DEV Community: NocoBase

5 Open-Source Internal Tools to Use with Hermes Agent

NocoBase — Sat, 30 May 2026 12:48:15 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/open-source-internal-tools-self-hosted-ai-agent-hermes

AI Agents are no longer only popular in development scenarios.

Besides tools like Claude Code and OpenClaw, Hermes Agent has also started getting more attention recently.

On Reddit, one user mentioned that after trying several Agent tools, including OpenClaw, Nanobot, and Nanoclaw, they still preferred Hermes Agent in the end. It keeps the capabilities they actually need without unnecessary overhead. For scenarios such as local models, self-hosted servers, SSH access, and Telegram-based operations, it also fits a lighter and more controllable setup.

💡Read more:

How can OpenClaw be used in real business? 5 recommended open source tools

After using Claude Code, you need these 6 open source tools

For teams that are already planning to build self-hosted business systems or internal tools, Hermes Agent is a strong fit if the AI Agent needs to be used inside real business systems to handle data queries, system configuration, workflow maintenance, and task execution.

The internal tool platform provides the foundation for the business system, while Hermes works as a self-hosted Agent that helps teams query, configure, and maintain systems with natural language, and capture repeatable operations as reusable Skills.

💬 Hey, you're reading the NocoBase blog. NocoBase is the most extensible AI-powered no-code/low-code development platform for building enterprise applications, internal tools, and all kinds of systems. It’s fully self-hosted, plugin-based, and developer-friendly. → Explore NocoBase on GitHub

This article focuses on internal tool platforms such as NocoBase, Appsmith, Budibase, Directus, and Baserow, and explains how they can be used with Hermes Agent in different scenarios.

First, here is a table of the tools covered in this article, the common business systems they are suited for, and the capabilities Hermes Agent can add.

Tool	Recommended business systems / internal tools	What Hermes Agent can add
NocoBase	CRM, ERP, approval systems, ticketing systems, project management, supplier management, asset management, operations backends, and other business systems	Use natural language to plan data models, configure pages and permissions, maintain workflows, and capture high-frequency business modules as reusable Skills
Appsmith	Admin panels, data dashboards, customer service backends, review panels, operations tools, database management interfaces	Clarify page structures, organize query and filter logic, explain relationships between components and data sources, and reuse common admin page templates
Budibase	Form systems, approval workflows, employee requests, IT service desks, operations workflow apps, internal workflow tools	Clarify form fields, approval nodes, and status transitions, generate workflow templates, and capture request handling Skills
Directus	Database backends, API management, content management systems, structured data management platforms, data operations backends	Explain data structures, organize field relationships, support natural language queries, and capture data management and content maintenance workflows
Baserow	Table-based databases, lightweight CRM, supplier lists, content plans, project progress tables, inventory lists	Plan table structures and views, organize filter rules, generate category and status fields, and reuse lightweight app templates

1. NocoBase

Official website: https://www.nocobase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase

GitHub Star: 22.6k

Introduction

NocoBase is an open source AI no-code / low-code platform for building enterprise internal business systems and admin backends.

At its core, NocoBase helps teams build long-running business systems through data models, page configuration, permission management, workflows, and plugin extensions. These systems usually change over time: fields need to be adjusted, pages need to be optimized, permissions need to be redefined, and approval and notification workflows need to be updated as the business changes.

NocoBase is well suited for these long-term systems, while Hermes Agent can further participate in system building, configuration, and maintenance.

In terms of AI capabilities, NocoBase already provides AI Employees, AI Skills, CLI, MCP, and related support. AI Employees can act as intelligent assistants inside the system and help with data queries, content generation, task handling, and more. AI Skills help external Agents understand how NocoBase is configured and what they can and cannot operate on. The CLI lets Agents execute installation, creation, modification, and other operations through commands. MCP provides a more standard entry point for external AI tools to connect to NocoBase.

What can it do with Hermes?

After Hermes is connected to NocoBase, it can understand the NocoBase configuration system through NocoBase Skills and execute creation, modification, deployment, and other operations through the NocoBase CLI.

1. Create business modules with natural language

For example, when creating a customer renewal management module, you can first let Hermes organize the data structures for customers, contracts, renewal records, follow-up tasks, and more. Then it can plan the list pages, detail pages, dashboards, and basic permissions.

2. Help maintain permissions and workflows

For example, if the rule is “sales can only view the customers they own, supervisors can view their team’s customers, and finance can view contract amounts,” Hermes can turn this business description into more specific permission and workflow configuration logic.

3. Capture high-frequency operations as Skills

After completing a CRM, approval workflow, or supplier management module for the first time, Hermes can capture practices such as field naming, page structure, and permission rules. These can then be reused when building similar modules later.

Task instruction example

Help me create a customer renewal management module in NocoBase.

It needs to include customer information, contract expiration date, renewal status, owner, follow-up records, and an approval workflow.

For permissions:
Sales can only view customers they own.
Sales supervisors can view team customers.
Finance can view contract amounts and payment status.
Administrators can view and edit all content.

For workflows:
Automatically generate a renewal reminder 30 days before the contract expires.
When the renewal amount exceeds 100,000 yuan, supervisor and finance approval is required.
After approval, update the renewal status and generate the next follow-up task.

After completion, please organize this module building process into a reusable Skill, so it can be used later to create supplier management, contract management, or project management modules.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/

AI documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/

CLI: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/api/cli/

Skills: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai-builder#nocobase-skills

MCP: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/mcp/

Hermes Agent: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/hermes-agent

2. Appsmith

Official website: https://www.appsmith.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith

GitHub Star: 39.9k

Introduction

Appsmith is an open source low-code platform mainly used to build internal apps such as admin panels, data dashboards, customer support backends, review tools, and IT tools. It can connect to databases, APIs, and third-party services, and quickly build interfaces for internal teams through drag-and-drop components, query configuration, and JavaScript extensions.

Appsmith provides Appsmith AI, which can add AI queries, text generation, classification, summarization, and other capabilities to applications. It can also build AI interactions around internal data. Appsmith is also developing Appsmith Agents to bring AI capabilities into the tools and systems teams use every day.

What can it do with Hermes?

Appsmith builds specific pages and data operation interfaces, while Hermes helps teams turn natural language requirements into clearer page structures, query logic, and operation rules.

Plan internal admin interfaces

For example, when building an order exception handling panel, you can first ask Hermes to clarify which fields should be displayed, which filters are needed, which action buttons are required, and how the page should be divided into sections. Appsmith can then handle the specific interface building and data connection.

Organize query and filter logic

A common issue with internal tools is not whether a page exists, but whether the data logic behind the page is clear. Hermes can help teams turn descriptions such as “which orders do I want to see,” “how should exceptions be identified,” and “which records should be prioritized” into query conditions and operation rules.

Capture admin page templates

Customer support backends, review panels, operations dashboards, and finance query pages often appear repeatedly. Hermes can capture common fields, component layouts, filters, and operation logic as Skills, so similar pages can be reused later.

Task instruction example

Help me plan an order exception handling panel, which will later be built in Appsmith.

The page needs to display abnormal orders, customer names, order amounts, owners, exception reasons, processing status, and the most recent communication record.

Filters include:
Region.
Order amount.
Processing status.
Owner.
Exception type.

For operations:
Operations staff can update the processing status.
Supervisors can assign owners in batches.
Finance can only view order amounts and payment status.

Please organize the page structure, data query logic, and component layout, and capture them as a reusable internal tool page template.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.appsmith.com/

Appsmith AI: https://docs.appsmith.com/connect-data/reference/appsmith-ai

3. Budibase

Official website: https://budibase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/Budibase/budibase

GitHub Star: 28k

Introduction

Budibase is an open source operations platform mainly used to build internal apps, automation workflows, and AI Agents. It is more focused on process-based business scenarios, such as employee requests, approval handling, IT service desks, form routing, data updates, and operations automation.

Budibase supports generating code, generating database tables, and creating automation workflows powered by large language models. Budibase Agents are also being developed, allowing teams to define Agent behavior through natural language and connect it to internal data and APIs.

What can it do with Hermes?

Budibase is better suited for forms, approvals, and workflow-based applications. Hermes can help teams clarify rules in the early stage of workflow design and capture high-frequency request handling methods later.

Clarify forms and approval workflows

For processes such as equipment requests, expense reimbursement, customer support, and contract approval, Hermes can first help teams break down fields, approval nodes, trigger conditions, and notification rules. Budibase can then handle the actual application building.

Generate workflow handling templates

Many internal requests follow fixed handling patterns. Hermes can organize workflows such as “employee submits a request, supervisor approves it, the relevant department handles it, status is updated, and the applicant is notified” into templates for quick reuse later.

Capture operations rules

Workflow-based applications often need to change as organizational rules change. Hermes can record approval sequences, exception handling methods, role responsibilities, and notification rules, turning them into reusable Skills.

Task instruction example

Help me design an employee equipment request process, which will later be built in Budibase.

The process includes:
The employee submits an equipment request.
The supervisor approves it.
IT confirms inventory.
After approval, the equipment status is updated.
The system notifies the applicant to collect the equipment.

The form fields include:
Applicant.
Department.
Equipment type.
Purpose description.
Expected collection time.
Approval status.
Handler.

Please organize the form fields, approval nodes, status transitions, and notification rules, and capture this equipment request process as a reusable Skill.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.budibase.com/

Budibase AI: https://docs.budibase.com/docs/quickstart-budibase-ai

4. Directus

Official website: https://directus.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/directus/directus

GitHub Star: 35.9k

Introduction

Directus is a real-time API and app backend for managing SQL database content. It can generate REST / GraphQL APIs and an admin interface on top of existing databases. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, OracleDB, MariaDB, MS SQL, and other databases, as well as local deployment, private deployment, and cloud services.

In terms of AI capabilities, Directus provides Directus MCP, which allows AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT to read, create, and manage Directus data. Directus MCP follows the existing permission system, so AI access and modification actions need to go through the same authentication and authorization layer.

What can it do with Hermes?

Directus is more focused on data backends and API management. When Hermes is used with Directus, the focus is not generating pages, but helping teams understand data structures, query business data, and capture common data management actions.

Explain data structures

For existing databases, business users often do not understand how fields relate to each other. Hermes can help organize collections, fields, relationships, and permission boundaries, making the data structure easier to understand.

Assist with data queries and organization

For example, when querying suppliers, contracts, payments, content status, customer records, and similar information, Hermes can turn natural language requirements into more specific data query logic.

Capture data management actions

Actions such as content review, supplier profile maintenance, customer data organization, and contract status checks often repeat. Hermes can organize these data operation processes into Skills, so they can be executed by the same rules later.

Task instruction example

Help me organize the supplier data structure in Directus.

It needs to distinguish:
Supplier basic information.
Contacts.
Contract records.
Payment status.
Cooperation status.
Most recent communication record.

Please explain how these collections should be related and organize a supplier status checking process.

Later, I hope to use natural language to query:
Which supplier contracts are about to expire.
Which suppliers have abnormal payment status.
Which suppliers have not updated communication records for more than 30 days.

Please capture this data organization and query method as a reusable Skill.

Related resources

Documentation: https://directus.io/docs

Directus MCP: https://directus.io/mcp

MCP documentation: https://directus.io/docs/guides/ai/mcp

5. Baserow

Official website: https://baserow.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/baserow/baserow

GitHub Star: 4.9k

Introduction

Baserow is an open source no-code platform that can be used to build databases, applications, automations, and AI Agents. It is often seen as an open source alternative to Airtable. It supports both cloud and self-hosted deployment, and is suitable for managing structured data and lightweight business applications.

Baserow 2.0 introduced Kuma AI assistant, which can create databases, write formulas, and build automations with natural language. It also provides AI fields, an automation builder, workspace search, and other capabilities.

What can it do with Hermes?

Baserow is better suited for building lightweight apps starting from table-based data. When used with Baserow, Hermes can help teams move from “organizing tables” to “capturing data management habits.”

Create table structures and views

For customer lists, supplier lists, content plans, project progress, inventory records, and similar use cases, Hermes can first plan table structures, fields, and views based on business descriptions. Baserow then handles data management.

Organize filters and classification rules

Lightweight apps often rely on different views. Hermes can turn business rules such as “pending review,” “in cooperation,” “about to expire,” and “high priority” into filter conditions and view settings.

Capture lightweight app templates

If a team often uses Baserow to manage similar business data, Hermes can capture field structures, view rules, and status categories as Skills, then reuse them when creating new tables later.

Task instruction example

Help me plan a supplier management table, which will later be created in Baserow.

The fields include:
Supplier name.
Contact person.
Contact information.
Cooperation status.
Contract expiration date.
Payment status.
Owner.
Most recent communication time.
Notes.

Three views need to be created:
Suppliers pending review.
Suppliers in cooperation.
Suppliers with contracts about to expire.

Please design filter conditions for each view and capture this supplier table structure and view rules as a reusable Skill, so it will be easier to create customer tables, channel tables, or partner tables later.

Related resources

Documentation: https://baserow.io/user-docs

Baserow AI: https://baserow.io/product/baserow-ai

FAQ

1. If these platforms already have AI capabilities, why is Hermes still needed?

Built-in AI in these platforms is usually better at completing specific in-product tasks, such as generating pages, SQL, form logic, or component configurations.

The value of Hermes lies in self-hosting, long-term memory, and Skill accumulation. It is better suited for remembering business rules, permission habits, and system configuration methods across tasks and conversations.

2. Which internal tool platforms work best with Hermes?

Platforms that are better suited for Hermes are long-running business system platforms that require continuous maintenance, such as NocoBase, Budibase, Appsmith, Directus, and Baserow.

Among them, NocoBase is better suited for maintaining complete business systems. Appsmith is better suited for internal interfaces and data panels. Budibase is better suited for forms and workflows. Directus and Baserow are better suited for data management scenarios.

3. What kind of teams is Hermes Agent suitable for?

Hermes is better suited for teams that already use self-hosted tools, value data security, need to maintain business systems over the long term, and want AI to remember configuration habits and capture operational experience.

4. Why are self-hosted AI Agents important for enterprise internal tools?

Because internal tools usually contain sensitive business data, such as customers, orders, contracts, approvals, employees, and finance.

When an AI Agent needs to access this data and participate in system operations, teams will pay more attention to where data is stored, how permissions are controlled, how operations are reviewed, and how long-term memory is managed. Self-hosted Agents are better suited for teams that require stronger control.

There are many AI Agent products, but if your team is already using open source internal tool platforms and wants to bring AI Agents into enterprise internal systems in a safer and more controllable way, Hermes Agent is worth trying. If this article is helpful, feel free to share it with friends who are following self-hosted AI Agents and internal tool building.

Related reading

Weekly Updates: Open Source Backup Manager Plugin

NocoBase — Thu, 28 May 2026 10:51:57 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/weekly-updates-20260528

Summarize the weekly product update logs, and the latest releases can be checked on our blog.

NocoBase is currently updated with three branches: main , next and develop.

main：The most stable version to date, recommended for installation;
next：Beta version, contains upcoming new features and has been preliminarily tested. There might be some known or unknown issues. It's mainly for test users to collect feedback and optimize functions further. Ideal for test users who want to experience new features early and give feedback;
develop：Alpha version, contains the latest feature code, may be incomplete or unstable, mainly for internal dev and rapid iteration. Suited for tech users interested in product's cutting-edge, but with potential issues and incomplete functions. Not for production use.

main

v2.0.58

Release date: 2026-05-28

🎉 New Features

[Workflow] Added an administrator API to rerun started workflow executions from the head node or a specified node. (#9569) by @mytharcher

🚀 Improvements

[client] Removed the Hidden option from menu item settings. (#9595) by @zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed the issue where the v2 mobile date picker popup used the current time instead of the form value. (#9582) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed the issue where time field format settings did not take effect in v2. (#9579) by @katherinehhh
- Increased the file upload limit for the v1 scan input component to 10 MB. (#9580) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed the issue where the hidden state of subform linkage was not synchronized. (#9594) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed the issue where a subtable in a subform could not add a second row. (#9586) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed the issue where page tabs disappeared after switching menus. (#9583) by @zhangzhonghe
[flow-engine] Fixed the issue where table action linkage rules executed incorrectly after a form was successfully submitted in a popup. (#9445) by @gchust
[Workflow: Custom action event] Fixed the issue where custom action table buttons with multiple record contexts incorrectly allowed custom context workflows to be selected. (#9608) by @mytharcher
[File manager]
- Fixed Unicode filename normalization during file uploads to avoid generating object keys with control characters. (#9584) by @mytharcher
- Improved PDF preview failure messages and documented CORS requirements for external storage. (#9600) by @mytharcher Reference: File Preview

v2.0.57

Release date: 2026-05-26

🐛 Bug Fixes

[build] Fixed plugin server obfuscation output to avoid browser globals in Node.js runtime bundles. (#9559) by @Molunerfinn
[Workflow: Manual node] Fixed the issue where temporary saves for manual workflow tasks did not persist submitted form values. (#9554) by @mytharcher
[AI employees] Fixed the incorrect tool name description in the work context prompt. (#9567) by @cgyrock
[File manager] Safely rendered PDF previews with PDF.js instead of iframe-based raw PDF rendering. (#9566) by @mytharcher
[Auth: OIDC] Fixed token leakage when SSO login callbacks received an external redirect URL. by @2013xile
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fixed the issue where the jobs:resume API was not supported by approval nodes. by @mytharcher
- Fixed approval withdrawal to update submitted business data while respecting source collection update permissions. by @mytharcher
- Fixed stale approval todos when approval workflows were terminated by non-approval node failures. by @mytharcher

v2.0.56

Release date: 2026-05-22

🎉 New Features

[Backup manager] Open-sourced the Backup manager plugin. (#9550) by @chenos

🚀 Improvements

[client] Optimized action button display settings. (#9510) by @katherinehhh
[flow-engine] Added search support to v2 field configuration menus. (#9489) by @zhangzhonghe
[Security] Added dependency security review for pull requests. (#9523) by @zhangzhonghe
[Notification manager] Changed the queue strategy to optimize sending performance. (#9407) by @mytharcher
[AI: Knowledge base] Enabled vector storage modification for AI knowledge bases. by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval] Improved related approvals with timeline cards. by @zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed the issue where selected values were cleared when dependent association fields changed in data scope linkage. (#9551) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed the issue where a menu badge still displayed a dot when its value was 0. (#9491) by @zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the issue where filter forms could not use current form variables. (#9474) by @zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the issue where narrowed v2 blocks became full width after leaving edit mode. (#9529) by @zhangzhonghe
- Fixed incorrect JS Field menu state in subforms. (#9507) by @gchust
[flow-engine] Fixed the multiple selection issue for external data source fields in v2 forms. (#9542) by @katherinehhh
[AI employees] Fixed an error that occurred when AI employees accessed read-only knowledge bases. (#9539) by @cgyrock
[Calendar] Fixed the issue where more items in the calendar could not be fully displayed. (#9492) by @zhangzhonghe
[Action: Batch update] Fixed the issue where the bulk update action reset the loading state after an update failure. (#9509) by @katherinehhh
[API documentation] Fixed collection API documentation so that query parameters no longer interfere with each other. (#9442) by @jiannx
[Workflow] Added a loading state for manual workflow execution. (#9533) by @mytharcher
[Migration manager] Fixed migration file creation failures when using OceanBase. by @2013xile
[File storage: S3(Pro)] Fixed S3 Pro endpoint handling so server uploads and URL previews do not duplicate the bucket host. by @mytharcher
[Workflow: Approval] Fixed duplicate approval record indexes when delegates occurred concurrently on the same approval job. by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-beta.37

Release date: 2026-05-26

🎉 New Features

[client-v2] Added a Security menu and the Token policy settings page to the v2 admin. The user center now supports Change password. (#9556) by @Molunerfinn
[cli] Added support for basic authentication. (#9558) by @chenos
[Password policy] Migrated the Password policy plugin to the client-v2 admin shell, including the Password policy and Locked users settings pages, and added client-side rule enforcement on the user center Change password form. by @Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[Data visualization] Added client-v2 support for chart blocks. (#9517) by @jiannx
[Workflow] Refactored workflow async-node availability checks. (#9532) by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[build]
- Text assets in server builds are now copied as files instead of being converted into JavaScript modules. (#9565) by @Molunerfinn
- Fixed plugin server obfuscation output to avoid browser globals in Node.js runtime bundles. (#9559) by @Molunerfinn
[client-v2] Fixed browser language metadata so the app page follows the selected application language instead of being marked as English. (#9564) by @Molunerfinn
[File manager] Safely rendered PDF previews with PDF.js instead of iframe-based raw PDF rendering. (#9566) by @mytharcher
[AI employees] Fixed the incorrect tool name description in the work context prompt. (#9567) by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Manual node] Fixed the issue where temporary saves for manual workflow tasks did not persist submitted form values. (#9554) by @mytharcher
[Auth: OIDC] Fixed token leakage when SSO login callbacks received an external redirect URL. by @2013xile
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fixed approval withdrawal to update submitted business data while respecting source collection update permissions. by @mytharcher
- Fixed the issue where the jobs:resume API was not supported by approval nodes. by @mytharcher
- Fixed duplicate approval record indexes when delegates occurred concurrently on the same approval job. by @mytharcher
- Fixed stale approval todos when approval workflows were terminated by non-approval node failures. by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-beta.36

