# Get started

> What an app is, what you need, and where to go next.

Source: https://storeware.ai/docs/get-started

## What an app is

An app is a web service you host, anywhere that serves HTTPS, plus a manifest that says what it may reach. Storeware calls it with signed webhooks, frames its pages in the admin, and gives it an API token for each shop that installs it. Nothing runs on Storeware's servers but Storeware.

Merchants find apps in the App Store inside their admin, see exactly what an app may reach before they install it, and approve any charge before anything is owed.

## What you need

- A Storeware organisation with a developer profile. Open **Developer** in the admin at [app.storeware.ai/developer](https://app.storeware.ai/developer), fill in your profile, confirm your contact email and accept the [Developer Terms](https://storeware.ai/legal/developer-terms).
- Node 20 or later.

## Where to go next

- [Build your first app](https://storeware.ai/docs/get-started/quickstart): Five commands from an empty folder to an app inside a shop.
- [Development stores](https://storeware.ai/docs/get-started/development-stores): Free shops to build against, which never open and take test payments only.
- [Test payments](https://storeware.ai/docs/get-started/test-payments): Pay for orders on a development store, and choose how each payment ends.
- [The manifest](https://storeware.ai/docs/build-apps/manifest): Every key in `storeware.app.toml`.
- [Webhooks](https://storeware.ai/docs/webhooks): How every call from Storeware to your app is signed.