Live apps

Open is not the same as up to date

An app can keep its current view while you visit another APX screen. That does not make its data live: the page must explicitly fetch a source or compute new values. A cached view can show an old result immediately and refresh it afterward. Ask for a visible timestamp and a stale/error state, not an unlabeled number.

For example:

Make a live service-status app from this public API. Refresh once a minute while visible, keep the last successful result, show when it was fetched and mark it stale if refreshing fails. Do not invent an “online” result.

For private APIs, tell the agent the service and required data, not the secret in chat. Configure the artifact’s secret separately. A source may reject requests, impose rate limits or lack the needed API; APX does not bypass it.

Open, leave and return

Open a saved app from Apps. It stays running as you navigate within APX, until Close app, application exit or eviction when another app needs its slot. The panel keeps up to six opened apps. When full, it can close an app not currently shown, starting with the one seen least recently. A dot in Apps indicates an open app, not a successful connection to its data source.

A widget normally closes when you leave its fullscreen view. For work you intend to keep open, use its Pin to Apps action. A separate Open in a new window action moves an app into its own window; closing that window returns it to the panel. Opening something fullscreen by itself does not change its saved widget/app type.

Live widgets and visibility

A page can separately declare a live keep-time for hidden work such as a ticker or timer. This pool has three slots, independent from the six opened-app slots; hidden live pages can expire or be evicted. Apps should pause unnecessary timers and sockets when not visible. Do not rely on a hidden or suspended application to execute an important job at an exact time.

These running limits describe the panel’s app pool. Do not assume separate phone screens, public share links or a closed desktop keep the same live instance. Durable records are different from a running iframe: records saved in artifact memory survive reopening; unsaved in-page variables may not.

Scheduled work belongs to routines

For “check every morning and tell me if it changed”, use a routine, not a timer in an artifact. A routine runs through the core and has its own result and notice policy. Creating a live app does not create a routine, an always-on server, or permission to publish or send messages.

When it looks frozen

1. Check the last-success timestamp and error text. Cached data is not proof of a fresh fetch.
2. Bring the app into view and retry its refresh control; reconnect APX if offline.
3. Check that the API origin was declared and any required secret is configured. Do not remove sandbox protections.
4. Reopen an evicted app. Saved records should remain; verify them before clearing its memory.
5. Ask the agent to fix the same artifact instead of creating a second copy with empty records.