Amba

Getting Started

Amba is the mobile backend for consumer apps — auth, push, content, streaks, gamification, and a complete admin surface your AI agent can drive end-to-end.

AI agents: start here

Start at /mcp/install — provision an account in one tool call. The amba_developer_signup MCP tool mints a developer PAT, creates a project, and returns API keys with no browser flow and no signup form.

Then follow An agent builds an app — the end-to-end reference build (account → data model → SDK → identity → XP + streaks → push → live updates → ship) where every call is real. The Capability Index maps every surface on one page.

What is Amba?

Amba is a complete backend for consumer mobile apps. One install gives your app user accounts, push notifications, content delivery, segments, streaks, XP, leaderboards, in-app economy, social, and entitlements — through one SDK and one API.

Your AI agent runs the backend. Tell Cursor, Claude Code, or Windsurf what you want — a segment for inactive users, a welcome-back push campaign, a daily streak — and it configures Amba through MCP. The dashboard exists if you want it, but it isn't where the work has to happen.

What you get

Out of the box, every Amba project gives your app:

  • User auth — anonymous, Apple, Google, email / password, with account linking that preserves anonymous history.
  • Push notifications — APNs + FCM, campaigns, segment targeting, scheduled delivery.
  • User segments — rule-based, 12 operators, re-evaluated every 15 minutes.
  • Remote config — typed key / value pairs with segment-based and percentage-rollout overrides.
  • Content libraries — scheduled daily tips, rotating quotes, sequential lessons.
  • Streaks — daily / weekly periods, grace windows, freezes.
  • XP and levels — automatic XP awards driven by event rules.
  • Achievements and badges — auto-unlock based on progress criteria.
  • Leaderboards — XP, streaks, or any custom metric.
  • Challenges — time-limited goals with rewards.
  • Friends, groups, feeds, messaging — a full social layer.
  • Virtual currencies, stores, inventory — in-app economy.
  • Entitlements — RevenueCat + Superwall integrations via verified webhooks.

Who is this for?

Amba is built for teams shipping consumer mobile apps — solo founders, small studios, and AI-first engineering teams. If your stack is Expo, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, Unity, React Native, or a web client, Amba covers the backend so you can focus on the app.

Every Amba capability is also exposed as MCP tools, so your AI agent can create push campaigns, define segments, set up streaks, configure XP rules, and manage content libraries directly — you write app code, not backend glue.

How does Amba compare to other mobile backends?

FeatureFirebaseSupabasePlayFabAmba
AuthYesYesYesYes
Push notificationsFCM onlyNoYesYes (APNs + FCM)
User segmentsNoNoYesYes (12 operators)
Remote configYesNoYesYes (segment-targeted)
Content schedulingNoNoNoYes
StreaksNoNoNoYes
XP / levelsNoNoYesYes
AchievementsNoNoYesYes
LeaderboardsNoNoYesYes
Virtual economyNoNoYesYes
Social (friends, groups, feeds)NoNoYesYes
MCP server for AI agentsNoNoNoYes
RevenueCat / Superwall integrationNoNoNoYes

Three ways to use Amba

Most people use all three:

  • SDK — what your app code calls. Native SDKs for iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), Flutter, Unity, React Native, Expo, the web, and Node.
  • CLI (npx -y @layers/amba init) — bootstrap a project, mint API keys, install the /amba skill, wire MCP into your agent, and drop context files into your repo — in one headless command when invoked from a coding agent.
  • MCP — let your AI agent (Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf) configure Amba from chat. Hosted; no subprocess to run.

Every Amba project is fully isolated. Your project's data lives in its own dedicated database — it is never co-located with another customer's.

Next steps

Next

Capability Index

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