Common questions

What is ADT?

Agentic Development Toolkit (ADT) connects coding agents to your FileMaker file. With ADT, your agent can read and write FileMaker development work — tables, relationships, scripts, layouts, and data — the way you would in FileMaker Pro. It also supports building modern web UIs that run inside FileMaker Web Viewers.

What can my coding agent do?

With ADT and a coding agent, you can create, edit, and modify FileMaker schema, scripts, and layouts, explore and change data, and — when you choose — scaffold, build, and deploy Web Viewer apps. The FileMaker authoring work goes through the filemaker CLI; live metadata and data tools go through the adt-mcp MCP server. See Projects, Connected Files, and Apps.

Which coding agents work with ADT?

ADT supports the Agent Plugins standard and Claude. The installer configures the Agent Plugin for Cursor, Codex CLI, ChatGPT, and VS Code. It configures the Claude plugin for Claude Desktop or Claude Code CLI when either is detected. In every case the agent must be in code mode, working inside a project folder: Claude Code in Claude, Codex mode in ChatGPT. See Manual Configuration only when automatic setup did not complete or you use another compatible coding agent.

Can ADT edit FileMaker scripts, tables, or layouts?

Yes. Schema, script, and layout authoring goes through the filemaker CLI, which ships with ADT and lands on your PATH. Agents drive it with ADT's skills. adt layout add also builds Data API layouts for you.

The MCP tools for exploring schema and data are read-only; they give the agent context. Authoring goes through filemaker, not MCP. See Projects, Connected Files, and Apps.

Do I need a Web Viewer app to use ADT?

No. A project and a connected FileMaker file are enough for schema, script, layout, and data work. Web Viewer apps are optional — add one with adt app add when you want a modern web UI inside the file.

What about modern UI / Web Viewer apps?

ADT can scaffold a normal web project (React, TypeScript, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and related tools), give the agent type-safe FileMaker data access through @adt/fmdapi, and deploy a compiled single-file HTML bundle into a Web Viewer in your file. ADT isn't a framework — it's the tooling around that workflow. If those web names are new, see the Terminology.

You control styling with the same web tools — see Theming. When the agent writes bad app code, TypeScript checks, generated types (adt typegen), browser preview, runtime errors, and deployment feedback help it fix many mistakes without you copying errors back and forth.

Do I need Node.js just to use ADT?

No. The adt CLI ships as a compiled binary, and a project created by adt init has no package.json and no dependencies. You need Node.js 24+ only once you run adt app add to build a Web Viewer app.

What's the difference between a project, a connected file, and an app?

A project is a directory with adt.json — a registry of which FileMaker files your work concerns. A connected file is an entry in that registry pointing at a real .fmp12 or fmnet:// address; connecting records an address and doesn't modify the file. An app is a Web Viewer app inside the project, bound to exactly one connected file, and it's the only one of the three that creates a JavaScript workspace.

You can do FileMaker authoring with just a project and a connected file. See Projects, Connected Files, and Apps.

Do my users need ADT installed?

No. ADT is a development tool. End users need FileMaker itself. If you deployed a Web Viewer app, they use the file where that app was deployed — they don't need ADT on their machine.

Does ADT work in WebDirect?

Yes, for deployed Web Viewer apps. Agent Access, which powers local development, is a dev-time feature of FileMaker Pro and doesn't run in WebDirect, but a built and deployed app talks to FileMaker through the Web Viewer's own script-calling primitives, which do work in WebDirect.

How does team workflow work?

For Web Viewer app source, use normal web development practices: Git, branches, pull requests, CI, and code review — see GitHub Workflow. For the FileMaker file itself, ADT doesn't replace FileMaker's existing shared development model.

Is ADT ready for production use?

No. Production use is not permitted under the Claris Pre-Release Software Testing and Confidentiality Agreement the installer presents, and you should expect rough edges and breaking changes between releases.

Distribution is macOS only (Intel and Apple silicon). Windows is not supported today.

Where do I get help?

Start with Troubleshooting. A dedicated way to report ADT issues is in the works but isn't available yet. If troubleshooting doesn't resolve it, ask your agent to gather ADT's full diagnosis and installer logs, then collect information for support.