MTA Overview & mta.yaml

Learn what an MTA is, why BTP uses it, and write a minimal mta.yaml that packages a CAP backend and optional Fiori frontend together.

MTA Overview & mta.yaml

What is an MTA?

A Multi-Target Application (MTA) is SAP's packaging format for BTP applications. It bundles multiple modules (a CAP backend, a Fiori UI, an AppRouter, service bindings) into a single deployable archive (.mtar file).

Think of it as a Docker Compose file for BTP — one file describes the whole stack.

Why MTA?

Single deploy command — mta deploy deploys everything in the right order
Declarative service bindings — services are wired automatically
Environment-specific config — one mta.yaml, different values per landscape

Anatomy of mta.yaml

_schema-version: "3.1"
ID: bookshop
version: 1.0.0
description: Bookshop CAP application

modules:
  # ── 1. CAP backend ─────────────────────────────────────────
  - name: bookshop-srv
    type: nodejs
    path: gen/srv              # built output from cds build
    parameters:
      buildpack: nodejs_buildpack
      memory: 256M
      disk-quota: 512M
    requires:
      - name: bookshop-hana   # service binding
      - name: bookshop-xsuaa
    provides:
      - name: srv-api
        properties:
          srv-url: ${default-url}

  # ── 2. HANA Deployer ───────────────────────────────────────
  - name: bookshop-db-deployer
    type: hdb
    path: gen/db
    requires:
      - name: bookshop-hana

  # ── 3. AppRouter ───────────────────────────────────────────
  - name: bookshop-app
    type: approuter.nodejs
    path: app/router
    requires:
      - name: bookshop-xsuaa
      - name: srv-api
        group: destinations
        properties:
          name: srv-api
          url: ~{srv-url}
          forwardAuthToken: true

resources:
  # ── Service instances ──────────────────────────────────────
  - name: bookshop-hana
    type: org.cloudfoundry.managed-service
    parameters:
      service: hana
      service-plan: hdi-shared

  - name: bookshop-xsuaa
    type: org.cloudfoundry.managed-service
    parameters:
      service: xsuaa
      service-plan: application
      path: ./xs-security.json

Key concepts

Element	What it does
`modules`	Deployable units (apps, deployers)
`resources`	BTP services to create or bind
`requires`	Declares a dependency on another module or resource
`provides`	Exports a property (like a URL) for other modules to consume
`parameters`	CF/BTP configuration (memory, buildpack, service plan)

Minimal mta.yaml for CAP Node.js only

If you just want to deploy the backend without a UI:

_schema-version: "3.1"
ID: my-cap-app
version: 1.0.0

modules:
  - name: my-cap-srv
    type: nodejs
    path: gen/srv
    requires:
      - name: my-cap-db

  - name: my-cap-db-deployer
    type: hdb
    path: gen/db
    requires:
      - name: my-cap-db

resources:
  - name: my-cap-db
    type: org.cloudfoundry.managed-service
    parameters:
      service: hana
      service-plan: hdi-shared