Release date: 2026-05-22

🎉 New Features

[cli] Added backup creation and restore commands. (#9541) by @chenos
[Backup manager] Open-sourced the Backup manager plugin. (#9550) by @chenos
[Theme editor] Added Theme editor support to the v2 interface. (#9530) by @zhangzhonghe
[Two-factor authentication (2FA)] Added support for binding, verification, and configuration of TOTP and two-factor authentication from the v2 client. by @Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[client] Optimized action button display settings. (#9510) by @katherinehhh
[flow-engine] Added search support to v2 field configuration menus. (#9489) by @zhangzhonghe
[cli] Improved the environment authentication flow. (#9546) by @chenos
[Security] Added dependency security review for pull requests. (#9523) by @zhangzhonghe
[Verification] Added v2 client support to the Verification plugin, including the admin settings page, user center entry, and SMS OTP forms. (#9515) by @Molunerfinn
[Authentication] Fixed custom brand settings in the v2 client. (#9543) by @zhangzhonghe
[Block: Map] Added v2 client support for the map plugin. (#9511) by @jiannx
[Custom brand] Added custom brand settings support to the v2 client. by @zhangzhonghe
[AI: Knowledge base] Enabled vector storage modification for AI knowledge bases. by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval] Added the async flag for approval instructions to support the new node creation API in the workflow canvas. by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed the issue where selected values were cleared when dependent association fields changed in data scope linkage. (#9551) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed dev mode loading for built storage plugins that depend on named exports from local source plugins. (#9548) by @Molunerfinn
- Fixed incorrect JS Field menu state in subforms. (#9507) by @gchust
- Fixed the issue where narrowed v2 blocks became full width after leaving edit mode. (#9529) by @zhangzhonghe
[client-v2] Fixed inconsistent dnd-kit dependency registration. (#9544) by @jiannx
[flow-engine] Fixed the multiple selection issue for external data source fields in v2 forms. (#9542) by @katherinehhh
[Block: iframe] Fixed the issue where iframe content did not fill the configured block height. (#9540) by @katherinehhh
[AI employees]
- Fixed an error that occurred when AI employees accessed read-only knowledge bases. (#9539) by @cgyrock
- Fixed the issue where AI tool call cards did not appear immediately when streamed tool events were split. (#9534) by @2013xile
- Fixed an error that occurred when AI employees accessed read-only knowledge bases. (#9538) by @cgyrock
[Action: Export records] Improved field configuration performance when there are many association fields. (#9524) by @katherinehhh
[Action: Batch update] Fixed the issue where the bulk update action reset the loading state after an update failure. (#9509) by @katherinehhh
[Workflow] Added a loading state for manual workflow execution. (#9533) by @mytharcher
[Localization] Fixed built-in localization reference translations for AI translation tasks. (#9531) by @2013xile
[Migration manager] Fixed migration file creation failures when using OceanBase. by @2013xile
[File storage: S3(Pro)] Fixed S3 Pro endpoint handling so server uploads and URL previews do not duplicate the bucket host. by @mytharcher

develop

v2.1.0-alpha.40

Release date: 2026-05-22

🎉 New Features

[cli] Added backup creation and restore commands. (#9541) by @chenos
[Backup manager] Open-sourced the Backup manager plugin. (#9550) by @chenos
[Theme editor] Added Theme editor support to the v2 interface. (#9530) by @zhangzhonghe
[Two-factor authentication (2FA)] Added support for binding, verification, and configuration of TOTP and two-factor authentication from the v2 client. by @Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[cli] Improved the environment authentication flow. (#9546) by @chenos
[flow-engine] Added search support to v2 field configuration menus. (#9489) by @zhangzhonghe
[client] Optimized action button display settings. (#9510) by @katherinehhh
[Security] Added dependency security review for pull requests. (#9523) by @zhangzhonghe
[Verification] Added v2 client support to the Verification plugin, including the admin settings page, user center entry, and SMS OTP forms. (#9515) by @Molunerfinn
[Authentication] Fixed custom brand settings in the v2 client. (#9543) by @zhangzhonghe
[Block: Map] Added v2 client support for the map plugin. (#9511) by @jiannx
[Custom brand] Added custom brand settings support to the v2 client. by @zhangzhonghe
[AI: Knowledge base] Enabled vector storage modification for AI knowledge bases. by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval] Added the async flag for approval instructions to support the new node creation API in the workflow canvas. by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed dev mode loading for built storage plugins that depend on named exports from local source plugins. (#9548) by @Molunerfinn
- Fixed the issue where narrowed v2 blocks became full width after leaving edit mode. (#9529) by @zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the issue where selected values were cleared when dependent association fields changed in data scope linkage. (#9551) by @katherinehhh
- Fixed incorrect JS Field menu state in subforms. (#9507) by @gchust
[client-v2] Fixed inconsistent dnd-kit dependency registration. (#9544) by @jiannx
[flow-engine] Fixed the multiple selection issue for external data source fields in v2 forms. (#9542) by @katherinehhh
[Block: iframe] Fixed the issue where iframe content did not fill the configured block height. (#9540) by @katherinehhh
[Action: Export records] Improved field configuration performance when there are many association fields. (#9524) by @katherinehhh
[AI employees]
- Fixed an error that occurred when AI employees accessed read-only knowledge bases. (#9539) by @cgyrock
- Fixed an error that occurred when AI employees accessed read-only knowledge bases. (#9538) by @cgyrock
- Fixed the issue where AI tool call cards did not appear immediately when streamed tool events were split. (#9534) by @2013xile
[Localization] Fixed built-in localization reference translations for AI translation tasks. (#9531) by @2013xile
[Action: Batch update] Fixed the issue where the bulk update action reset the loading state after an update failure. (#9509) by @katherinehhh
[Workflow] Added a loading state for manual workflow execution. (#9533) by @mytharcher
[Migration manager] Fixed migration file creation failures when using OceanBase. by @2013xile
[File storage: S3(Pro)] Fixed S3 Pro endpoint handling so server uploads and URL previews do not duplicate the bucket host. by @mytharcher
[Workflow: Approval] Fixed duplicate approval record indexes when delegates occurred concurrently on the same approval job. by @mytharcher

OpenClaw and 5 Open-Source Tools for Monitoring Business Workflows

NocoBase — Wed, 27 May 2026 09:47:50 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/openclaw-open-source-enterprise-tools

OpenClaw first gained attention because it directly responded to what people expected from AI: the ability to take action.

We previously wrote an article introducing a group of open source AI Agent projects similar to OpenClaw. The trend was clear at the time: AI Agents were moving beyond chat windows into real workflows, where they could handle more concrete tasks.

Recently, however, OpenClaw no longer seems to be as popular as it was at the beginning.

Compared with Agent tools focused more on code generation, workflow orchestration, or enterprise AI applications, OpenClaw seems to have gradually faded from the center of the conversation.

Is anyone still using OpenClaw? What are they actually using it for?

In the Reddit community, people shared how they use OpenClaw in daily work. From the discussion, AI and news tracking, reminders and follow-ups, regular summaries, backend monitoring, task organization, and note organization are all common use cases. Some comments also mentioned more business-oriented scenarios, such as financial reminders, customer support triage, marketing assistants, and using Telegram to connect ERP, CRM, and automation tools to generate daily briefings and end-of-day summaries.

In fact, the value of OpenClaw is not limited to controlling a computer through chat software. It can also continuously monitor regular, recurring, and easily overlooked business changes.

Next, we will introduce several types of open source tools that work well with OpenClaw and explore how it can better enter enterprise internal workflows.

1. NocoBase

Official website:https://www.nocobase.com/

GitHub:https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase

GitHub Star: 22.5k

Introduction

NocoBase is an open source AI no-code / low-code platform that is well suited for building enterprise internal systems and business workspaces. It can be used not only to build individual business systems such as CRM, ERP, and project management systems, but also to support more complex enterprise internal applications.

It supports multiple types of data sources and uses data models to organize complex business relationships. Its permission control can go down to the field level. Workflows, audit logs, plugins, and other capabilities help teams manage business data, process rules, operation records, and system extensions in one platform.

In terms of AI capabilities, NocoBase is not just about generating a one-time app. AI can take part in both system building and daily business operations. NocoBase supports AI Employees, AI Skills, CLI, and other capabilities that can help with data model design, page configuration, workflow orchestration, permission setup, and plugin management. AI Employees can also participate in data analysis, risk monitoring, approval collaboration, and task distribution, allowing AI to work inside existing business systems.

Suitable scenarios

Enterprise internal business systems: Build internal applications such as CRM, ERP, project management, asset management, approval, and ticketing systems, while managing data, permissions, and workflows in one place.
Cross-department collaboration workflows: Record tasks, approvals, risks, feedback, owners, and processing status, so different roles can collaborate around the same set of business data.
AI-assisted business workspace: Support business scenarios where AI and humans work together, such as customer feedback, exception records, task assignment, and data analysis. After connecting OpenClaw to common chat tools such as Feishu, Telegram, and WhatsApp, teams can directly start queries, receive reminders, and trigger tasks from chat interfaces, then organize the results into Feishu Docs, Google Sheets, or other collaboration tools.

For example, in a CRM scenario, you can send OpenClaw an instruction directly in Telegram: check the customer leads in NocoBase, filter out customers with a total spend above 30,000, and organize them into a follow-up list. After receiving the task, OpenClaw can call customer data from NocoBase, extract company names, total spend, membership level, contacts, regions, and other information, then generate a Google Sheet so the team can review the list, prioritize high-value customers, and assign next steps.

Task instruction example:

Help me check the customer leads in NocoBase. Filter out customers with a total spend above 30,000, organize them into today’s priority follow-up list, and generate it as a Google Sheet.

Please include company name, total spend, membership level, contact person, and region in the list. Also briefly mark which customers should be followed up first.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/

AI documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/

CLI: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/api/cli/

Skills: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai-builder#nocobase-skills

MCP: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/mcp/

OpenClaw + NocoBase: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/openclaw

2. n8n

Official website:https://n8n.io/

GitHub:https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n

GitHub Star: 190k

Introduction

n8n is a workflow automation platform for technical teams. It supports visual workflow building, custom code, self-hosted deployment, and 400+ integrations. It is suitable for connecting different systems, APIs, databases, and business tools, turning repetitive business processes into automated workflows that can run continuously.

n8n supports large language models, AI Agents, tool calling, and private data inside workflows. Teams can use it to build AI automation workflows for email summaries, lead processing, content generation, customer support triage, data queries, and more. They can also view and control Agent execution steps on the workflow canvas.

Suitable scenarios

Cross-system data synchronization: Connect CRM, forms, databases, email, Feishu, Slack, and other tools to reduce manual copying and repeated data entry.
Business process automation: Handle fixed processes such as form submissions, lead assignment, ticket routing, approval reminders, and status synchronization.
AI workflow orchestration: Combine model calls, data reading, content generation, summary organization, and result writing into stable workflows.

For example, when processes such as sales leads, customer feedback, form submissions, and ticket assignment are already running automatically in n8n, OpenClaw can check every day whether any process failed, whether any data failed to move to the next step, or whether a notification was sent but never followed up.

Task instruction example:

Every morning at 10, check the n8n workflow execution records related to sales leads, customer feedback, and project notifications.

Please find workflows from the past 24 hours that failed, still failed after retries, or triggered notifications but had no follow-up processing records, and organize them into today’s workflow issue report.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.n8n.io/

AI documentation: https://docs.n8n.io/advanced-ai/

AI workflow introduction: https://docs.n8n.io/advanced-ai/intro-tutorial/

AI Workflow Builder: https://docs.n8n.io/advanced-ai/ai-workflow-builder/

3. RAGFlow

Official website:https://ragflow.io/

GitHub:https://github.com/infiniflow/ragflow

GitHub Star: 81.2k

Introduction

RAGFlow is an open source RAG engine for handling enterprise internal documents, knowledge bases, customer feedback, ticket records, product materials, and project materials. It can turn scattered materials into searchable, answerable, and citable knowledge sources, giving large language models a more reliable context layer.

RAGFlow combines RAG and Agent capabilities. It supports preset Agent templates, memory, data synchronization, document parsing, and knowledge retrieval. It also provides a Skill for OpenClaw, which can be used to access RAGFlow datasets through OpenClaw.

Suitable scenarios

Customer feedback knowledge base: Accumulate customer issues, ticket records, solutions, and frequent requests.
Internal document Q&A: Query product documents, operation manuals, policy documents, SOPs, and project materials.
Knowledge base gap identification: Find questions that users repeatedly ask but that are not covered in the documentation, then help drive FAQ or SOP updates.

For example, when a certain type of issue appears repeatedly in customer feedback and tickets, but the knowledge base or FAQ does not provide a clear answer, OpenClaw can organize a knowledge base optimization report and remind the documentation, support, or product team to add the missing content.

Task instruction example:

Every Friday at 3 PM, check customer feedback, ticket records, and product documents in RAGFlow.

Please find questions that users repeatedly ask but that have no clear answer in the knowledge base, and organize this week’s knowledge base gap report, including suggested FAQ titles, reference sources, and responsible teams.

Related resources

Documentation: https://ragflow.io/docs/

API documentation: https://ragflow.io/docs/dev/http_api_reference

RAGFlow + OpenClaw: https://ragflow.io/blog/ragflow-x-openclaw-the-enterprise-aware-claw

RAGFlow Skill: https://clawskills.sh/skills/angusthefuzz-ragflow

4. ERPNext

Official website:https://frappe.io/erpnext

GitHub:https://github.com/frappe/erpnext

GitHub Star: 35k

Introduction

ERPNext is an open source ERP system that covers enterprise operations modules such as accounting, procurement, sales, CRM, inventory, manufacturing, projects, POS, quality, and support. It is suitable for recording data from daily business operations, including orders, inventory, procurement, suppliers, customers, invoices, manufacturing work orders, and project costs.

ERPNext is more of a standard ERP system and does not position native AI Agent capabilities as its core selling point. Its value lies in providing structured and traceable business data, making it a suitable data source for AI analysis, anomaly detection, report generation, and business Q&A.

Suitable scenarios

Inventory and procurement management: Manage materials, inventory, purchase orders, supplier delivery, and inventory alerts.
Sales order management: Track customer orders, delivery status, sales invoices, and order fulfillment.
Manufacturing and project cost management: Record manufacturing work orders, production progress, project costs, and resource consumption.

For example, OpenClaw can regularly check whether inventory has fallen below the safety stock level, purchase orders have passed their expected arrival dates, sales orders have missed promised shipping dates, key customer orders have abnormal status, or return rates have suddenly increased.

Task instruction example:

Every morning at 10, check inventory, procurement, and sales order data in ERPNext.

Please filter records where inventory is below safety stock, purchases are overdue and not delivered, sales orders are overdue and not shipped, or key customer orders are abnormal, and generate today’s supply chain exception report.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.erpnext.com/homepage

Frappe Framework: https://github.com/frappe/frappe

Frappe REST API documentation: https://docs.frappe.io/framework/user/en/api/rest

Frappe JS SDK: https://github.com/frappe/frappe-js-sdk

5. Plane

Official website:https://plane.so/

GitHub:https://github.com/makeplane/plane

GitHub Star: 49.7k

Introduction

Plane is an open source project management platform that can be used as an alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday, and ClickUp. It helps teams manage tasks, cycles, project documents, product roadmaps, and team collaboration. It is suitable for product, development, design, operations, and other teams to track requirements, bugs, tasks, milestones, and project progress.

Plane brings projects, documents, and AI workflows into the same workspace. Plane AI can answer questions based on context from projects, cycles, and pages. It can also generate work structures from prompts, helping teams with task triage, progress summaries, and project collaboration.

Suitable scenarios

R&D task management: Track requirements, bugs, tasks, cycles, and release progress.
Product roadmap management: Manage product plans, priorities, milestones, and cross-team collaboration items.
Project risk checks: Identify delayed tasks, blockers, unassigned tasks, and requirements that have not been updated for a long time.

For example, project managers do not need to check every task manually every day. Instead, they can ask OpenClaw to summarize project risks that need attention every afternoon and push them to the responsible owners.

Task instruction example:

Every afternoon at 4, check the issues and cycles of this week’s active projects in Plane.

Please find tasks that are close to the deadline but have no updates, have been blocked for more than 48 hours, have no owner, or have been waiting for review for more than 24 hours, and organize them into today’s project blocker summary.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.plane.so/

Developer documentation: https://developers.plane.so/

API documentation: https://developers.plane.so/api-reference/introduction

FAQ

1. What kind of work is suitable for OpenClaw?

Work suitable for OpenClaw usually has three characteristics: a fixed checking frequency, a clear data source, and relatively clear judgment rules.

For example, checking every day whether CRM leads are overdue for follow-up, ERP inventory is below safety stock, project tasks are delayed, tickets are piling up, the knowledge base lacks answers to frequent questions, or automation workflows have failed. These tasks do not necessarily require AI to make final decisions directly, but they are well suited for OpenClaw to first detect issues, generate summaries, and push them to the responsible person for handling.

2. Is OpenClaw suitable for enterprise internal systems?

In enterprise internal systems, OpenClaw can regularly check data changes across CRM, ERP, project management, knowledge bases, and workflow automation tools, then organize exceptions, delays, opportunities, and pending items. This reduces the time spent manually checking multiple systems and helps teams identify business risks earlier.

3. If an enterprise has many business systems, what tool should be used to integrate them?

If an enterprise already has many business systems, such as CRM, ERP, project management, knowledge bases, forms, ticketing systems, and data dashboards, it can consider using NocoBase to build a unified business workspace.

NocoBase can organize leads, tasks, feedback, exceptions, approvals, and knowledge base optimization tasks from different systems into structured data, then manage them through pages, permissions, workflows, and plugins. OpenClaw can regularly check this data and push out items that need attention. NocoBase then supports the follow-up process, including viewing, assignment, follow-up, and review.

4. What should enterprises pay attention to when using OpenClaw with open source tools?

They should pay close attention to permissions, data security, logging, and human confirmation mechanisms.

OpenClaw may access business systems, call tools, read data, or trigger automation workflows. Therefore, it is recommended to start with low-risk tasks such as status checks, summary generation, reminder pushes, and exception recording. For high-risk actions involving financial approvals, customer commitments, contract confirmation, personnel handling, and similar matters, a human confirmation step should be retained.

5. Which enterprise scenario is best for trying OpenClaw first?

It is recommended to start with scenarios that are low risk, high frequency, and rule based.

Examples include sales lead follow-up reminders, project delay checks, knowledge base gap reports, automation workflow failure monitoring, inventory alert summaries, and ticket backlog reminders. These tasks do not require OpenClaw to make key decisions directly, but they can significantly reduce manual inspection costs and make the results easier to validate.

6. What should enterprises pay attention to when using OpenClaw with open source tools?

When enterprises use OpenClaw, they should pay close attention to permissions, data security, logging, and human confirmation mechanisms.

OpenClaw may access business systems, read data, call tools, or trigger automation workflows. Therefore, it is recommended to start with low-risk tasks such as status checks, summary generation, reminder pushes, and exception recording. For high-risk actions involving financial approvals, customer commitments, contract confirmation, personnel handling, and similar matters, a human confirmation step should be retained.

It can also be combined with internal tool platforms such as NocoBase. NocoBase supports role permissions, data table permissions, operation permissions, workflows, audit logs, and other capabilities. It can help teams control what different roles can see, what they can operate, and whether key processes require human approval. OpenClaw handles detection and reminders, while the business system handles permission control, process records, and follow-up actions.

Conclusion

OpenClaw is only a starting point. In future enterprise applications, Agents will no longer be just assistants inside chat interfaces, nor temporary executors that call tools when needed. They will gradually become an intelligent collaboration layer within enterprise internal tool systems.

People will no longer need to enter every system frequently to check status, find issues, and follow up on progress. Agents can continuously monitor business changes and bring the items that require judgment and action back to people.

If you find this article helpful, feel free to share it with friends who are exploring AI Agents and enterprise internal tools.

Related reading

Weekly Updates: Added client-v2 support for the Kanban plugin

NocoBase — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:09:32 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/weekly-updates-20260521

Summarize the weekly product update logs, and the latest releases can be checked on our blog.

