NocoBase Blog

Announcing NocoBase 2.1-beta

NocoBase team — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 01:30:55 GMT

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

How to Deliver a Complex OA System in 3 Months with NocoBase

Deng Lijia — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:57:11 GMT

Confidentiality Note

To protect the privacy and security of the organization and its clients, this case study is presented anonymously. All details are based on a real-world implementation.

Context & Constraints

The project was led by a team experienced in enterprise management systems and process-heavy industries such as petrochemicals. They were familiar with environments where requirements are complex, constantly evolving, and operational constraints are strict.

Historically, they relied on traditional custom development. A project of similar scope would normally take nearly a year from requirement analysis to delivery.

💬 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 time, the client introduced a set of non-negotiable constraints:

Network Isolation: The system had to run entirely within an internal network, physically disconnected from the internet
Data Sovereignty: All data must remain fully under the organization’s control
Deployment Model: Only self-hosted / on-premise deployment was acceptable

At the same time, the system still needed to support complex workflows, large volumes of data, and integration with existing systems.

The team needed a foundation that could satisfy strict security requirements while still enabling fast delivery, continuous iteration, and long-term extensibility.

They chose NocoBase.

Solution & Implementation

1. Digitizing Administrative and Financial Workflows

The first phase focused on the most critical and frequently used scenarios: administrative and financial processes.

Previously, these processes relied heavily on paper forms and manual routing. The team gradually migrated them into a unified system.

They built nearly 60 modules covering daily administrative operations.

This was not a simple “form digitization” effort. Instead, the team restructured the workflows:

mapped dependencies between processes
converted implicit offline rules into explicit system logic
transformed manual decision-making into configurable business rules
clarified cross-department collaboration paths

Using NocoBase’s data modeling and workflow capabilities, these complex processes were turned into a stable, system-driven operation.

2. Embedding Budget Control into Workflows

Previously, budget management was handled in Excel, fragmented across departments and only reviewed after spending.

The team redesigned this by embedding budget logic directly into business processes such as travel, approvals, and reimbursements.

After implementation:

Executives gained real-time visibility into overall budget execution
Department heads could track usage dynamically
Employees could validate budget limits at the time of request submission

Budget management shifted from post-hoc reporting to:

pre-control
in-process enforcement
real-time validation

This was enabled by NocoBase’s ability to integrate business logic directly into workflows.

3.Automating Financial Integration with ERP

For reimbursement and financial processing, the team integrated the system with Yonyou ERP through custom plugins.

Using a built-in transformation engine, the system automatically converted business data (travel requests, loans, tax data, etc.) into financial records compatible with ERP requirements.

The engine handled complex accounting logic, including:

VAT splitting
employee debt offsetting
department-specific account mapping

Once processed, financial vouchers were automatically generated and pushed to the general ledger.

This replaced manual entry of approximately 1,400 financial records per month.

The main challenge was not API integration itself, but structuring business logic.

Using NocoBase’s data models and plugin architecture, the team transformed manual accounting rules into system-level logic, enabling stable end-to-end automation.

4. System Integration & Unified Identity

To support future system expansion, the team first established a unified identity system:

integrated with existing authentication services
used NocoBase as the centralized user management layer
ensured consistency of user data across systems

For communication, a private IM system was introduced:

approval and task notifications were pushed directly to IM
users could access tasks without repeatedly logging into the system
one-click navigation from message to approval page

This significantly reduced response time and improved operational efficiency.

5. Iteration in an Air-Gapped Environment

The project was deployed in a fully isolated environment.

To maintain development efficiency, the team adopted a hybrid approach:

development and testing were done externally
validated configurations were deployed into the internal network

Using NocoBase’s configuration migration mechanism, the system could be deployed as a whole without repeated redevelopment inside the isolated environment.

This enabled , weekly or even faster iteration cyclesdespite strict security constraints.

Delivery Timeline

The project progressed as follows:

Early September: Project kickoff
Mid October: Phase 1 requirements finalized
Mid November: First batch of administrative modules launched
Mid December: Full launch of administrative + financial systems

Given the complexity, integration scope, and deployment constraints, this delivery speed was significantly faster than typical enterprise projects.

Preparing for AI Integration

After the first phase, the client began exploring AI capabilities:

Invoice automation: OCR-based recognition and compliance validation
Knowledge retrieval: vectorizing internal documents and building a private knowledge base

The team is currently experimenting with integrating lightweight private models into NocoBase.

With NocoBase 2.0’s plugin architecture and AI capabilities, AI can be gradually embedded into existing workflows and data structures, making it practical in real business scenarios.

Outcome

From requirement confirmation to full rollout of administrative and financial systems, the entire project was completed in 3 months, representing a 75% reduction in delivery time.

This not only reduced development cost, but also enabled the team to handle multiple complex projects in parallel.

This case highlights a key point:

In complex enterprise environments, success depends not only on the platform, but also on the ability to:

structure complex workflows
integrate systems effectively
formalize business logic

NocoBase provides the foundation that makes this possible.

