Why Web Viewer apps?

A Web Viewer app lets you replace a FileMaker layout with modern web UI while keeping the FileMaker capabilities that already make the system valuable. The Agentic Development Toolkit (ADT) builds on this pattern: it adds the supporting scripts, custom functions, and layouts to your file, while your coding agent can scaffold, build, and deploy a real web app into that Web Viewer.

What you gain

  • UI freedom: use modern components, charts, grids, calendars, drag-and-drop, and responsive layouts — the same React, Tailwind, and shadcn/ui stack you'd reach for on the open web.

  • Inherited security: keep FileMaker accounts, privilege sets, and data access rules. The web app talks to FileMaker through a FileMaker script backed by the Data API; it doesn't bypass your security model.

  • Scripts as a backend: run business logic in FileMaker scripts instead of exposing secrets or business rules in browser code. The web app calls a script, the script does the work.

  • CORS-free requests: let FileMaker scripts call external APIs and services the browser can't reach directly.

  • File system access: use FileMaker and its plugins for local machine capabilities a browser sandbox doesn't allow.

  • Printing and PDFs: keep using FileMaker's print and PDF workflows instead of rebuilding them in HTML.

  • Staged adoption: replace one layout or workflow with a Web Viewer app before you touch anything else. The rest of the solution stays exactly as it is.

A useful analogy

Slack, VS Code, and Figma all use web UI inside a native shell. A FileMaker hybrid app uses the same broad idea, but the shell includes a multi-user database, a security model, a scripting engine, and a deployment path you already know.

What stays FileMaker

The Web Viewer does not replace your whole solution. Your users, data, security, scripts, and deployment model stay FileMaker-native. Only the selected screen becomes a modern web experience, rendered by a single bundled HTML file that FileMaker serves inside a Web Viewer object.

Next step

Read How ADT Connects to FileMaker to see how Agent Access, ADT's components, and MCP server fit together.