When no template, connector or spreadsheet fits the job, you can build an internal tool with AI instead of another workaround. In Kaer, you describe the tool in a sentence and attach the spreadsheet it replaces. Kaer shows a plan before it writes code and a working preview before anything goes live, and publishing waits for you.
Kaer picks the route from the outcome you describe: a direct connection where one exists, its own browser for the tools you log into that nothing connects to, and, when neither covers the job, a tool built for it. AI agent vs workflow automation explains how that differs from template automation. This post covers the third route.
When should you build a tool instead of automating the old one?
Build a tool when the work lives in a spreadsheet, an email thread or a calculator because nothing you own does the job. Automating that process keeps the workaround and runs it faster.
The Software Builder page lists what people usually build first, and each one starts as a workaround:
- A jobs spreadsheet emailed round on Mondays becomes a job tracker the fitters check on their phones.
- Back-and-forth emails to book a visit become a booking form on the website.
- Totting up the week in a calculator becomes a report page that is always current.
- An app a contractor built and left is fixed, documented and handed back.
Building is not always the answer. If the job is moving data between two apps that already integrate, and your process has the template's shape, a template is quicker and you should use one. If the work happens in a tool you log into, such as a supplier portal, Kaer can work the portal in its own browser without building anything. Build when the thing that is missing is the tool itself.
What can Kaer build?
Kaer builds small, specific tools for one job: the missing form, tracker or handoff that lets the rest of the work finish. Software Builder is Kaer's AI app builder for business. It makes custom internal tools with forms, views and their own address, and nobody has to write code.
The example on the Software Builder page starts from a fitting firm's jobs spreadsheet and a one-paragraph request. The plan Kaer shows back lists the pages, the data, the import and the access: the office edits, and each fitter sees their own jobs.
Without developers
Kaer builds the tool, hosts it on a kaer.dev address and changes it when you ask. You never need to see the code, though the files are there if you want them.
With developers
Connect a GitHub repository and Kaer reads the codebase first, follows your conventions, runs your existing CI and opens a pull request for your engineers to review. Nothing merges until someone presses Merge; Operator works the same way for software teams. Developers can also hand jobs to Kaer's agents from their own code, which handing jobs to Kaer through its API covers.
How do you replace a spreadsheet workflow with a built tool?
Start a Build chat, attach the spreadsheet and describe the tool. The guide to turning a spreadsheet into an internal tool has the full walk-through. In short:
- Start a Build chat. Switch the chat to Build, or open Projects and click New project, then attach the spreadsheet as .xlsx, .csv or .tsv.
- Describe outcomes, not implementation. Say who uses the tool and what they do, for example “a booking form for clients and a calendar view for us that flags double bookings”.
- Check the plan. Pages, data, import and access, before any code is written.
- Try the preview. Use it on a private address and ask for changes in the chat.
- Publish when it is ready. In Manage → Publish, choose an address on kaer.dev and click Publish.
Template, no-code builder or a tool built for you: which fits?
A template fits when your process already has its shape. A tool built for you fits when it does not. No-code builders sit between the two: flexible, but you do the building.
| Template automation | No-code app builder | A tool Kaer builds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Pick a trigger and actions from a catalogue, then fill in the fields | Design the screens, tables and logic yourself from its components | Describe it in a sentence, then check a plan and a preview |
| Fits your process? | When the process has the template's shape and every step is in an app the platform integrates with | As closely as its components and your time allow | Built to your description and your data, including who sees what |
| Who maintains it | Whoever set it up, usually one person who knows the platform | Whoever built it, inside the builder | Kaer, when you ask; or your engineers, through pull requests they review |
| When the process changes | Someone edits the steps; a step in a tool with no integration needs a workaround | You rework the screens and logic yourself | Ask for the change in a sentence; it is previewed before it replaces what is live |
| Best for | Moving data between apps that already integrate | Teams with someone willing to learn the builder | The job no app does, described in your own words |
The useful question about any option is who changes it when your process does.
Kaer has templates too. Its workflow templates write out recurring jobs, such as an overdue invoice chase, and you tell Kaer what is different about how you do it. They suit routines that run in the background. When your team needs something to open every day, such as a tracker or a booking form, a built tool fits better: bespoke automation, and a no-code alternative with no builder to learn.
What stays under your control?
Everything that goes live waits for you.
- Nothing goes public until you click Publish, and you can Unpublish at any time.
- Changes are previewed before they replace what is live.
- Publishing is an approval like any other: a change to your live website, a tool your staff will start relying on, or a sync that writes to a system of record waits for a person.
- With a repository, a person merges, never the agent, and putting a change live waits for you.
- What Kaer builds stays on your account. You can open it, change it or throw it away.
Publishing is one of five actions that stop for a person in Kaer, alongside sending, paying, cancelling and merging. What Kaer will not do without you lists them and shows what an approval looks like.
What does it cost?
Building spends from the same prepaid credit balance as everything else in Kaer. The machine that builds and serves your app is charged while it runs, and a published tool sleeps when nobody is using it. When the balance runs out, work stops, so there is never a bill after the fact.
You can start on the free Starter plan; publishing comes with paid plans. Kaer's plans and prices show what each plan includes, the usage rate card lists what a Software Builder machine costs while it runs, and what a Kaer credit buys explains how the balance is spent.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI build an internal tool from a spreadsheet?
Yes. In Kaer, you attach the spreadsheet as .xlsx, .csv or .tsv, say who uses it and what they need to do, and Kaer builds a working tool you can try in a preview. Nobody writes code, and nothing goes live until you press Publish.
Do I need a developer to build an internal tool with Kaer?
No. You describe the tool and check the preview; Kaer writes it, hosts it on a kaer.dev address and changes it when you ask. If you have developers and a GitHub repository, Kaer can open a pull request for them to review instead.
When is template automation better than building a tool?
When the job is moving data between apps the platform already integrates with and your process matches the template. Build a tool when the work lives in a spreadsheet, an email thread or a calculator and no template fits how you do it.
Does Kaer publish a tool without my approval?
No. Kaer shows a plan before it writes code and a working preview before anything goes live. Publishing is your button, you can unpublish at any time, and changes are previewed before they replace what is live.
Who owns the tool Kaer builds, and who maintains it?
It stays on your account, and you can open it, change it or throw it away. Without developers, you ask Kaer for changes in a sentence. With developers, changes arrive as pull requests that a person reviews and merges.
How much does it cost to build a tool with Kaer?
Building spends from the same prepaid credit balance as the rest of Kaer, and a published tool is charged while its machine runs. Publishing comes with paid plans; the pricing page lists what each plan includes.
