What is Anythink?

Anythink is a managed backend for web and mobile apps. You describe your data once, and one project gives you the whole backend: a database with an instant REST API, sign-in, access control, files, search, workflows, payments and dashboards. There's nothing to host, no servers to run and no glue code between separate services.

If you've pieced a backend together from a database service, a headless CMS, an automation tool, a subscriptions service and an admin panel, Anythink is those jobs in one place, built from the same data model.

What you get#

Everything below lives inside your project and works from your data model.

• Database and instant REST API. Model your data as entities, fields and relationships, and every entity gets REST endpoints the moment you save it. See Model your data and Call the instant REST API.
• Sign-in. Email and password, plus Apple, Google, GitHub and LinkedIn, with native token exchange for iOS and Android apps. See Sign in users and Social sign-in.
• Roles, permissions and row-level security. Control what each role can do, which fields it can see and which records each user can reach. See Control access and Groups and row-level security.
• Files and search. Store files against your records, and search across your entities with full-text search. See Upload and manage files and Search records across your entities.
• Workflows, email and push. Run steps in the background when a record changes, on a schedule or when an API route is called, and send email or push notifications from them. See How workflows work, Send email from a workflow and Push notifications from a workflow.
• Payments and subscriptions. Take payments with Stripe, verify Apple in-app purchases, and manage plans, offers and subscriptions in your own project. See How payments and subscriptions work.
• Dashboards and the AI assistant. Build charts and dashboards from your data in the Anythink dashboard, and ask an AI assistant about your data or have it change your project. See How AI chat and MCP work.

The Anythink dashboard also lets you brand it with your own colours, logo and menus, which suits agencies and products that put it in front of their own users.

Three ways to work#

Everything is available three ways, on the same project, so you can start in whichever suits you and switch freely.

• The Anythink dashboard. A web interface for modelling data, editing records, managing users and permissions, building workflows and charts, and reading your API documentation. It's the quickest way to see what's possible.
• The CLI. anythink has a command for each area of the platform. It suits scripts, CI and repeatable setup. See Getting Started with the CLI.
• An AI assistant over MCP. The Anythink MCP server lets an assistant such as Claude or Cursor do the same work from plain English: create entities, load data, set permissions and build workflows. See Connect Claude to your backend with MCP.

All three call the same REST API your own app uses, so anything they can do, your code can do too.

Who it's for#

Anythink is for developers and small teams who want a production backend without assembling and running one. Typical builds include:

• A backend for a mobile or web app. Data, sign-in, files and push notifications behind one API, with social and native sign-in for mobile.
• A headless CMS. Model your content, let editors write in the dashboard and serve it over a public API. See Headless CMS: build a blog backend.
• Subscriptions and paywalls. Plans, trials, offer codes and entitlements, with Stripe on the web and Apple in-app purchases on iOS. See Sell a subscription in 15 minutes.
• Internal tools. Records, dashboards and workflows for your own team, with roles and row-level security deciding who sees what.
• Automation. Workflows that react to your data, send email, call other APIs and run on a schedule. See Build your first workflow.

What Anythink isn't#

Knowing the edges saves you time, so here they are.

• It's fully managed. Anythink runs your project for you. There's no self-hosted edition to install and operate yourself.
• It's REST, not GraphQL. Your project's API is REST over HTTP and JSON. There's no GraphQL endpoint.
• There are no realtime subscriptions. Clients fetch data over REST rather than subscribing to live changes.
• There are no serverless functions. To run logic in your backend, use workflows: they react to records, schedules and API calls, and can call other APIs.
• The SDK covers sign-in only. @anythink-cloud/sdk handles sign-in and sessions in React apps. For data, call the REST API directly, or use the CLI. See Anythink SDK: sign-in and sessions.

Next steps#