Case study
Appsmith IDE
Turning a low-code builder into a multi-context development workspace
Appsmith ↗Choose your depth
The problem, my contribution, outcomes, and strongest screens.
My role
Product design · Information architecture · Developer experience
Product focus
An IDE-wide workspace for moving between UI, data, code, and debugging without losing context.
Overview
I redesigned the IDE around the way builders move continuously between UI, data, code, and debugging, keeping related contexts visible and open work easy to recover.
The problem
Moving between the canvas, properties, queries, APIs, JavaScript objects, datasources, and logs felt like leaving the current task. Users repeatedly scanned the entity explorer and struggled to recover recent work.
What I drove
- Translated fragmented workflows into an IDE-wide information architecture.
- Designed persistent entity tabs, recents, and a unified New Tab experience.
- Explored two- and three-column workspaces for UI, code, and data.
What changed
- Created a shared workspace model across the canvas, queries, APIs, JavaScript, data, and logs.
- Used persistent tabs and recents as working memory for interrupted, multi-context tasks.
Impact
What the work was designed to move
Business impact
Created an IDE-wide workspace model that connects UI, code, data, navigation, and debugging.
Customer impact
Builders can preserve working context and recover recent tasks with fewer disruptive navigation loops.
Revenue impact
Supports activation and retention by helping teams reach productive outcomes faster in the core building experience.
Highlights evidence
3 essential screens from the final experience.
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