NocoBase is currently updated with three branches: main , next and develop.

main：The most stable version to date, recommended for installation;
next：Beta version, contains upcoming new features and has been preliminarily tested. There might be some known or unknown issues. It's mainly for test users to collect feedback and optimize functions further. Ideal for test users who want to experience new features early and give feedback;
develop：Alpha version, contains the latest feature code, may be incomplete or unstable, mainly for internal dev and rapid iteration. Suited for tech users interested in product's cutting-edge, but with potential issues and incomplete functions. Not for production use.

main

v2.0.55

Release date: 2026-05-18

🚀 Improvements

[AI employees] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database (#9497) by cgyrock
[AI: Knowledge base] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database by cgyrock

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed an issue where current popup record variables could not be resolved in action button event flows. (#9495) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where JS field values in subforms were not correctly set during form submission. (#9496) by gchust
[File manager] Fix file manager tx-cos uploads missing file size metadata. (#9499) by mytharcher
[Data source: Main] Fix the issue where field options are written into the schema after syncing fields (#9505) by 2013xile
[WEB client] Clean blocks data after remove menus. (#9459) by gchust
[AI employees] Fix AI employee OSS file read errors (#9493) by cgyrock
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where imported record on date-like fields shows wrong date (#9463) by mytharcher
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where error thrown when export attachment from attachment url field by mytharcher
[Action: Import records Pro] fix timezone handling for pro xlsx imports by mytharcher

v2.0.53

Release date: 2026-05-14

🚀 Improvements

[flow-engine] Added an unsaved changes confirm message when closing the event flow configuration page with unsaved data present. (#9449) by gchust

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- fix prevent opening quick edit for association fields in table (#9469) by katherinehhh
- Fixed display-only relation fields in sub-tables not showing or not clickable after refresh. (#9453) by jiannx
- fix multiple select fields in v2 data blocks should display option labels instead of values (#9472) by katherinehhh
[Block: Multi-step form] fix scrollbar issue when enabling full-height in v1 step form block (#9468) by katherinehhh

v2.1.0-beta.35

Release date: 2026-05-20

🚀 Improvements

[client] Share condition evaluation between v1 and v2 apps (#9522) by zhangzhonghe
[Localization] Improved Lina localization translation tasks with translation scope, reference language settings, and quick editing (#9521) by 2013xile
[Workflow: Approval] Improve related approvals with timeline cards by zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[undefined] align nginx config paths (#9528) by chenos
[cli-v1] Fixed create-nocobase-app development startup by reusing packaged app shells while enabling local plugin development. (#9471) by Molunerfinn
[client]
- Fix the issue where a menu badge still shows a dot when its value is 0 (#9491) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the issue where filter forms cannot use current form variables (#9474) by zhangzhonghe
[Authentication] Prevent the server from crashing when a WebSocket auth token references an authenticator whose auth type plugin is unloaded or missing. (#9514) by Molunerfinn
[Calendar]
- Fix the issue where calendar more items cannot be fully displayed (#9492) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the cursor style for event items in the calendar more-events overlay (#9519) by jiannx
[License settings] resolve symlinked bundled deps (#9518) by chenos

v2.1.0-beta.34

Release date: 2026-05-19

🎉 New Features

[Block: Kanban] Added client-v2 support for the Kanban plugin (#9475) by jiannx

🚀 Improvements

[cli] Improved the NocoBase CLI prompt experience by migrating setup and management workflows to Inquirer, and fixed related install, skills, and Docker runtime issues. (#9452) by chenos
[AI employees] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database (#9497) by cgyrock
[Notification manager] Change queue strategy to optimize sending performance (#9407) by mytharcher
[Workflow: Custom action event] Migrated the block-workbench and workflow-custom-action-trigger plugins to client v2, including their action models and QR scanner flow. (#9494) by jiannx
[Authentication] Implement the Authenticators settings page in client-v2 and ship reusable client-v2 table, variable input, and form primitives. (#9457) by Molunerfinn
[AI: Knowledge base] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database by cgyrock
[Auth: SAML 2.0] Add client-v2 entries for the CAS and SAML authentication plugins so they work with the v2 sign-in page and Authenticators settings. by Molunerfinn

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client-v2]
- Fixed the Kanban plugin v2 route failing to load because dnd-kit dependencies were not provided by the client. (#9516) by jiannx
- The shared v2 Table component now shows the page-size selector by default, matching v1 behavior. (#9512) by Molunerfinn
[client]
- Fixed an issue where JS field values in subforms were not correctly set during form submission. (#9496) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where current popup record variables could not be resolved in action button event flows. (#9495) by gchust
[flow-engine] Fixed incorrect error message in browser's console. (#9502) by gchust
[AI employees]
- Fix issue where operator role permissions are not taking effect in AI employee nodes (#9513) by cgyrock
- Fix AI employee OSS file read errors (#9493) by cgyrock
[API documentation] Fixed collection API documentation so query parameters no longer interfere with each other (#9442) by jiannx
[Data source: Main] Fix the issue where field options are written into the schema after syncing fields (#9505) by 2013xile
[Workflow: JavaScript] Fixed workflow JavaScript QuickJS runtime package loading in production builds. (#9503) by mytharcher
[WEB client] Clean blocks data after remove menus. (#9459) by gchust
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where imported record on date-like fields shows wrong date (#9463) by mytharcher
[Action: Import records Pro] fix timezone handling for pro xlsx imports by mytharcher
[Auth: SAML 2.0] Fix SAML auto-redirect interceptor flickering the app shell and double-opening drawers on every navigation. by Molunerfinn
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where error thrown when export attachment from attachment url field by mytharcher

v2.1.0-beta.33

Release date: 2026-05-15

🎉 New Features

[Block: Markdown] Added client v2 support for Markdown blocks (#9487) by jiannx
[Block: List] List blocks support client-v2 (#9486) by jiannx
[Calendar] Added client v2 support for the Calendar plugin. (#9464) by jiannx
[Block: Tree] Added client-v2 support for the tree filter block. (#9466) by jiannx

🚀 Improvements

[flow-engine] Added an unsaved changes confirm message when closing the event flow configuration page with unsaved data present. (#9449) by gchust
[Data source manager] Optimize the data modeling API to support creating comment collections with AI, configuring relationship fields for external data sources, and setting field validation rules (#9480) by 2013xile
[Block: GridCard] Updated grid card plugin to support client v2 (#9484) by jiannx
[Block: iframe] Added v2 support for the iframe block. (#9485) by jiannx
[AI employees] AI employee parallel conversation Interaction and performance optimization (#9462) by cgyrock

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Added the "After successful submission" setting for form submit actions. (#9414) by jiannx
- fix prevent opening quick edit for association fields in table (#9469) by katherinehhh
- Fixed display-only relation fields in sub-tables not showing or not clickable after refresh. (#9453) by jiannx
- Fixed the issue where legacy default value settings can't be removed. (#9470) by gchust
- fix multiple select fields in v2 data blocks should display option labels instead of values (#9472) by katherinehhh
[client-v2]
- Fix issue where the title field option list is empty for relation fields in table blocks (#9490) by katherinehhh
- Keep empty groups after filtering v1 menus in the v2 layout (#9478) by zhangzhonghe
[flow-engine] Fixed unstable relation-field submenus in submodel menus (#9417) by jiannx
[File manager] Fix file manager tx-cos uploads missing file size metadata. (#9499) by mytharcher
[AI employees] Fixed plugin-ai load error (#9483) by cgyrock
[Block: Multi-step form] fix scrollbar issue when enabling full-height in v1 step form block (#9468) by katherinehhh
[Workflow: Webhook] Fix the issue where creating response node intercepted by validation of statusCode configuration by mytharcher
[Collection field: Signature] Resolve signature box display issue on mobile by chenzhizdt

develop

v2.1.0-alpha.39

Release date: 2026-05-20

🎉 New Features

[Block: Kanban] Added client-v2 support for the Kanban plugin (#9475) by jiannx

🚀 Improvements

[client] Share condition evaluation between v1 and v2 apps (#9522) by zhangzhonghe
[Localization] Improved Lina localization translation tasks with translation scope, reference language settings, and quick editing (#9521) by 2013xile
[AI employees] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database (#9497) by cgyrock
[Notification manager] Change queue strategy to optimize sending performance (#9407) by mytharcher
[Workflow: Custom action event] Migrated the block-workbench and workflow-custom-action-trigger plugins to client v2, including their action models and QR scanner flow. (#9494) by jiannx
[Authentication] Implement the Authenticators settings page in client-v2 and ship reusable client-v2 table, variable input, and form primitives. (#9457) by Molunerfinn
[AI: Knowledge base] Prompt on duplicate table name when saving to vector database by cgyrock
[Auth: SAML 2.0] Add client-v2 entries for the CAS and SAML authentication plugins so they work with the v2 sign-in page and Authenticators settings. by Molunerfinn
[Workflow: Approval] Improve related approvals with timeline cards by zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[undefined] align nginx config paths (#9528) by chenos
[cli-v1] Fixed create-nocobase-app development startup by reusing packaged app shells while enabling local plugin development. (#9471) by Molunerfinn
[client]
- Fix the issue where filter forms cannot use current form variables (#9474) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the issue where a menu badge still shows a dot when its value is 0 (#9491) by zhangzhonghe
[client-v2]
- The shared v2 Table component now shows the page-size selector by default, matching v1 behavior. (#9512) by Molunerfinn
- Fixed the Kanban plugin v2 route failing to load because dnd-kit dependencies were not provided by the client. (#9516) by jiannx
[Calendar]
- Fixed the cursor style for event items in the calendar more-events overlay (#9519) by jiannx
- Fix the issue where calendar more items cannot be fully displayed (#9492) by zhangzhonghe
[License settings] resolve symlinked bundled deps (#9518) by chenos
[AI employees]
- Fix issue where operator role permissions are not taking effect in AI employee nodes (#9513) by cgyrock
- Fix AI employee OSS file read errors (#9493) by cgyrock
[Authentication] Prevent the server from crashing when a WebSocket auth token references an authenticator whose auth type plugin is unloaded or missing. (#9514) by Molunerfinn
[API documentation] Fixed collection API documentation so query parameters no longer interfere with each other (#9442) by jiannx
[Data source: Main] Fix the issue where field options are written into the schema after syncing fields (#9505) by 2013xile
[Auth: SAML 2.0] Fix SAML auto-redirect interceptor flickering the app shell and double-opening drawers on every navigation. by Molunerfinn

v2.1.0-alpha.38

Release date: 2026-05-18

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed an issue where current popup record variables could not be resolved in action button event flows. (#9495) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where JS field values in subforms were not correctly set during form submission. (#9496) by gchust
[flow-engine] Fixed incorrect error message in browser's console. (#9502) by gchust
[Workflow: JavaScript] Fixed workflow JavaScript QuickJS runtime package loading in production builds. (#9503) by mytharcher
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where imported record on date-like fields shows wrong date (#9463) by mytharcher
[Action: Import records Pro] fix timezone handling for pro xlsx imports by mytharcher
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where error thrown when export attachment from attachment url field by mytharcher

v2.1.0-alpha.37

Release date: 2026-05-17

🐛 Bug Fixes

[WEB client] Clean blocks data after remove menus. (#9459) by gchust

v2.1.0-alpha.36

Release date: 2026-05-16

🎉 New Features

[Block: Markdown] Added client v2 support for Markdown blocks (#9487) by jiannx
[Block: List] List blocks support client-v2 (#9486) by jiannx

🚀 Improvements

[flow-engine] Added an unsaved changes confirm message when closing the event flow configuration page with unsaved data present. (#9449) by gchust
[cli] Improved the NocoBase CLI prompt experience by migrating setup and management workflows to Inquirer, and fixed related install, skills, and Docker runtime issues. (#9452) by chenos
[Data source manager] Optimize the data modeling API to support creating comment collections with AI, configuring relationship fields for external data sources, and setting field validation rules (#9480) by 2013xile
[Block: GridCard] Updated grid card plugin to support client v2 (#9484) by jiannx
[Block: iframe] Added v2 support for the iframe block. (#9485) by jiannx

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed display-only relation fields in sub-tables not showing or not clickable after refresh. (#9453) by jiannx
- Added the "After successful submission" setting for form submit actions. (#9414) by jiannx
[client-v2] Fix issue where the title field option list is empty for relation fields in table blocks (#9490) by katherinehhh
[flow-engine] Fixed unstable relation-field submenus in submodel menus (#9417) by jiannx
[File manager] Fix file manager tx-cos uploads missing file size metadata. (#9499) by mytharcher
[Collection field: Signature] Resolve signature box display issue on mobile by chenzhizdt

v2.1.0-alpha.35

Release date: 2026-05-14

🎉 New Features

[undefined] Add a new AI employee, Localization Engineer Lina, to assist with localization translation tasks (#9434) by 2013xile Reference: Localization Management Lina: Localization Engineer Use Lina and local HY-MT1.5-1.8B to translate localization entries
[Calendar] Added client v2 support for the Calendar plugin. (#9464) by jiannx
[Block: Tree] Added client-v2 support for the tree filter block. (#9466) by jiannx
[File storage: S3(Pro)] Support uploading files via S3 Pro storage in the v2 file manager. by Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[build] Added regression coverage to keep deleteServerFiles from removing client and client-v2 build artifacts across Windows and POSIX paths. (#9318) by Molunerfinn
[client] exclude already associated records in association selection dialog of one-to-many table block (#9448) by katherinehhh
[AI employees] AI employee parallel conversation Interaction and performance optimization (#9462) by cgyrock
[File manager] Third-party storage plugins can now register their own storage type form on the v2 file manager settings page. (#9439) by Molunerfinn
[AI: Knowledge base] The unique identifier for a knowledge base is configurable at the time of creation by cgyrock

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- fix prevent opening quick edit for association fields in table (#9469) by katherinehhh
- fix multiple select fields in v2 data blocks should display option labels instead of values (#9472) by katherinehhh
- Fix duplicate table requests when filter forms have default values (#9423) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the issue where legacy default value settings can't be removed. (#9470) by gchust
- Fixed the issue where can't select options for association's select field. (#9088) by gchust
- Fix the issue where system settings appear empty after submitting (#9458) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where the target block data scope was set incorrectly when deselecting row data in a table block event flow. (#9443) by gchust
- fix error when changing title field of association field in v2 table block (#9451) by katherinehhh
- Fixed V2 linkage rules to support setting selectable options for fields (#9399) by jiannx
[client-v2]
- Keep empty groups after filtering v1 menus in the v2 layout (#9478) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the issue where the page turns blank behind the plugin enabling dialog (#9455) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix v1 admin pages crashing when they reference v2 plugin modules in production builds. (#9460) by Molunerfinn
[cli-v1] Fixed development startup failures in apps created with create-nocobase-app caused by app-dev client path resolution. (#9465) by Molunerfinn
[server] fix(file-manager): force download active content files in local/public storage (#9437) by mytharcher
[AI employees]
- Fixed plugin-ai load error (#9483) by cgyrock
- Fixed Ollama test flight requiring key input (#9450) by cgyrock
[Block: Multi-step form] fix scrollbar issue when enabling full-height in v1 step form block (#9468) by katherinehhh
[Departments] fix translation conflict between add user and add department buttons in Users & Permissions settings (#9456) by katherinehhh
[Workflow] fix: restore helper text in FlowModel workflow binding dialogs for operation and custom action events (#9447) by mytharcher
[Block: Markdown] Fix the issue of v2 Markdown block reporting errors (#9440) by zhangzhonghe
[Workflow: Webhook] Fix the issue where creating response node intercepted by validation of statusCode configuration by mytharcher
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix approval form layout on mobile devices by zhangzhonghe
- Fix duplicate approval record index when delegating approval tasks. by mytharcher
[Backup manager] Fixed an issue where backups would fail with an error when files could not be found. by gchust

What Open-Source Tools Work Well with OpenCode? 5 Projects to Try

NocoBase — Thu, 21 May 2026 12:23:55 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/opencode-open-source-tools-ai-agents

Introduction

This year, OpenCode has become one of the most talked-about open source AI Coding Agents.

It gives developers more control: you can choose your own model, use it in your terminal and project environment, and connect it to your existing development workflow, instead of relying entirely on a closed platform.

This Reddit user also shared: he wants to choose his own AI tools. He does not trust companies that lock users inside a “bubble,” and wants a place where he can freely switch providers.

This is also why open source tools are becoming increasingly important in the AI era.

In the past, we chose open source tools mainly because they were free, self-hostable, and customizable. Now, there is another layer of value: open source projects are easier for AI tools to understand, use, and extend.

When a project has a clear code structure, documentation, APIs, CLI, or plugin system, an AI Agent like OpenCode is no longer just “helping you write a few snippets of code.” It can actually take part in installation, configuration, integration, extension, and maintenance.

So, if you are using OpenCode, you often do not need to ask it to write everything from scratch. A better approach is to start with mature open source projects and let OpenCode help you complete real development work faster.

This article recommends 5 open source projects that work well with OpenCode, covering business systems, data APIs, automation, data analysis, knowledge bases, identity authentication, and access control. These are all proven AI-friendly open source projects, and they are worth trying.

What you want OpenCode to help you build	Recommended project
CRM, ticketing, approval, asset management, operations backends, and other internal tools	NocoBase
Data APIs, Headless CMS, content backend	Directus
Data analysis, reports, dashboards	Metabase
Project documentation, knowledge base, AI context	Outline
SSO, identity authentication, access control	Keycloak

1. NocoBase: Business systems and internal tools

Official website: https://www.nocobase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase

GitHub Stars: 22.5k

If you want to build business systems such as CRM, ticketing, approval, asset management, project management, or operations backends, NocoBase is a strong open source project to use with OpenCode. NocoBase is an AI-powered no-code development platform. It provides production-proven infrastructure and a WYSIWYG no-code interface, helping AI and humans work together efficiently while balancing development speed and system reliability.

For example, if you want to build an internal ticketing system, OpenCode can help you:

Initialize a NocoBase project
Design data models based on your requirements
Generate data structures for customers, tickets, assignees, priorities, and more
Build pages for the ticketing system
Configure status transitions and notification workflows
Develop custom business plugins
Connect external system APIs

NocoBase carries the system itself, including pages, permissions, automation workflows, and data relationships. This means OpenCode does not need to generate the entire system from scratch. It can work within the existing NocoBase structure.

This matters for real business systems, because enterprise internal system requirements often change. With NocoBase, developers can let OpenCode handle complex extensions, while business users can continue adjusting pages, fields, and workflows in the no-code interface.

At the same time, because NocoBase has built-in AI Employee capabilities, AI can collaborate smoothly after the business system is built in NocoBase.

For example, it can generate business insight reports directly inside the system. Once completed, the reports can be exported as PDFs or displayed in HTML.

OpenCode works with NocoBase in the following way:

You (Terminal / VS Code / JetBrains / ...)
  │
  └─→ OpenCode
        │
        ├── NocoBase Skills (help the Agent understand the NocoBase configuration system)
        │
        └── NocoBase CLI (executes creation, modification, deployment, and other operations)
              │
              └─→ NocoBase Service (your business system)

NocoBase Skills: domain knowledge packages that help OpenCode understand how to operate NocoBase
NocoBase CLI: a command-line tool that executes tasks such as data modeling and page building
NocoBase Service: your running NocoBase instance

One-click AI installation

Copy the prompt below into OpenCode. It will automatically install the NocoBase CLI, initialize the project, and configure the environment:

Help me install the NocoBase CLI and complete initialization: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/ai-quick-start.md Please open and read the link directly.

Related resources

Documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/

CLI: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/api/cli/

Skills: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai-builder#nocobase-skills

MCP: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/mcp/

2. Directus: Data APIs and content management backend

Official website: https://directus.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/directus/directus

GitHub Stars: 35k

If your project already has a database, or if you want to quickly add data APIs, a content management backend, and an access control layer to a business system, Directus is a good open source project to pair with OpenCode.

The core capability of Directus is: turning SQL databases into manageable data platforms. It can automatically generate REST APIs and GraphQL APIs from a database, while also providing a visual Data Studio where both developers and business users can manage data, content, files, and permissions.

For example, suppose you are using OpenCode to develop a content-driven website, customer portal, product library, or internal data platform. If you start completely from scratch, OpenCode would need to generate the database models, API services, authentication logic, admin panel, file management, and access control. That creates a large workload and makes long-term maintenance harder.

With Directus, Directus provides data management, APIs, permissions, and the admin interface, while OpenCode handles project development, integration, and extension around these capabilities.

This combination is especially suitable for content-heavy and data-heavy projects. For example, if you want to build a product library, Directus can manage product categories, parameters, images, documents, and publishing status. OpenCode can then quickly generate frontend pages, search and filtering features, data import scripts, and custom endpoints based on the Directus API.

Directus and OpenCode work especially well in these scenarios:

Headless CMS
Content management system
Product library
Customer case center
Multilingual content platform
Internal data management backend
Data API layer
File and media asset management
Customer portal / Partner portal
Mobile App backend

The difference between Directus and NocoBase is also clear.

Directus is better suited for projects centered on databases and content APIs, such as content platforms, product catalogs, multilingual websites, and customer portals. NocoBase is better suited for building complete business systems, such as CRM, ticketing, approval, asset management, and operations backends. These systems usually require stronger data relationships, workflow orchestration, permission control, and page configuration capabilities.

3. Metabase: Data analysis and advanced reporting

Official website: https://www.metabase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/metabase/metabase

GitHub Stars: 47.4k

If you are using OpenCode to develop a business system, internal tool, operations backend, or data platform, Metabase is a strong open source project to use alongside it.

Metabase provides open source data analytics and BI capabilities. It can connect to databases and help teams analyze business data through charts, queries, and dashboards. Metabase also supports natural language data queries and can provide analytics capabilities based on metrics and permissions.

For example, suppose you already have a ticketing system with data such as customers, tickets, owners, priorities, processing status, and completion time. OpenCode does not need to write a reporting module from scratch. Instead, it can help connect the data to Metabase and quickly create analytics capabilities.

Metabase provides data analysis, charts, dashboards, and permission systems. OpenCode handles database connections, query generation, metric design, system embedding, and automation integration around these capabilities.

Metabase and OpenCode work especially well in these scenarios:

Business dashboards
Sales analysis
Customer analysis
Ticket efficiency analysis
IT asset analysis
Operations reports
Financial metrics dashboards
Product usage analysis
Management reports
Embedded BI

4. Outline: Knowledge base and documentation collaboration

Official website: https://www.getoutline.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/outline/outline

GitHub Stars: 38.5k

The effectiveness of an AI Agent depends heavily on context.

