Create an application

What happens

A developer creates an application in the Developer Portal. The application represents their software, such as a mobile app. APIM makes sure the developer has a subscriber row, then stores the application with its rate-limit tier, token type and any custom attributes.

Who: Developer Portal (API consumer) · Tables written: AM_SUBSCRIBER (first time only), AM_APPLICATION, AM_APPLICATION_ATTRIBUTES (if attributes are given), AM_APPLICATION_GROUP_MAPPING (if sharing is on), AM_WORKFLOWS (if approval is on) · Tables read: AM_POLICY_APPLICATION

The flow at a glance

This diagram shows the rows created when a developer clicks Save on a new application.

sequenceDiagram
    actor Dev as Developer
    participant Portal as Dev Portal
    participant DB as Database
    Dev->>Portal: Create "PizzaApp", tier Unlimited
    Portal->>DB: find or insert AM_SUBSCRIBER (+ DefaultApplication)
    Portal->>DB: insert AM_APPLICATION
    Portal->>DB: insert AM_APPLICATION_ATTRIBUTES (if any)
    Portal->>DB: insert AM_WORKFLOWS (if approval on)
    Portal->>DB: status APPROVED (or CREATED while pending)

Step by step

1. Subscriber → AM_SUBSCRIBER. If this is the user's first action in the portal, APIM inserts a row. APIM also creates the user's DefaultApplication automatically at this point. See Setup & first user.

2. Application → AM_APPLICATION.

   APPLICATION_ID	NAME	SUBSCRIBER_ID	APPLICATION_TIER	APPLICATION_STATUS	TOKEN_TYPE	UUID	GROUP_ID
   1	DefaultApplication	1	Unlimited	APPROVED	JWT	2f17…	'' (empty string)
   2	PizzaApp	1	Unlimited	APPROVED	JWT	c798…	NULL

   The DefaultApplication has the description "This is the default application".

   • SUBSCRIBER_ID is a real FK to AM_SUBSCRIBER with ON DELETE RESTRICT: the owner can't be deleted while they own apps.
   • (NAME, SUBSCRIBER_ID) is unique, so one user can't have two apps with the same name. UUID is unique and is the ID used in REST APIs.
   • APPLICATION_TIER links to AM_POLICY_APPLICATION.NAME for the same tenant (logical link, no FK). It limits the total calls from this app across all APIs.
   • TOKEN_TYPE is JWT (the 3.x default for new apps) or OAUTH (opaque tokens, for older apps).
   • APPLICATION_STATUS is CREATED while waiting for approval, then APPROVED (or REJECTED).

3. Custom attributes → AM_APPLICATION_ATTRIBUTES. Extra fields defined by the admin, such as "External Reference Id".

   APPLICATION_ID	NAME	VALUE	TENANT_ID
   2	External Reference Id	MOB-001	-1234

   Rows are written here only when the application is created with attributes.

   FK to AM_APPLICATION with ON DELETE CASCADE.

4. Sharing with a group (optional) → AM_APPLICATION_GROUP_MAPPING. If application sharing is enabled, for example by organization claim, each group that can see the app is a row (APPLICATION_ID, GROUP_ID, TENANT). FK with ON DELETE CASCADE. The older single-value AM_APPLICATION.GROUP_ID column is kept for backward compatibility.

5. Approval (optional) → AM_WORKFLOWS with WF_TYPE = 'AM_APPLICATION_CREATION' and WF_REFERENCE = the APPLICATION_ID as a string ('3' in the test run). The app stays CREATED until an admin approves it. See Approval workflows.

What gets cleaned up

Deleting an application cascades to its attributes and group mappings. But AM_SUBSCRIPTION, AM_APPLICATION_KEY_MAPPING and AM_APPLICATION_REGISTRATION block the delete (RESTRICT), so APIM removes subscriptions and keys first. See Revoke & delete.

Try it

This query lists every application with its owner and its application-level tier limits.

SELECT s.USER_ID AS owner, a.NAME, a.APPLICATION_TIER, a.TOKEN_TYPE,
       a.APPLICATION_STATUS, p.QUOTA, p.UNIT_TIME, p.TIME_UNIT
FROM   AM_APPLICATION a
JOIN   AM_SUBSCRIBER s ON s.SUBSCRIBER_ID = a.SUBSCRIBER_ID
LEFT JOIN AM_POLICY_APPLICATION p
       ON p.NAME = a.APPLICATION_TIER AND p.TENANT_ID = s.TENANT_ID;

Related domains: Applications & subscriptions · Throttling policies

Different in 4.x

In 4.x, AM_APPLICATION adds an ORGANIZATION column (and SHARED_ORGANIZATION in newer releases), and the unique key becomes (NAME, SUBSCRIBER_ID, ORGANIZATION). See Create an application (4.x).