Exploring Development Tools

In the previous unit we explored the basics of SAP Business AI Platform. In this unit we turn to the first of the three pillars of the platform namely the "Build" pillar. This first lesson introduces the learner to basic application development and automation concepts in the context of the platform. It begins with a discussion of extensibility in general and some basic terms used. Next we cover the concepts of clean core and the SAP S/4HANA Cloud extensibility model. We then discuss development tooling both customer managed (SAP Build) and SAP managed (Joule Studio) as well as and how those tools can be bought to bear on both traditional application development and also agentic AI development.

This lesson contains the following topics:

For decades, companies running SAP ERP systems (like ECC) customized them extensively to fit their unique business processes. This often involved:

• Directly Modifying SAP Code: Changing the standard SAP source code.
• Creating "Z-Code": Writing vast amounts of custom ABAP code (programs starting with 'Z' or 'Y') that was deeply intertwined with the core system.
• Complex, Brittle Integrations: Building point-to-point connections that were hard to manage and often broke during updates.

This created "Technical Debt" with significant drawbacks:

• Upgrade Paralysis: Upgrades became massive, multi-year projects because all custom code had to be tested, remediated, and adapted. Many companies simply stopped upgrading.
• High Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Maintaining and supporting this complex, custom code is extremely expensive.
• Inability to Innovate: Companies couldn't adopt new SAP innovations (like Fiori apps or AI features) quickly because their core was too fragile and outdated.
• Technical Debt: The system became a tangled mess of dependencies, making any future change risky and slow.

Moving forward this approach is no longer recommended. SAP's recommended strategy for managing ERP systems is the "clean core" approach. This approach ensures the core of the system remains standard and upgradeable by following a defined set of best practices across five key principles:

• Processes
• Extensions
• Data
• Integrations
• Operations

• Increased Flexibility: Allowing SAP Cloud ERP to be more agile, enabling businesses to quickly adapt and modify applications in response to changing market demands.
• Enhanced Innovation: Simplifying the adoption of new technologies. This helps businesses optimize and automate processes, which in turn boosts agility and drives innovation.
• Simplified Adaptation: Easier navigation of business changes, such as global supply chain disruptions and evolving customer preferences, ensuring businesses remain competitive.

Let's dive a little deeper into how to approach extension and custom development in the context of SAP Cloud ERP. The options are organized around a "three options" concept. By doing so it makes it a little easier to analyze scenarios. Simply take each use case and decide which "bucket" it belongs in.

The first option is to develop "side-by-side". This means simply to build and run developments "outside" of the core and on SAP Business AI Platform. By doing so organizations can take advantage of all that the platform has to offer. They can choose which environment to run their applications in and which platform services to utilize. If operations are needed on data in the core a deep repository of public remote APIs are available to utilize. One example of a use case where a side-by-side approach could be utilized is a (relatively speaking) more "complex" extension where its design requires access to multiple systems. Side-by-side extensions can be updated without affecting the core.

The second and third option are located "on-stack" (i.e., both take place and run on SAP Cloud ERP). This would be in cases where a tighter coupling between the extension and / or custom development is necessary. With "key user" extensions simple extensions that can be done by end users using specialized "low code / no code" tools are used. For extensions that require more of a "pro code" approach "developer extensibility" can be used. In both cases the extension runs "on-stack".

The three options are consistent with a clean core approach. One of the goals of clean core in regards to extensibility is that "upgrades do not break an extension and extensions do not break an upgrade". Following the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Extensibility Model ensures that this is the case.

For a more in depth discussion of clean core generally please see Managing Clean Core for SAP Cloud ERPFor a more in depth discussion of clean core as applied to extensibility please see Practicing Clean Core Extensibility For SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Having now discussed the principles of clean core along with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud extensibility model we can now turn our attention to the development tooling available for both traditional application development as well as for agentic AI development. There are different tools available. As mentioned previously SAP meets customers "where they are". We will look at capabilities in customer managed environments/landscapes first. Then we will look at SAP managed environments/landscapes.

The primary capability in this area is SAP Build. It's a unified no code / low code / pro code offering that empowers users of all skill levels—from business experts with no coding experience ("citizen developers") to professional developers—to create and augment enterprise applications, automate processes, design business sites and to create and deploy agents with unprecedented speed. SAP Build is a single, cohesive development experience and 100% consistent with clean core principles. It's primary components are:

• SAP Build Process Automation (low code): For automating processes
• SAP Build Code (pro code): For building extensions with code
• ABAP Development Tools for Eclipse (ADT) (pro code): For building extensions with code
• Joule Studio, Classic Edition (low code): For extending or customizing Joule with AI agents and Joule skills.
• SAP Build Apps (low code): For building extensions without code
  Caution

  As of March 23rd, 2026 as part of the continued evolution and simplification of the SAP Build portfolio, SAP Build Apps is being retired as a standalone product. Please note that there is no immediate impact on existing customers. Customers will continue to have full access to SAP Build Apps and in addition SAP will honor all existing commitments, including SLAs and maintenance through the duration of all existing contracts. For more information please see: SAP Build Apps Deprecation and The Path Forward

As we transition our discussion of build pillar development tools from customer managed solutions to SAP managed solutions there is a very important term that needs to be defined: "Intent Based Development".

