System DevOps
Containers · Servers · Databases
The machines the application runs on.
The brief
What is DevOps for App Platforms?
DevOps is complicated. App platforms collapsed it into one browser tab and one person, and handed that person none of the tooling. DOAP is the practice that fills the gap, and the profession that does it.
DevOps has evolved
Read the full brief →Traditional DevOps has evolved with the advent of app platforms
System, application, database, security and AI DevOps are each their own industry. The power of new-age app platforms is that they consolidate and simplify that expertise. What remains are new challenges that require specialized expertise, which the DOAP Alliance is mission-driven to alleviate.
Application DevOps
Git · CI/CD · environments
The development and deployment lifecycle.
Database DevOps
Migrations · Backups · Rollbacks
The data.
- Security DevOpsAI DevOpsRun through all three
- Together: DevOps for app platformsSystem DevOpsContainers · ServersApplication DevOpsGit · CI/CDDatabase DevOpsMigrations · Backups
- App platformsAirtableNotionCodaSupabaseRetoolGlidemonday.comSmartsheet
- The DOAP Alliance
What changed
Platforms abstract the pains of traditional DevOps
Airtable, Notion, Supabase, Retool, Vercel and their peers absorb the first pillar, collapse much of the second and hide the third behind a UI. That is their value, and it is real: nobody provisions a server to ship an Airtable base. But the complexities did not go away; they simply changed shape.
- System DevOpsAbsorbed
The servers, containers and scaling are the platform’s problem now. Uptime, regions and limits are set by a vendor you do not control, and read in a status page.
What is left: knowing the platform’s limits, retention rules and outage behavior before they bite.
- Application DevOpsCollapsed
There is no repository, no branch, no review. A change to the interface or an automation is live the moment it is made, often with no record of who made it.
What is left: staging, change visibility, release discipline, rollback, done with the platform’s own means or none.
- Database DevOpsHidden
The schema is edited in the same click as the application. A migration is a field rename in production, with the data already in it.
What is left: backup and restore, schema hygiene, integrity, and knowing what changed, when and by whom.
New ways apps break
New points of failure not addressed by traditional DevOps
While platforms did remove or reduce the old pains, they introduced new ways to lose data or mismatch versions that lack industry standards and best practices for the new way to build apps.
- Silent automation failures
An automation stops running and nothing tells anyone until a customer does.
- Retention limits nobody read
Revision history and the trash keep data for a window set by the plan, then it is gone.
- Exports that skip the application
A CSV keeps the rows; the interfaces, automations and permissions are not in it.
- Links that expire
Attachment URLs and shared views that stop working on a schedule nobody set.
- One click, two changes
Renaming a field changes the schema and every view, formula and automation that used it, at once.
- Agents with write access
An AI assistant connected to production, editing the schema in natural language, with no branch and no review.
The gap with no incumbent
The 2026 story is AI, and it is the clearest case that this is a new practice.
None of the three classical pillars has a practice for an autonomous, natural-language actor editing production schema in a system with no branch and no review. Neither do the platforms. The first State of DOAP survey already asks whether AI tools make changes to bases, whether assistants are connected through MCP or connectors, and whether the team can tell what changed. AI has completely changed the way these platforms work, and the need for an alliance to help platform experts stay ahead of the AI movement has never been more obvious.
Who this is for
The five member classes →Platform admins are leading the charge.
Every platform admin feels the pain of the lack of standardization and community. We have your back. This Alliance puts these experts’ needs on the table and brings the entire ecosystem together to improve all aspects of this new industry.
- The internal owner01
“Am I doing this right, and how exposed am I?”
Owns the platform at one company, often alone. Looking for support and fellow platform owners.
- The agency02
“How can we scale our expertise across our client base?”
Serves multiple clients across platforms. Certification and community access provide the essentials for successful agencies.
- The engineer who inherited it03
“Where are my environments, code repos, databases?”
Brings real DevOps knowledge but lacks platform understanding. Looking for how to work within the limits of a platform.
- The executive04
“How do I help my team thrive on this new platform?”
Joins as an organization and requires certification for their team.
What DOAP is, and is not
DOAP isDOAP is not
The professional body for a discipline that has practitioners but no institution.Not a software product.
Neutral across platforms and across tool vendors, by charter rather than by promise.Not a vendor academy for any one platform.
The holder of the category’s standard (the DOAP Score), its benchmark (the annual report) and its certification.Not an agency or consultancy.
A benefit corporation: the mission is in the charter and reported against every year.Not a general DevOps body. DASA and DevOps Institute have that, and DOAP does not compete there.
What we teach, and what we measure
We focus on nine domains throughout our training, with Security and AI as constants across all domains. We score platforms and experts across this focus.
- Core conceptsAI
Used throughout all aspects
SecurityYour data’s privacy and security must be inherent in all aspects of your job.
- ProtectBackup, restore, and archive
- ChangeCode management, deploy, rollback
- ObserveSchema monitoring, change visibility
- GovernUsers, auth, access control
- DocumentationIn the platform and across teams
- DataCleansing, hygiene, integrity
- IntegrateWhat connects, and how, securely
- SupportFrom the platform, to end users
- AgentsAgent Ops: permissions, oversight, audit
Launching 2027
Join the Alliance.
We are getting ready to launch, but need your support. Commit to your platform and let us know you’re on board with the mission.
Your nameYour platform · before the Alliance forms
Member No. Founding member · 2027- Sep 2026 · nowFounding members join
Gathering initial interest: your name on the join form, and the first survey open, for every platform.
- Q1 2027Survey’s open
The industry report, the rubric published with it, and the first benchmark.
- Summer 2027The Alliance forms
Three platforms at twenty, steering committees seated, the benefit corporation filed.
- AfterCertification opens
The exam follows the nine domains the survey measures.