You do not build a Light App license; you buy it on your contract and then assign it to a user, the same way you assign any user license in Setup. Confirm the seat is available, then set it on the user record and scope access with a fitting profile.
- Confirm the license is on your contract
In Setup, open Company Information and check the User Licenses related list. Make sure you have an available Lightning Platform Starter, Plus, or App Subscription seat before you try to assign one. If none show, the license is not on your contract and you need your Salesforce account team to add it.
- Open or create the user record
In Setup, go to Users and either edit an existing user or click New User. The User License field on the user record is where the license tier is set, and it controls which profiles you can then choose.
- Pick the license, then a compatible profile
Set User License to the Lightning Platform tier you bought, then choose a profile that belongs to that license. Profiles are tied to a license, so a Sales or Service profile will not appear for a Lightning Platform user.
- Scope object access within the license ceiling
Use the profile and permission sets to grant only the custom objects and the read access the persona needs. Remember the license already caps custom objects and makes Accounts and Contacts read-only on the Light App tier, so plan inside those limits.
On the user record, sets the base license tier and decides which profiles and features are available to that user.
Must match the chosen license; defines default object and field access plus app visibility for the user.
Layer extra access on top of the profile, but only for permissions the underlying license already allows.
Controls which single custom app and its tabs the Light App user sees, inside the 10 object and 10 tab cap.
- Permission sets cannot raise the 10 custom object cap or grant excluded objects like Opportunities; the license ceiling always wins.
- Light App is read-only on Accounts and Contacts. If users must edit those records, you need the Enterprise App or a fuller license.
- Lightning Platform users cannot do internal or external customer service work without a Service Cloud license, even with case-like custom objects.
- Changing a user license mid-contract usually needs an order change with your Salesforce account team, not just a click in Setup.