The new Joule Studio which was introduced at SAP Sapphire 2026 is SAP’s AI-native development environment which can be used to create agentic AI solutions, including not only agents but also applications and workflows using a complete "intent to deployment" approach. It is rich with a comprehensive set of capabilities, including low-code and pro-code, to create and run AI agents, apps, and workflows with the governance and business understanding required to deliver production-ready agentic solutions. Some of its features include:

• Intent-driven development of agents, apps, and workflows, while at the same time giving the choice to pro-code developers to use their preferred agentic development solution (e.g. Claude, Vercel, Loveable, VS Code) and agent frameworks (e.g., Langchain, Langraph, pydantic etc).
• Integration with SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX and the AI Agent Hub to combine process and architectural insights for creating agentic solutions (including AI agents) and to support enterprise-grade governance. This deep integration helps identify high value opportunities, maximize ROI of agentic solutions, and provides enterprise-grade governance controls.
• Leverages SAP Domain Models and SAP Knowledge Graph to provide differentiated, enterprise-grade, and scalable AI agents and agentic solutions anchored in SAP semantics and deep enterprise context
• Offering embedded n8n’s agentic workflow capabilities with a library of verified nodes (integration/connector/MCPs) for SAP systems and popular third-party connectors only available for SAP customers. This facilitates the design and development of multi agent systems.
• Creation of Cloud Application Programming (CAP) applications through intent driven prompts and pro-code developer tools.
• A fully SAP managed Joule Studio runtime for scalable execution of agentic AI solutions without any operational overhead for customers and partners

Traditional low‑code, pro‑code, and even "vibe coding" tools fail to scale due to missing business context, fragmented governance, and weak lifecycle control. Joule Studio however does not suffer from any such limitations. As an integral part of SAP Business AI Platform, Joule Studio evolves SAP development from AI‑assisted to an AI‑native, intent‑driven approach. What differentiates Joule Studio architecturally from generic AI development platforms is its native integration and deep grounding into SAP's business context layer. SAP LeanIX allows validation of agents against enterprise architectures, while SAP Signavio enables creation of agents based on process insights and clearly outlined blockers. SAP Knowledge Graph, SAP Domain Models and SAP Business Data Cloud provide complementary context that flows automatically into every development artifact.

So how does someone build software using Joule Studio? The process works along these lines:

• Business Intent Analysis: Joule Studio starts by asking questions to understand business goals and then automatically gathers context from various SAP systems, including:
  • Application and system landscapes (from SAP LeanIX).
  • Live process data and bottlenecks (from SAP Signavio).
  • SAP best practices and industry knowledge (via SAP Domain Models and SAP Knowledge Graph).
• Product Requirements Document (PRD): Joule Studio then creates a detailed PRD that captures:
  • The business problem and the user personas involved.
  • Proposed solution options.
  • A fit-gap analysis to determine whether to use a standard feature, configure a solution, or build a new one.
• Technical Specification (Spec): The business-focused PRD is then translated into a detailed technical specification to enable implementation. The Spec contains information about:
  • Architecture
  • Integrations
  • Security
• Code Generation: AI coding agents use the technical spec to automatically generate code:
  • Generation of agents, workflows, and applications from the spec using SAP code insights, integrations to other systems, and your architecture context.
  • Generation and editing of code in the tools developers already use (i.e., Visual Studio Code, Claude, Cline, Cursor, etc) while keeping the same flow and artifacts and allowing switching back and forth at any point.
  • Full visibility and transparency of the code.
• Testing: Automated validation and agent evaluations provide a test report with pass or fail centered around the following:
  • Validation of the end to end flow.
  • Validation of agent behavior.
  • Proposing of solutions in case of failures.
• Deployment: Joule Studio has several features supporting smooth and easy deployment:
  • Deployment to an SAP‑managed runtime.
  • Integration with Git repositories.
  • Tracking of post deployment performance continuously with observability.

