When to Create a Separate App

Decide whether a second experience belongs in your current app or needs its own app, and how separate apps share work.

Decide the product boundary first, then the communication mechanism.

One product is usually one Stardeck app with Surfaces for each audience and device. A second app is the exception.

When a second app earns independence

Create a separate app when at least one of these is true:

Boundary	Example
Separate product	An independently owned accounting product next to your storefront
Tenant or ownership boundary	A partner-operated fulfillment system your team does not own
Different data model	Systems that would only share occasional events, not the same core tables
Different release cadence	A product that must ship and roll back independently of the first

If none apply, keep the work in the current app and add a Surface or a Module.

Question	Same app	Separate app
Same product ownership?	Yes	No
Same core data model and release train?	Yes	No
Mainly a different audience or device?	Surface	No
Needs its own launch URL, icon or access posture?	Surface	Only if the product itself is independent
Would you want to ship or pause them independently?	Rarely	Yes

Pick how the apps share work:

Use	When
Shared Data Store	The apps operate on the same core tables and neither owns them alone. Changes show up in both at once.
Cross-app calls	Each app owns its own data, and one tells the other to act at a specific moment (an order is paid, so the storefront asks accounting for a journal entry).
Both	Two apps share a data domain, and a third, separately owned system is notified through calls.

For different audiences or devices on the same product, use Surfaces in one app, not several apps on one store.

Cross-App Communication

Let separate apps call each other through Stardeck