If a project does not have clear documentation, the Agent can easily misunderstand the requirements. It may not understand the system rules, business background, data definitions, API descriptions, deployment methods, or team conventions.

This is why documentation is becoming increasingly important in AI-assisted development. Documentation is not only for humans. It also becomes the working context for AI Agents.

Outline is an open source team knowledge base for managing internal documentation, project notes, product specifications, and team knowledge.

This type of tool is easy to overlook, but it is very important for long-term projects.

Suitable scenarios:

Team knowledge base
Product documentation
Project documentation
Technical documentation
Onboarding documentation
AI-ready docs
Internal standards management

If you want OpenCode to do more than write code and participate reliably in project collaboration, a documentation system is essential.

5. Keycloak: Identity authentication and access control

Official website: https://www.keycloak.org/

GitHub: https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak

GitHub Stars: 34.5k

If you are using OpenCode to develop a real project, Keycloak is a strong open source identity and access management tool to pair with it. If you ask OpenCode to generate all these capabilities from scratch, it may produce a simple version in the short term, but security, scalability, and maintenance costs will quickly become problems.

Keycloak provides mature open source identity and access management capabilities, including:

User registration and login
Single sign-on SSO
Role and permission management
OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect
Enterprise account system integration
Third-party identity provider login
Unified authentication across multiple internal systems
User session and token management
Multi-factor authentication

FAQ

1. What is OpenCode?

OpenCode is an open source AI Coding Agent. It can work in a developer’s own terminal, IDE, or project directory, helping them read code, modify code, generate scripts, handle configuration, and complete development tasks. Compared with closed AI programming tools, OpenCode gives developers more choices in models, tool integrations, and workflow control.

2. Why is OpenCode suitable for use with open source projects?

Because real projects are not just about generating code. They also require foundational capabilities such as data models, APIs, permissions, workflows, reports, documentation, and identity authentication. Mature open source projects have already solved part of this system foundation, and OpenCode can handle installation, configuration, integration, extension, and secondary development on top of them.

3. Can OpenCode build a complete app from scratch?

Yes, but it may not be the best approach. For demos or simple tools, generating code from scratch can be fast. But for long-running business systems, it is better to start with mature open source projects and let OpenCode handle customization and extension.

4. Which open source projects work well with OpenCode?

It depends on your project type. For example, NocoBase is suitable for business systems and internal tools. Directus is suitable for data APIs and content management. Metabase is suitable for data analysis and reporting. Outline is suitable for knowledge bases and project documentation. Keycloak is suitable for identity authentication and access control.

5. What can OpenCode and NocoBase do together?

NocoBase provides the core capabilities for business systems, including data models, pages, permissions, workflows, plugins, and AI Employees. OpenCode can help initialize a NocoBase project, design data models, build pages, configure workflows, develop plugins, and connect external APIs. Together, they are suitable for building CRM, ticketing systems, approval systems, asset management, project management, operations backends, and similar systems.

6. Is OpenCode only for developers?

OpenCode itself is better suited for developers. But when it is combined with tools such as NocoBase, Directus, Metabase, Outline, and Keycloak, the final systems can be used by business users, operations teams, managers, and other team members. They can complete daily work through no-code interfaces, dashboards, knowledge bases, or unified login systems.

7. What is the best way to use OpenCode to build real projects?

A better approach is to use OpenCode as the Agent layer and open source projects as the system layer. Do not ask OpenCode to generate everything from an empty repository. Instead, let it work on top of mature open source projects and use existing data models, APIs, permissions, workflows, reports, or authentication capabilities. This improves development efficiency and reduces long-term maintenance costs.

Summary: Choose an open source Agent, and choose an open source system foundation

OpenCode gives developers a more open and controllable AI development workflow.

But the Agent is only one layer.

If you want to build real projects, you also need a set of system foundations that can support long-term requirements. Open source projects such as NocoBase, Directus, Metabase, Outline, and Keycloak solve problems across system infrastructure, data APIs, analytics, documentation, identity authentication, and access control.

For developers who choose OpenCode, this kind of open source technology stack is better aligned with why they choose OpenCode in the first place:

Avoid being locked into a single platform
Keep control over code and data
Support private deployment
Support continuous extension
Let AI Agents truly participate in long-term project development

Related reading

Building Internal Tools with Codex: 6 Open-Source Projects for Developers

NocoBase — Tue, 19 May 2026 08:04:08 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/building-internal-tools-with-codex

Background

Recently, I came across a discussion about AI Coding Agents on Hacker News: asking AI to build an app from scratch is usually not the most reliable way to use it.

The developer pointed out that if you simply tell AI, “Help me build an app,” it often generates something that looks good at first, but has an unreliable structure underneath.

AI is great at improving execution speed, but it works best when it operates within a clear structure.

For real enterprise internal tools, you need a reliable technical foundation first, and then use a Coding Agent to improve development efficiency.

In this article, we will focus on enterprise internal tools and recommend several open source projects that work well with Codex, helping developers build internal systems and tools more efficiently.

Project	Best for	Best suited for
NocoBase	Building internal business systems such as CRM, ticketing, approval, and asset management	Developers who need to quickly build maintainable business systems
Refine	Building React admin panels, dashboards, and B2B apps	Developers familiar with React who want full control over code
Payload CMS	Building TypeScript / Next.js data backends and admin systems	Developers who prefer a TypeScript-first backend and Admin Panel
Directus	Generating APIs and admin panels for existing SQL databases	Teams with existing databases that need an admin panel and API layer quickly
Supabase	Building a Postgres backend for internal tools	Developers who need authentication, database, storage, realtime features, and backend functions
Windmill	Turning scripts into internal tools, tasks, and workflows	Technical teams with many internal scripts and automation tasks

1. NocoBase

Official website: https://www.nocobase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase

GitHub Stars: 22.4k

NocoBase is an open source AI no-code platform for building enterprise internal systems such as CRM, ticketing systems, approval systems, project management, asset management, and operations backends.

The core value of NocoBase is that it provides a complete system framework for internal tools, including data models, page configuration, permission control, workflows, plugin extensions, and AI capabilities. For developers, it is more than a drag-and-drop page builder. It is business system infrastructure that can still be extended with code.

NocoBase provides official Codex documentation: Using Codex with NocoBase for both building and development

After connecting Codex, Codex can use NocoBase Skills and the CLI to understand how NocoBase is configured and developed. It can help developers create data tables, configure pages, design workflows, set permissions, and further handle plugin development, feature extensions, and troubleshooting through natural language.

Compared with asking Codex to generate an internal system from scratch, NocoBase gives it a more stable system framework to work within. The result is not disposable code that is hard to maintain, but a system that runs within the NocoBase framework and can be continuously improved.

Beyond the initial building stage, NocoBase also provides AI Employee capabilities. AI Employees can work with business pages, data tables, and workflow context to help with data organization, data analysis, translation, research, email processing, data modeling, chart configuration, and more. In other words, Codex is better suited for helping developers build and extend systems, while NocoBase AI Employees can take part in daily business operations after the system goes live.

By configuring LLM services, Skills, knowledge bases, and quick tasks, AI Employees can fit more naturally into real business operations, helping teams improve both system building and day-to-day usage efficiency.

What you can build with Codex and NocoBase

Codex and NocoBase can help developers build maintainable enterprise internal systems faster, such as:

CRM
Ticketing systems
Approval systems
Project management
Asset management
Operations backends
Data dashboards

Codex handles requirement understanding, business structure breakdown, and implementation generation. NocoBase provides the data models, permissions, pages, workflows, and plugin extensions. Instead of asking AI to generate hard-to-maintain code from scratch, developers can let Codex build and develop within NocoBase’s existing system framework.

Suggested prompt

Install NocoBase

Copy the prompt below into Codex to automatically install and configure NocoBase:

Help me install the NocoBase CLI and complete initialization: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/ai-quick-start.md Please open and read the link directly.

Design a system

Help me use the nocobase-dsl-reconciler skill to build a ticket management system, including a dashboard, ticket list, user management, and SLA configuration.

Actual result

Related resources

You can copy these links and send them to Codex for direct use.

Documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/

CLI: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/api/cli/

Skills: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai-builder#nocobase-skills

MCP: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai/mcp/

2. Refine

Official website: https://refine.dev/

GitHub: https://github.com/refinedev/refine

GitHub Stars: 34.7k

Refine is an open source React framework for developers. It is mainly used to build internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and B2B applications. It provides core capabilities such as authentication, permission control, routing, data fetching, state management, and internationalization, making it suitable for quickly building CRUD-heavy applications.

Refine is also strengthening its support for AI Agent scenarios. It provides a workflow designed for AI-generated applications: connect to an existing REST API or Supabase project, analyze the backend structure, and create blueprints for AI agents so the generated results better match real data models.

This is why Refine works well with Codex. Codex does not need to guess how an internal tool should be built from scratch. It can generate list pages, detail pages, edit pages, forms, filters, permission checks, and API call logic based on Refine’s project structure, resource model, and data source configuration.

Refine also provides a CLI for creating resources, managing updates, swizzling components, and running project tasks such as build, start, and dev. For Coding Agents like Codex, these clear command-line entry points are easier to automate and better suited for continuous iteration in existing projects.

What you can build with Codex and Refine

Codex and Refine are especially suitable for quickly developing internal admin interfaces in the React stack, such as CRM backends, order management backends, operations review platforms, customer service workbenches, data management panels, and B2B SaaS admin portals.

For example, if you want to build an order management backend, Codex can generate order lists, order detail pages, edit forms, filters, status update buttons, and permission logic based on data structures such as orders, customers, products, and payment status. Refine provides the basic structure for React internal tools, while Codex speeds up the development of specific business pages.

This setup is better for developers who want full control over code. The final output is a React project, rather than configuration locked inside a closed platform. You can continue using Codex later to modify components, refactor logic, connect new APIs, or extend business modules.

Suggested prompt

Help me create an order management backend based on Refine, using a REST API as the data source. It should include an order list, order details, an order edit form, customer filters, order status updates, and basic permission control.

3. Payload CMS

Official website: https://payloadcms.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/payloadcms/payload

GitHub Stars: 42.5k

Payload CMS is an open source full-stack Next.js framework for building CMSs, admin panels, data-driven applications, and enterprise internal tools. It provides TypeScript configuration, data collections, permission control, an Admin Panel, REST / GraphQL APIs, Hooks, plugins, file management, and more.

Payload defines data models and business logic through code. You can configure collections, fields, access control, hooks, and the admin UI in TypeScript, keeping the backend, API, and admin interface of an internal tool in one codebase.

Payload has also started supporting AI Agent scenarios. Its official documentation provides an MCP Plugin that lets developers control which collections and globals AI can use for operations such as find, create, update, and delete. Developers can also define their own prompts, tools, and resources.

What you can build with Codex and Payload

Codex and Payload are suitable for quickly developing TypeScript / Next.js based data backends, content management systems, customer portals, order backends, asset management systems, and operations management tools.

For example, if you want to build an asset management backend, Codex can generate Payload collections, field configurations, access permissions, and hooks based on requirements such as equipment, employees, departments, usage records, maintenance records, and approval status. Payload provides the data management interface, APIs, and permission enforcement. If you need to add more business logic later, you can continue using Codex to modify TypeScript configurations and extension code.

Suggested prompt

Help me create an asset management backend based on Payload CMS, including collections for equipment, employees, departments, usage records, and maintenance records. Also configure basic fields, access permissions, Admin Panel display fields, and common hooks.

4. Directus

Official website: https://directus.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/directus/directus

GitHub Stars: 35.7k

Directus is an open source data backend platform that can quickly turn SQL databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MariaDB, MS SQL, and OracleDB into REST / GraphQL APIs and a visual admin panel. It is suitable for building data management backends, content management systems, operations backends, customer data backends, internal API layers, and similar projects.

Directus is especially friendly to existing databases. Many internal tools do not start from scratch. A business database may already exist, but the team still lacks a usable admin panel, permission management, and API layer. Directus can connect directly to an existing SQL database and provide data model management, role permissions, file management, automation workflows, and extension capabilities on top of it.

Directus already provides an MCP Server, allowing AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor to connect to Directus. AI can create, edit, and manage content within the existing permission system, without copying data elsewhere or bypassing Directus permission controls.

What you can build with Codex and Directus

Codex and Directus are suitable for quickly building internal data backends and API layers on top of existing databases, such as customer data management, order data management, content management, product catalog management, operations configuration backends, and data review systems.

The value of this combination is clear: Directus connects the database, generates APIs, provides the admin panel, and handles permissions. Codex understands business requirements, designs data structures, writes extension logic, Hooks, Custom Endpoints, data scripts, and frontend integration code.

The advantage is that developers do not need to rewrite existing databases or backends. Directus provides the data layer and admin panel, while Codex accelerates business logic and extension development. This makes the combination suitable for teams that already have a database but need to quickly add internal tool capabilities.

Suggested prompt

Help me design an internal admin panel for an existing order database based on Directus. It should include four data types: orders, customers, products, and payment records. Also configure basic permissions, list views, status update workflows, and a notification Hook after order status changes.

5. Supabase

Official website: https://supabase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/supabase/supabase

GitHub Stars: 103k

Supabase probably needs little introduction.

Supabase provides an official Supabase MCP Server that allows AI tools to connect to Supabase projects and query or operate on them within the allowed permission scope. Supabase also provides skills for AI agents, covering databases, Auth, Edge Functions, Realtime, Storage, Vectors, Cron, Queues, CLI, MCP, schema changes, migrations, RLS policies, security audits, and more.

What can you build with Codex and Supabase?

Codex and Supabase are suitable for quickly building the backend layer of internal tools. Supabase provides the database, authentication, API, storage, and function runtime environment. Codex designs schemas based on business requirements, writes SQL, configures RLS permissions, generates Edge Functions, and helps the frontend call Supabase APIs.

For example, if you want to build a customer management backend, Codex can design Postgres tables, field relationships, indexes, and RLS policies based on requirements such as customers, contacts, follow-up records, sales opportunities, contracts, and attachments. Supabase provides the database, authentication, automatic APIs, and permission enforcement. Later, if you need automatic customer assignment, external data synchronization, or AI summary generation, you can continue using Codex to write Edge Functions or database functions.

Suggested prompt

Help me design the backend for a customer management system based on Supabase. It should include tables for customers, contacts, opportunities, contracts, follow_ups, and attachments. Please generate SQL migration, basic indexes, RLS policies, authentication and permission design, and an Edge Function for automatically assigning sales owners.

6. Windmill

Official website: https://www.windmill.dev/

GitHub: https://github.com/windmill-labs/windmill

GitHub Stars: 16.5k

Windmill is an open source platform for developers. It can quickly turn scripts written in Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, and other languages into APIs, background tasks, workflows, and internal apps. It is suitable for building automation workflows, data processing tasks, operations tools, background task management, internal script platforms, and lightweight admin interfaces.

With its CLI and built-in AI skills, Windmill lets developers use Claude Code or Codex locally, then deploy to a remote workspace through wmill sync push. In this setup, Codex writes scripts and workflow logic, while Windmill handles execution, scheduling, permissions, logs, and visual operation interfaces.

What you can build with Codex and Windmill

Codex and Windmill are especially suitable for turning developer-written scripts into internal tools that the whole team can use. Examples include data synchronization, report generation, batch import and export, Webhook processing, scheduled tasks, customer data cleaning, order status synchronization, Slack / Email notifications, and AI data processing workflows.

For example, if you want to build an internal workflow that syncs CRM customer data every night and generates an exception report, Codex can help write scripts for reading, cleaning, comparing, and reporting data. Windmill can configure the workflow as a scheduled task, record execution logs, and provide an internal page where the team can manually trigger the workflow or view the results.

Suggested prompt

Help me create a customer data synchronization workflow based on Windmill: read customer data from PostgreSQL every night, clean duplicate records, identify abnormal emails, generate an exception report, and notify the operations team through Slack. Please write the script in TypeScript and explain how to configure the scheduled task and input parameters.

Final thoughts

AI Coding Agents like Codex are changing how developers build internal tools.

NocoBase, Refine, Payload, Directus, Supabase, and Windmill each provide a clearer engineering foundation from different angles, including business systems, frontend frameworks, data backends, backend services, and script automation.

The value of Codex is that it improves development efficiency on top of these foundations: it helps you break down requirements, generate code, configure resources, write scripts, design workflows, handle integrations, and troubleshoot issues.

A better development approach is:

Choose the right open source infrastructure first, then let Codex complete the specific implementation within a clear structure.

Internal tools built this way are easier to maintain, extend, and put into real use.

Related reading

Weekly Updates: AI employee support parallel processing of multiple conversation

NocoBase — Thu, 14 May 2026 10:27:23 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/weekly-updates-20260514

Summarize the weekly product update logs, and the latest releases can be checked on our blog.

NocoBase is currently updated with three branches: main , next and develop.

main：The most stable version to date, recommended for installation;
next：Beta version, contains upcoming new features and has been preliminarily tested. There might be some known or unknown issues. It's mainly for test users to collect feedback and optimize functions further. Ideal for test users who want to experience new features early and give feedback;
develop：Alpha version, contains the latest feature code, may be incomplete or unstable, mainly for internal dev and rapid iteration. Suited for tech users interested in product's cutting-edge, but with potential issues and incomplete functions. Not for production use.

main

v2.0.52

Release date: 2026-05-13

🎉 New Features

[client]
- add current user language variable in v2 (#9405) by katherinehhh
- add date range limit option for date fields in v2 forms (#9400) by katherinehhh

🚀 Improvements

[client] exclude already associated records in association selection dialog of one-to-many table block (#9448) by katherinehhh
[Departments] optimize department list style by adding icons and adjusting spacing (#9435) by katherinehhh
[AI: Knowledge base] The unique identifier for a knowledge base is configurable at the time of creation by cgyrock

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed the issue where legacy default value settings can't be removed. (#9470) by gchust
- Fixed the issue where can't select options for association's select field. (#9088) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where the target block data scope was set incorrectly when deselecting row data in a table block event flow. (#9443) by gchust
- Fix duplicate table requests when filter forms have default values (#9423) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed V2 linkage rules to support setting selectable options for fields (#9399) by jiannx
- fix error when changing title field of association field in v2 table block (#9451) by katherinehhh
- Fixed an intermittent issue where action button linkage rules would fail to take effect. (#9430) by gchust
- hide subtable component for to-many association fields in v2 subtable (#9438) by katherinehhh
[server] fix(file-manager): force download active content files in local/public storage (#9437) by mytharcher
[AI employees] Fixed Ollama test flight requiring key input (#9450) by cgyrock
[Graph collection manager] fix graphical interface auto layout throws update action filter error (#9421) by katherinehhh
[Workflow] fix: restore helper text in FlowModel workflow binding dialogs for operation and custom action events (#9447) by mytharcher
[Departments] fix translation conflict between add user and add department buttons in Users & Permissions settings (#9456) by katherinehhh
[Collection field: Markdown(Vditor)] fix markdown field tooltip being hidden in horizontal form layout (#9420) by katherinehhh
[WEB client] Fix route type filtering when using translated labels (#9425) by zhangzhonghe
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix the issue where JS field appears in approval process settings by zhangzhonghe
- Fix approval form layout on mobile devices by zhangzhonghe
- Fix duplicate approval record index when delegating approval tasks. by mytharcher
[Backup manager] Fixed an issue where backups would fail with an error when files could not be found. by gchust

v2.0.51

Release date: 2026-05-10

🚀 Improvements

[Workflow: Approval] Fix required validation behavior for approval forms by zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed an issue where JS code could no longer be edited after a JS field was set to read-only. (#9404) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where sub-table field assignments would not take effect in field linkage rules. (#9412) by gchust
- Fix the issue where v2 page tabs do not sync immediately after saving settings (#9396) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where the default value popup for association fields in the create form would display incorrectly. (#9408) by gchust
[Password policy] Fixed an issue where permanently locked users could sign in after a service restart by 2013xile
[Action: Import records Pro] Fix the issue where duplicated check on date field always fails by mytharcher
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where the select record drawer is obscured in approval workflow configuration by zhangzhonghe

v2.0.50

Release date: 2026-05-09

🎉 New Features

[client] add associate and dissociate actions to association block (#9366) by katherinehhh
[Text copy] support "Display copy button" option for read-only text field (#9394) by katherinehhh

