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Glossary

Private app hosting

Hosting where only invited people can open the app, not the open internet.

Definition

Private app hosting means your app runs in an environment meant for your organisation, not as a public website anyone can stumble into. Invited people sign in; strangers stay out. The app still has a real URL and a real database. Privacy here is about access and tenancy, not about hiding that the product exists. It is the usual requirement when you host and share internal tools that touch business data.

Why it matters

AI makes it easy to generate a working tool and accidentally publish it too widely. A public host with a secret link is fragile. Private app hosting starts from the opposite assumption: share with your team first, keep the default closed, and add access on purpose. That matches how finance and SME teams need to work with client and money data.

How Croft fits

Every croft is a private server for your apps. You deploy AI-built tools, invite colleagues, and keep company login in front of what you share. Backups, versioning, and rollback come with the platform. That is Croft’s core job: private hosting for vibe-coded and AI-built internal apps.

Related terms

  • App hosting Running your app on a server with a URL people can open in a browser.
  • Serverless vs private server Serverless shares cloud capacity. A private server is a dedicated machine for your team's apps.
  • SSO Company login. People sign in once with your organisation's identity to use your apps.
  • Access control Rules for who can open which apps and what they can do once they are signed in.
  • Internal tool Software built for your own people to do work, not a public product for customers.

Keep reading

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is private app hosting?

Running your app so only people you invite can use it, typically behind company login on infrastructure meant for your team.

How is private hosting different from a public preview link?

A preview link can leak and usually lacks shared login and durable data controls. Private hosting assumes closed access and a real app environment.

Who needs private app hosting?

Anyone sharing internal tools with business data: finance, ops, HR-lite trackers, client portals for staff, and similar SME workloads.

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