twenty/packages/twenty-docs/developers/extend/apps/publishing.mdx

---
title: Publishing
description: Distribute your Twenty app to the marketplace or deploy it internally.
---

<Warning>
  Apps are currently in alpha. The feature works but is still evolving.
</Warning>

## Overview

Once your app is [built and tested locally](/developers/extend/apps/building), you have two paths for distributing it:

- **Deploy a tarball** — upload your app directly to a specific Twenty server for internal or private use.
- **Publish to npm** — list your app in the Twenty marketplace for any workspace to discover and install.

Both paths start from the same **build** step.

## Building your app

Run the build command to compile your app and generate a distribution-ready `manifest.json`:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty build
```

This compiles TypeScript sources, transpiles logic functions and front components, and writes everything to `.twenty/output/`. Add `--tarball` to also produce a `.tgz` package for manual distribution or the deploy command.

## Deploying to a server (tarball)

For apps you don't want publicly available — proprietary tools, enterprise-only integrations, or experimental builds — you can deploy a tarball directly to a Twenty server.

### Prerequisites

Before deploying, you need a configured remote pointing to the target server. Remotes store the server URL and authentication credentials locally in `~/.twenty/config.json`.

Add a remote:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty remote add --api-url https://your-twenty-server.com --as production
```

### Deploying

Build and upload your app to the server in one step:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty deploy
# To deploy to a specific remote:
# yarn twenty deploy --remote production
```

### Sharing a deployed app

Tarball apps are not listed in the public marketplace, so other workspaces on the same server won't discover them by browsing. To share a deployed app:

1. Go to **Settings > Applications > Registrations** and open your app
2. In the **Distribution** tab, click **Copy share link**
3. Share this link with users on other workspaces — it takes them directly to the app's install page

The share link uses the server's base URL (without any workspace subdomain) so it works for any workspace on the server.

<Warning>
Sharing private apps is an Enterprise feature. Go to [Settings > Admin Panel > Enterprise](/settings/admin-panel#enterprise) to enable it.
</Warning>

### Version management

To release an update:

1. Bump the `version` field in your `package.json`
2. Run `yarn twenty deploy` (or `yarn twenty deploy --remote production`)
3. Workspaces that have the app installed will see the upgrade available in their settings

{/* TODO: add screenshot of the Upgrade button */}

## Publishing to npm

Publishing to npm makes your app discoverable in the Twenty marketplace. Any Twenty workspace can browse, install, and upgrade marketplace apps directly from the UI.

### Requirements

- An [npm](https://www.npmjs.com) account
- The `twenty-app` keyword in your `package.json` `keywords` array (already included when you scaffold with `create-twenty-app`)

```json filename="package.json"
{
  "name": "twenty-app-postcard-sender",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["twenty-app"]
}
```

### Marketplace metadata

The `defineApplication()` config supports optional fields that control how your app appears in the marketplace. Use `logoUrl` and `screenshots` to reference images from the `public/` folder:

```ts src/application-config.ts
export default defineApplication({
  universalIdentifier: '...',
  displayName: 'My App',
  description: 'A great app',
  defaultRoleUniversalIdentifier: DEFAULT_ROLE_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
  logoUrl: 'public/logo.png',
  screenshots: [
    'public/screenshot-1.png',
    'public/screenshot-2.png',
  ],
});
```

See the [defineApplication accordion](/developers/extend/apps/building#defineentity-functions) in the Building Apps page for the full list of marketplace fields (`author`, `category`, `aboutDescription`, `websiteUrl`, `termsUrl`, etc.).

### Publish

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty publish
```

To publish under a specific dist-tag (e.g., `beta` or `next`):

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty publish --tag beta
```

### How marketplace discovery works

The Twenty server syncs its marketplace catalog from the npm registry **every hour**.

You can trigger the sync immediately instead of waiting:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty catalog-sync
# To target a specific remote:
# yarn twenty catalog-sync --remote production
```

The metadata shown in the marketplace comes from your `defineApplication()` config — fields like `displayName`, `description`, `author`, `category`, `logoUrl`, `screenshots`, `aboutDescription`, `websiteUrl`, and `termsUrl`.

<Note>
If your app does not define an `aboutDescription` in `defineApplication()`, the marketplace will automatically use your package's `README.md` from npm as the about page content. This means you can maintain a single README for both npm and the Twenty marketplace. If you want a different description in the marketplace, explicitly set `aboutDescription`.
</Note>

### CI publishing

Use this GitHub Actions workflow to publish automatically on every release (uses [OIDC](https://docs.npmjs.com/trusted-publishers)):

```yaml filename=".github/workflows/publish.yml"
name: Publish
on:
  release:
    types: [published]

permissions:
  contents: read
  id-token: write

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: "24"
          registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org
      - run: yarn install --immutable
      - run: npx twenty build
      - run: npm publish --provenance --access public
        working-directory: .twenty/output
```

For other CI systems (GitLab CI, CircleCI, etc.), the same three commands apply: `yarn install`, `yarn twenty build`, then `npm publish` from `.twenty/output`.

<Note>
**npm provenance** is optional but recommended. Publishing with `--provenance` adds a trust badge to your npm listing, letting users verify the package was built from a specific commit in a public CI pipeline. See the [npm provenance docs](https://docs.npmjs.com/generating-provenance-statements) for setup instructions.
</Note>

## Installing apps

Once an app is published (npm) or deployed (tarball), workspaces can install it through the UI.

Go to the **Settings > Applications** page in Twenty, where both marketplace and tarball-deployed apps can be browsed and installed.

{/* TODO: add screenshot of the UI when the app is registered */}

You can also install apps from the command line:

```bash filename="Terminal"
yarn twenty install
```