• Feature Comparison at a Glance
  • AI & Agent Development
    • SAP Build: Uses the Business Agent Framework for creating agents.
      • What is Business Agent Framework?: An centralized, reusable, and SAP managed multi-tenant agent framework. The framework enables greater efficiency, consistency, and cross-team collaboration for all agent-based projects however it is not configurable meaning agents are created using a specific definition, providing less flexibility.
    • Joule Studio: Is the strategic choice for AI. It uses a code-based approach to build advanced AI agents on all major frameworks (both SAP and non SAP) thereby enabling flexibility.
  • Application Development
    • Shared Capability: Both platforms can be used to develop CAP applications.
    • SAP Build: If you need to build ABAP Extensions or Mobile Apps, use SAP Build.
    • Joule Studio: For building modern web applications with React, use Joule Studio.
      • What is React? React is a popular technology used by developers to create modern, fast, and interactive user interfaces for web applications (the part of the app you see and interact with).
  • Automation & Workflows
    • Shared Capability: The Task Center is available in both platforms, providing flexibility.
    • SAP Build: All traditional automation capabilities are in SAP Build. This includes:
      • Business Process Automation (BPA)
      • Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
      • Business Rules
      • Digital Workspaces
    • Joule Studio: Use Joule Studio for n8n Workflows, which are ideal for orchestrating complex tasks for your AI agents as well as building multi agent systems.
  • Runtime & Commercial Model
    • SAP Build
      • Runtime: Based on platform runtimes (i.e., Cloud Foundry, Kyma).
      • Commercial Model: Based on platform commercial models (i.e., "Pay-As-You_Go", "SAP BTPEA")
    • Joule Studio
      • Runtime: Includes the new Joule runtime, an SAP-managed environment for production-grade agents and apps with built-in governance and monitoring.
      • Commercial Model: Priced on Runtime Usage (i.e., a consumption-based model where you pay for what you actually use, not the number of users).

At first glance it might be tempting to assume that Joule Studio (as part of SAP Business AI Platform) is just simply the same as Joule Studio Classic (as part of SAP Build) with a few extra features "here and there". Nothing could be further from the truth.

SAP Build continues to do exactly what it does well. It’s the customer managed foundation for low‑code and pro‑code development — building apps, automations, and extensions that are tightly integrated with the SAP Business Suite and designed around clean core principles. SAP Build can continue to be used with full support and no disruption.

Joule Studio builds on that foundation. It is not a replacement for SAP Build — it represents SAP’s strategic development solution for agentic AI. With Joule Studio, development starts from intent, using AI as the primary interface to build agents, apps, and workflows, rather than treating AI as an add‑on layered on later.​ This compliments how developers actually work. Joule Studio spans low‑code to pro‑code and lets teams use familiar tools and frameworks — whether that’s modern app development with Vercel or agentic workflows with n8n — while still operating within SAP’s enterprise guardrails.

This means developers can have the best of both worlds. For a customer managed approach SAP Build can continue to run in customer managed environments and existing projects carry on unchanged. At the same time for an SAP managed approach organizations can utilize Joule Studio selectively for new AI‑first, agentic scenarios running in SAP managed environments. Both options are designed to work side by side. As a result organizations can adopt at their own pace, keeping SAP Build as their foundation for example, while utilizing Joule Studio for agentic AI use cases and migrating over time at their own pace.

What about Joule Studio Classic (part of SAP Build)? The same approach applies. New use cases should use the new Joule Studio however for those use cases already implemented using Joule Studio Classic they can continue to run without interruption and they can be migrated to the new SAP managed Joule Studio when organizations wish to do so.

• The Practical Guidance: When to Use Which
  • Use SAP Build for:
    • Continuing to maintain and build ABAP extensions and Mobile Apps.
    • All your existing process automation needs like RPA, BPA, and Business Rules.
    • Developing with Digital Workspaces.
  • Use Joule Studio for:
    • New, AI-First Projects.
    • Building advanced, code-based AI agents.
    • Creating modern front-ends with React Apps.
    • Orchestrating agentic tasks with n8n Workflows.

Let's explore how it all works together by looking at a simple use case. Enter Heidi who is a developer architect for Velocis Mobility. Velocis is a multi-national corporation in the telecommunications industry. Among other things It manufactures and sells electric heaters. It has been an SAP customer for many years utilizing SAP Cloud ERP (SAP S/4HANA Cloud public edition) along with SAP Business AI Platform. Clean core is the foundation of everything they do when building extensions.

Heidi built a mission critical extension several years ago using SAP Build and running on SAP Cloud Foundry. It's a custom built CAP application with an SAP Fiori user interface allowing procurement managers to deal with supply chain disruptions. As an example if a shipment which is destined for Velocis’s European assembly plant is delayed the procurement manager would do several things:

• Autonomous Anomaly Detection & Impact Analysis
  • Access the application to see if there are any delays.
  • Contact the supplier (phone / email) and discuss the issue.
  • Upon agreement adjust the production schedule

The application was managed by the administrators in the IT department. Things such as Cloud Foundry instances, memory allocation per instance, etc. were all managed by the administrators.

