flow like

Flow-Like is a visual workflow automation platform that runs entirely on your hardware. Build workflows with drag-and-drop blocks, run them on your laptop, phone, or server, and get a clear record of where data came from, what changed, and what came out — no cloud dependency, no black boxes, no guesswork.

Why Flow-Like?

You decide where your workflows run. Not us.

Most workflow tools force you into their cloud. Your data leaves your machine, passes through third-party servers, and you're locked into their infrastructure. Offline? Stuck. Want to self-host? Pay enterprise prices.

Flow-Like runs wherever you choose — your laptop, your phone, your private server, or cloud infrastructure you control. Your data stays where you put it. No forced cloud dependency, no vendor lock-in, no "upgrade to enterprise for basic autonomy."

Local-first by default. Cloud-ready when you need it.

Automate on your couch without Wi-Fi. Deploy to your own AWS/GCP/Azure. Run in air-gapped factory networks. Process sensitive data in hospital environments. Your workflows, your infrastructure, your rules.

A Rust engine fast enough to run on a phone

The reason this works is raw performance. Flow-Like's engine is built in Rust — compiled to native code, no garbage collector, no runtime overhead. The same workflow that takes 500ms in a Node.js engine takes 0.6ms in Flow-Like.

| Metric | Flow-Like | Typical workflow engines | |--------|-----------|------------------------| | Execution speed | ~244,000 workflows/sec | ~200 workflows/sec | | Latency per workflow | ~0.6ms | ~50-500ms | | Engine | Rust (native compiled) | Python / Node.js (interpreted) |

That 1000x performance gap means real workflows can run on resource-constrained devices — phones, edge hardware, Raspberry Pis — not just beefy cloud servers. And on powerful machines, it means processing millions of executions without breaking a sweat.

Full visibility into every execution

Most workflow tools show a green checkmark and move on. You're left guessing where data came from and why the result looks the way it does.

Flow-Like workflows are fully typed — they track what data flows where and why. Every input, transformation, and output is recorded with complete lineage and audit trails.

Data Origins — See exactly where each value came from: the API response, the file, the user input.
Transformations — Every validation, enrichment, and reformatting step is visible and traceable.
Clear Contracts — Type-safe input/output definitions catch errors before deployment, not in production.
Three Perspectives — Process view for business, Data view for analysts, Execution view for engineers. Same workflow, different lenses.

And everything else

AI-Native — Run LLMs locally or in the cloud with guardrails, approval gates, and full execution tracing on every call.
White-Label Ready — Embed the editor in your product. Your logo, your colors, your brand. SSO, usage metering, and per-tenant scoping included.
Source Available — BSL license, free for the vast majority of users (<2,000 employees and <$300M ARR).

How it compares

| Feature | Flow-Like | n8n | Zapier / Make | Temporal | |---------|-----------|-----|---------------|----------| | Runs on your device | ✅ Desktop, phone, edge, server | ⚠️ Needs a server | ❌ Cloud only | ⚠️ Needs infrastructure | | Works 100% offline | ✅ Full capability | ⚠️ Partial | ❌ Requires internet | ✅ Self-hosted | | Type safety | ✅ Fully typed | ❌ Runtime only | ❌ None | ⚠️ Language-level | | Data lineage / audit trail | ✅ Complete | ❌ Limited | ❌ None | ⚠️ Via logging | | Performance | ✅ ~244K/sec (Rust) | ⚠️ ~200/sec (Node) | ⚠️ Cloud-limited | ⚠️ Go-based | | Visual builder | ✅ Full IDE | ✅ Good | ✅ Simple | ❌ Code only | | UI builder | ✅ Built-in | ❌ None | ❌ None | ❌ None | | LLM orchestration | ✅ Built-in + guardrails | ⚠️ Via nodes | ⚠️ Via integrations | ❌ Manual | | White-label / embed | ✅ Full customization | ❌ Branded | ❌ Branded | ❌ No UI | | Business process views | ✅ Process / Data / Execution | ❌ Single view | ❌ Single view | ❌ Code only | | License | Source Available (BSL) | Sustainable Use | Proprietary | MIT |

Quick Start

The Ecosystem

🎨 Visual Workflow Studio

A no-code IDE for building workflows. Smart wiring with type-aware pins, inline execution feedback, live validation, and snapshot-based debugging.

🧩 900+ Built-in Nodes

APIs & webhooks, databases, file processing (Excel, CSV, PDF), AI models & computer vision, messaging (Slack, Discord, email), IoT, logic & control flow, security & auth — and growing.