🚀 Improvements

[undefined] skip already-published versions in pk (#9374) by Molunerfinn
[client] Allow to assign field value for sequence field (#9397) by mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[flow-engine] Fixed untranslated data table field validation messages in v2 flow forms (#9393) by jiannx
[client]
- Fixed Hidden (reserved value) fields in form blocks so they remain visible in UI Editor mode, and restored value input support for assigning them in Field assignment (#9373) by jiannx
- Fix incorrect download filenames for AttachmentURL fields when file metadata is missing. (#9382) by mytharcher
- Fixed the v2 table bulk workflow trigger so row selection stays consistent after redirecting between tabs and rows can be selected again after returning (#9388) by jiannx
- Fix filter forms that could not collapse (#9386) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the issue where v1 subtable linkage rules incorrectly change required field styles (#9364) by zhangzhonghe
- fix incorrect data rendering in grid card block after update and refresh (#9351) by katherinehhh
- fix required option field in subtable not validated correctly on first selection in mobile (#9352) by katherinehhh
- Fix the issue where URL query parameter variables become invalid after switching cached pages (#9263) by zhangzhonghe
- fix adapt DividerItem to theme in v2 (#9372) by katherinehhh
- fix hide quick create option for association select field in v2 subtable (#9358) by katherinehhh
- Fixed linkage rules have not been rerun after form values change. (#9357) by gchust
- Fix the error when filtering scalar fields with custom multi-select filters (#9387) by zhangzhonghe
[server] validate plugin package names before filesystem operations (#9367) by chenos
[Data source manager] prevent editing and deletion of all records in custom scope permissions for external data sources (#9395) by katherinehhh
[Data source: Main] Fixed imported database tables using the wrong prefixed table name when a table prefix is enabled (#9403) by 2013xile
[Notification: In-app message] Fixed an issue where the in-app message list did not refresh after receiving realtime notifications (#9409) by mytharcher
[Block: Kanban] fix prevent single-word wrapping in long text field of v1 kanban block (#9356) by katherinehhh
[Collection field: Formula] fix formula field in v2 subtable not triggered to auto-calculate (#9354) by katherinehhh

v2.1.0-beta.32

Release date: 2026-05-13

🎉 New Features

[undefined] Add a new AI employee, Localization Engineer Lina, to assist with localization translation tasks (#9434) by 2013xile Reference: Localization Management Lina: Localization Engineer Use Lina and local HY-MT1.5-1.8B to translate localization entries
[File storage: S3(Pro)] Support uploading files via S3 Pro storage in the v2 file manager. by Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[build] Added regression coverage to keep deleteServerFiles from removing client and client-v2 build artifacts across Windows and POSIX paths. (#9318) by Molunerfinn
[client] exclude already associated records in association selection dialog of one-to-many table block (#9448) by katherinehhh
[File manager] Third-party storage plugins can now register their own storage type form on the v2 file manager settings page. (#9439) by Molunerfinn
[AI: Knowledge base] The unique identifier for a knowledge base is configurable at the time of creation by cgyrock

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed the issue where can't select options for association's select field. (#9088) by gchust
- Fix the issue where system settings appear empty after submitting (#9458) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix duplicate table requests when filter forms have default values (#9423) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where the target block data scope was set incorrectly when deselecting row data in a table block event flow. (#9443) by gchust
- Fixed V2 linkage rules to support setting selectable options for fields (#9399) by jiannx
- fix error when changing title field of association field in v2 table block (#9451) by katherinehhh
[client-v2]
- Fix the issue where the page turns blank behind the plugin enabling dialog (#9455) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix v1 admin pages crashing when they reference v2 plugin modules in production builds. (#9460) by Molunerfinn
[cli-v1] Fixed development startup failures in apps created with create-nocobase-app caused by app-dev client path resolution. (#9465) by Molunerfinn
[server] fix(file-manager): force download active content files in local/public storage (#9437) by mytharcher
[Departments] fix translation conflict between add user and add department buttons in Users & Permissions settings (#9456) by katherinehhh
[Block: Markdown] Fix the issue of v2 Markdown block reporting errors (#9440) by zhangzhonghe
[Workflow] fix: restore helper text in FlowModel workflow binding dialogs for operation and custom action events (#9447) by mytharcher
[AI employees] Fixed Ollama test flight requiring key input (#9450) by cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix duplicate approval record index when delegating approval tasks. by mytharcher
- Fix approval form layout on mobile devices by zhangzhonghe
[Backup manager] Fixed an issue where backups would fail with an error when files could not be found. by gchust

v2.1.0-beta.30

Release date: 2026-05-12

🎉 New Features

[client]
- Add linkage rules support for page menu items (#9304) by zhangzhonghe
- add current user language variable in v2 (#9405) by katherinehhh

🚀 Improvements

[client-v2] Filter out v1 menus in the v2 layout and only show v2 menus (#9427) by zhangzhonghe
[undefined] support session-scoped current env in nb cli (#9415) by chenos
[AI employees] AI employee support parallel processing of multiple conversation (#9344) by cgyrock
[Departments] optimize department list style by adding icons and adjusting spacing (#9435) by katherinehhh

🐛 Bug Fixes

[build] Fix plugin build failure when v1 client code imports another plugin's /client-v2 entry. (#9436) by Molunerfinn
[client]
- hide subtable component for to-many association fields in v2 subtable (#9438) by katherinehhh
- Fixed an intermittent issue where action button linkage rules would fail to take effect. (#9430) by gchust
[Graph collection manager] fix graphical interface auto layout throws update action filter error (#9421) by katherinehhh
[Block: Tree] Improved tree filter block settings and fixed unsupported association, title-field fallback, and search reset behavior. (#9426) by jiannx

v2.1.0-beta.29

Release date: 2026-05-10

🎉 New Features

[client] add date range limit option for date fields in v2 forms (#9400) by katherinehhh
[flow-engine] Migrate plugin-environment-variables to client-v2 with a React-based settings page and a globally registered $env runtime variable; add a client-v2 entry to plugin-file-manager with a React-based storage configuration page and FlowModel-based upload field, upload action, and preview. (#9413) by Molunerfinn

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed an issue where JS code could no longer be edited after a JS field was set to read-only. (#9404) by gchust
- Fix the issue where v2 page tabs do not sync immediately after saving settings (#9396) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where sub-table field assignments would not take effect in field linkage rules. (#9412) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where the default value popup for association fields in the create form would display incorrectly. (#9408) by gchust
[Collection field: Markdown(Vditor)] fix markdown field tooltip being hidden in horizontal form layout (#9420) by katherinehhh
[Mobile (deprecated)] Fix mobile message popups that could not be closed or scrolled (#9424) by zhangzhonghe
[WEB client] Fix route type filtering when using translated labels (#9425) by zhangzhonghe
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where JS field appears in approval process settings by zhangzhonghe

v2.1.0-beta.27

Release date: 2026-05-09

🎉 New Features

[server] AI employees can search bundled documentation with Bash commands (#9269) by 2013xile
[AI employees] Workflow AI employee node supports loading files from attachment fields. (#9402) by cgyrock
[Text copy] support "Display copy button" option for read-only text field (#9394) by katherinehhh

🚀 Improvements

[client] Allow to assign field value for sequence field (#9397) by mytharcher
[Block: Kanban] Improved v2 detail field spacing consistency and made kanban card and column spacing better adapt to theme settings. (#9390) by jiannx
[AI employees] Improved Nathan's RunJS editing tools and reduced lag during long AI chat conversations (#9311) by 2013xile
[Workflow: Approval] Fix required validation behavior for approval forms by zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[flow-engine] Fixed untranslated data table field validation messages in v2 flow forms (#9393) by jiannx
[client]
- Fix filter forms that could not collapse (#9386) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the error when filtering scalar fields with custom multi-select filters (#9387) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix incorrect download filenames for AttachmentURL fields when file metadata is missing. (#9382) by mytharcher
- fix adapt DividerItem to theme in v2 (#9372) by katherinehhh
- Fix the issue where v1 subtable linkage rules incorrectly change required field styles (#9364) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed Hidden (reserved value) fields in form blocks so they remain visible in UI Editor mode, and restored value input support for assigning them in Field assignment (#9373) by jiannx
- Fixed the v2 table bulk workflow trigger so row selection stays consistent after redirecting between tabs and rows can be selected again after returning (#9388) by jiannx
[client-v2]
- Fixed error when selecting association fields in field settings. (#9379) by gchust
- Fix the issue where a 404 page flashes after the app starts (#9365) by zhangzhonghe
[server] Fixed sub-application OAuth discovery requests being routed as main-app requests (#9383) by 2013xile
[Data source: Main] Fixed imported database tables using the wrong prefixed table name when a table prefix is enabled (#9403) by 2013xile
[Notification: In-app message] Fixed an issue where the in-app message list did not refresh after receiving realtime notifications (#9409) by mytharcher
[Data source manager] prevent editing and deletion of all records in custom scope permissions for external data sources (#9395) by katherinehhh
[AI: MCP server] Fixed MCP server packaging so runtime dependencies are included (#9401) by 2013xile
[Flow engine] Fixed an issue where blocks generated by AI could not be converted from reference templates back to duplicate templates. (#9392) by gchust
[Action: Import records Pro] Fix the issue where duplicated check on date field always fails by mytharcher
[Password policy] Fixed an issue where permanently locked users could sign in after a service restart by 2013xile
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where the select record drawer is obscured in approval workflow configuration by zhangzhonghe
[Backup manager] fix pg schema adaption by Andrew1989Y

v2.1.0-beta.26

Release date: 2026-05-08

🎉 New Features

[client] add associate and dissociate actions to association block (#9366) by katherinehhh
[Data visualization] Add client-v2 support for block plugins (#9297) by zhangzhonghe

🚀 Improvements

[undefined] skip already-published versions in pk (#9374) by Molunerfinn

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client-v2]
- Fix the issue where some v2 pages fail to load remote plugins (#9369) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the v2 page block drag placeholder and drop position issues (#9361) by zhangzhonghe
[client]
- Fixed linkage rules have not been rerun after form values change. (#9357) by gchust
- fix required option field in subtable not validated correctly on first selection in mobile (#9352) by katherinehhh
- fix hide quick create option for association select field in v2 subtable (#9358) by katherinehhh
- Fix the issue where URL query parameter variables become invalid after switching cached pages (#9263) by zhangzhonghe
- fix incorrect data rendering in grid card block after update and refresh (#9351) by katherinehhh
[server] validate plugin package names before filesystem operations (#9367) by chenos
[undefined] Fix dead links in translated documentation and enable dead-link detection by default in the docs build. (#9371) by Molunerfinn
[AI employees]
- Fix AI employee node reading associations field attachment error in workflow (#9377) by cgyrock
- Fix workflow AI employee node not ending properly after tool assignment. (#9381) by cgyrock
[Block: Kanban]
- Improved Kanban card compact styling and optimized quick-create popup template selection. (#9370) by jiannx
- fix prevent single-word wrapping in long text field of v1 kanban block (#9356) by katherinehhh
- Fixed kanban associated blocks using unresolved runtime resource params in popup or secondary-page contexts. (#9350) by jiannx
[Action: Custom request] upgrade koa to v3 (#9368) by chenos
[Collection field: Formula] fix formula field in v2 subtable not triggered to auto-calculate (#9354) by katherinehhh
[Email manager] Fixed the mail identities title display by jiannx

v2.1.0-alpha.34

Release date: 2026-05-12

🚀 Improvements

[AI employees] AI employee support parallel processing of multiple conversation (#9344) by cgyrock

v2.1.0-alpha.33

Release date: 2026-05-11

🎉 New Features

[client]
- add current user language variable in v2 (#9405) by katherinehhh
- Add linkage rules support for page menu items (#9304) by zhangzhonghe

🚀 Improvements

[client-v2] Filter out v1 menus in the v2 layout and only show v2 menus (#9427) by zhangzhonghe
[Departments] optimize department list style by adding icons and adjusting spacing (#9435) by katherinehhh

🐛 Bug Fixes

[build] Fix plugin build failure when v1 client code imports another plugin's /client-v2 entry. (#9436) by Molunerfinn
[client]
- Fixed an intermittent issue where action button linkage rules would fail to take effect. (#9430) by gchust
- hide subtable component for to-many association fields in v2 subtable (#9438) by katherinehhh
[Graph collection manager] fix graphical interface auto layout throws update action filter error (#9421) by katherinehhh
[Block: Tree] Improved tree filter block settings and fixed unsupported association, title-field fallback, and search reset behavior. (#9426) by jiannx

v2.1.0-alpha.32

Release date: 2026-05-10

🎉 New Features

[client] add date range limit option for date fields in v2 forms (#9400) by katherinehhh
[flow-engine] Migrate plugin-environment-variables to client-v2 with a React-based settings page and a globally registered $env runtime variable; add a client-v2 entry to plugin-file-manager with a React-based storage configuration page and FlowModel-based upload field, upload action, and preview. (#9413) by Molunerfinn

🚀 Improvements

[undefined] support session-scoped current env in nb cli (#9415) by chenos

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fixed an issue where the default value popup for association fields in the create form would display incorrectly. (#9408) by gchust
- Fixed an issue where JS code could no longer be edited after a JS field was set to read-only. (#9404) by gchust
- Fix the issue where v2 page tabs do not sync immediately after saving settings (#9396) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where sub-table field assignments would not take effect in field linkage rules. (#9412) by gchust
[Collection field: Markdown(Vditor)] fix markdown field tooltip being hidden in horizontal form layout (#9420) by katherinehhh
[WEB client] Fix route type filtering when using translated labels (#9425) by zhangzhonghe
[Mobile (deprecated)] Fix mobile message popups that could not be closed or scrolled (#9424) by zhangzhonghe
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where JS field appears in approval process settings by zhangzhonghe

v2.1.0-alpha.31

Release date: 2026-05-09

🎉 New Features

[client] add associate and dissociate actions to association block (#9366) by katherinehhh
[Text copy] support "Display copy button" option for read-only text field (#9394) by katherinehhh
[AI employees] Workflow AI employee node supports loading files from attachment fields. (#9402) by cgyrock
[Data visualization] Add client-v2 support for block plugins (#9297) by zhangzhonghe

🚀 Improvements

[client] Allow to assign field value for sequence field (#9397) by mytharcher
[undefined] skip already-published versions in pk (#9374) by Molunerfinn
[Block: Kanban] Improved v2 detail field spacing consistency and made kanban card and column spacing better adapt to theme settings. (#9390) by jiannx
[Workflow: Approval] Fix required validation behavior for approval forms by zhangzhonghe

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client]
- Fix filter forms that could not collapse (#9386) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed the v2 table bulk workflow trigger so row selection stays consistent after redirecting between tabs and rows can be selected again after returning (#9388) by jiannx
- Fixed Hidden (reserved value) fields in form blocks so they remain visible in UI Editor mode, and restored value input support for assigning them in Field assignment (#9373) by jiannx
- fix adapt DividerItem to theme in v2 (#9372) by katherinehhh
- Fix incorrect download filenames for AttachmentURL fields when file metadata is missing. (#9382) by mytharcher
- Fix the error when filtering scalar fields with custom multi-select filters (#9387) by zhangzhonghe
- Fixed linkage rules have not been rerun after form values change. (#9357) by gchust
- Fix the issue where v1 subtable linkage rules incorrectly change required field styles (#9364) by zhangzhonghe
- fix incorrect data rendering in grid card block after update and refresh (#9351) by katherinehhh
- fix required option field in subtable not validated correctly on first selection in mobile (#9352) by katherinehhh
- fix hide quick create option for association select field in v2 subtable (#9358) by katherinehhh
- Fix the issue where URL query parameter variables become invalid after switching cached pages (#9263) by zhangzhonghe
[flow-engine] Fixed untranslated data table field validation messages in v2 flow forms (#9393) by jiannx
[server]
- Fixed sub-application OAuth discovery requests being routed as main-app requests (#9383) by 2013xile
- validate plugin package names before filesystem operations (#9367) by chenos
[client-v2]
- Fixed error when selecting association fields in field settings. (#9379) by gchust
- Fix the issue where a 404 page flashes after the app starts (#9365) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the v2 page block drag placeholder and drop position issues (#9361) by zhangzhonghe
- Fix the issue where some v2 pages fail to load remote plugins (#9369) by zhangzhonghe
[undefined] Fix dead links in translated documentation and enable dead-link detection by default in the docs build. (#9371) by Molunerfinn
[Notification: In-app message] Fixed an issue where the in-app message list did not refresh after receiving realtime notifications (#9409) by mytharcher
[Data source manager] prevent editing and deletion of all records in custom scope permissions for external data sources (#9395) by katherinehhh
[AI: MCP server] Fixed MCP server packaging so runtime dependencies are included (#9401) by 2013xile
[Data source: Main] Fixed imported database tables using the wrong prefixed table name when a table prefix is enabled (#9403) by 2013xile
[Flow engine] Fixed an issue where blocks generated by AI could not be converted from reference templates back to duplicate templates. (#9392) by gchust
[AI employees]
- Fix AI employee node reading associations field attachment error in workflow (#9377) by cgyrock
- Fix workflow AI employee node not ending properly after tool assignment. (#9381) by cgyrock
[Action: Custom request] upgrade koa to v3 (#9368) by chenos
[Block: Kanban]
- Improved Kanban card compact styling and optimized quick-create popup template selection. (#9370) by jiannx
- fix prevent single-word wrapping in long text field of v1 kanban block (#9356) by katherinehhh
[Collection field: Formula] fix formula field in v2 subtable not triggered to auto-calculate (#9354) by katherinehhh
[Action: Import records Pro] Fix the issue where duplicated check on date field always fails by mytharcher
[Password policy] Fixed an issue where permanently locked users could sign in after a service restart by 2013xile
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where the select record drawer is obscured in approval workflow configuration by zhangzhonghe
[Email manager] Fixed the mail identities title display by jiannx
[Backup manager] fix pg schema adaption by Andrew1989Y

After Claude Code: 6 Open-Source Tools You Should Know

NocoBase — Wed, 13 May 2026 17:41:36 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/open-source-tools-after-claude-code

TLDR

Claude Code excels at generating code and implementing features, but building maintainable enterprise systems requires clearer structural boundaries. Here are 6 proven open-source tools that work well with Claude Code, covering core scenarios such as business systems, automation, knowledge bases, vector storage, and deployment.

Introduction

A few days ago, I came across an interesting post on Reddit's r/ClaudeCode.

The author of the post is a data engineer. He said that over the past few months, Claude Code had almost become part of his daily workflow. Whether he was writing data pipelines, building dashboards, or creating analysis scripts, he could confidently let Claude Code handle the work.

Because these tasks were within his area of expertise, he understood Claude Code's logic and could quickly review and validate the results.

That led him to a new idea**: if Claude Code works so well for data-related tasks, could it also be used to build a real product?**

Later, he and a PM prepared a complete product requirements document. They gave the requirements to Claude Code and asked it to implement the features, run tests, and deploy the product to Railway.

After launch, almost none of the features worked properly.

As I used Claude Code more extensively, I gradually realized something: when a task is within your area of expertise, AI can greatly improve efficiency. But when the task moves into a domain you do not understand well, cannot break down clearly, or cannot evaluate properly, AI can easily push the project into a state that is hard to control.

This is also a common challenge many people face when using AI coding and agent tools.

Claude Code does not lack the ability to write code. What it needs is clearer system boundaries and a more stable construction scaffold.

Claude Code and Open-Source Tools

AI does not work well with black boxes. This is where the advantages of open-source tools become very clear.

Clear schemas, open data structures, accessible APIs, plugin mechanisms, and controllable deployment environments were already features that developers valued. Now, they have also become key conditions for better AI collaboration.

From the perspective of long-term use and AI collaboration, open-source tools are better suited to serve as infrastructure for enterprise systems.

So today, we will look at several open-source tools that pair well with Claude Code and can help you build more stable and reliable products and features.

Tool Comparison Overview

Tool	GitHub Stars	Core Use	Deployment Difficulty	Best For	How It Works with Claude Code
NocoBase	22.3k	Business system building	⭐⭐	Internal tools/CRM/ticketing/ERP	NocoBase provides the foundation for data models, permissions, pages, and workflows, while Claude Code quickly generates systems, integration interfaces, and additional business logic on top of it
n8n	187k	Workflow automation	⭐⭐⭐	Agent orchestration	Claude Code generates node logic, while n8n visualizes and manages the workflow
Qdrant	31.2k	Vector database	⭐	RAG/AI search	AI generates embedding logic, while Qdrant provides long-term memory
Outline	38.5k	Knowledge base/documentation	⭐⭐⭐	Team collaboration	AI works with document context, while Outline manages knowledge in one place
Coolify	55k	Self-hosting platform	⭐⭐	Application hosting	AI generates Docker configurations, while Coolify manages deployment
OpenHands	73.2k	AI Agent	⭐⭐⭐	Long-running tasks	Claude Code acts as a development assistant, while OpenHands executes complete engineering tasks

1. NocoBase

Official website: https://www.nocobase.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase

Stars: 22.3k

NocoBase is an open-source AI + no-code platform mainly used to build business systems and internal enterprise tools, such as CRM systems, ticketing systems, approval systems, project management systems, and operations backends.

NocoBase works very well with Claude Code. Together, they solve a common problem: Claude Code can generate an application quickly, but if everything is generated from scratch, the data relationships, permission boundaries, and business workflows can become difficult to maintain later.

NocoBase gives Claude Code a proven foundation for building business systems.

Claude Code can quickly generate data models, pages, and workflows based on NocoBase. At the same time, humans can continue adjusting and improving the system through the visual interface. AI improves the building speed, while NocoBase defines the data structure, permissions, workflows, and system boundaries.

This approach is much more stable than generating an entire system from scratch.

This is especially true in enterprise business scenarios such as CRM, ticketing, approval, and ERP systems. Much of the complexity does not come from the pages themselves, but from:

Data relationships
Permission control
Multi-role collaboration
Long-term maintenance

In essence, NocoBase keeps AI from rebuilding infrastructure from a blank project every time. Instead, AI continues working on top of a system that already has business structure and rule boundaries.

