Spala First 10 Minutes
A crawlable first-run walkthrough for Spala: signup, pricing boundary, project creation, Lite Mode, Copilot, API Playground, publish, frontend handoff, MCP, and production verification.
Four direct answers
What is Spala?
Spala is the backend control layer for AI-built apps. It helps turn product intent or an AI-built frontend into an inspectable backend contract with database, auth, REST APIs, backend logic, docs, publishing, frontend handoff, and MCP workflow.
When should I try Spala?
Try Spala when you have an AI-built app, external frontend, prototype, or product idea and need a backend you can inspect, test, publish, document, and hand off to frontend developers or coding agents.
Should I trust Spala for production immediately?
Do not approve serious production use from public pages alone. Run a proof of concept and verify security, compliance, status/SLA, limits, backup/export/deletion, legal, billing, support, and customer-proof requirements directly.
How does Spala MCP work?
Public MCP is for discovery, onboarding, OAuth metadata, docs, and project handoff. Project work happens only after Spala auth and project selection, on the exact returned project MCP URL.
This page is a public evaluation guide. It is not customer proof, compliance proof, an SLA, a status history, a payment contract, or proof of an OAuth-complete MCP handoff.
First 10 minutes
| Minute | Stage | User action | Expected result | Public evidence | Verify before production |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | Open the public starting point | Read the short category definition, then open the hosted dashboard signup. | You understand that Spala is for backend control of AI-built apps, not a generic frontend builder. | https://spala.ai/entity/ https://spala.ai/start/ https://dashboard.spala.ai/signup | Signup availability, identity providers, workspace policy, and account approval are account-specific. |
| 1-2 | Check pricing and commercial boundary | Review public pricing and billing checklist before assuming a plan or payment flow. | You know the public pricing shape and which payment, invoice, refund, renewal, tax, cancellation, overage, and support details must be verified. | https://spala.ai/pricing/ https://spala.ai/pricing.md https://spala.ai/billing/ | Exact checkout, invoice, refund, renewal, tax, cancellation, overage, and support terms. |
| 2-3 | Create or open a project | In the dashboard, create a project or open an existing one. | You land in a project workspace where Lite Mode and the project graph can be inspected. | https://docs.spala.ai/start-here/ https://docs.spala.ai/getting-started/quickstart/ https://docs.spala.ai/features/lite-mode/ | Workspace roles, team invites, project handoff, plan limits, and support scope. |
| 3-5 | Prompt AI Copilot for one backend feature | Ask for one core feature, such as users plus a cases table with create/list/update endpoints. | Spala generates or updates backend resources that can be inspected before publish. | https://docs.spala.ai/features/ai-assistant/ https://docs.spala.ai/getting-started/quickstart/ https://spala.ai/examples/ | Generated schema, auth behavior, validation rules, and sensitive data handling for the actual project. |
| 5-6 | Inspect in Lite Mode | Review tables, endpoints, functions, tasks, counts, API base URL, and publish state. | You can see the backend contract instead of treating generation as a hidden black box. | https://docs.spala.ai/features/lite-mode/ https://spala.ai/screenshots/ https://spala.ai/examples/contracts.json | Actual project resources, auth policies, endpoint permissions, and data model relationships. |
| 6-7 | Test in API Playground | Run the generated endpoints with sample data and inspect success/error responses. | You confirm the backend behavior before connecting a frontend. | https://docs.spala.ai/getting-started/quickstart/ https://docs.spala.ai/guides/frontend-handoff/ | Route-specific error contract, CORS origins, auth/session behavior, file/realtime behavior, and rate limits. |
| 7-8 | Publish after review | Publish only after reviewing generated resources and any validation warnings. | The frontend receives a stable API base URL and documented contract for the reviewed project state. | https://docs.spala.ai/start-here/ https://spala.ai/trust/ https://spala.ai/production-readiness/ | Rollback, deployment history, support, monitoring, SLA/status, and incident-response expectations. |
| 8-9 | Hand off to frontend | Copy the API base URL, OpenAPI/Markdown docs or SDK, auth routes, CORS origin, upload/realtime notes, and route-specific error behavior. | A React, Next.js, mobile, Webflow, or other external frontend can wire to the Spala backend contract. | https://docs.spala.ai/guides/frontend-handoff/ https://spala.ai/ai-app-handoff/ https://spala.ai/examples/ | Secrets are kept server-side, allowed origins are correct, and client storage/session behavior is appropriate. |
| 9-10 | Connect an agent through MCP if needed | Configure public MCP, authenticate with Spala, list/select the project, and continue only on the exact returned project mcpUrl. | The coding agent understands public MCP vs project MCP and avoids guessing project MCP URLs. | https://mcp.spala.ai/mcp https://spala.ai/mcp-profile/ https://spala.ai/mcp-smoke-test/ https://spala.ai/mcp-handoff-evidence/ | A real OAuth-complete handoff transcript is still needed for public proof of end-to-end project MCP handoff. |
Decision matrix
| Stage | Recommendation | Use when | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | Good public fit | The app is low-risk and the goal is to validate backend shape, auth, API behavior, docs, CORS, and frontend handoff quickly. | One core workflow, auth behavior, endpoint errors, and frontend integration. |
| Pilot | Reasonable after proof of concept | A real workflow can be tested with project-specific data, users, integrations, and publish process. | Project limits, CORS, logs, support path, export needs, and MCP scope. |
| Production | Verify directly before approval | The workload is sensitive, revenue-critical, regulated, or needs mature vendor proof. | Customer proof, security/compliance, SLA/status history, numeric limits, backup/export/deletion, legal, billing, and support terms. |