SAP has officially announced the deprecation of SAP Build Apps as a standalone product, effective March 23, 2026.
Introduced in November 2022 as an evolution of AppGyver and part of the SAP Build family, SAP Build Apps played a key role in enabling low-code application development.
Moving forward, customers can leverage the SAP Build Unified offering, which combines application development, process automation, and business site creation into a single platform that supports low-code, code-first, and generative AI capabilities.
1. Customer Impact of the Deprecation
There is no immediate impact for existing SAP Build Apps customers. Regardless of your licensing model – BTPEA, PAYG, CPEA, or subscription – you will retain full access to SAP Build Apps until your current contract expires.
- Existing instances remain accessible through the SAP BTP Cockpit.
- After contract expiry, new instance provisioning will no longer be available.
- Current projects will continue functioning, but long-term planning should shift toward the unified SAP Build environment.
2. What Is SAP Build?
SAP Build enables teams to design, extend, and automate business applications and AI agents using both low-code and pro-code tools – all with SAP governance and clean-core principles built in.
Key Capabilities of SAP Build
- AI Agents
- Design low‑code Joule agents capable of planning and executing complex processes.
- Extend SAP-delivered agents with custom tools, pre-processing, and post-processing skills.
- Automate repetitive cross-system tasks with custom agent skills.
- Application Development
- Build applications using natural-language prompts grounded in business context.
- Develop using preferred environments such as Visual Studio Code.
- Use AI to speed up ABAP custom code migration to SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
- Process Automation
- Create intelligent workflows blending deterministic logic with AI reasoning.
- Automate tasks like data validation, reconciliation, reporting, and document-heavy workflows.
- Improve straight-through processing using template-driven automation.
- Digital Workspaces
- Create branded sites, pages, and collaborative workspaces with zero code.
- Centralise apps, tasks, and content across devices.
- Use Joule to surface insights and generate content quickly.
3. What You Can Achieve with SAP Build
With SAP Build, organisations can:
- Develop CAP-based cloud applications using pro-code tools.
- Create custom AI agents and Joule skills for enterprise automation.
- Build low-code mobile and web applications rapidly.
- Extend SAP systems, using ABAP Cloud in a clean-core-aligned manner.
- Automate complex business workflows visually.
- Design collaborative digital workspaces for a unified user experience.
4. Why Move to the Unified SAP Build Offering?
The SAP Build platform is designed as a comprehensive development environment, combining multiple capabilities into one solution:
- Low-code + Pro-code flexibility: From drag-and-drop tools to advanced coding
- AI-powered development: Accelerate builds using generative AI
- End-to-end capabilities: Covering apps, automation, and digital workspaces
- Business-user empowerment: Enable both developers and functional experts
Key Benefits:
- Faster development – Up to 3x quicker delivery with AI and prebuilt components
- Reduced effort – Up to 59% less development effort on a unified platform
- Governance and clean core – Built-in compliance with SAP best practices
- Future-ready architecture – Supports extensibility and innovation
5. Technical Migration Guidance
SAP has provided guidance for migrating projects from SAP Build Apps to the unified SAP Build environment. While full self-service migration tooling is not yet available, SAP supports assisted frontend transformations under defined conditions.
SAP Build Apps Web Application / Frontend Projects
SAP supports the transformation of frontend web applications from SAP Build Apps through an SAP‑assisted migration process. Customers can export their web applications as .mtar files and request SAP to perform the transformation.
SAP processes the provided .mtar archives using SAP internal tooling, which securely reads proprietary SAP Build Apps configurations and generates best‑effort transformed output in either SAPUI5 or React format.
The transformed project can then be further customised and enhanced within the SAP Build development environment.
Recommended approach:
- Export the frontend web application project as an .mtar file from SAP Build Apps
- Raise a support ticket with SAP and upload the exported .mtar file
- Clearly specify the target UI technology for the generated project: SAPUI5 or React
- SAP returns the transformed frontend project via the support ticket
- Review the generated source code thoroughly
- Perform functional and technical validation
- Rework or re‑establish backend integrations and connections, as required
- Continue development and enhancements in SAP Business Application Studio
- Evaluate opportunities to modernise, optimise, or extend functionality as part of the transformation and rewrite effort.
SAP Build Apps Backend Projects
Backend entity data can be migrated manually into CAP within SAP Build:
Step-by-Step Process :
- Open each entity in your SAP Build Apps backend project.
- Export the data using the CSV Export option.
- In your new CAP project, import the CSV files to recreate the dataset.
Migration summary:
- Web projects → SAP‑assisted conversion to SAPUI5 or React, with post‑conversion development handled by the customer
- Native mobile projects → Rebuild in SAP Build SKU – MDK
- Backend projects → Export data and import into CAP
The deprecation of SAP Build Apps as a standalone product marks a strategic evolution rather than an end. The unified SAP Build platform provides a more powerful, flexible, and future-ready environment for innovation.
Organisations should start planning their transition early, leveraging this opportunity to modernise applications, adopt AI capabilities, and align with SAP’s clean core strategy.
With the right approach, this shift can significantly enhance development efficiency, scalability, and business value.
If you’re planning a transition, connect with On Device Solutions to explore the best approach for migrating, designing, and implementing robust SAP Build solutions tailored to your needs.
