user-provided.html.md.erb

---
title: User-Provided Service
owner: Services
---

This topic explains how to create a user-provided service.


## <a id="overview"></a> Overview

An <%= vars.app_runtime_full %> developer can call your service from their app code, even if the service runs outside of <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %> and has no service broker. Use cases for this include:

* Your software is available as a SaaS.

* You already have a way to install your software on-premises at a customer site.

* Your customer already uses your software, is now adopting <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %>, and wants to consume your software from apps that they deploy on <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %>.

This do-it-yourself solution represents the lowest level of <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %> service integration. It works only for services running external to <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %>, and does not publish the services to the Services Marketplace or make them available to anyone outside the space of the developer who runs these commands. For more information, see [User-Provided Service Instances](http://docs.pivotal.io/application-service/devguide/services/user-provided.html).

Running apps with a user-provided service is a great way to determine what information needs to be passed in the credential structure (useful in higher integration levels), verify that the integration works, and develop a test app that can continue to be used at higher levels. From the app developer perspective, once a user-provided service works, later integrations of the service will not require any further code changes. User-provided service bindings are fully forward-compatible with brokered service bindings.


## <a id="using"></a> Using a User-Provided Service

To use an external service that has no tile:

1. Create a service instance by running:

	```
	cf create-user-provided-service YOUR-SERVICE-NAME -p CREDENTIALS
	```
	Where:
	* `YOUR-SERVICE-NAME` is the name of the service instance you want to create.
	* `CREDENTIALS` is a valid JSON string that contains the URL and credentials necessary to connect to your externally-deployed service.

1. Bind the service instance to their app by running:

	```
	cf bind-service
	```

By doing this, app developers can bind their apps to your service and write all code necessary to access it through a <%= vars.app_runtime_abbr %> service binding.