Ask HN: What are some no-code tools for the back end?

  • Not exactly no-code, but the spirit is the same in what we are building at XgeneCloud. Via our GUI you can scaffold most of the repeatable code that is required in any backend and modify it to your business needs from there on.

    * https://github.com/xgenecloud/xgenecloud

    * Demo link : https://youtu.be/gEU-QvmwSKQ (Creating CRUD APIs via GUI for a MySQL database)

    * So by just pointing to a database via a GUI, you can generate CRUD-Aggregation APIs (REST/GraphQL) automatically for any given database. It has built in GUI to edit and manage schemas and access control as well.

  • You're talking about a "strictly no-code audience" who are just building backends? That'd be a very strange situation if you asked me since audiences that are somewhat technical in the first place are usually not put off by a little bit of optional code.

    Here are a few products that are close but not spot on:

    * https://parabola.io/

    * https://useparagon.com/

    * https://n8n.io/

  • For people that don't code, I think what you're describing they know as MS Excel. They don't know what a schema is and possibly can't define what user roles would be for what they need.

    Generated code is great to start with and then someone requests a change to do something, for example add a column, and you need someone to maintain that code from the database thru the backend up to the UI to add that column.

    I think no-code is really geared towards verticals and not a generic base of an application.

  • Where's the demand for such a tool? If you have the experience and understanding to build a good back-end with a no-code tool, then you're already at a point where working with code isn't a problem for you.

  • Does the need for some front end JS meet your criteria? If so, an interesting one is https://userbase.com.

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