Heidi read about the autonomous enterprise on the SAP website and realized that it could help with a top to bottom redesign of how supply chain disruptions could be handled. Upon meeting with internal stakeholders she proposed a redesigned IT architecture explaining how it would work using a hypothetical scenario:

• Autonomous Anomaly Detection & Impact Analysis
  • The Trigger: A sudden logistical bottleneck occurs—a major port shutdown in East Asia delays a shipment of custom high-capacity lithium-ion battery cells destined for Velocis’s European assembly plant.
  • The Autonomous Response: An agent detects the delay by cross-referencing real-time carrier data with the production schedule
  • Reasoning: The agent calculates the downstream impact: a 3-week production halt for Velocis’s highest-margin product, the E-Bolt Electric Heater, resulting in a €1.2M revenue risk and missed delivery windows for 45 major retail partners.
• Agentic Collaboration and Solution Synthesis

  Rather than raising an alert for a human planner to fix, an assistant initiates a multi-agent workflow:

  • A Procurement Agent is summoned to find alternative suppliers. It queries the SAP Business Network, filtering for validated suppliers who can deliver the exact battery specifications within 5 days.
  • A Sustainability Agent is engaged to ensure any alternative supplier complies with Velocis’s strict "Green Ledger" carbon footprint boundaries (Scope 3 emissions limits set in SAP Sustainability Control Tower).
  • A Financial Agent checks the dynamically updated cash-flow forecasts and budget guardrails to determine how much expedited shipping premium the company can absorb.

• Agent-to-Agent Negotiation

  The Procurement Agent identifies an alternative supplier, EnergyTech, who is based in Europe and has the inventory but at a 15% higher unit price.

  • Velocis’s Procurement Agent contacts EnergyTech’s Sales Agent autonomously via the SAP Business Network.
  • Using secure, protocol-based negotiation, the agents counter-offer on volume, price, and delivery speed.
  • Within 90 seconds, they agree on a compromise: a slightly smaller bulk order at an 8% premium, with guaranteed 3-day road-freight delivery, which keeps the total cost within the Financial Agent's predefined threshold.

• Compliance and "Green Ledger" Verification

  Before final execution, the Sustainability Agent analyzes the logistical route of the supplier.

  • Because the batteries are traveling via electric truck across Europe rather than ocean-and-air freight from Asia, the agent calculates a 34% net reduction in carbon emissions for this batch.
  • The agent updates the SAP Green Ledger in real-time, certifying that the transaction aligns with Velocis’s 2026 Net-Zero milestones.

• Human-in-the-Loop Validation (The "Guardrail" Check)

  Because the financial transaction exceeds €250,000 (a threshold set by the CFO), the process pauses for a human decision.

  • The Financial Agent sends a push notification to the Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO).
  • The CSCO accesses the redesigned (and simplified) custom CAP application. The application now just requires an "approval / disapproval" of exceptions.
  • The CSCO hits "Approve".

• Autonomous Execution

  Upon approval, the system executes the following actions simultaneously:

  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud generates the purchase order and sends it to EnergyTech.
  • SAP Build Process Automation updates the manufacturing schedule in the Manufacturing Execution System shifting production to another product line for 3 days, then slotting the E-Bolt Electric Heater back in the moment the batteries arrive..
  • SAP Transportation Management books the carrier and locks in the route
  • A Customer Service Agent drafts and sends proactive, personalized updates to the 45 retail partners, reassuring them that their shipments will arrive on schedule, transforming a potential PR crisis into a customer-experience win.

Velocis gets the best of both worlds. Existing customer managed assets (i.e., SAP Build based CAP application) are protected and new SAP managed development approaches (i.e., Joule Studio assistants and agents) can also be utilized. When Velocis is ready it can migrate the SAP Build based app to Joule Studio.

In summary, we've explored SAP's development tools, distinguishing between customer managed and SAP managed solutions. The primary customer managed platform is SAP Build, a low-code/pro-code suite for creating applications, automating processes (RPA/BPA), and building extensions. For an SAP managed approach an "intent-based development," offering Joule Studio is available which is the strategic choice for AI-native projects and creating advanced AI agents. Crucially, Joule Studio is not a replacement for SAP Build; the two are designed to coexist. Organizations can continue using SAP Build for traditional development and automation while adopting the AI-driven Joule Studio for new, agentic scenarios.