

Web Apps


Both standalone scripts and scripts bound to G Suite applications can be turned into web apps, so long as they meet the requirements below.

Requirements for web apps


Request parameters



The value of the query string portion of the URL, or null if no query string is specified


An object of key/value pairs that correspond to the request parameters. Only the first value is returned for parameters that have multiple values.

{"name": "alice", "n": "1"}

An object similar to e.parameter, but with an array of values for each key

{"name": ["alice"], "n": ["1", "2"]}
e.contextPath Not used, always the empty string.

The length of the request body for POST requests, or -1 for GET requests


The same as e.contentLength


The MIME type of the POST body


The content text of the POST body


Always the value "postData"



Then, you can display the parameters like so:

function doGet(e) {
  var params = JSON.stringify(e);
  return HtmlService.createHtmlOutput(params);


  "parameter": {
    "username": "jsmith",
    "age": "21"
  "contextPath": "",
  "parameters": {
    "username": [
    "age": [
  "contentLength": -1

Deploying a script as a web app


  2. Select Publish > Deploy as web app.
  5. Under Who has access to the app, select who should be allowed to visit it. The options differ depending on the type of account you have, but they can include "Only myself", any member of your domain, "Anyone" (with a Google account), or "Anyone, even anonymous".
  6. Click Deploy.

Once you click Deploy, you'll see a new dialog with a message indicating that your project has been successfully deployed as a web app.

This dialog provides two important URLs for your app:


You can share the web app URL with those you would like to use your app, provided you have granted them access.


The permissions for a web app differ depending how you choose to execute the app:

  • Execute the app as me—In this case, the script always executes as you, the owner of the script, no matter who accesses the web app.
  • Execute the app as user accessing the web app—In this case, the script runs under the identity of the active user using the web app. This permission approach causes the web app to show the email of the script owner when the user authorizes access.

Embedding your web app in Google Sites

You can also embed web apps in both the classic and new versions of Google Sites.

Embedding a web app in new Sites

In order to embed a web app, it must first be deployed. You also need the Current web app URL from the Deploy as web app dialog.

To embed a web app into a new Sites page, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sites page where you'd like to add the web app.
  2. Select Insert > Embed URL.
  3. Paste in the web app URL and then click ADD.

The web app appears in a frame in the page's preview. When you publish the page, your site viewers may need to authorize the web app before it executes normally. Unauthorized web apps present authorization prompts to the user.

Embedding a web app in classic Sites

You can bind a script to a classic Google Site in much the same way as a you can bind a script to a Google Doc or Sheet. To create a bound script, visit your site, click the gear icon Settings, then select Manage site. On the Manage Site page, click Apps Scripts in the left nav, then the Add new script button. This opens a new script in the Apps Script editor, where you can code and deploy your web app.

You can also embed your web app in a page. You can bind the web app to the Site or you can use any web app that you have the URL for. To embed a web app into a Google Sites page, follow the steps below:

  1. Open an existing Site for which you have edit access or create a new Site.
  2. Navigate to the page in your Site where you want to embed the web app.
  3. Click the edit icon, and then Insert > Google Apps Script.
  5. Click the Select button, choose the desired options from the next dialog, and click Save.
  6. Save your changes to the page and then you should see your web app embedded in your Sites page.

Web Apps and Browser History

It can be desirable to have an Apps Script web app simulate a multi-page application, or one with a dynamic UI controlled via URL parameters. In order to do this well, you can define a state object to represent the app's UI or page, and push the state into the browser history as the user navigates your app. You can also listen to history events so that your web app displays the correct UI when the user navigates back and forth with the browser buttons. By querying the URL parameters at load time, you can have your app dynamically build its UI based on those parameters, allowing the user to start the app in a particular state.

Apps Script provides two asynchronous client-side JavaScript APIs to assist with creating web apps that are linked to the browser history:

  • google.script.history provides methods to allow dynamic response to browser history changes. This includes: pushing states (simple Objects you can define) onto the browser history, replacing the top state in the history stack, and setting a listener callback function to respond to history changes.

  • google.script.url provides the means to retrieve the current page's URL parameters and URL fragment, if they are present.

These history APIs are only available to web apps. They are not supported for sidebars, dialogs or add-ons. This functionality is also not recommended for use in web apps embedded in a Google Sites.