Suitable Scenarios

Building internal systems such as CRM, ticketing, ERP, and project management with Claude Code
Business applications that require permissions, approvals, and workflows
Teams that want AI to help build systems without letting the overall structure become uncontrollable
Enterprise scenarios that require self-hosting and long-term maintenance

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation and configuration:

Help me install the NocoBase CLI and complete the initialization: https://docs.nocobase.com/cn/ai/ai-quick-start.md (please access the link content directly)

Related Resources

You can copy these resources and send them to Claude Code for direct use.

Documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/ai/

CLI: https://docs.nocobase.com/api/cli/

Skills: https://docs.nocobase.com/ai-builder#nocobase-skills

MCP: https://docs.nocobase.com/ai/mcp/

2. n8n

Official website: https://n8n.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n

Stars: 187k

n8n is a very popular open-source automation platform. It is mainly used to connect different systems, orchestrate workflows, and help AI agents participate in real business processes.

At first, many people ask Claude Code to generate various automation scripts, such as email processing, Webhooks, and data synchronization.

But as project complexity grows, a problem appears quickly: automation workflows become increasingly hard to maintain.

When workflows involve multiple systems, multiple AI agents, and many asynchronous tasks, relying only on scripts can gradually become unmanageable.

n8n provides a visual and maintainable workflow layer for these automation processes.

Claude Code can quickly generate node logic, API calls, and custom code. n8n then structures the overall workflow and makes the automation easier to maintain over time.

Compared with maintaining workflows entirely through code, n8n's visual structure is better suited for long-term iteration. This difference becomes especially clear as the team grows.

Suitable Scenarios

AI agent workflow orchestration
Claude Code automation workflow management
Connecting email, IM, CRM, databases, and other systems
Multi-system data synchronization
AI-powered business process automation
MCP and external service integration

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation:

Help me install n8n with Docker, and configure PostgreSQL persistent storage and basic authentication

Related Resources

Documentation: https://docs.n8n.io/

AI Agent: https://docs.n8n.io/advanced-ai/

MCP: https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.mcpclient/

Templates: https://n8n.io/workflows/

3. Qdrant

Official website: https://qdrant.tech/

GitHub: https://github.com/qdrant/qdrant

Stars: 31.2k

Qdrant is one of the most popular open-source vector databases today. It is widely used in AI agent, RAG, AI search, and knowledge base projects.

When people first start using Claude Code, they often notice one issue: AI depends heavily on the current context. As a project grows, it becomes difficult for Claude Code to "remember" the entire system over the long term.

At that point, you start needing:

Long-term memory
Knowledge retrieval
Semantic search
RAG

Qdrant has become a common layer in today's open-source AI stack.

Claude Code is well suited for quickly generating embedding logic, retrieval logic, agent call chains, and AI workflows. Qdrant stores and manages the vector data, allowing AI to work with long-term knowledge instead of relying only on the current conversation context.

Suitable Scenarios

AI Knowledge Base
AI customer service
Document retrieval
Enterprise knowledge systems
AI search
Agent memory

Compared with many SaaS AI platforms, using Qdrant directly gives you one clear advantage: the data structure, indexing method, and retrieval logic are fully controllable. This is especially important for systems that require long-term maintenance, self-hosting, or access to internal business data.

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation:

Help me install Qdrant with Docker and create a basic collection for an AI Knowledge Base

Related Resources

Documentation: https://qdrant.tech/documentation/

RAG: https://qdrant.tech/rag/

LangChain: https://python.langchain.com/docs/integrations/vectorstores/qdrant/

LlamaIndex: https://docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable/examples/vector_stores/QdrantIndexDemo/

4. Outline

Official website: https://www.getoutline.com/

GitHub: https://github.com/outline/outline

Stars: 38.5k

Outline is an open-source knowledge base and team documentation system. Many teams use it as an alternative to Notion, Confluence, or an internal Wiki.

In the age of AI, documentation will become increasingly important.

Documents are not only for people to read. They also become important context that helps AI understand systems. If PRDs, data structures, workflows, prompts, and agent behavior are not clearly documented, it becomes difficult for AI to continuously participate in development and maintenance.

Outline's value lies in its ability to centralize scattered team knowledge. With permissions, collaborative editing, Markdown support, and self-hosting capabilities, it makes documentation easier to maintain over the long term. For teams that want to bring AI into the development process, Outline can serve as a clear and controllable knowledge base foundation, giving both humans and AI a shared context.

Compared with many SaaS documentation tools, Outline has a simple structure and a good self-hosting experience. For scenarios where AI needs access to internal documents, business processes, and team knowledge, it is easier to control.

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation:

Help me install Outline with Docker, and configure PostgreSQL and object storage

Related Resources

Documentation: https://docs.getoutline.com/

Deployment: https://docs.getoutline.com/s/hosting/doc/docker-7pfeLP5a8t

GitHub: https://github.com/outline/outline

5. Coolify

Official website: https://coolify.io/

GitHub: https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify

Stars: 55k

Coolify is a popular open-source self-hosting platform. You can think of it as an open-source alternative to Vercel, Railway, or Heroku, used to manage servers, Docker, databases, and application deployments.

When many people use Claude Code to build a project for the first time, they often deploy it to Vercel or Railway first because it is fast and convenient.

But once you start self-hosting a complete AI stack, manually maintaining Docker and servers can become increasingly painful.

This is where Coolify is well suited to manage the deployment layer.

Claude Code can quickly generate Docker configurations, CI/CD scripts, and service orchestration logic. Coolify then manages these applications, databases, and runtime environments in one place, making the entire AI stack easier to maintain over time.

Compared with manual DevOps, it is better suited for small teams and AI projects that need fast iteration.

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation:

Help me install Coolify on an Ubuntu server and complete the basic initialization configuration

Related Resources

Documentation: https://coolify.io/docs/

Installation: https://coolify.io/docs/installation

GitHub: https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify

6. OpenHands

Official website: https://www.all-hands.dev/

GitHub: https://github.com/All-Hands-AI/OpenHands

Stars: 73.2k+

OpenHands is a fast-growing open-source AI agent project. Compared with traditional AI coding tools, it places more emphasis on letting AI truly participate in software engineering, rather than only generating code.

It allows Claude Code to participate in more complex development tasks, such as:

Reading the entire codebase
Understanding the existing project structure
Analyzing logs
Fixing deployment issues
Running long-running tasks
Calling external tools
Supporting multi-step collaboration

Claude Code is more like a high-quality development assistant, while OpenHands is more like an engineering agent that can keep running. Together, they are well suited for tasks that require long-running execution, continuous iteration, or cross-tool collaboration.

Suitable Scenarios

Automated bug fixing
AI DevOps
Long-running agents
AI engineering collaboration
Automated execution of development workflows
Multi-tool collaborative workflows

Install with Claude Code

Copy the following prompt to Claude Code, and it can automatically complete the installation:

Help me install OpenHands with Docker and complete the basic runtime environment configuration

Related Resources

Documentation: https://docs.all-hands.dev/

GitHub: https://github.com/All-Hands-AI/OpenHands

MCP: https://docs.all-hands.dev/usage/mcp/

FAQ

1. Are all of these tools suitable for building internal enterprise systems?

Not exactly.

If you want to build long-term maintainable business systems such as CRM, ticketing, approval, project management, or operations backends, NocoBase is a better fit. It is designed around data models, permissions, pages, and workflows.

If you care more about AI agent orchestration, automation tasks, or knowledge base Q&A, the other tools may be better used as supporting components rather than as the foundation for a complete business system.

2. Why is NocoBase suitable for use with AI?

Because NocoBase is not just a simple page generation tool. It is a data-model-driven platform.

AI can generate tables, fields, relationships, pages, and workflows based on clear data structures. Later, if you want to connect AI agents, automate workflows, or let AI read business data inside the system, it is easier to implement.

Simply put, NocoBase is better suited to serve as the foundation for AI to build and run enterprise systems.

3. Can these tools replace AI programming tools such as Claude Code and Cursor?

No. They complement each other.

Claude Code and Cursor are suitable for helping developers write code, modify code, generate plugins, and extend capabilities. Platforms like NocoBase provide the system foundation, including data models, permissions, pages, workflows, and deployment environments.

A better approach is not to choose between them, but to let AI programming tools continue building on top of these open-source platforms. This is easier to maintain than generating an entire system from scratch.

4. If I already use mature SaaS, should I still consider open-source tools?

It depends on your needs.

If you only need standard features, mature SaaS may be easier to use.

But if you want to connect AI agents, integrate internal data, handle complex permissions, self-host the system, or keep extending it as the business changes, open-source tools are usually more flexible.

This is especially true when AI needs to directly understand and operate system data. In that case, the transparent structure of open-source tools becomes a major advantage.

5. What types of scenarios are best for trying NocoBase first?

You can start with these scenarios:

Customer management systems
Ticketing management systems
Approval systems
Project management systems
Asset management systems
Operations backends
Data dashboards
Internal workflow automation

These scenarios usually have clear data structures, permission relationships, and workflow rules. They are suitable for quickly building with NocoBase and can also be further connected to AI.

Common Challenges and Solutions

When using Claude Code to build enterprise systems, developers often run into the following challenges:

Challenge	Traditional Approach	Advantage of the Open-Source Approach
Uncontrolled data models	AI generates a different structure each time	NocoBase provides a pre-validated data model layer
Messy permission management	AI-generated code is hard to maintain	NocoBase includes an enterprise-grade permission system
Knowledge gaps	AI cannot remember the system over the long term	Outline + Qdrant provide a unified knowledge base
Deployment complexity	Multiple containers are managed manually	Coolify manages the deployment stack in one place
Hard-to-maintain workflows	Scripts are scattered everywhere	n8n provides visual workflow management

Final Thoughts

Claude Code has given many people the ability to write code for the first time.

But there is still a long distance between a runnable demo and a real system that can be used over the long term. The real challenge is whether the system structure is clear, the data is maintainable, the permissions are controllable, and AI can work within clear boundaries.

That is why I prefer using Claude Code together with these open-source tools. A good open-source stack makes AI output more controllable and also makes it easier for humans to take over, validate, and maintain the system over time.

Related reading

Top 10 Open-Source AI And No-Code Tools for Enterprise Software Development

NocoBase — Fri, 08 May 2026 04:10:23 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/open-source-ai-no-code-tools-enterprise-software-development

Will drag-and-drop no-code tools still survive as AI coding and AI agents become more mature?

A recent discussion on Reddit raised this exact question. AI is changing how software is built, but many teams are also rethinking whether visual tools, structured platforms, and long-term maintainability still matter in enterprise software development.

AI coding makes it possible for companies to generate a prototype faster, and even build pages, features, and parts of business workflows within a short period of time. But fast generation does not mean the system will remain usable over time. If a system built purely with AI coding lacks a mature platform foundation, it may create higher costs later when the team needs to adjust data structures, manage permissions, maintain workflows, integrate systems, or update versions.

For enterprise software development, a more practical approach is to use mature no-code/low-code platforms while combining them with AI-powered generation and collaboration.

Many no-code products are now deeply integrating with AI. They preserve the speed and flexibility of AI, while the platform itself provides the foundation for data, permissions, workflows, integrations, and deployment. For enterprise teams, these tools are better suited for building maintainable internal systems, AI applications, and automation workflows.

This article introduces 10 open-source AI no-code tools for enterprise software development, helping you quickly compare their core capabilities, AI collaboration features, and best-fit use cases.

Tool	GitHub Stars	Open-source License	Extensibility	AI Collaboration Capabilities	How AI is integrated
NocoBase	22.3k	Apache-2.0 + additional terms	Plugins, Skills, API, CLI	AI Employees, AI Agent Skills, AI-assisted system building	AI can help build systems and also handle data, workflows, and daily tasks inside business systems
Appsmith	39.7k	Apache-2.0	Components, API, data source integrations	Appsmith AI, LLM integrations	AI is mainly embedded into internal apps for querying, generating, classifying, and summarizing content
ToolJet	37.9k	AGPL-3.0	Components, data source integrations, AI features	AI app generation, AI Agent	AI can assist with app generation and can also be used to build AI Agents and workflows
Budibase	27.9k	GPLv3 / MPL / BSL and others	Components, automations, data source integrations	AI Agent, AI workflow automation	AI mainly supports request handling, information collection, workflow triggers, and automated tasks
Dify	140k	Dify Open Source License	Workflows, plugins, model integrations	RAG, Agentic Workflow, model management	AI is the core capability for building AI apps, knowledge base Q&A, Agents, and RAG workflows
Flowise	52.6k	Apache-2.0	Nodes, templates, API	AI Agent, LLM workflows	AI is mainly orchestrated through visual nodes for building Agents, chatbots, and LLM workflows
Langflow	148k	MIT	Components, API, MCP	AI Agent, RAG, MCP server	AI is used through components and workflow orchestration, suitable for Agents, RAG, and MCP-related workflows
n8n	187k	Sustainable Use + Enterprise	Nodes, API, templates	AI workflows, AI Agent	AI is usually used as a node or step in a workflow to connect models, tools, data, and business systems
Activepieces	22.1k	MIT / commercial features billed separately	Pieces, MCP, API	AI automation, MCP	AI connects to business tools through automations and MCP, making it suitable for connecting AI with external systems
Windmill	16.4k	AGPLv3 / partially Apache-2.0	Scripts, workflows, API	AI code generation, AI Agent	AI mainly helps generate scripts, apps, and workflows, and can also take part in automated task execution

1.NocoBase

Basic Information

Website: https://www.nocobase.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase
AI documentation: https://docs.nocobase.com/ai
GitHub Stars: 22.3k

Tool Positioning

NocoBase is an open-source AI no-code platform designed for building enterprise business systems. Built on mature system infrastructure and a visual no-code interface, it brings AI-assisted building into data modeling, page configuration, workflows, permissions, and business rules, helping teams build, adjust, and maintain long-running business systems more efficiently.

💡 How can you use AI to quickly build internal tools? NocoBase official guide: https://docs.nocobase.com/cn/ai-builder

Best-fit Use Cases

NocoBase can help teams quickly build business systems that match their needs. It is also suitable for internal enterprise systems that need to run for a long time and change continuously, such as CRM, ticketing systems, approval systems, project management systems, customer portals, ERP-like management systems, and data dashboards. For enterprise teams that need self-hosting, data control, clear permissions, and configurable workflows, it is better suited to real business scenarios than simple page generation tools.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

NocoBase's AI capabilities are mainly reflected in two scenarios. First, AI coding agents can assist with system building, including data modeling, page configuration, workflows, and release management. Second, AI Employees can participate in daily business operations, such as analyzing data, handling tasks, supporting decisions, and executing workflows. NocoBase Skills also help AI agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode better understand and operate NocoBase.

💡 NocoBase Skills: Domain knowledge packages that help AI agents understand NocoBase's configuration system and development standards.

Advantages

NocoBase's strengths lie in AI + no-code collaboration, production-grade system infrastructure, data-model-driven design, fine-grained permission control, self-hosting, and plugin-based extensibility. Teams can use AI coding agents to build systems quickly, then continue configuring and adjusting them through a visual no-code interface. NocoBase also brings data, pages, workflows, and permissions into one platform, making it well suited for internal enterprise systems that require long-term operation, continuous maintenance, and flexible expansion.

💡 How do you connect an AI Agent to NocoBase? Read the official guide: https://docs.nocobase.com/cn/ai-builder

2. Appsmith

Basic Information

Website: https://www.appsmith.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith
AI documentation: https://docs.appsmith.com/connect-data/reference/appsmith-ai
GitHub Stars: 39.8k

Tool Positioning

Appsmith is more like an internal tool builder for developers. Teams can build pages with drag-and-drop components, connect databases, APIs, and third-party services, and quickly create admin panels, data dashboards, and business operation interfaces.

Best-fit Use Cases

Appsmith is well suited for internal applications where technical teams are involved, such as admin panels, dashboards, database management interfaces, customer support backends, approval apps, and operations tools. If a company already has databases or APIs and mainly needs a visual interface to operate them, Appsmith is a straightforward choice.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Appsmith provides Appsmith AI, which can add AI-powered querying, text processing, content generation, classification, summarization, and other capabilities to applications. Its AI capabilities are better suited for embedding intelligence into existing internal apps, helping them support smarter interactions and automated processing.

Advantages

Appsmith stands out for its developer-friendly experience, strong data connectivity, and efficient page building. For teams that need to quickly combine databases, APIs, and frontend operation interfaces, it can reduce a large amount of repetitive development work.

3. ToolJet

Basic Information

Website: https://tooljet.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/ToolJet/ToolJet
AI documentation: https://docs.tooljet.com/docs/build-with-ai/overview
GitHub Stars: 37.9k

Tool Positioning

ToolJet is built for enterprise internal apps, workflows, and AI agent scenarios. It provides a low-code builder and visual page-building capabilities. It can connect databases, APIs, SaaS apps, and object storage, helping teams quickly build business applications and internal tools.

Best-fit Use Cases

ToolJet is suitable for building internal management systems, data dashboards, operations tools, and business workflows. For teams that want to generate applications with natural language or add AI agents to a low-code platform, it is worth considering.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

ToolJet's Build with AI can help users create or optimize applications through natural language. It can also help users understand components, data sources, and feature configurations. Its AI capabilities are mainly used to lower the barrier to building and configuring applications.

Advantages

ToolJet combines low-code building, data integration, and AI-assisted generation. It is suitable for teams that want to build internal tools quickly while reducing manual configuration work.

4. Budibase

Basic Information

Website: https://budibase.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/Budibase/budibase
AI documentation: https://docs.budibase.com/docs/agents-config
GitHub Stars: 27.9k

Tool Positioning

Budibase focuses on internal apps, automation workflows, and AI agents. It helps teams organize repetitive operational tasks, approval requests, information collection, and data updates through apps and automated workflows.

Best-fit Use Cases

Budibase is better suited for teams with many operational processes, such as internal approvals, request handling, form routing, notification triggers, data updates, and lightweight internal system building. Its use cases are usually closer to business process automation.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Budibase AI agents can take part in request handling, information collection, Q&A, data connections, and workflow triggers. Its AI capabilities are better suited for operational workflows where teams need help handling multi-step tasks.

Advantages

Budibase brings internal apps, automation, and AI agents into one product. For teams that want to automate approvals, requests, notifications, and data updates, it is relatively easy to work with.

5. Dify

Basic Information

Website: https://dify.ai/
GitHub: https://github.com/langgenius/dify
AI documentation: https://docs.dify.ai/
GitHub Stars: 140k

Tool Positioning

If your team's goal is to build AI applications, Dify is a very typical choice. It provides capabilities for large language model application development, including workflow orchestration, knowledge bases, model integration, tool calling, app publishing, and runtime monitoring.

Best-fit Use Cases

Dify is suitable for building AI assistants, knowledge base Q&A, customer service chatbots, enterprise RAG applications, Agent workflows, and AI-native applications. It is better suited for AI application development than for building traditional internal business systems.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Dify covers Agentic Workflow, RAG pipeline, model management, tool calling, and application orchestration. Teams can combine different models, knowledge bases, tools, and business workflows into runnable AI applications.

Advantages

Dify's strength is its relatively complete AI application development workflow. From prototyping to knowledge base configuration, workflow orchestration, and application publishing, it provides systematic support for teams that want to bring AI applications into real-world use.

6. Flowise

Basic Information

Website: https://flowiseai.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/FlowiseAI/Flowise
AI documentation: https://docs.flowiseai.com/
GitHub Stars: 52.6k

Tool Positioning

Flowise is centered on building AI Agents and LLM workflows visually. It provides modular nodes and a graphical orchestration interface, making it suitable for connecting models, tools, memory, knowledge bases, and business logic into runnable AI workflows.

Best-fit Use Cases

Flowise is often used for chatbots, knowledge base Q&A, RAG applications, AI Agents, and LLM workflow prototyping. For teams that want to quickly assemble AI application logic through drag and drop, it is relatively easy to get started with.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Flowise supports Visual Builder, Agentflow, Tracing & Analytics, Evaluations, Human in the Loop, API, CLI, SDK, embedded chatbots, and more. It focuses more on AI workflow orchestration and Agent building.

Advantages

Flowise stands out for its highly visual AI workflow experience. It is suitable for quickly building, testing, and adjusting LLM applications, especially AI Agents, chatbots, and RAG scenarios.

7. Langflow

Basic Information

Website: https://www.langflow.org/
GitHub: https://github.com/langflow-ai/langflow
AI documentation: https://docs.langflow.org/
GitHub Stars: 148k

Tool Positioning

Langflow is a low-code AI application framework for AI agents, RAG applications, MCP servers, and LLM workflows. Built on Python, it offers a highly visual building experience while still preserving room for developer extension.

Best-fit Use Cases

Langflow is suitable for AI engineering teams, developers, and teams that need to quickly experiment with Agent and RAG workflows. It can be used to build AI agents, knowledge base Q&A, content generation, classification, assistant applications, and MCP-related workflows.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Langflow supports mainstream LLMs, vector databases, AI tools, MCP, and visual workflow orchestration. Developers can combine components, tools, and workflows, then embed them into different applications or agent workflows.

Advantages

Langflow stands out for its flexible AI workflow building experience. It is suitable for rapidly prototyping, experimenting with, and deploying AI agents. Compared with general automation tools, it focuses more on LLM applications and AI orchestration.

