with the right people inside and the right data kept where it belongs. Your accounting team can keep its tools and files in its own space, sales can have theirs, and anything the whole company should use goes in the shared team space. Because each app belongs to a space and not to one person's account, it stays with the team when people change roles or move on, and Biscuit keeps maintaining it.

Spaces are available in every workspace today. Sign in to Biscuit, create a space for your team, and invite a teammate to build something with you.

Need help with setting up? Reach out to support@biscuit.so and our team will help you.