timmeade / openblocks

Openblocks
The Open Source Retool Alternative

Build internal tools fast, with no limitations

📢 Use Openblocks in 3 steps

1. Connect to any data sources or APIs.
2. Build UI with 50+ components.
3. Share with collegues and customers.

💡 Why Openblocks

It's cumbersome to create a single app. You had to design user interfaces, write code in multiple languages and frameworks, and understand how all of that code works together.

Low-code/No-code platforms are fast to get started with but quickly become unmaintainable and inflexible. This creates more problems than it solves.

Retool-like solutions are great for their simplicity and flexibility, but they can also be limited in different ways compared to frameworks like React/Vue.

Openblocks wants to take a step forward. More specifically, Openblocks is

• An all-in-one IDE to create internal or customer-facing apps.
• A place to create, build and share building blocks of web applications.
• A domain-specific language that UI-configurable block is the first-class citizen.

🪄 Features

• Visual UI builder with 50+ built-in components.
• Module and Query Library for reusable components and queries in the UI builder.
• Custom components to share through React and Openblocks SDK (instead of iFrame). (Pre-alpha)
• Native connections to PostgresSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, RestAPI, SMTP, etc.
• JavaScript supported everywhere to transform data, control components, etc.
• Embed Openblocks pages as a React component (instead of iFrame).
• Role-based access control (RBAC) for granular permission management.
• Auto-saved and restorable history for release and version control.
• DIY app themes to precisely align with your company's content.
• Audit logs to track activities and ensure compliance.

🏆 Comparisons

Openblocks vs Retool

• Openblocks is open-source. You don't need to worry about vendor lock-in or being stuck with an outdated version of the software.
• In Openblocks, developers can create and use their own components instead of depending on offical updates.
• Openblocks supports left menu navigation (like most sites do). Retool has header navigation only.

Openblocks vs Appsmith, Tooljet

• Openblocks has more components and richer configuration than Appsmith and Tooljet.
• In Openblocks, you can choose auto-height or fixed-height mode for your components, while Appsmith supports fixed-height mode only.
• In Openblocks, you can reuse common structures when building apps with modules and query library features.

👐 Support and Community

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or share with our community. Our team is here ready to help.

📮 Chat with us on Discord

📑 Search for solutions in our Documentation

🔎 Submit an issue here on GitHub

💻 Deployment Options

You can access Openblocks from cloud-hosted version at any time, or use the following resources for deploying Openblocks on different platforms:

• Docker

💪 Contributing

• Language support: If you have experience with a language that isn't currently supported by our product, send us a pull request.
• Create and share components or demos: If you've created something that might be useful to others, add the link here.