Project Structure

The Base44 CLI’s create command creates new projects with all necessary files and configuration. This article describes the Base44 backend project structure and explains what each file and directory does.

Backend project structure

When you create a backend-only Base44 project, the CLI generates this minimal structure:

<your-project-name>

base44

.app.jsonc

config.jsonc

.gitignore

As you develop your project, you add files for your resources such as entities, functions, agents, connectors, and auth config:

<your-project-name>

base44

.app.jsonc

config.jsonc

.types

types.d.ts

agents

<agent-name>.jsonc

agent-skills

<skill-name>.md

auth

config.jsonc

connectors

<connector-type>.jsonc

entities

<entity-name>.jsonc

functions

<function-name>

entry.ts

function.jsonc

.gitignore

Functions only require an entry.ts or entry.js file. You can optionally add function.jsonc for advanced configurations like custom names or automations. See Backend Functions for details.

base44/

Contains all Base44 backend configuration and resource definitions.

config.jsonc

Defines your project configuration, including paths to entities, functions, agents, connectors, auth config, and site hosting settings for full-stack projects. The CLI creates this with just your project name, and you can add more configuration as needed. When visibility is set here, deploy applies it to the server on every run. Your project requires a config.jsonc (or config.json) file in the base44/ directory:

// Base44 Project Configuration
{
  "name": "my-project",
  "description": "My Base44 app",
  "visibility": "private",        // optional: public | private | workspace

  // Directory paths (relative to config file)
  "entitiesDir": "./entities",
  "functionsDir": "./functions",
  "agentsDir": "./agents",
  "agentSkillsDir": "./agent-skills",
  "connectorsDir": "./connectors",
  "authDir": "./auth",

  // Site/hosting configuration (for full-stack projects)
  "site": {
    "outputDirectory": "./dist", // Required - where your built files are located
  },
}

Property	Description	Default
`name`	Project name (required)	—
`description`	Project description	—
`visibility`	Access level for the published app. Use `public` for an app anyone can open without logging in, `private` to limit access to invited users, or `workspace` to limit access to workspace members.	—
`entitiesDir`	Path to entities directory	`./entities`
`functionsDir`	Path to functions directory	`./functions`
`agentsDir`	Path to agents directory	`./agents`
`agentSkillsDir`	Path to agent skills directory	`./agent-skills`
`connectorsDir`	Path to connectors directory	`./connectors`
`authDir`	Path to auth config directory	`./auth`
`site`	Frontend configuration. Omit for backend-only projects.	—
`site.outputDirectory`	Where your built site files are located. Required for `site deploy`.	—
`site.buildCommand`	Command run by `build`, `deploy --build`, `site deploy --build`, and `eject` to compile the site with `VITE_BASE44_APP_ID` injected.	—
`site.installCommand`	Command run by `create`, `scaffold`, and `eject` to install dependencies before building.	—
`site.serveCommand`	Command used by `base44 dev` to start your frontend dev server alongside the local backend.	—

.app.jsonc

Links your local project to your Base44 app. This file is automatically created by the CLI when you create or link a project. Individual CLI commands can override this default with the --app-id flag or the BASE44_APP_ID environment variable. See Select a target app.

// Base44 App Configuration
// This file links your local project to your Base44 app.
// Do not commit this file to version control.
{
  "id": "your-app-id",
}

The .app.jsonc file should not be committed to version control. The CLI automatically creates a .gitignore file that excludes this file.

.types/types.d.ts

Generated TypeScript type definitions for your entities, functions, agents, and connectors. Created by running base44 types generate. This file provides autocomplete and type safety when using the SDK in TypeScript projects. See Dynamic Types for more details.

agents/

Directory containing AI agent configurations. Each agent is defined in a separate .json or .jsonc file.

agent-skills/

Directory containing agent skills, the reusable instruction sets that run inside your app’s agents. Each skill is a separate Markdown file whose name is the skill name, with a frontmatter description and an instruction body. These are runtime skills for your app’s agents, not the AI coding assistant skills described below.

auth/

Directory containing your app’s authentication configuration. Contains a single config.jsonc file that defines which login methods are available to your end users. Pull the current config from Base44 with auth pull.

connectors/

Directory containing OAuth connector configurations. Each connector is defined in a separate .json or .jsonc file named after the integration type such as slack.jsonc or googlecalendar.jsonc.

entities/

Directory containing entity schema definitions. Each entity is defined in a separate .json or .jsonc file. Create this directory when you’re ready to define your first entity.

functions/

Directory containing serverless backend functions. Each function requires its own subdirectory with an entry.ts or entry.js code file. The CLI uses the directory path relative to the functions root as the function name. For example, functions/sendEmail/entry.ts creates a function named sendEmail. You can optionally add a function.jsonc configuration file to customize the function name or add automations.

functions

<function-name>

entry.ts

function.jsonc

.gitignore

Prevents files from being committed to version control. Your project starts with this file to prevent .app.jsonc from being committed.

AI coding assistant skills

When you create a project with base44 create, Base44 skills are automatically installed. These appear in assistant-specific folders like .claude/skills/, .cursor/skills/, or similar, depending on which AI coding assistant you use. These folders help your coding assistant understand how to work with Base44 and are safe to commit to version control.

These coding assistant skills are separate from the agent skills in your agent-skills/ directory. Coding assistant skills help tools like Claude and Cursor build your app, while agent skills run inside your app’s agents.

Overview

Quickstarts

Project

AI Development Tools

Resources

Backend project structure

base44/

config.jsonc

.app.jsonc

.types/types.d.ts

agents/

agent-skills/

auth/

connectors/

entities/

functions/

.gitignore

AI coding assistant skills

See also

​Backend project structure

​base44/

​config.jsonc

​.app.jsonc

​.types/types.d.ts

​agents/

​agent-skills/

​auth/

​connectors/

​entities/

​functions/

​.gitignore

​AI coding assistant skills

​See also

Backend project structure

base44/

config.jsonc

.app.jsonc

.types/types.d.ts

agents/

agent-skills/

auth/

connectors/

entities/

functions/

.gitignore

AI coding assistant skills

See also