How to Design and Deploy Backend with Amplify Sandbox: Complete Guide
By Braincuber Team
Published on April 6, 2026
Designing and deploying application backends has traditionally required deep cloud expertise and significant development time. But AWS has changed the game with Amplify Admin UI and its powerful Sandbox environment. In this complete tutorial, we will show you how to design four different example backends and deploy them to AWS with absolutely no code required.
AWS Amplify Admin UI is a new low-code interface for building app backends that does not require any AWS expertise. What many people may miss is that Amplify Admin also includes a wonderful new Sandbox which lets you get started without an AWS account. This Sandbox is a publicly sharable version of the Amplify Admin UI where you can create and prototype your data models without even logging in to an AWS account.
What You'll Learn:
- What AWS Amplify Sandbox is and how it enables no-code backend design
- How to create entity relationship diagrams before building models
- How to build a Notes app backend with many-to-many relationships
- How to design a Slack clone with three-way model relationships
- How to create a Twitter clone with recursive data modeling
- How to build an E-commerce backend with complex order management
- How to deploy your data models directly to AWS without writing code
What is AWS Amplify Sandbox?
AWS Amplify Sandbox is a visual builder environment where you can add your models, enums, and custom types without writing any code. You can name models, add fields, specify types including whether they are optional or array fields, and even add one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many relationships between models. Currently only the Data sandbox is built out, but over time the other AWS Amplify categories will be made available as well.
Visual Data Modeling
Create and prototype data models visually without writing any GraphQL schemas or dealing with complex cloud configuration files.
Shareable Schemas
Share your data models like code gists. You do not have to start from scratch each time and can collaborate with team members easily.
No AWS Account Required
Get started immediately without creating an AWS account. Prototype and test your data models in the Sandbox before committing to deployment.
One-Click AWS Deployment
Deploy your visual data model directly to AWS with a single click. No infrastructure code, no CloudFormation templates, no manual setup required.
How to Create Entity Relationship Diagrams
Amplify Admin UI makes it easy to get going, but it is worth doing some planning before we start. The time-tested way to do this is to draw entity relationship diagrams (ERDs). You can use tools like Lucidcharts or any diagramming tool to plan your data models before building them in the Sandbox.
Access the Amplify Sandbox
Navigate to sandbox.amplifyapp.com to enter the visual builder environment. You will be dropped into a workspace where you can add models, enums, and custom types without any login or AWS account.
Plan Your Data Models with ERDs
Before building, sketch out your entity relationship diagrams. Identify your models, their fields, and the relationships between them including one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many connections.
Create Models and Define Fields
Name your models, add fields, and specify types including whether they are optional or array fields. Use the visual builder to set up your complete data schema.
Define Relationships Between Models
Add one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many relationships between your models. The Sandbox will automatically create the appropriate relationship source fields for GraphQL queries.
Share or Deploy Your Model
Share your data model schema with others using the shareable link, or deploy directly to AWS by clicking Login to Deploy to AWS. No code writing required.
Example 1: Notes App Backend
This is a minimal notes app inspired by SimpleNote. We have two models: Notes and Tags, with a many-to-many relationship between them for easy querying. Notes can have zero or more tags and vice versa, making it a bidirectional many-to-many relationship.
| Model | Fields | Relationships |
|---|---|---|
| Note | id, content, createdAt, updatedAt | Many-to-Many with Tags |
| Tag | id, name | Many-to-Many with Notes |
You could extend this by offering collaborative, role-based editing, which is available once you deploy this model. You should also make use of the client-side DataStore libraries to make sure your notes work offline.
https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com/schema-design/1c782f02-1fe7-4785-9a02-22a27cc96d0d/clone
Example 2: Slack Clone Backend
Many of us use chat apps for work, so we are familiar with this app use case from the user side. The new nuances here are that every Message belongs to a Channel and a User, and that each User can both create Channels and join them. There is an interesting three-way relationship between the three primary models.
| Model | Fields | Relationships |
|---|---|---|
| User | id, username, displayName | Many-to-Many with Channels (joined) |
| Channel | id, name, description | One-to-Many with Messages, One-to-Many with Users (creator), Many-to-Many with Users (members) |
| Message | id, content, timestamp | Belongs to One Channel, Belongs to One User |
Channel is the most complex model here. Channels can have many Users, and Users can join many Channels. Channels can only be created by one User, and there is no requirement to keep track of what channels any particular user has created. Channels can have many Messages, but each Message can only belong to one Channel.
https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com/schema-design/5f863684-fd1e-41b4-bca1-36c2271e21a1/clone
Example 3: Twitter Clone Backend
Social media is often one of the most complex data models to model. We implement the minimum viable social media app with a Tweet and a User model. However the Tweet itself has a complex set of relationships including an author User, and a set of likes, replies, and quotes that need to be modeled.
