Introduction: Connecting Systems Through Splunk Apps
Once Splunk is providing visibility, the next step is integration. Teams begin linking platforms, embedding logic into workflows, and orchestrating actions across systems.
Custom Splunk apps make this possible.
Splunk app development enables organizations to build tailored interfaces, process external data, and create reusable workflows that align to how teams operate. Whether you’re integrating with a ticketing platform, pulling in threat intelligence, or designing a dashboard for a specific use case, apps turn Splunk into a connected hub for your broader ecosystem
You build a Splunk app when your use case cannot be met by standard features and capabilities alone. A custom app allows you to extend Splunk’s powerful functionality and deliver a solution tailored to your specific requirements.
In this blog, we will show you how to package your solution, including searches, lookups, visualizations, and more, into a tested, deployable, and reusable app.
And the best part? You don’t need to be a programmer to do it.
What Splunk App Development Enables
A Splunk app is more than just a dashboard. It is a packaged experience that includes:
- Dashboards and visualizations
- Saved searches and reports
- Modular inputs and data collection scripts
- Setup and configuration interfaces
- Scripts, lookups, and REST API integrations
With these elements, apps can unify workflows, normalize user experience, and embed decision logic directly into Splunk. This enables repeatable processes that serve security, IT, or data operations teams more effectively.
Why App Development Drives Integration
Custom apps help bridge the gap between systems and teams. Instead of bouncing between tools, users operate from a single interface where data, context, and actions are connected.
Reasons for integration:
- Can gain insights and value from data
- Take action or alert on data
- Create new ways to visualize data
- Manipulate data when searching
- Integrate and extend Splunk to other software
Splunk apps support:
- Ticketing system integrations like ServiceNow and Jira
- Data enrichment using threat intel feeds or CMDBs
- Specialized dashboards tailored to SOCs, NOCs, or compliance teams
- Developer toolkits that bundle commonly used searches and visualizations
- Ingestion preprocessing or routing aligned to internal requirements
Each app helps reduce friction, streamline operations, and expand what Splunk can do across the enterprise.
Common App Use Cases in Integrated Environments
- Incident Response: Trigger ServiceNow tickets from detections inside a custom SOC app
- Asset Context: Enrich Splunk events with metadata from an internal asset database
- Developer Toolkit: Package internal searches, macros, and panels for a specific team
- Dashboard Consolidation: Combine metrics from multiple sources into a single pane of glass
- Ingestion Utilities: Route logs based on type, urgency, or compliance requirements
Custom apps create structure where Splunk alone might require manual steps or disconnected tools.
Core Components of a Splunk App
Component | Function |
|---|---|
Knowledge Objects | Splunk App building blocks |
Modular Inputs, HEC, REST | Enable communication with other systems |
Modular Visualizations | Dashboards that offer centralized reporting |
Ad-hoc Search Commands | Searches, alerts, and reusable SPL logic |
Scheduled Searches | Scheduled searches, alerts, and reusable SPL logic |
Configuration files | App configuration |
Use these building blocks to onboard your custom data into Splunk, build dashboard to tell the story of your data with great visualization and exend through APIs to other solutions like Oracle, SQL or Microsoft.
Key Steps for Developing a Splunk App
The first thing is to understand what a Splunk app looks like.
In Splunk, an app is simply a collection of files placed in the correct folder structure. An example is shown below:
$SPLUNK_HOME / etc / apps / MY_CUSTOM_APP {top app folder}
/appserver {sub-folder}
/bin {sub-folder}
/default {sub-folder}
/local {sub-folder}
/lookups {sub-folder}
/metadata {sub-folder}
/readme {sub-folder}
Here are a few key points about the Splunk app folder structure:
- Whenever you build a new app, it will always reside under $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps, which is the main location for all Splunk apps. Your app files will live inside your specific app folder, for example MY_CUSTOM_APP.
- Code files (such as Python or Bash scripts) should be placed in the bin subfolder.
- Configuration files can reside in either the default or local subfolders. Splunk uses default to store files that should not change during an upgrade. You can follow the same convention or place files only in the local subfolder if preferred.
- Lookup tables should be placed in the lookups subfolder.
- App permissions and related metadata are stored in the metadata subfolder.
- Static files that support your app’s look and feel (logos, images, etc.) go in the appserver subfolder.
- Documentation or informational files about your app should go to the readme subfolder.
There are two key methods to build a Splunk application:
Collect & Publish
After a certain amount of use, your environment will be littered with an assortment of alerts, dashboards, and configurations. When a collection of these are associated by a particular use case or data type, it would be wise to collect these unique changes into a unified application.
The benefits enable greater versioning control, less chance of loss of knowledge objects, and greater clarity when managing your system. To execute this methodology:
- Find all Knowledge Objects that you wish to coalesce, review Saved Searches, Dashboards, Data Inputs and Configurations on the Inputs, Props, and Transforms configuration files. These are frequently found in the Splunk Search application.
- Place these textual files in a new folder structure matching the standard Splunk application.
- Save this configuration in your version control system of choice.
- Package these folders together into an SPL or ZIP file and install on your Splunk System.
- Remove duplications of old data.
Greenfield Development
When a Splunk team is certain of an outcome before work has commenced, it pays dividends to work in an isolated application. This avoids the need to later Collect and Publish said application, which may cause permission issues and general headaches.
- Create a new application in the Splunk UI with a detailed name
- Create any new dashboards, searches, ingests, or data configurations in this application.
- If this environment is on premise, navigate to the app through the command line (/splunk/etc/apps/…) to get a copy of the data.
- Version this application in your version control system of choice.
How Apps Support Long-Term Growth
As your operations become more complex, custom apps help enforce standardization and reduce repetitive work. They enable:
- Embedded automation triggers for actions based on event logic
- Integrated views that combine multiple teams’ needs
- Improved handoffs between systems without manual steps
- Faster onboarding by delivering pre-built experiences
Custom apps are a scalable way to evolve your Splunk environment with your organization’s goals.
Next Steps for Teams Exploring Splunk App Development
- Identify workflows that would benefit from consistency or integration
- Evaluate existing apps before committing to custom builds
- Design the app around your user experience, not just technical requirements
- Plan for long-term support, documentation, and ownership
