The first step in getting an app up and running is to create one via the Developer Portal — the section of Canva's website dedicated to creating, configuring, previewing, and managing apps.

How to create an app

Log in to the Developer Portal.
Navigate to the Your apps page.
Click Create an app.
Select a target audience for the app:
- Public: You can make your app available to all of Canva's users, but the app will need to be reviewed by Canva and meet the app review guidelines.
- Restrict to your team: The app can only be made available to members of the current team and the team's administrators are responsible for reviewing it.
Agree to the terms and conditions.
Click Create.

You'll be taken to a page for configuring the app.

Known limitations

You can't convert a public app into a team app (or vice versa).
You can't create an app that belongs to multiple users.
There's a limit of 40 apps per user, per team.

Next step

By itself, creating an app via the Developer Portal doesn't do anything. You still need to write the source code that defines the app's behavior. To learn how to do this, see Setting up the starter kit.