System DevOps
Containers · Servers · Databases
The machines the application runs on.
What is DevOps for App Platforms?
DevOps is complicated. App platforms collapsed it into one browser tab and one person, and handed that person none of the tooling. DOAP is the practice that fills the gap, and the profession that does it.
App platforms changed what DevOps looks like
Systems, applications, databases, security and AI each grew their own DevOps practice. App platforms fold much of that into one product, which is why people use them. The work didn’t go away: someone still has to manage changes, backups, access and the AI agents writing to production — just done in different, yet to be defined ways. That is where the Alliance steps in.
Application DevOps
Git · CI/CD · environments
The development and deployment lifecycle.
Database DevOps
Migrations · Backups · Rollbacks
The data.
- Security DevOpsAI DevOpsRun through all three
- Together: DevOps for app platformsSystem DevOpsContainers · ServersApplication DevOpsGit · CI/CDDatabase DevOpsMigrations · Backups
- App platformsAirtableNotionCodaSupabaseRetoolGlidemonday.comSmartsheet
- The DOAP Alliance
Platforms abstract the pains of traditional DevOps
Airtable, Notion, Supabase, Retool, Vercel and the rest take over the servers, fold the code into the product and hide the database behind a UI. That is why people use them: nobody provisions a server to ship an app with them. But DevOps didn’t go away. It just changed shape.
- System DevOpsAbsorbed
The servers, containers and scaling are the platform’s problem now. Uptime, regions and limits are set by a vendor you do not control, and read in a status page.
What is left: knowing the platform’s limits, retention rules and outage behavior before they bite.
- Application DevOpsCollapsed
There is no repository, no branch, no review. A change to the interface or an automation is live the moment it is made, often with no record of who made it.
What is left: staging, change visibility, release discipline, rollback, done with the platform’s own means or none.
- Database DevOpsHidden
The schema is edited in the same click as the application. A migration is a field rename in production, with the data already in it.
What is left: backup and restore, schema hygiene, integrity, and knowing what changed, when and by whom.
New failures traditional DevOps never had to handle
Platforms removed some of the old problems and brought new ones: new ways to lose data or end up with mismatched versions, and no agreed way yet to prevent them.
- Silent automation failures
An automation stops running and nothing tells anyone until a customer does.
- Retention limits nobody read
Revision history and the trash keep data for a window set by the plan, then it is gone.
- Exports that skip the application
A CSV keeps the rows; the interfaces, automations and permissions are not in it.
- Links that expire
Attachment URLs and shared views that stop working on a schedule nobody set.
- One click, two changes
Renaming a field changes the schema and every view, formula and automation that used it, at once.
- Agents with write access
An AI assistant connected to production, editing the schema in natural language, with no branch and no review.
AI agents introduce a new era we are learning to harness.
None of the three classic pillars has a practice for an AI agent that edits a production schema in plain language, in a system with no branch and no review. Neither do the platforms. The first State of DOAP survey asks whether AI tools make changes to your data/schema, whether assistants are connected through MCP or connectors, and whether you can tell what changed.
Platform admins are leading the charge.
Most platform admins work without a shared standard, and without anyone else who does the same job. The Alliance is being formed around their needs first, with the agencies, employers, vendors and platforms around them.
- The internal owner01
“Am I doing this right, and how exposed am I?”
Owns the platform at one company, often alone. Looking for support and fellow platform owners.
- The agency02
“How can we scale our expertise across our client base?”
Serves several clients across platforms. Looking for a shared standard to work to, and a credential clients recognize.
- The engineer who inherited it03
“Where are my environments, code repos, databases?”
Brings real DevOps knowledge but lacks platform understanding. Looking for how to work within the limits of a platform.
- The executive04
“How do I know my team is running this properly?”
Joins as an organization, and wants the whole team certified.
What DOAP is, and is not
DOAP isDOAP is not
The professional body for a discipline that has practitioners but no institution.Not a software product.
Neutral across platforms and across tool vendors, by charter rather than by promise.Not a vendor academy for any one platform.
Home of the DOAP Score, the annual benchmark report and, once it launches, the certification.Not an agency or consultancy.
A benefit corporation: the mission is written into the charter and reported on every year.Not a general DevOps body. DASA and DevOps Institute have that, and DOAP does not compete there.
What we teach, and what we measure
Training covers nine domains, with security and AI running through all of them. The DOAP Score measures platforms and practitioners on the same ground.
- Core conceptsAI
Woven into all domains
SecurityOversight of Privacy and Security is essential in all domains.
- ProtectBackup, restore, and archive
- ChangeCode management, deploy, rollback
- ObserveSchema monitoring, change visibility
- GovernanceUsers, auth, access control
- DocumentationIn the platform and across teams
- DataCleansing, hygiene, integrity
- IntegrateWhat connects, and how, securely
- SupportAbility to address the training and feedback of end users
- AgentsAgent Ops: permissions, oversight, audit
Launching 2027
Join the Alliance.
The Alliance forms platform by platform, when twenty people register for each. Add your name, and your platform gets one closer.
Your nameYour platform · before the Alliance forms
Member No. Founding member · 2027- Sep 2026 · nowFounding members join
Gathering initial interest: your name on the join form, and the first survey open, for every platform.
- Q1 2027First survey opens
The industry report, the rubric published with it, and the first benchmark.
- Summer 2027The Alliance forms
Three platforms at twenty, steering committees seated, the benefit corporation filed.
- AfterCertification opens
The exam follows the nine domains the survey measures.