Add resource to app space

[JanW]

Hi,

I recently started trying out the Genie App Builder first presented at DAIS. For this I created an app space and I wanted to connect my app to a lakebase project. But I can't seem to find any options to do this like it works with apps which are not tied to an app space. Am I missing something or is this not possible yet?

Thanks

[saurabh18cs]

Hi @JanW  

Based on the current documentation, this looks like a limitation of the new Genie App Builder + App Spaces model.

Genie App Builder apps are created inside an App Space, and App Spaces currently define governance mainly through user authorization scopes, permissions, and serverless usage policies. The documented App Space configuration does not currently expose Lakebase as an attachable app resource in the same way as traditional/custom Databricks Apps.

https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/dev-tools/databricks-apps/genie-app-builder

[LingeshK]

Hello @JanW 

Following up on the answer above from @saurabh18cs  and the results of a quick API test. Thank you for setting out what you tried and how you compared it with an app outside a space. That made the case easy to reproduce

Short answer: You are not missing a setting. The answer above is right: An app in an App Space cannot take a Lakebase database today. I tried both resource routes through the API, and both were rejected. If the app needs Lakebase now, build it outside a space, where a Lakebase database is a documented app resource.

Qn. "Am I missing something or is this not possible yet?"

It is not possible yet, as far as I can find. As of date (November 3, 2026) I tested both resource routes with the Databricks CLI on AWS:

• A resource on the app: databricks apps create-update with a postgres resource returned "Apps in space ... cannot declare a resource of this type on the app. Allowed resource types: []". A SQL warehouse got the same error, so an app in a space cannot declare any resource of its own.
• A shared resource on the space: The Terraform app_space resource lists postgres as a space resource type and says that resources on a space are granted to the space's own service principal. Adding one with databricks apps update-space returned "Space ... has no principal to grant shared resources to". The space I created through the API had no service principal. A second space with the resource in the create request failed the same way.

Options for now:

• Build outside a space: The builder page says that to control the app code, runtime or scaling, you create an app from a template or a custom app inste.... That app can take the Lakebase resource, and you need CAN MANAGE on the Lakebase project to add it.
• Keep state in a volume: If the app in the space only needs to keep state, the builder page also lists a Unity Catalog volume as a store, and volumes are one of the Shared data types.

Before you rely on this:

• Testing: I tested only via the CLI and the REST API, not the App Spaces UI. If your space settings page offers Lakebase under Shared resources, that would change the answer.
• Check before you act: A space created in the UI may have a service principal where mine did not. The first command below shows whether your space has service_principal_client_id set. If it has one, the second command attaches the database to the space. I could not run that case, so I would like to hear the result.
• Beta: Genie App Builder and App Spaces are both Beta, so the resource rules may change.

databricks apps get-space my-space -o json

databricks apps update-space my-space resources --json '{
  "resources": [{
    "name": "postgres",
    "postgres": {
      "branch": "projects/my-project/branches/production",
      "database": "projects/my-project/branches/production/databases/databricks-postgres",
      "permission": "CAN_CONNECT_AND_CREATE"
    }
  }]
}'

Happy to look at the get-space output if you run it on your space.

Hope this helps!