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Web app or data and analytics app: what each White Ghost scaffold gives you
White Ghost creates two kinds of app: a Node web app or a Python data app. What each scaffold includes, how to choose, and the one decision you cannot undo.
When you create an app on White Ghost, you make one real choice: is this a web app or a data and analytics app? Everything else (database, deployment, domains, secrets) is the same managed platform underneath. Here is what each scaffold gives you and how to choose.
The same frontend, two backends
Both app types ship a React frontend built with Vite and styled with Tailwind. The difference is the backend:
- Web app: a Node backend with Express and TypeScript, using Prisma to talk to the database. The right default for tools, internal products, and dashboards where the backend mostly serves the UI and its API.
- Data and analytics: a Python 3.12 backend with FastAPI, using SQLAlchemy for the database. The right choice when the substance of the app is analysis or data processing and you want Python's ecosystem available.
Both come with a managed PostgreSQL database provisioned alongside the app, and both deploy the same way: every push to the repository builds and goes live.
The one decision you cannot undo
The backend language is fixed at creation. There is no button to convert a Node app into a Python app later: that path is a new app plus a manual move of code and data. It is the only choice in the creation flow worth pausing on. A useful test: if you can imagine the app growing analysis-heavy features, start it as a data and analytics app even if version one is simple.
Built to be worked on by an assistant
Each scaffold ships starter instructions that teach an AI assistant the project's conventions: where things live, how the pieces fit, how to run it locally with ghosty dev. That is what keeps assistant number two (or the same assistant next week) building inside the structure instead of scattering files. Create the app with ghosty init, answer a few questions (name, what it does, backend language, whether it needs a database), and the repository lands in your own GitHub account, ready for whichever assistant you use.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch an app from Node to Python later, or the other way around?
No. The backend language is chosen when the app is created. Switching means creating a new app and moving the code and data by hand, so pick based on what the app will become, not only what it is today.
Do both app types get a database?
Yes. Both scaffolds come with a managed PostgreSQL database, provisioned with the app. No database setup on your side.
Which type should I choose?
Web app for tools, dashboards, and products where the backend mostly serves the UI and its API. Data and analytics when the work leans on Python's ecosystem: analysis, data processing, science libraries.
Does my AI assistant know how to work inside the scaffold?
Yes. Each app ships starter instructions that teach the assistant the project's conventions, so Claude Code, Codex, and other assistants build inside the structure instead of inventing their own.