8. n8n

Basic Information

Website: https://n8n.io/
GitHub: https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n
AI documentation: https://docs.n8n.io/advanced-ai/
GitHub Stars: 187k

Tool Positioning

n8n is a workflow automation and system integration platform for technical teams. It uses visual nodes to connect tools, databases, APIs, and business workflows, while still allowing users to add code logic when needed.

Best-fit Use Cases

n8n is suitable for cross-system automation, data synchronization, API orchestration, AI workflows, notification triggers, form processing, and internal process automation. It is practical for teams that need to connect multiple SaaS tools, databases, APIs, and AI models.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

n8n can add LLMs, AI Agent nodes, tool calling, external APIs, and data processing nodes into workflows. It can be used to build chatbots, document processing flows, AI data analysis, and multi-step automation workflows.

Advantages

n8n stands out for its rich integration ecosystem and strong automation capabilities. It is suitable for connecting scattered systems, and it also helps technical teams balance visual building with code-based extension.

9. Activepieces

Basic Information

Website: https://www.activepieces.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/activepieces/activepieces
AI documentation: https://www.activepieces.com/mcp/activepieces
GitHub Stars: 22.1k

Tool Positioning

Activepieces focuses on AI-first automation. Its core idea is to let different teams build their own automation workflows. It covers business automation, AI workflows, AI agents, and MCP connections, with a relatively low barrier to entry.

Best-fit Use Cases

Activepieces is suitable for marketing, sales, HR, finance, operations, and IT teams that want to build no-code automations, such as lead syncing, email notifications, CRM updates, form triggers, data cleaning, and cross-tool operations.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Activepieces can use MCP to turn pieces into capabilities that AI tools can call, allowing tools such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf to connect with and operate external systems. It is well suited for making business automations available to AI agents.

Advantages

Activepieces is lightweight and intuitive, making it suitable for business teams that want to build automations quickly. It is also relatively strong in MCP-related scenarios, especially for teams that want AI tools to connect with more business applications.

10. Windmill

Basic Information

Website: https://www.windmill.dev/
GitHub: https://github.com/windmill-labs/windmill
AI documentation: https://www.windmill.dev/docs/core_concepts/ai_agents
GitHub Stars: 16.4k

Tool Positioning

Windmill is built for engineering teams and is more of a code-first workflow engine and developer platform. It can combine scripts, APIs, background tasks, data pipelines, internal UIs, and AI agents to build internal software and automation platforms.

Best-fit Use Cases

Windmill is suitable for internal tools, operations scripts, automation tasks, data processing workflows, API orchestration, and developer platforms. For engineering teams that want to retain control over their code while turning scripts and workflows into usable products, Windmill is a good fit.

AI Collaboration Capabilities

Windmill supports AI agents and AI generation. AI agents can be integrated into Windmill flows to support data processing, content generation, script execution, and automated decision-making. AI generation can help generate and edit scripts, flows, and apps.

Advantages

Windmill is characterized by strong code control and a high level of engineering depth. It is suitable for technical teams that want to turn existing scripts, internal workflows, and developer tools into a maintainable platform.

FAQ

1. If my team wants to build a CRM, ticketing system, approval system, or project management system, which tool should we choose?

NocoBase.

These systems are usually more than pages and forms. They also involve data models, permissions, workflows, role responsibilities, and long-term maintenance. NocoBase is better suited for building complete enterprise business systems, rather than just a single AI application or one automation workflow.

2. If my team mainly wants to build AI applications, knowledge base Q&A, or RAG, which tool should we choose?

Dify, Flowise, Langflow. If you want to build more complete AI applications and Agentic Workflow, consider Dify. If you want to build LLM workflows visually, consider Flowise. If you care more about AI agents, RAG, and MCP workflow experimentation, consider Langflow.

3. If my team only wants to connect multiple systems and workflows, which tool should we choose?

n8n or Activepieces. n8n is better suited for technical teams handling complex workflows, API integrations, and self-hosted automation. Activepieces is better suited for business teams building no-code automations, and also for teams that need an MIT-licensed community edition.

4. If my team has development capabilities and only wants to quickly build an internal admin backend, which tool should we choose?

NocoBase, Appsmith, or ToolJet.

If the backend involves relatively complete business data, permission control, workflows, and ongoing maintenance, NocoBase is a better fit. It can build pages around data models, configure permissions and workflows, and support expansion from an admin backend into a full internal enterprise system.

If the team mainly wants to quickly connect databases and APIs to build data dashboards, admin panels, or operation interfaces, Appsmith is a straightforward choice.

If the team wants to build internal applications and workflows in a low-code way while also exploring AI agents, ToolJet is also worth considering.

5. If my team wants AI to participate more deeply in enterprise system building, instead of only generating a page, which tool should we choose?

NocoBase.

AI web coding tools are useful for quickly generating pages or prototypes, but enterprise systems also need data models, permissions, workflows, and long-term maintenance. NocoBase's advantage is that it places AI capabilities on top of an enterprise business system foundation, rather than stopping at frontend generation.

6. If my team is an engineering team and wants to retain control over code, which tool should we choose?

If the core requirement is to retain control over code and deployment, most of the open-source tools mentioned in this article are worth considering, such as NocoBase, Appsmith, ToolJet, Activepieces, and Windmill.

7. If we care a lot about open-source licenses, how should we choose?

If you care more about permissive licenses, prioritize MIT or Apache-2.0 tools, such as NocoBase, Langflow, Activepieces Community Edition, Appsmith, and Flowise. If a tool uses AGPL, additional terms, fair-code, or a source-available model, such as ToolJet, Budibase, Dify, or n8n, carefully review the license terms before using it commercially, redistributing it, or providing services based on it.

I hope this article helps you find the right tool faster. If you find it useful, feel free to share it with others who are evaluating tools or building enterprise internal systems.

Related reading

Weekly Updates: Add some APIs for NocoBase cli

NocoBase — Thu, 07 May 2026 06:56:04 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/weekly-updates-20260507

Summarize the weekly product update logs, and the latest releases can be checked on our blog.

NocoBase is currently updated with three branches: main , next and develop.

main：The most stable version to date, recommended for installation;
next：Beta version, contains upcoming new features and has been preliminarily tested. There might be some known or unknown issues. It's mainly for test users to collect feedback and optimize functions further. Ideal for test users who want to experience new features early and give feedback;
develop：Alpha version, contains the latest feature code, may be incomplete or unstable, mainly for internal dev and rapid iteration. Suited for tech users interested in product's cutting-edge, but with potential issues and incomplete functions. Not for production use.

main

v2.0.49

Release date: 2026-05-06

🚀 Improvements

[undefined] Add Feishu failure notification for manual release workflows (#9349) by @Molunerfinn

🐛 Bug Fixes

[Data source: Main] Prevent crash when fields is undefined during collection loading (#9174) by @saraTabbane
[UI templates] Fixed an issue where the popup template list failed to correctly load available templates. (#9332) by @gchust
[AI employees] Fix the issue of occasional errors when AI employee use the DeepSeek v4 model (#9348) by @cgyrock
[File manager] Improved preview file download error handling (#9103) by @gaston98765
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where filter and other query parameters now work in API of listing available approval workflows by @mytharcher

v2.0.48

Release date: 2026-05-04

🐛 Bug Fixes

[AI employees] Fix the issue where the action button AI employee list displays developer employees (#9320) by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix the issue where file in original application no reloaded by @mytharcher
- Support to parse some client variables in approval actions by @mytharcher

v2.0.47

Release date: 2026-05-01

🎉 New Features

[AI employees] LLM provider now supports the Xiaomi MIMO platform (#9315) by @cgyrock

🚀 Improvements

[flow-engine] Improve block drag layout behavior on v2 pages (#9264) by @zhangzhonghe
[AI employees] AI employee category adjustment (#9274) by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval] Mark association show mode loading from DB as legacy by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[database] Fixed an issue where SQL Server external data source datetime filters could fail (#9272) by @2013xile
[client]
- Preserve null values for empty Data scope variable dependencies in v2 forms. (#9287) by @jiannx
- rerun JS column rendering when row data changes (#9282) by @jiannx
- Fix the issue where filter form fields disappear after reopening a popup record selector (#9211) by @zhangzhonghe
- Fixed an issue where JS field cells in v2 table blocks could appear blank after filtering or refreshing table data. (#9285) by @jiannx
[flow-engine] Fixed an issue where system-hidden fields could be selected in form-related variable. (#9302) by @gchust
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where failed row index in importing records is not correct (#9277) by @mytharcher
[Block: Gantt] Add a Gantt block setting to enable drag to reschedule. (#9301) by @jiannx
[AI employees] Fix AI employee deepSeek V4 integration error (#9275) by @cgyrock
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where auto mode not works by @mytharcher
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix type error by @mytharcher
- Fix approval execute timing so latestExecutionId is synced after approval commit by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-beta.25

Release date: 2026-05-06

🎉 New Features

[cli] Add release command in API (#9308) by @Andrew1989Y
[undefined] Add Indonesian and Vietnamese documentation. (#9303) by @Molunerfinn
[AI employees] LLM provider now supports the Xiaomi MIMO platform (#9315) by @cgyrock
[Migration manager] Add some APIs for nocobase cli by @Andrew1989Y
[Backup manager] Add some APIs for nocobase cli by @Andrew1989Y

🚀 Improvements

[undefined]
- Add Feishu failure notification for manual release workflows(#9349) by @Molunerfinn
- Align Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and German documentation with the English source. (#9299) by @Molunerfinn
- Sync French documentation with the Chinese source. (#9291) by @Molunerfinn
[IdP: OAuth] OAuth sessions now use the same expiration settings as the system token policy (#9345) by @2013xile
[Block: Kanban]
- Reduced the default kanban column width. (#9306) by @jiannx
- Improved Calendar and Kanban block creation settings. (#9294) by @jiannx
[AI employees] AI employee category adjustment (#9274) by @cgyrock
[Workflow: Approval] Mark association show mode loading from DB as legacy by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[undefined]
- Fix the dependency-and-build workflow so standalone pro plugin checkout failures break CI instead of silently skipping build coverage. (#9324) by @Molunerfinn
- Fix bloated translation files and align cross-language documentation structure. (#9305) by @Molunerfinn
[cli] Fixed CLI boolean options so they can be disabled with negated flags (#9337) by @2013xile
[client-v2]
- Fixed remote plugin loading so plugin URLs that already end with .js are not resolved to duplicate .js.js paths. (#9336) by @Molunerfinn
- Fix the issue where RemoteSelect not rendering in configuration of bind workflow (#9314) by @mytharcher
[ai] Fix missing category field setup during AI employee registration (#9300) by @cgyrock
[flow-engine] Fixed an issue where system-hidden fields could be selected in form-related variable. (#9302) by @gchust
[client]
- Fixed an issue where JS field cells in v2 table blocks could appear blank after filtering or refreshing table data. (#9285) by @jiannx
- Preserve null values for empty Data scope variable dependencies in v2 forms. (#9287) by @jiannx
- Fix the issue where filter form fields disappear after reopening a popup record selector (#9211) by @zhangzhonghe
- rerun JS column rendering when row data changes (#9282) by @jiannx
[database] Fixed an issue where SQL Server external data source datetime filters could fail (#9272) by @2013xile
[AI employees]
- Fix the issue of occasional errors when AI employee use the DeepSeek v4 model (#9348) by @cgyrock
- Fix the issue where the workflow AI employee node clears skills after switching AI employees (#9342) by @cgyrock
- Fix the issue where the action button AI employee list displays developer employees (#9320) by @cgyrock
[Data source: Main] Prevent crash when fields is undefined during collection loading (#9174) by @saraTabbane
[UI templates] Fixed an issue where the popup template list failed to correctly load available templates. (#9332) by @gchust
[File manager] Improved preview file download error handling (#9103) by @gaston98765
[Block: Tree] Fix the abnormal display of filter block nodes (#9260) by @jiannx
[Block: Gantt] Add a Gantt block setting to enable drag to reschedule. (#9301) by @jiannx
[Block: Kanban] Fixed repeated display of field configuration floating layer (#9271) by @jiannx
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where failed row index in importing records is not correct (#9277) by @mytharcher
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where auto mode not works by @mytharcher
[Migration manager] Fix migration:create returning taskId from the async task record. by @Andrew1989Y
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix the issue where filter and other query parameters now work in API of listing available approval workflows by @mytharcher
- Fix the issue where file in original application no reloaded by @mytharcher
- Fix type error by @mytharcher
- Support to parse some client variables in approval actions by @mytharcher
- Fix approval execute timing so latestExecutionId is synced after approval commit by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-alpha.30

Release date: 2026-05-06

🚀 Improvements

[undefined] Add Feishu failure notification for manual release workflows (#9349) by @Molunerfinn
[IdP: OAuth] OAuth sessions now use the same expiration settings as the system token policy (#9345) by @2013xile

🐛 Bug Fixes

[client-v2] Fixed remote plugin loading so plugin URLs that already end with .js are not resolved to duplicate .js.js paths. (#9336) by @Molunerfinn
[cli] Fixed CLI boolean options so they can be disabled with negated flags (#9337) by @2013xile
[AI employees]
- Fix the issue of occasional errors when AI employee use the DeepSeek v4 model (#9348) by @cgyrock
- Fix the issue where the workflow AI employee node clears skills after switching AI employees (#9342) by @cgyrock
[Data source: Main] Prevent crash when fields is undefined during collection loading (#9174) by @saraTabbane
[UI templates] Fixed an issue where the popup template list failed to correctly load available templates. (#9332) by @gchust
[Block: Kanban] Fixed kanban associated blocks using unresolved runtime resource params in popup or secondary-page contexts. (#9350) by @jiannx
[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where filter and other query parameters now work in API of listing available approval workflows by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-alpha.29

Release date: 2026-05-04

🐛 Bug Fixes

[File manager] Improved preview file download error handling (#9103) by @gaston98765
[Workflow: Approval] Support to parse some client variables in approval actions by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-alpha.28

Release date: 2026-05-04

🐛 Bug Fixes

[Workflow: Approval] Fix the issue where file in original application no reloaded by @mytharcher

v2.1.0-alpha.27

Release date: 2026-05-03

🎉 New Features

[cli] Add release command in API (#9308) by @Andrew1989Y
[undefined] Add Indonesian and Vietnamese documentation. (#9303) by @Molunerfinn
[server] AI employees can search bundled documentation with Bash commands (#9269) by @2013xile
[AI employees] LLM provider now supports the Xiaomi MIMO platform (#9315) by @cgyrock
[Migration manager] Add some APIs for nocobase cli by @Andrew1989Y
[Backup manager] Add some APIs for nocobase cli by @Andrew1989Y

🚀 Improvements

[flow-engine] Improve block drag layout behavior on v2 pages (#9264) by @zhangzhonghe
[undefined]
- Align Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and German documentation with the English source. (#9299) by @Molunerfinn
- Sync French documentation with the Chinese source. (#9291) by @Molunerfinn
[AI employees]
- Improved Nathan's RunJS editing tools and reduced lag during long AI chat conversations (#9311) by @2013xile
- AI employee category adjustment (#9274) by @cgyrock
[Block: Kanban]
- Reduced the default kanban column width. (#9306) by @jiannx
- Improved Calendar and Kanban block creation settings. (#9294) by @jiannx
[Workflow: Approval] Mark association show mode loading from DB as legacy by @mytharcher

🐛 Bug Fixes

[undefined]
- Fix the dependency-and-build workflow so standalone pro plugin checkout failures break CI instead of silently skipping build coverage. (#9324) by @Molunerfinn
- Fix bloated translation files and align cross-language documentation structure. (#9305) by @Molunerfinn
[client-v2] Fix the issue where RemoteSelect not rendering in configuration of bind workflow (#9314) by @mytharcher
[flow-engine] Fixed an issue where system-hidden fields could be selected in form-related variable. (#9302) by @gchust
[ai] Fix missing category field setup during AI employee registration (#9300) by @cgyrock
[client]
- Fixed an issue where JS field cells in v2 table blocks could appear blank after filtering or refreshing table data. (#9285) by @jiannx
- Fix the issue where filter form fields disappear after reopening a popup record selector (#9211) by @zhangzhonghe
- Preserve null values for empty Data scope variable dependencies in v2 forms. (#9287) by @jiannx
- rerun JS column rendering when row data changes (#9282) by @jiannx
[database] Fixed an issue where SQL Server external data source datetime filters could fail (#9272) by @2013xile
[AI employees]
- Fix the issue where the action button AI employee list displays developer employees (#9320) by @cgyrock
- Fix AI employee deepSeek V4 integration error (#9275) by @cgyrock
[Block: Gantt] Add a Gantt block setting to enable drag to reschedule. (#9301) by @jiannx
[Block: Tree] Fix the abnormal display of filter block nodes (#9260) by @jiannx
[Action: Import records] Fix the issue where failed row index in importing records is not correct (#9277) by @mytharcher
[Block: Kanban] Fixed repeated display of field configuration floating layer (#9271) by @jiannx
[Action: Export records Pro] Fix the issue where auto mode not works by @mytharcher
[Migration manager] Fix migration:create returning taskId from the async task record. by @Andrew1989Y
[Workflow: Approval]
- Fix approval execute timing so latestExecutionId is synced after approval commit by @mytharcher
- Fix type error by @mytharcher

About NocoBase

NocoBase is the most extensible AI-powered no-code platform.
Total control. Infinite extensibility. AI collaboration.
Enable your team to adapt quickly and cut costs dramatically.
No years of development. No millions wasted.
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8 Open-Source AI Agent Platforms for Building Internal Tools

NocoBase — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:54:02 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/8-open-source-ai-agent-platforms-for-internal-tools

TL;DR

NocoBase is suitable for embedding AI into internal business processes such as approvals, data entry, and reports, and for unified management of data, permissions, pages, and workflows around these processes.

Frameworks like LangChain, CrewAI, and Haystack are suitable for enterprises with technical teams. They provide greater customization space but also require development, deployment, permissions, monitoring, and long-term maintenance capabilities.

n8n and Flowise are more suitable for rapid automation or prototype validation.

Recently, there was an interesting discussion on Hacker News about AI and internal tools. In the comments, someone mentioned that AI now gives people the ability to build various things. But AI hasn't taught them to understand — whether this thing really needs to be built, how to maintain it, how to iterate, and how to integrate it with other tools.

AI is greatly lowering the barrier to tool development, but it's also bringing new problems:

A large number of redundantly built tools
Lack of permission control, data governance, and system integration capabilities
Maintenance costs are severely underestimated
Team communication channels are flooded with countless "new tool releases"
Truly high-value solutions are buried in the noise

Enterprises are entering a new dilemma: tools are becoming easier to create, but truly reliable, maintainable, and scalable business systems remain scarce.

Which platform can enable AI and Agents to stably enter business processes and continuously play a role under data, permissions, auditing, and manual confirmation mechanisms? To help you make a clearer selection decision, this article compares 8 mainstream open-source AI Agent-related platforms, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages, implementation capabilities, and applicable scenarios in enterprise internal tool scenarios.

#1 NocoBase | Open-source no-code AI development platform

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/nocobase/nocobase(22k+ stars)
Website	nocobase.com
Open Source License	Apache-2.0 (Fully permitted for commercial use)
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (100% self-hosted, full data control)
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (15+ databases + REST API + workflows)
Security	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (field-level RBAC, audit logs, multi-tenancy)
Non-technical friendly	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (visual configuration, usable by business personnel)

Core features and advantages:

AI employees embedded in business systems: NocoBase's AI employees can automatically acquire page data and structure as context, understand business scenarios and directly execute tasks, such as summarizing emails, analyzing data, organizing unstructured content and automatically filling forms, designing data models, and even writing JavaScript code. Each AI employee has independent skills, tools, and knowledge bases, and enterprises can create any number of AI employees to form their own AI team.

💡 How to quickly build internal tools with AI? NocoBase official guide: https://github.com/nocobase/skills

Skills + MCP, external Agents can also build NocoBase: In addition to built-in AI employees, NocoBase also provides an official Skills repository, which, combined with NocoBase MCP Server, allows coding Agent CLIs like Codex, Claude Code, and OpenCode to directly complete NocoBase installation and deployment, data modeling, interface building, workflow configuration, and other work. Both in-platform AI employees and out-of-platform coding Agents can participate in system building.

💡 Want to let AI Agents better understand and build NocoBase? Check the official Skills repository: https://github.com/nocobase/skills

More aligned with enterprise internal tool requirements: NocoBase can manage AI, data, permissions, pages, workflows, and auditing in the same system, making it more suitable for enterprise scenarios that require self-hosting, permission control, and process constraints.

💡 How to connect AI Agents to NocoBase? Read the official guide: https://docs.nocobase.com/en/ai-builder

NocoBase AI typical scenarios:

Scenario	How AI Agent works
Smart approval	Agent reads application → queries historical data → approves/rejects based on rules → records decision
Customer service	Agent views CRM → analyzes problem → drafts response → manual confirmation → sends
Data entry	Extracts information from email/document → auto-fills form → validates data → saves to database
Report generation	Collects multi-source data → analyzes trends → generates charts → sends to management

Implementation capability

NocoBase provides native support at four levels: data model, page, roles and permissions, and workflow. Data modeling adopts a model-driven architecture with native support for 15+ mainstream databases; pages are visually arranged through a block system; the permission system covers field-level RBAC and data scope control; workflows support approval, timing triggers, data linkage, and manual confirmation business nodes.

