🚀 What is an iApp?

An iExec Application (iApp) is your regular application code (Python script, AI model, data processor, ...) that can securely process protected data (created by DataProtector) inside a confidential computing environment called TEE (a Trusted Execution Environment).

Why iApps Matter ?

iApps let you process sensitive data while keeping it private and secure.

Imagine you want to build:

🤖An AI that analyzes personal health data

📧An email tool that needs access to contact lists

💰A financial advisor that processes bank statements

🛡️A content filter that reads private messages

Users have this data, but they won't give it to your regular app. With iApps, they will.

Key Concepts

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True Privacy: Users never expose their raw data. Your app processes it privately inside secure enclaves.

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Trusted Execution: iExec ensures that your code runs inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), which guarantees that only the specified Docker image is executed in a secure and isolated environment.

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Decentralized Infrastructure: No single point of failure. Your app runs across a distributed network of workers.

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Zero Trust Architecture: User data is protected by hardware-based TEEs, which keep data confidential and inaccessible to the host, cloud provider, or operating system during execution.

How it Works

Your code runs in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), a secure area inside specific processors (Intel SGX/TDX chipset). Everything that happens there stays private and protected, even from the operating system.

An authorized user can trigger an iApp that processes someone's protected data inside this private environment. The data is used, but never exposed, not even to the person running the app.

1User provides private data

2Data is protected with DataProtector

3User builds and deploys a confidential iApp that processes protected data

4Run the iApp with the corresponding protected data, performing confidential computing

Your iApp can send emails, update contracts, make transactions, trigger notifications - anything your code needs to do with the protected data. This isn't about trust - it's about cryptographic and hardware-enforced guarantees that privacy is preserved within the TEE execution environment.

Use Cases

🏥 Healthcare

Process medical data for AI diagnosis without exposing patient information

💰 Finance

Analyze financial data for credit scoring while maintaining privacy

🎬 Media

Content recommendation engines that don't track user behavior

🔬 Research

Collaborative research on sensitive datasets across institutions

Getting Started

Time to build!

Let's build an iApp that can process protected data in a secure environment using the iExec iApp generator tool. This tool helps you create, test and deploy iApps with just a few commands.

Quick Start Path

1. Protect your data with DataProtector
2. Build your iApp using the iApp Generator
3. Deploy and test your application
4. Process protected data securely

What You'll Learn

• How to create a Docker container for your application
• How to handle inputs and outputs securely
• How to deploy to the iExec network
• How to process protected data in TEE environments

These are just a few examples, the possibilities are endless. Want to explore iApp Generator? Check out our documentation and see what you can build!

Technical Requirements

• Docker: Your application must be containerized
• Input/Output: Define clear input and output schemas
• TEE Compatibility: Ensure your code runs in secure enclaves
• Network Access: Configure any external API calls or dependencies

Next Steps

Ready to build your first privacy-preserving application? Start with our Hello World tutorial or dive into the iApp Generator documentation.

For more technical details, see the DataProtector Sharing documentation.