| Model | Fields | Relationships |
|---|---|---|
| User | id, username, displayName, bio | One-to-Many with Tweets (author) |
| Tweet | id, content, createdAt | Belongs to One User (author), Array of User IDs (likes), Array of Tweet IDs (replies), Array of Tweet IDs (quotes) |
Note that recursion is implemented here by modeling likes, replies, and quotes as an array of the respective User and Tweet IDs. Other modifications you can consider include offering other types of tweets with polls, images, and videos, building in advertisements, and adding direct messages.
https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com/schema-design/ad5b5b7e-f207-42d1-92b1-0ccef056a26b/clone
Recursive Relationships Explained
When a Tweet can reply to or quote another Tweet, this creates a recursive relationship. In Amplify Sandbox, model this using arrays of IDs rather than direct model references to keep the schema simple and queryable.
Example 4: E-commerce Store Backend
The stakes are higher when there is money involved. Keeping track of orders and ensuring a great customer experience is paramount. We model a typical ecommerce backend by ensuring that we have separate models for Suppliers, Products, Orders, and Customers.
| Model | Fields | Relationships |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier | id, name, contactInfo | One-to-Many with Products |
| Product | id, name, price, description | Belongs to One Supplier, Many-to-Many with Orders |
| Customer | id, name, email, address | One-to-Many with Orders |
| Order | id, total, status, createdAt | Belongs to One Customer, Many-to-Many with Products (with quantities), Optional Coupon |
| Coupon | id, code, discount, expiryDate | One-to-Many with Orders |
To get into the nuances of a typical ordering experience, we include the ability to specify product quantities in a single order, as well as to apply coupons. When you set up the Customer model with a one-to-many relationship to Orders, the Sandbox is smart enough to automatically set up a corresponding customerID field as a Relationship Source on the Order model. This will be very handy for GraphQL queries down the road.
https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com/schema-design/aa0e7a61-aa72-4b27-b6db-ea8e2031f95e/clone
Relationship Source Fields
When you define a one-to-many relationship in Amplify Sandbox, it automatically creates the foreign key field on the child model. This Relationship Source field is essential for efficient GraphQL queries and filtering.
How to Deploy the Model to AWS
Once you are done with your model, the Sandbox prompts you to test locally by downloading it with the Amplify CLI. However, if you just want to get it live on AWS, you can skip that and head straight to the Deploy to AWS stage.
Click Deploy to AWS
In the Amplify Sandbox interface, click the Deploy to AWS button. You will be prompted to log in with your AWS account credentials to proceed with deployment.
Login to Deploy to AWS
Click Login to Deploy to AWS and authenticate with your AWS account. The platform will automatically provision all required backend resources including AppSync GraphQL API and DynamoDB tables.
Configure Authentication and Authorization
After deployment, set up further customization including adding authentication, inviting users and assigning roles, and adding authorization rules on each model for secure data access.
Create Content and Manage Data
Use the built-in WYSIWYG content editor to create and manage data entries directly from the Amplify Admin UI. No need for separate database management tools or custom admin panels.
https://sandbox.amplifyapp.com
Authentication
Add user authentication with Cognito integration. Control who can access your backend data and what operations they can perform.
Authorization Rules
Define fine-grained access control on each model. Set owner-based, group-based, or public/private authorization rules for your GraphQL API.
User Management
Invite users and assign roles directly from the Admin UI. Manage team access and permissions without writing custom admin interfaces.
Content Management
Use the built-in WYSIWYG editor to create and manage content. Perfect for non-technical team members who need to update application data.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AWS Amplify Sandbox?
Amplify Sandbox is a free, no-login-required visual builder where you can design data models with models, enums, and custom types without writing any code or having an AWS account.
Do I need an AWS account to use Amplify Sandbox?
No. The Sandbox environment is completely free and requires no AWS account. You only need an AWS account when you are ready to deploy your data model to production.
What relationship types does Amplify Sandbox support?
Amplify Sandbox supports one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships between models. It also supports recursive relationships using arrays of IDs for self-referencing data.
How do I share my Amplify data model with others?
Amplify Sandbox generates a shareable URL for your data model. Anyone with the link can view and clone your schema, making it easy to collaborate and reuse existing designs.
What happens after I deploy to AWS?
After deployment, you can add authentication, set authorization rules, invite users with roles, manage content with the WYSIWYG editor, and integrate with your frontend using Amplify client libraries.
Ready to Build Your Backend Without Code?
Congratulations! You have learned how to design and deploy application backends using AWS Amplify Sandbox. This powerful visual builder eliminates the need for complex cloud infrastructure knowledge while still delivering production-ready GraphQL APIs on AWS.
Start with the Sandbox to prototype your data models, then deploy to AWS when you are ready. The same visual interface scales from simple notes apps to complex e-commerce platforms.