# Developing on Forest Admin

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This is the documentation of the `forest-express-sequelize` and `forest-express-mongoose` Node.js agents that will soon reach end-of-support.

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## Developing on Forest Admin

One of the goals of Forest Admin is empowering technical teams to achieve more in less time: in other words, giving them the means to create and maintain a great admin panel in as little time as possible.

#### Development tools

Your Forest Admin panel is composed of 2 parts - [the frontend (UI) and the backend](/documentation/reference-guide/how-it-works.md) - and for each one you need the right tools:

The **Admin** **backend** is part of your codebase. As a result, you'll be using your own favorite tools to customize it:

* Editing: your favorite IDE
* Versioning: your favorite versioning tool (git, svn, mercurial, etc)

Your **Forest Admin UI** is **not** part of your codebase: it is managed on Forest Admin servers. As a result, you depend on Forest Admin tools to customize it. Here's what we've built for you:

* Editing: use the [Layout Editor mode](https://docs.forestadmin.com/user-guide/getting-started/master-your-ui/using-the-layout-editor-mode) to intuitively manage your layout (UI)
* Versioning: use [Forest CLI](/documentation/reference-guide/how-it-works/developing-on-forest-admin/forest-cli-commands.md) to seamlessly manage your layout versions

#### Development workflow

For a simple and hands-on **example** of how to develop on Forest Admin according to our recommended development workflow, see [this page](/documentation/getting-started/development-workflow.md).

For a more complete view showcasing each possible scenario of the recommended development workflow, we've drawn the following state **diagram**:

<figure><img src="/files/2wjUlPT0ocrIhf629hYj" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

In the next pages, we'll cover each step in details.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/how-it-works/developing-on-forest-admin.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.