Compared with developing from scratch or end-to-end AI generation in a vibe coding style, building a long-term sustainable, auditable, traceable, and clearly bounded permission model and approval process in a system still requires platform-level abstraction and constraint mechanisms like NocoBase.

Most suitable for:

Enterprises that need business teams to directly use AI
Industries with data compliance requirements (finance, healthcare, government)
Teams building internal tools that conform to enterprise business processes from scratch
Enterprises that already have databases, ERP, CRM, and need AI enhancement

#2 n8n | Workflow automation + AI nodes

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/n8n-io/n8n(50k+ stars)
Website	n8n.io
Open Source License	Fair-Code (commercial use has limitations)
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (supports self-hosting)
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (200+ app integrations)
Security	⭐⭐⭐ (basic permission management)
Non-technical friendly	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (visual workflow editor)

Core features and advantages:

Strong SaaS integration capability: n8n provides a large number of ready-made app nodes, suitable for connecting CRM, forms, email, Slack, databases, and various SaaS tools to quickly build cross-system automation workflows.
Visual workflow is quick to get started: By dragging nodes and configuring workflows, teams can quickly build automation tasks, suitable for scenarios like simple notifications, data synchronization, and content processing.
AI nodes are suitable for lightweight intelligent processing: n8n supports integration with models like OpenAI and Anthropic, suitable for adding AI capabilities like summarization, classification, translation, and text generation in automation workflows.

Disadvantages:

More adept at SaaS application integration, not a complete internal business system platform.
Database modeling, page building, and complex permission control capabilities are relatively limited.
AI capabilities are more like "calling LLM API", not Agents deeply embedded in business objects and permission systems.

Typical scenarios:

Data synchronization and notification automation between SaaS applications.
Lightweight AI text processing like summarization, classification, and translation.
Quickly building automation prototypes.

Implementation capability:

Workflow is n8n's core strength; however, its data model relies on external databases or SaaS, it has no end-user business pages, and permissions only go to workflow and credential levels (Project Admin/Editor/Viewer), lacking field-level or row-level business permissions. More suitable as a "process bonding layer", not a complete internal business system.

#3 Flowise | Visual LangChain builder

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/FlowiseAI/Flowise(28k+ stars)
Open Source License	Apache 2.0
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (based on LangChain ecosystem)
Security	⭐⭐ (basic authentication)
Non-technical friendly	⭐⭐⭐ (drag-and-drop, but still requires technical concepts)

Core features and advantages:

Build LLM applications visually: Flowise turns common LangChain capabilities into draggable nodes, suitable for quickly building Chatbot, RAG, Agent, and tool-calling workflows.
Suitable for quick prototype validation: Technical teams can verify AI application ideas in a relatively short time, such as knowledge base Q&A, document retrieval, customer service assistant, or internal query tools.
Compatible with LangChain ecosystem: Flowise is based on the LangChain ecosystem, can reuse some model, vector database, and toolchain capabilities, and is suitable as a low-barrier entry point for building LLM applications.

Disadvantages:

Production environment deployment, permission management, and security auditing still require additional configuration.
Complex business logic and system integration may still require developer involvement.
Not suitable for undertaking complete enterprise business process management.

Typical scenarios:

Quickly building LLM application prototypes.
Technical teams lightly building Agent workflows.

Implementation capability:

Flowise focuses on visual construction of LLM applications (Chatflow, Agentflow, RAG). It has no business data modeling, business pages, or enterprise-level permission system. Workflows are limited to AI inference chains, not business processes, making it only suitable for prototyping AI modules.

#4 LangChain | LLM framework with the most complete ecosystem

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/langchain-ai/langchain(90k+ stars)
Open Source License	MIT (allows commercial use)
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (fully self-hosted)
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐ (through extension libraries, requires development)
Security	⭐⭐ (the framework itself does not provide enterprise-level security, needs self-implementation)
Non-technical friendly	⭐ (must write code)

Core features and advantages:

Complete LLM ecosystem coverage: LangChain provides rich components and extension capabilities, covering common scenarios like mainstream large models, vector databases, tool calling, RAG, Agent, and memory mechanisms.
High modularity: Modules like Chains, Agents, Memory, and Tools are clearly divided, allowing developers to freely combine according to business needs, suitable for building highly customized AI applications.
Mature community, rich resources: As one of the earliest widely adopted LLM development frameworks, LangChain has an active community, rich tutorials, and numerous examples, making it easier to find reference solutions when encountering problems.

Disadvantages:

Must write code, business teams cannot directly use it.
Steeper learning curve, relatively many abstract concepts.
Need to build and maintain infrastructure by yourself.
The framework itself does not provide complete enterprise-level security capabilities like RBAC and audit logs.

Typical scenarios:

Development teams building customized AI applications.
Complex scenarios requiring deep control of Agent behavior.
Enterprises with AI engineers or backend development resources.

Implementation capability:

As a code framework, data models depend on developer customization, pages require front-end development by themselves, permissions need to connect to IAM or write authentication logic, and workflows are arranged in code through Chains/Agents. Maximum flexibility, but also the largest engineering effort for enterprise-level implementation.

#5 CrewAI | Multi-Agent collaboration framework

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/joaomdmoura/crewAI(15k+ stars)
Open Source License	AGPL-3.0 (commercial use requires attention)
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (fully self-hosted)
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐ (through LangChain and custom tools)
Security	⭐⭐ (needs self-implementation)
Non-technical friendly	⭐ (must write code)

Core features and advantages:

Native support for multi-Agent collaboration: CrewAI takes "roles" and "tasks" as core, each Agent can be set to different roles, suitable for decomposing complex tasks to multiple Agents for collaborative completion.
Clear task flow expression: Through role, goal, background settings, and task orchestration, CrewAI can naturally simulate multi-step workflows like "research, draft, review, execute".
Suitable for complex content and process automation: Compared with single Agent, CrewAI is more suitable for scenarios requiring multiple intelligent agents to collaborate, such as content production, research analysis, process decomposition, and multi-step business processing.

Disadvantages:

Still requires writing Python code.
Project is relatively young, ecosystem maturity is not as good as LangChain.
Production environment deployment, permissions, security, and monitoring capabilities still need to be filled by the enterprise.

Typical scenarios:

Content production pipeline, such as research, writing, editing, and publishing.
Multi-step, multi-role business process automation.
Complex tasks requiring multiple AI Agents to collaborate.

Implementation capability:

CrewAI focuses on "role-task" orchestration for multi-Agent collaboration. At the workflow level, it can express division of labor and dependencies between Agents, but it belongs to Agent internal collaboration flow, not a workflow engine carrying business like approval and form submission.

#6 AutoGPT | Pioneer of autonomous Agents

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/Significant-Gravitas/AutoGPT(160k+ stars)
Open Source License	MIT (allows commercial use)
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (fully self-hosted)
Integration capability	⭐⭐ (limited, mainly file and browser operations)
Security	⭐ (experimental project, no enterprise-level security)
Non-technical friendly	⭐ (command-line tool)

Core features and advantages:

Outstanding autonomous task decomposition capability: AutoGPT's core idea is that after giving a goal, the Agent automatically performs task decomposition, planning, execution, and adjustment.
Strong concept influence: AutoGPT promoted public attention to AI Agents, and also made "goal-driven Agent" an important reference for many subsequent projects.
Suitable for experimentation and concept verification: It's more suitable for learning Agent principles, verifying autonomous execution chains, or observing AI's behavioral boundaries in open tasks.

Disadvantages:

Insufficient stability, prone to loops or invalid operations.
Uncontrollable LLM call costs.
Lacks enterprise-level permission management, audit logs, and security mechanisms.

Typical scenarios:

Agent principle learning.
Experimental projects and concept verification.
Individual developers exploring autonomous Agent behavior patterns.

Implementation capability:

AutoGPT is an experimental project for single Agent autonomous task execution. It has no data modeling, no business pages, no enterprise permissions, business processes are improvises by LLM itself, uncontrollable and non-auditable, not recommended for direct use in production systems.

#7 Microsoft Semantic Kernel

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel(20k+ stars)
Open Source License	MIT
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐ (deeply bound with Azure)
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Microsoft 365, Azure ecosystem)
Security	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (enterprise-level Azure AD, permission management)
Non-technical friendly	⭐⭐ (developer tool)

Core features and advantages:

Deep adaptation to Microsoft ecosystem: Semantic Kernel is closely integrated with Azure, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, etc., suitable for enterprises already using Microsoft technology stack.
Oriented toward enterprise-level AI orchestration: It provides capabilities like plugins, planners, memory, and function calling, suitable for development teams to embed AI capabilities into existing enterprise applications and services.
Strong security and compliance foundation: Relying on Azure AD, permission system, and Microsoft cloud services, Semantic Kernel can more easily integrate into existing enterprise identity authentication, security, and compliance frameworks.

Disadvantages:

Strong dependence on Microsoft and Azure ecosystems, limited flexibility in multi-cloud or self-built environments.
Still a developer tool, business personnel cannot directly configure and use it.
Higher learning curve, need to understand Microsoft ecosystem, cloud services, and AI orchestration methods.
For enterprises with non-Microsoft technology stack, the onboarding cost may be relatively high.

Typical scenarios:

Enterprises deeply using Microsoft 365 and Azure.
Scenarios needing to embed AI into Teams, Office, SharePoint, or internal Microsoft applications.

Implementation capability:

Semantic Kernel is more suitable for enterprises with existing Microsoft technology foundation. It does not provide business data models and pages by itself. Permissions can be leveraged through Azure AD system, but need to be implemented in the enterprise's own application layer; workflows orchestrate AI steps through Planner and function calling, more oriented toward AI flow.

#8 Haystack | Enterprise AI framework from deepset

Attribute	Details
GitHub	github.com/deepset-ai/haystack(15k+ stars)
Open Source License	Apache 2.0
Self-hosting	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Integration capability	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (focused on search and RAG)
Security	⭐⭐⭐ (needs self-implementation for enterprise-level security)
Non-technical friendly	⭐⭐ (developer tool)

Core features and advantages:

Focused on RAG and enterprise search: Haystack is mainly oriented toward retrieval-augmented generation, document Q&A, semantic search, and knowledge base scenarios, suitable for processing large amounts of unstructured documents.
Strong integration capability with search and vector databases: It supports combination with Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, vector databases, and multiple models, suitable for building more complex enterprise-level retrieval systems.
Closer to production-level AI framework: Compared with some experimental Agent projects, Haystack is more mature in enterprise search, Q&A systems, and RAG flows, and also has commercial support from deepset.

Disadvantages:

More suitable for knowledge base and search scenarios, not a general-purpose internal tool platform.
Needs development team for system design, deployment, and maintenance.
Enterprise capabilities like permission control, audit logs, and business process integration need additional implementation.
Not friendly to non-technical teams.

Typical scenarios:

Enterprise knowledge base and document Q&A system.
AI retrieval and analysis of large amounts of unstructured documents.
Enterprise projects needing production-level RAG capabilities.

Implementation capability:

Haystack focuses on RAG and enterprise search Pipeline. Data models only serve document/vector retrieval, no business pages and role permissions, workflows are retrieval-augmented generation processing flows, not business workflow engines. Most suitable as a knowledge base/search subsystem, used in combination with a real internal tool platform.

Quick decision framework

Your scenario	Recommended tool	Why
Business teams directly using AI	NocoBase	No coding, visual configuration, enterprise-level security
SaaS application automation	n8n	200+ integrations, quick to get started
Deeply customized Agents	LangChain, CrewAI	Full programming control, most flexible
Quick prototype validation	Flowise, n8n	Drag-and-drop, build in minutes
Microsoft 365 deep users	Semantic Kernel	Natural integration with Azure, M365
Enterprise knowledge base + RAG	Haystack	Focused on search augmentation, production-ready
Existing database/ERP needing AI enhancement	NocoBase	Database-level integration, native workflow
Experimental projects	Flowise, AutoGPT	Quickly try concepts

FAQ

Q1: How can non-technical teams start using AI Agents?

A: It is recommended to start from a clear, verifiable business scenario, such as approval assistance, customer service response drafting, document information extraction, or weekly report generation.

Team type	Recommended tool
Completely non-technical	NocoBase + official AI Skills, let AI help you build the system
Some technical background	n8n, start with simple automation
Has development resources	LangChain + NocoBase, deep customization

NocoBase provides official Skills (Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode), AI Agents can help you: install and deploy NocoBase, design data models, configure UI and workflows, and set up other AI Agents.

Q2: Are open-source Agent frameworks allowed for commercial use?

A: Most allow it, but need to pay attention to license differences:

Platform	License	Commercial use restrictions
NocoBase	Apache 2.0	✅ Fully allowed, no restrictions
LangChain	MIT	✅ Fully allowed
AutoGPT	MIT	✅ Fully allowed
n8n	Fair-Code	⚠️ Allowed, but has some restrictions
CrewAI	AGPL-3.0	⚠️ Need to open source modifications if providing as SaaS
Flowise	Apache 2.0	✅ Fully allowed
Semantic Kernel	MIT	✅ Fully allowed
Haystack	Apache 2.0	✅ Fully allowed

It is recommended to choose tools with Apache 2.0 or MIT licenses, such as NocoBase, LangChain, and Flowise.

Q3: How to handle data privacy and security?

A: First clarify whether data can leave the country, whether audit trails are needed, whether field-level permissions are needed, and whether model calls will touch sensitive data.

Requirements	Recommended solution
Data cannot leave the country	NocoBase (100% self-hosted), LangChain
Need audit logs	NocoBase (built-in), Semantic Kernel
Field-level permissions	NocoBase (field-level RBAC)
SOC 2 / HIPAA	NocoBase, Semantic Kernel

Q4: What is the core difference between NocoBase vs LangChain?

A: They serve different scenarios:

Dimension	NocoBase	LangChain
Positioning	Internal tool platform	LLM development framework
Target users	Business teams + technical teams	Developers
Core capabilities	Building complete business systems	Building AI/LLM applications
AI integration	AI embedded in workflows	AI is the core function
Learning curve	Low (visual configuration)	High (needs to write code)
Enterprise features	Built-in RBAC, audit logs	Needs self-implementation
Database support	15+ databases natively supported	Needs through extensions

Simply put, LangChain is more like an AI development component library, while NocoBase is more like a business system platform that carries data, pages, permissions, and processes. They are not tools at the same level and can be used in combination, for example: use LangChain to build customized AI modules, then integrate into NocoBase workflows through API.

Q5: Can multiple tools be used in combination?

A: Yes, many enterprises use different tools at different levels, but avoid increasing maintenance complexity for the sake of tool combinations.

Recommended combination methods:

Scenario	Combination
SaaS integration + database operations	n8n (SaaS) + NocoBase (database)
Custom AI + business system	LangChain (AI logic) + NocoBase (UI and workflows)
Quick prototype + production deployment	Flowise (prototype) → NocoBase (production)

Q6: How to ensure the stability of AI Agents?

Stability issues	Solutions
Unstable LLM output	1. Structured output (JSON mode) 2. Validation and retry mechanism 3. Manual confirmation for critical operations
Uncontrollable costs	1. Set LLM call frequency limits 2. Use caching 3. Monitoring and alerts
Agent falling into loops	1. Set maximum iteration count 2. Timeout mechanism 3. Manual intervention points

In workflow platforms like NocoBase, the following methods can reduce business risks caused by Agent instability:

✅ AI Agent integrated with workflows, can set manual confirmation points
✅ Audit logs record all Agent operations for traceability
✅ Configurable trigger conditions (e.g., only trigger AI review when amount > ¥10K)

Note: Agent stability still depends on model capability, prompt design, input data quality, and manual confirmation at critical nodes.

Conclusion

For internal enterprise tools, the Agent itself is not the only focus. The focus is on verifying whether the Agent can truly enter the business process and stably reduce repetitive operations and improve processing efficiency under the constraints of permissions, auditing, and manual confirmation mechanisms.

You can start from a high-frequency, clearly bounded business scenario, such as smart approval, AI customer service, or document information extraction, and after a single scenario runs through, gradually expand to more core processes.

**If this article is helpful to you, please share it with colleagues and friends who are evaluating AI Agent platforms.

Related reading

Announcing NocoBase 2.1-beta

NocoBase — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:46:12 +0000

Originally published at https://www.nocobase.com/en/blog/2.1.0-beta

This document applies to NocoBase 2.1.0-beta.24 and later.

This is a major upgrade centered on AI capabilities. This release lets you bring AI Agents into NocoBase — covering CLI integration, AI-assisted building, enhanced AI Employees, and an AI development plugin — spanning the full flow from environment onboarding to system building and business collaboration. We have also continued to round out V2 page support and core capabilities.

What's New

NocoBase CLI becomes the official entry point for AI Agents

In this release, the NocoBase CLI (nb) is the core entry point for AI Agents to connect to NocoBase.

The CLI is used to initialize, connect, and manage NocoBase applications in a local workspace. It covers two scenarios:

Connect to an existing NocoBase application and save it as a CLI env
Install a new NocoBase application via Docker, npm, or Git, then save it as a CLI env

Whether you want to plug AI into an existing system or spin up a new application from scratch, you can handle initialization and ongoing management through the CLI.

For teams, the CLI provides a standard entry point that AI Agents can understand and operate on — environment initialization, connection configuration, and runtime management all share the same flow.

Related documentation:

AI-assisted building: replace manual configuration with conversation

AI-assisted building is one of the core experiences in this release. You can describe your business needs in natural language, and the AI helps complete data modeling, page configuration, permission setup, and workflow orchestration.

Compared with traditional low-code building, AI-assisted building has several clear advantages:

A lower barrier to entry — you don't need to be familiar with every configuration concept up front
A shorter path from requirement description to working prototype
Data, UI, and workflow configuration can be completed by the AI continuously

For example: "design a CRM data model for me", "create a customer management page for me", or "orchestrate a workflow that automatically deducts inventory after an order is created" — all of these can be handled by the AI within the scope of NocoBase's capabilities.

Related documentation:

AI-assisted building quick start

NocoBase Skills cover the full building flow

To help the AI truly understand NocoBase's configuration system, this release ships a set of domain knowledge packs that can be installed into AI Agents — NocoBase Skills.

Skills are standardized knowledge and operation wrappers organized around NocoBase's key capability domains, helping the AI more accurately understand object models, configuration structures, and execution boundaries.

We currently provide 8 Skills that cover the full building flow:

Environment management — environment checks, install/deploy, upgrade, and troubleshooting
Data modeling — create and manage tables, fields, and relations
UI building — create and edit pages, blocks, popups, and interaction reactions
Workflow management — create, edit, enable, and diagnose workflows
Permission configuration — manage roles, permission policies, user bindings, and risk assessment
Solutions — bulk-build entire business systems from YAML (still in beta, with limited stability)
Plugin management — view, enable, and disable plugins
Publish management — cross-environment publishing, backup/restore, and migration

With Skills, the AI can more accurately understand NocoBase's configuration system and provide smarter assistance when building and managing systems.

Note: NocoBase Skills are still being actively improved. NocoBase Skills are also installed automatically when you install and initialize the NocoBase CLI, so in most cases you don't need to install them separately.

Related documentation:

NocoBase Skills

AI development plugin

This release fills in the foundational capabilities needed for AI plugin development, so the AI can take part not only in application building but also in custom plugin development.

This shows up in three main areas:

A unified rsbuild/rspack build pipeline, consolidating plugin development and the frontend build system
A client-v2 capability and /v2/ routing system aimed at AI development, preparing for the next-generation client plugin development
AI plugin development Skills that help the AI better understand plugin structure, code organization, and implementation patterns

Preparation around client-v2 includes:

@nocobase/app exposes the client-v2 entry
The kernel ships a @nocobase/client-v2 package with base components, utilities, and type definitions
Each plugin gets a /src/client-v2 directory
A new /v2/ route is added
The kernel is gradually migrating to V2
Plugins are gradually migrating to V2

A unified build pipeline lowers the cost of frontend plugin development and debugging. The gradual rollout of client-v2 also gives the AI a more stable target structure for generating and maintaining plugin code.

In practice: you can describe a plugin requirement in natural language, and the AI helps generate the frontend and backend code, data tables, APIs, permission configuration, and i18n content.

Note: AI plugin development is only for client-v2-style new plugins. We will follow up with migration documentation and Skills for moving from client-v1 plugins to client-v2, to help you bring existing plugins into the new system.

Related documentation:

AI Employees enhancements

AI-assisted building answers "how do I use AI to build a system"; AI Employees answer "how do I let AI work inside the system to solve concrete business problems".

AI Employees existed in earlier releases, but in this release the related capabilities have been enhanced and the AI kernel has been rounded out:

MCP support
New AI Employee Atlas, playing a team-leader role and dispatching other AI Employees to complete tasks based on user intent
AI Employee workflow node
LLM-based web search tool
New aggregation query tool and report generation tool for producing business analysis reports

These improvements take AI Employees' extensibility, orchestration, and execution capabilities inside business systems to the next level. AI Employees can understand the current business context, invoke skills to execute specific tasks, participate in automated workflows, and combine external information to deliver analysis and output.

If your team needs to bring intelligent collaboration, automated analysis, and task execution into your business systems, this is also one of the most notable directions in this update.

Related documentation:

AI Employees

2.0 adaptation and new features

Beyond AI, this release continues to migrate key feature modules to 2.0, while also rolling out new features for real-world business scenarios.

New features

2.0 adaptation