NocoDB : The Open Source Airtable Alternative
Tags: showdev, typescript, vue, productivity
Published: 2021-07-20 17:27:19

#[**NocoDB**](https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb) 

Hey Everybody 👋 👋

We are really excited to show [NocoDB](https://nocodb.com) on Dev.to forum today. 

[**NocoDB is a free & open source Airtable alternative.**](https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb) 

{% github nocodb/nocodb %}

## [Just six weeks ago](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/nocodb/) we launched NocoDB and NocoDB now has :
- 660,000+ Docker downloads!
- 13,600+ Github stars! 💫 💫 💫 
- 1,100+ strong discord community!
- And by [Runa Capital's](https://runacap.com/) analysis, NocoDB has been the [fastest growing open source project](https://runacap.com/ross-index/q2-2021/) for Q2.
- Evan You - Creator of Vue.js also tweeted about us! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
{% twitter 1399345926884532224 %}

Did we anticipate this coming ? 
Surely not. And as like many of you tinkerers, we were curious-anxious going into launch day. However, we are totally overwhelmed by the response of community. And would love to share more on the product & the journey here in Dev.to

# How it works 

```
docker run -p 8080:8080 nocodb/nocodb
```
or

```
npx create-nocodb-app
```

NocoDB simply works by connecting to your existing databases and transforming them into a smart spreadsheet interface! This allows you to collaborate just like google/airtable spreadsheets with your teams. And we also allow programmatic access to theses spreadsheet with REST & GraphQL APIs!

NocoDB currently works with 
- MySQL 
- PostgreSQL
- Microsoft SQL Server
- SQLite
- Amazon Aurora & MariaDB databases.

![NocoDB: Gallery View](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/xw4ffyp96ydvp0s0fpxk.png)

![NocoDB: app store ](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/kisqg2o1f075w7rn0so3.png)

![NocoDB: programmatic API access ](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c9nz0987bww8o5yi1o7d.png)

![NocoDB: Collaborative spreadsheet](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5ogsaes3fb0xyqmlxlfj.png)

![NocoDB : Integrate with zapier](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2krutazl9td985wd26h4.png)

Also NocoDB's app store allows you to build business workflows on views with combination of Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Twilio, Whatsapp, Email & any 3rd party APIs too. Plus NocoDB provides programmatic access to APIs so that you can build integrations with Zapier / Integromat and custom applications too.

<!-- Github : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb -->


# FEATURES :
#### Rich Spreadsheet Interface :
- ⚡ Sort, search, filter, hide columns with ease
- ⚡ Create Views : Grid, Gallery, Kanban, Gantt, Form
- ⚡ Share Views : public & password protected
- ⚡ Personal & locked Views
- ⚡ Upload images to cells (Works with S3, Minio, GCP, Azure & many more)!!
- ⚡ Roles : Owner, Creator, Editor, Commenter, Viewer, Commenter, Custom.
- ⚡ Access Control : Fine-grained access control even to column level.
- ⚡ API tokens to integrate with n8n, Zapier & Integromat.

#### Automations & App store :
- ⚡ Chat : Microsoft Teams, Slack, Discord, Mattermost
- ⚡ Email : SMTP, SES, Mailchimp
- ⚡ SMS : Twilio
- ⚡ Whatsapp
- ⚡ Any 3rd Party APIs

#### Programmatic API access via :
- ⚡ REST APIs (Swagger)
- ⚡ GraphQL APIs.
- ⚡ Includes JWT Authentication & Social Auth

# Please join our community
📣   Github : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
📣   Discord : https://discord.gg/5RgZmkW
📣   Twitter : https://twitter.com/nocodb

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# 🔦  NocoDB's journey so far.. 

We open sourced two API solutions before NocoDB :
- ⚡ A no-code [REST APIs](https://github.com/o1lab/xmysql) generator for any MySQL DB. ~4000+ Github Stars. This was a hobby project & had no GUI. 📈
- ⚡ A low-code [REST-GraphQL APIs generator](https://github.com/xgenecloud/xgenecloud) for any database with GUI. Used by 100s of companies. Including fortune 500s & publicly trading companies. 📈

The thing that surprised us the most was that even non-developers started using our API products & rooting for us. 🚀 🚀  .. This made us to rethink & combine the power of our 2 API products then transform them into something better.

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# 🎯  Why we building this ?
Most internet businesses equip themselves with either spreadsheet or a database to solve their business needs. Spreadsheets are used by a hundreds of millions humans collaboratively every single day. However, we are way off working at similar speeds on databases which are way more powerful tools when it comes to computing. Attempts to solve this with SaaS offerings has meant horrible access controls, vendor lockin, data lockin, abrupt price changes & most importantly a glass ceiling on what's possible in future.

# ❤️   Our Mission :
Our mission is to provide the most powerful no-code interface for databases which is open source to every single internet business in the world. This would not only democratise access to a powerful computing tool but also bring forth a billion+ people who will have radical tinkering-and-building abilities on internet.



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### 💊  And.. There is.. One last thing.. this makes it insanely good :

NocoDB can be run from a single node.js file with just SIX lines of code in it! This minimalism means NocoDB runs even on the smallest of servers. Not just AWS, DigitalOcean, Heroku but also in A2Hosting & similar.

```js
(async () => {
    const app = require('express')();
    const {Noco} = require("nocodb");
    app.use(await Noco.init({}));
    console.log(`Visit : localhost:${process.env.PORT}/dashboard`)    
    app.listen(process.env.PORT);
})()
```

Hope you loved it. ❤️

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# Please join our community at :
📣   Github : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
📣   Discord : https://discord.gg/5RgZmkW
📣   Twitter : https://twitter.com/nocodb

Would love to hear your usecases & feedbacks. 🙌

{% github nocodb/nocodb %}

Happy Tinkering,
Team NocoDB

{% user o1lab %}
{% user pranavcbalan %}