Request a Demo
Platform Infrastructure

Low-Code Builder

A visual, no-code/low-code development platform enabling municipal staff and citizen developers to build custom applications, dashboards, and workflows without traditional coding.

≤2s

App Load Time

50+

Concurrent Builders

99.9%

Runtime Uptime

<5min

Deploy Cycle

Purpose-Built for Canadian Municipalities

Ontario Compliant
MFIPPA Ready
AODA Accessible
Bilingual Support
Canadian Hosted
SOC 2 Aligned

How It Works

The identity journey, step by step

From first registration to golden record resolution — how a resident's identity evolves across the platform.

01

Building a Custom Application

A departmental power user creates a committee tracking application from a template.

How it works

The user opens the Low-Code Builder, browses the template marketplace, selects 'Committee Tracking', and provisions it in under 30 seconds. They customize the data model to add fields specific to their committee structure, modify the page layouts, and add a business rule to auto-notify members before meetings. After testing in the dev environment, they submit for production approval.

Step 1 of 5

Purpose & Scope

What this module owns

Clear ownership boundaries prevent duplication and ensure every capability has exactly one authoritative home.

Owns

8

Delegated to

5

Form rendering & submission

forms-engine

Workflow orchestration

workflow-automation

Dashboard & report widgets

reporting-analytics

User authentication

security-iam

API exposure

integration-bus

These capabilities are handled by dedicated modules and consumed via stable API contracts — keeping boundaries clean and ownership unambiguous.

Core Capabilities

What it does

3 capability groups comprising 7 discrete capabilities — each with API surface, business rules, and data ownership.

Visual IDE with page builder, navigation, responsive layouts, theme customization, bilingual support, and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance auto-check.

Page Builder

Drag-and-drop page designer with responsive grid layouts, pre-built component library, and live preview across breakpoints.

Navigation & Routing

Visual navigation builder with automatic routing, breadcrumbs, side menus, and tabbed interfaces.

Theme Customization

Configurable branding — municipality logos, colour schemes, typography — applied consistently across all app pages.

Bilingual Support

Built-in English/French content management for all labels, messages, and user-facing text with side-by-side editing.

Accessibility Auto-Check

Automatic WCAG 2.1 AA compliance checking at design time — contrast ratios, alt text, keyboard navigation, ARIA labels.

Create custom tables with 30+ field types, define relationships (1:1, 1:N, M:N), calculated/rollup fields, validation rules, default values, and indexing.

Field Types

30+ field types including text, number, date, currency, lookup, attachment, formula, rollup, auto-number, and geolocation.

Relationships

Visual relationship designer supporting 1:1, 1:N, and M:N relationships with cascading rules and referential integrity.

Calculated Fields

Formula builder with Excel-like syntax for computed values, cross-table lookups, and rollup aggregations (SUM, COUNT, AVG, MIN, MAX).

Validation & Indexing

Field-level and record-level validation rules, unique constraints, composite indexes, and default value expressions.

Real-World Scenarios

Who uses this, and how

3 persona-driven scenarios showing how Low-Code Builder works in practice — from resident registration to privacy compliance.

Department Coordinator

Committee Tracking Application

Sarah, a clerk coordinator, needs a system to track committee memberships, meeting schedules, agenda items, and minutes — but IT's project queue is 6 months long.

Steps

  1. 1Sarah opens the Low-Code Builder and browses the template marketplace
  2. 2She selects the 'Committee Tracking' template and provisions it to her department sandbox
  3. 3She customizes the data model to add fields for committee bylaws and term limits
  4. 4She modifies the dashboard page to show upcoming meetings and expiring terms
  5. 5She adds a business rule to send reminder emails 7 days before meetings
  6. 6She tests the app in the dev environment with sample data
  7. 7She submits for production approval and receives sign-off from IT within 24 hours

Outcome

Sarah has a working committee tracking system in 2 days instead of 6 months. The app is sandboxed to her department data and governed by the platform's security and audit controls.

View scenario

Facilities Manager

Inventory Management System

Mike needs to track equipment, supplies, and maintenance schedules across 12 municipal facilities, replacing a shared spreadsheet that's become unmanageable.

Steps

  1. 1Mike starts with a blank application and designs the data model: Facilities, Equipment, Supplies, and Maintenance Logs
  2. 2He defines relationships: Facility 1:N Equipment, Equipment 1:N Maintenance Logs
  3. 3He adds calculated fields for reorder points and utilization rates
  4. 4He builds pages for inventory dashboard, equipment detail, and maintenance scheduling
  5. 5He creates a business rule to auto-generate purchase orders when stock falls below reorder point
  6. 6He connects to the procurement module API for purchase order submission

Outcome

Spreadsheet replaced with a governed, auditable application. Automated reorder alerts reduce stockouts by 60%. All 12 facilities share a single source of truth.

View scenario

Community Development Officer

Community Grants Portal

The community development team needs a public-facing grant application portal with multi-tier review and approval workflows.

Steps

  1. 1The IT developer creates the application with public-facing intake forms connected to forms-engine
  2. 2Custom data tables track applicants, applications, review scores, and funding allocations
  3. 3Decision table rules route applications to the appropriate approval tier based on amount
  4. 4Dashboard pages show pipeline status, budget utilization, and approval metrics
  5. 5Integration connectors link to financial-core for budget checks and payment-engine for disbursement
  6. 6The app is published with role-based access: public applicants, reviewers, approvers, and administrators

Outcome

End-to-end grant management — from application intake to fund disbursement — built on the platform in 3 weeks. Fully auditable, accessible (WCAG 2.1 AA), and bilingual.

View scenario

Internal Architecture

How it's built

4 architectural layers comprising 24 components — from API gateway to data quality engine.

4 layers · 24 total components

Low-Code Builder

Every module owns a single bounded context, exposes stable APIs, and can be composed into any Civic product — that's the architecture that scales.

Krutik Parikh

Creator of Civic

Data Model

Entity Architecture

4 entities with 6 relationships — the authoritative schema for this bounded context.

Entities

Select an entity to explore its fields and relationships

API Surface

Integration Endpoints

16 RESTful endpoints across 6 resource groups — plus 4 domain events for async integration.

|
GET

/api/v1/low-code/apps

List applications (filterable by department, status, category)

POST

/api/v1/low-code/apps

Create a new application (blank or from template)

GET

/api/v1/low-code/apps/{id}

Get application details, metadata, and settings

Technical Specifications

Performance, Compliance & Configuration

App Load Time

Target≤ 2 seconds for published application pages

Data Query Response

Target≤ 500ms for queries on tables with < 10,000 rows

Concurrent Builders

Target≥ 50 simultaneous builders in the design environment

Runtime Availability

Target99.9% uptime for published applications

Build → Deploy Cycle

Target≤ 5 minutes from promotion to live

Template Provisioning

Target≤ 30 seconds to deploy a template into a new application

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Integrate

Build on Low-Code Builder

Request an architecture brief, integration guide, or live demo environment for your team.