What it is
A React external app is a Salesforce Multi-Framework application built for customers or partners rather than employees. Its UI Bundle declares `<target>Experience</target>`, and it is served through Digital Experiences as a site or portal.
Why it matters
This is the option that makes a customer-facing portal a normal React codebase while the data, sharing rules and business logic stay in Salesforce. Serving both employees and customers from one codebase and one data layer is usually what makes the architecture worth adopting at all.
Key components
- <target>Experience</target> in .uibundle-meta.xml
- Digital Experiences site or portal
- External identity and sharing model
- Same platform SDK data layer as internal apps
How it connects
The counterpart is a React internal app, which targets CustomApplication for employees and appears in the App Launcher.
Good to know
"reactExternalApp" is not a Salesforce identifier — the metadata value is Experience.
Related terms
Salesforce Multi-Framework
A framework-agnostic Salesforce runtime that lets a standard React app run natively on the platform, with Salesforce authentication, security and governance applied automatically.
UI Bundle
The Salesforce metadata type that packages a Multi-Framework app for deployment, declaring in .uibundle-meta.xml which surface it targets.
React Internal App (Salesforce)
A Multi-Framework React app for employees, deployed with target CustomApplication and opened from the App Launcher or the Salesforce mobile app.
Experience Cloud
Salesforce's platform for building customer portals, partner communities, and self-service sites — the digital front door for external users.