“You feel like She-Ra and you’re like look what I built, YES! - Melinda Smith, Bluewolf, Virtual Suggestion Box App

Remember your first time in the kitchen learning how to cook for yourself? If you were attempting anything other than just boiling water, you probably started out with a recipe. Now bear with me as I make this analogy, but getting started in the kitchen is just like getting started with app building.

App building?

Yes! Just like cooking, building apps on the Lightning Platform is fast, easy and fun. But what does that actually mean? We asked 7 Trailblazers to share their secret ingredients for app building success, and today we’re excited to share their app recipes with you in the Lightning App Cookbook.

“This app helps me put people on the path to yes.”- Paul McCollum, 7-11, Citizen Developer App

Our goal for the Lightning App Cookbook is to empower you, the App Dev Trailblazer, with the confidence, tools, and tips to build even the simplest of apps for your organization. You were inspired by The Trailblazer’s Guide to Apps, but you wanted to know more. You asked, “how can I build that?” Who better to share app building advice than our Trailblazers!

An APPetite for App Development

Inside the Lightning App Cookbook you’ll find app recipes from Trailblazers like Paul McCollum of 7-Eleven and Melinda Smith of BlueWolf. Each Trailblazer recipe starts with the basics—what ingredients does it take to build this app? A dash of Flow Designer, a Custom Object, and pinch of Lightning App Builder and you could be on your way to building a Volunteer Check-In App like Shonnah Hughes.

Just like getting ready to bake your first loaf of bread, there’s preparation and steps you’ll want to follow when building an app. Our Trailblazer’s recipes often start with some basics—whiteboarding your process, thinking about your stakeholders—to ensure your app building experience is a smooth one. Then our Trailblazers dive right into the meat and potatoes of building apps on the Lightning Platform: which products, tools, and features you should use--and how to use them--to go from idea to app.

“I am a huge process automation nerd.” - Jennifer Lee, Key Information Surfacing App

If we’ve learned anything from watching The Great British Bake Off, it’s that the chefs are just as interesting and exciting as the recipes themselves. While the recipes are enough to whet anyone’s app building appetite, the Lightning App Cookbook also lets you get to know the Trailblazer behind the apron. Hear directly from Trailblazers themselves not only about how they built their app, but also how they got to where they are in their careers.

“Walking down the hall isn’t a scalable process” - Anna Rodriguez, Slalom, Customer Onboarding App

We hope these Trailblazers and their recipes not only inspire you to build apps, but also help you take that first step into the world of app building with Salesforce. What challenges or processes in your work or personal life do you want to conquer?