→ Explore the Node Catalog

🤖 AI-Powered Workflows

Download and run LLMs, vision models, and embeddings locally or in the cloud. Every AI decision is logged with full context — inputs, outputs, model version, and reasoning trace.

📦 Apps & Templates

Package workflows as shareable applications with built-in storage. Run them offline or in the cloud. Browse the template store or share your own.

Who it's for

👨‍💻 Developers

Runs on any device — laptop, phone, edge, server
Type-safe data contracts
Custom node SDK (Rust)
Git-based version control
Source available codebase

📊 Business & Analysts

No-code drag-and-drop builder
Process, Data, and Technical views
Approval workflows and change tracking
Shareable apps and templates

🏢 IT & Operations

RBAC and enterprise governance
Complete audit trails
Air-gap and offline deployment
SSO / OIDC integration
Compliance-ready (GDPR, SOC2)

Build from Source

# Prerequisites: mise, Rust, Bun, Tauri prerequisites, Protobuf compiler
# Full guide: https://docs.flow-like.com/contributing/getting-started/

git clone https://github.com/TM9657/flow-like.git
cd flow-like
mise trust && mise install   # install toolchains (Rust, Bun, Node, Python, uv)
bun install                  # install Node packages
mise run build:desktop       # production build

All dev / build / deploy tasks are defined in the root mise.toml. Run mise tasks to see every available task, or mise run <task> to execute one:

mise run dev:desktop:mac:arm   # dev mode – macOS Apple Silicon
mise run dev:web               # dev mode – Next.js web app
mise run build:desktop         # production desktop build
mise run fix                   # auto-fix lint (clippy + fmt + biome)
mise run check                 # run all checks without fixing

💡 Platform-specific hints for macOS, Windows, and Linux are in the docs.

White-Label & Customization

Embed the visual editor in your application, or run the engine headlessly behind the scenes.

Themes — Catppuccin, Cosmic Night, Neo-Brutalism, Soft Pop, Doom, or create your own
Design Tokens — Map your brand palette with dark/light mode support
SSO — OIDC/JWT with scoped secrets per tenant
Usage Metering — Per-tenant quotas, event tracking, audit trails
SDKs & APIs — Control workflows programmatically

🔌 SDKs

Integrate Flow-Like into your applications with official SDKs:

| Language | Package | Install | |----------|---------|---------| | Node.js / TypeScript | @flow-like/sdk | npm install @flow-like/sdk | | Python | flow-like | uv add flow-like |

Both SDKs support workflows, file management, LanceDB, chat completions, embeddings, and optional LangChain integration. → SDK Docs

Perfect for SaaS platforms, internal tools, client portals, and embedded automation.

Contributing

We welcome contributions of all kinds — new nodes, bug fixes, docs, themes, and ideas.

→ Read CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions and guidelines.

→ Browse good first issue to find a place to start.

→ Join Discord for questions and discussion.

Team & Access Management

Built-in Storage & Search

Files, tables, and hybrid keyword+vector search — right on the canvas. No extra services needed.

Is Flow-Like free to use? Most likely, yes. Flow-Like uses the Business Source License (BSL), which is free if your organization has fewer than 2,000 employees and less than $300M in annual recurring revenue. This covers startups, SMBs, and most enterprises. Read the full license.

Can I run it completely offline? Yes, 100%. Flow-Like works fully offline on your local machine — ideal for air-gapped networks and secure environments. Switch to online mode anytime to collaborate.

Can I embed it in my product? Yes. Flow-Like is white-label ready — embed the visual editor, customize the theme to your brand, integrate SSO, or run just the engine headlessly.

What languages can I use? The visual builder is no-code. For custom nodes, you write Rust. SDKs and REST APIs are available for programmatic control.

Is it production-ready? Flow-Like is actively developed and used in production. We recommend thorough testing for mission-critical workflows. See the releases page for version stability.

How do I get support? Discord for quick help, Docs for guides, or GitHub Issues for bugs and features.

Flow-Like stands on the shoulders of incredible open-source projects:

Frontend: React Flow · Radix UI · shadcn/ui · Next.js · Tailwind CSS · Framer Motion

Desktop & Runtime: Tauri · Rust · Tokio · Axum

AI & ML: llama.cpp · Candle · ONNX Runtime

Data: Zustand · TanStack Query · Dexie.js · SeaORM · Zod

Tooling: mise · Bun · Vite · Biome

Thank you to all maintainers and contributors of these projects! 🙏

Installation

Transport

Tools (7)

Dokumentation