Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system are provided for guiding application building using a registry of components, wherein the components are stored as metadata having a reference to one or more saved software procedures that are used to build custom applications. Aspects of the present invention include allowing a user to define an application definition based on business requirements, wherein the application definition comprises a process flow defining a series of process steps, user actions, and domain objects. Each process step identifies one or more domain objects from the business requirements, and each domain object is represented by one or more components in the component registry. A restricted set of components is then created using the components from the component registry that represent the domain objects specified in the application definition.