PDI Brew — User Guide

What is PDI Brew?

PDI Brew is a platform that lets anyone at PDI create internal web tools using plain English. You describe what you need, an AI assistant (Claude) builds it, and PDI Brew deploys it instantly with a shareable link.

Every app gets its own web address (like my-tool.vibe.dev.platform.pditechnologies.com) and is protected by your PDI Microsoft sign-in — only people you choose can access it.

Getting Started

Creating an app takes about 5 minutes. Here's how:

How Access Works

PDI Brew uses a simple model: if someone can open your Excel file, they can use your app. Think of the Excel file as a guest list — anyone on the list can sign in and use the app.

Setting up access

1. Create an Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint (it can be empty — only the sharing permissions matter)
2. Share it with the people or groups who should have access
3. Copy the sharing link and provide it when registering your project

Give someone access

Open the Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint, click Share, type their email, and send. They can now use your app.

Remove access

Open the Excel file, go to Manage access, and remove the person. Next time they visit, they'll be denied.

Give access to a whole team

Share the Excel file with a Microsoft 365 group or SharePoint site. Everyone in that group gets access.

Signing in to an app

When you visit a PDI Brew app for the first time, you'll be redirected to sign in with your PDI Microsoft account. The system checks whether you have access to the app's Excel file — if you do, the app loads. If not, you'll see a message explaining how to request access.

Updating Your App

To change your app after it's deployed:

1. Open Claude.ai and type /pdi-brew-app-builder
2. Use the same project name as before
3. Describe what you want to change
4. Click "Share this app" again — it updates the existing app at the same address

Managing Your Apps

Go to PDI Brew and click "Manage Apps" to:

• Download your app's source — Save the HTML file for editing or backup
• Delete an app — Permanently remove an app you no longer need
• View details — See the URL, deploy date, and project name

Building Apps That Read Excel Data

PDI Brew apps can read data directly from Excel spreadsheets. This lets you build dashboards, trackers, and reports that pull live data from an Excel file your team already uses.

How Excel data access works

The app uses the same Excel file that controls who can access the app. This means:

• No separate data connection needed — the Excel file serves as both the access list and the data source
• Data is read securely using each user's own Microsoft sign-in
• Users can only read data they already have access to
• Data is always fresh — the app reads from Excel every time it loads

How to create an Excel-connected app

1. Put your data in an Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint (use named tables for best results)
2. Share the file with the people who should access the app
3. Register your project on PDI Brew with the sharing link
4. In Claude, type /pdi-brew-app-builder and mention that your app should read data from Excel:
   • "Build a dashboard that reads initiative data from my Excel file"
   • "Create a tracker that pulls data from the project spreadsheet"
   • "I want to display the data from my Excel table as a chart"
5. Claude will build an app that automatically reads from your Excel file when a user opens it

Tips for Excel-connected apps

• Use named tables in Excel — Claude's generated code works best with data organized into Excel tables (Insert → Table). Give tables meaningful names.
• Sessions last about 1 hour — if the app shows "session expired," just refresh the page to continue.
• Read-only access — apps can read data from Excel but cannot write to it. To update data, edit the Excel file directly.
• No extra setup needed — the platform handles all the authentication and data access automatically.

Tips for Great Apps

• Be specific when describing your app to Claude — mention inputs, outputs, and layout preferences
• Ask Claude to iterate — "Make the button bigger" or "Add a dark mode" works great
• For apps that save data (trackers, forms), tell Claude you need to "save" or "track" data
• Pick descriptive project names like training-tracker instead of my-app
• Include any branding requirements (colors, logos) in your description

For Administrators

Members of the PDI Brew Admins Microsoft 365 group have access to additional management features via the Admin tab on the PDI Brew directory.

Accessing the Admin Panel

1. Sign in to the PDI Brew directory with your PDI Microsoft account
2. If you are a member of the PDI Brew Admins group, you will see an "Admin" tab next to "Your Apps"
3. Click the Admin tab to view the admin panel

What admins can do

• View all apps — see every app on the platform, not just your own
• Summary stats — total apps, active apps, and stale apps (not accessed in 90+ days)
• Search and filter — find apps by name, owner, or status
• View app details — Excel sharing URL, deployment date, sharing permissions, recent activity log
• Disable an app — temporarily block access. Users see "This app has been disabled by an administrator." The owner can re-enable by re-deploying.
• Enable an app — restore access to a disabled app
• Delete any app — permanently remove an app and all associated resources (S3 files, Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB table for fullstack apps)

App status

Usage Analytics

PDI Brew tracks usage via CloudWatch metrics and structured logs. Admins can view analytics in two ways:

• Per-app activity log — visible in the admin panel when you expand an app's detail row. Shows recent view events with timestamps and user names.
• Grafana dashboard — provides platform-wide analytics including views per day, deploys per day, top 10 most-used apps, top 10 users, auth failures, and admin actions.

Frequently Asked Questions