# What is Alpio?

## General description

Alpio is a **cloud service** allowing you to **generate live backends on the fly** with minimal configuration. Backends are hosted on our servers, so you don't have to worry about hosting or deployments.

## How does it work?

You create a project, and configure it through a CLI (a GUI will be added later). During the configuration, you define your **data model** (the entities that describe your business use cases), and your **API endpoints** (what parameters they accept, what data they return). When you're done, you can simply deploy your project, which only **takes a few minutes.**  

## What are the main features?

Each project created on Alpio includes:

* A managed **database**
* A live **REST API**
* **Authentication** for your API
* **Hosting**

## Who is it for?

Alpio is designed for anyone who wants to quickly deploy a live backend with minimal configuration required. Here a few examples:

* A designer, or frontend developer wanting to add backend to their mobile or web app
* A developer who needs a working backend in minutes to prototype their idea
* A developer or team of developers needing to spin small to mid-size backends for independent parts of their application

{% hint style="info" %}
Although having web development experience will help you understand the different concepts & terminology, it is not required for a basic use of Alpio.
{% endhint %}

## Current status

Alpio is under current development, but an early access version is available. You can [follow these instructions](https://docs.alpio.cloud/alpio/setup-and-usage#installation-and-setup) to try the product.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Alpio isn't recommended for production use cases at the moment, don't use it for anything that shouldn't break, or be down unexpectedly.
{% endhint %}


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