Introducing Generative Data Apps

tl;dr: Hex now allows you to use the full power and flexibility of AI code generation, while using the trusted data, context, and governance of Hex's platform.

As I’m sure you are aware, AI has gotten very good at building websites. Generating React code is now a trivial, solved task for agents – and people are excited to build apps on their data.

But, the state-of-the-art workflow for many teams looks like downloading CSVs, vibe-coding in untraceable local contexts, and shipping on hosting sites with poor security. All without a way for data teams to govern or observe how or where this is happening, and whether the outputs are even accurate.

And with data, trust is everything. A menagerie of “vibe-analyzed”, ungoverned apps floating around with inconsistent answers… well, it might be worse than nothing.

We’ve been hard at work on this, and today, we're introducing Generative Data Apps in beta. They give anyone the power and flexibility of a fully code-generated app, but built on the Hex platform, where your data stays governed, traceable, and secure by default.

Any data app, just a prompt away

Generative apps harness the infinite flexibility of codegen, allowing you to build, well, anything!

Want sparklines by default on all your big numbers? No problem. Prefer collapsible sections to tabs in your dashboard? Just ask! A custom D3 interactive chart that wasn't possible before? Super easy.

Full control over every color, style, and font? Pixel perfection, now possible.

Or prefer a different layout? Try a presentation mode or an editorial-style app. Want to go crazy? Ask for a Barbie-themed app (my personal favorite 😄).

Under the hood, the agent uses a virtual file system, and the entire app is written in JavaScript. So anything you want to customize or create is fair game. Our visualization team obsessed over the out-of-the-box charting components so they look great by default, but if you want to go further, the whole thing is yours to extend. Just prompt the agent.

Backed by your trusted context and a real Hex project

When Hex's agent builds a data app, it isn't just leveraging your warehouse. It uses the layers of context your team has already curated in Context Studio:

• Endorsements that guardrail which assets get used
• Semantic models that pin down how metrics are defined
• Workspace guides that capture business logic
• Your codebase, like your dbt repo, to see the real logic behind the tables and models it's working with
• Existing dashboards that show how questions have been answered before (or you can @ mention one directly!)

And, every app the agent builds is a real Hex project. That means data teams can follow the analysis end-to-end, the queries, the logic, the transformations, not just a random link with no lineage. Everything in Hex is a maintainable, verifiable asset.

Need to bulk migrate to a new table? No problem, use our CLI for project migrations. Need to reuse the same logic in another app? @-mention your dashboard so you don’t start from scratch. Want to continue to edit your app after publishing? Go for it, there’s no separate hosting, deployment steps, or CI/CD workflow. Just click publish when you want your changes to be live. Need fresh data? Set a schedule and the underlying queries re-run automatically. The dashboard stays current, and the source of every number is always traceable.

Built with first-class security, permissioning, and governance

Because Generative apps are built and published on Hex, they inherit the same security posture that thousands of data teams already rely on. Each app runs in a locked-down browser sandbox and can only see data that's been explicitly queried and published in the backing Hex project — it can't reach out to the open internet or pull in data on its own (the lone exception is Google Fonts for typography, since font files carry no exfiltration risk and pretty fonts are mandatory). That closes off the kind of slip-ups that have become all too common with "vibe-coded" apps built on general-purpose tools that were never designed to handle sensitive data.

Publishing and sharing work the same way as every other Hex project. Each project inherits permissions from the underlying data, so if someone in your org can't access that data, you don't have to worry about it accidentally leaking. Or worse, ending up on a public website.

Agents are letting us build whatever we want. Now, you can build with peace of mind.

Access and pricing

We're introducing Generative data apps today, available to Editor+ roles across all plans. It’s in beta, so you may still hit a rough edge or two. If you have feedback - send it to [email protected], we’d love to hear!

Generative apps are available for paying users today, but will soon be part of Hex's AI credit pricing billed based on usage. We'll be sharing more info with customers directly so you can understand your usage before payment is required.