It allows experienced teams to deliver faster, adapt continuously, and evolve systems over time, even under strict constraints.

The team plans to join the NocoBase partner ecosystem and replicate this delivery model across more enterprise projects.

More Customer Stories:

Case Study: Digitizing Medical Manufacturing Workflows with NocoBase

Deng Lijia — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 03:04:03 GMT

Confidentiality Note: To protect the privacy and security of the organization, this study is shared anonymously. The workflows and outcomes described below accurately reflect a real-world implementation in the medical device sector.

In medical device manufacturing, internal processes require more than just basic management—they demand long-term data retention, rigorous traceability, and audit-ready verification.

Despite these requirements, many organizations still rely on paper logs and fragmented spreadsheets. A leading medical manufacturer recently moved away from high-cost custom development and rigid SaaS vendors, choosing NocoBase as a flexible foundation to build their own internal management systems.

Context & Problem

The IT department at this manufacturing firm faced a common dilemma. They needed to modernize three core operational areas: Equipment Management, IT Asset Tracking, and Validation Records.

Their constraints were specific:

Regulatory Compliance: Data must be traceable and retrievable for long-term audits.
Security & Sovereignty: Due to industry regulations, the systems had to be self-hosted on a private intranet.
Development Cost: Building from scratch was too resource-intensive, while off-the-shelf SaaS products lacked the necessary local deployment options and flexibility to match their specific business logic.

The Solution: An Open-Source, Self-Hosted Foundation

The team chose NocoBase to balance the control of custom software with the speed of a platform. By opting for an open-source, extensible architecture, they achieved:

Data Sovereignty: Full control over their database and application environment on-premise.
Iterative Development: Instead of a “big bang” implementation, they built and deployed systems incrementally as business needs evolved.
Extensibility: The ability to adjust data models and workflows without being locked into a vendor’s roadmap.

Key Implementation Details

1. Equipment Management & Knowledge Base

Previously, maintenance logs and acceptance documents were scattered across Excel files and physical folders.

System Design: The team built a centralized equipment ledger using NocoBase’s Data sources and Collection features.
Workflow: Every piece of hardware now has a digital twin containing its status, technical manuals, and historical maintenance records.
Knowledge Retention: They implemented a “Maintenance Wiki” within the system to document common faults and spare-part lifespans, transforming individual technician “know-how” into a searchable corporate asset.

2. IT Asset Lifecycle Tracking

Managing hardware like computers and networking gear through paper trails led to frequent discrepancies during audits.

Data Model: A lifecycle-based model was implemented to track assets from procurement (inbound) to assignment (transfer) and retirement.
Auditability: By using NocoBase’s built-in logging, the IT team can now perform digital inventories and verify the chain of custody for any asset in real-time.

3. Validation Record Management (V&V)

Verification and Validation (V&V) records for equipment and processes are critical in medical manufacturing.

Traceability: This module focuses on document collection and versioning. By structuring these records in a unified database, the firm replaced fragmented document storage with a relational system.
Permissions (RBAC): Using NocoBase’s Role-Based Access Control, they ensured that sensitive validation data is only accessible to authorized QA and technical personnel, meeting internal compliance standards.

Outcome & Impact

By moving from manual processes to a structured digital environment, the manufacturer has established a “single source of truth” for their operations.

“In the medical industry, our systems must operate within a private network. By using NocoBase to build our own tools, we ensured operational efficiency while keeping our business data entirely under our own control.” — IT Director

Final Thoughts

This case reflects a common pattern in traditional industries:

Start by structuring core operational data and workflows, especially those still dependent on manual processes. Once the foundation is stable, systems become queryable, traceable, and extensible by design.

For enterprise applications, reliability at the data and system level remains the prerequisite. Only after that foundation is in place can more advanced capabilities, such as AI-driven automation, deliver meaningful impact.

More Customer Stories:

The NocoBase Partner Program Is Live

NocoBase Team — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:47:27 GMT

The NocoBase Partner Program is now officially launched, open to software development companies, system integrators, IT consulting firms, and other teams with enterprise digital delivery capabilities worldwide. The program primarily supports two areas of collaboration: channel distribution and service delivery. As more and more customers build their business systems on NocoBase, market demand for implementation, custom development, and long-term service support continues to grow. The launch of the Partner Program is designed to systematically address this trend and foster a more stable, professional, and sustainable ecosystem of collaboration.

Apply Now

Why We’re Launching a Partner Program

As NocoBase continues to expand across different regions and industries, an increasing number of customers are seeking professional support for system development and project delivery—including requirements analysis, implementation and deployment, custom development, training, and ongoing maintenance.

At the same time, the NocoBase team will continue to focus on product development and platform capabilities, and does not provide implementation services directly. Within this positioning, partners play a vital role in bridging customer needs and platform capabilities: on one hand, helping customers advance their projects more efficiently; on the other, expanding their own service capabilities and business opportunities through NocoBase.

The launch of the Partner Program is intended to formalize this collaborative relationship and lay the foundation for long-term ecosystem development.

Looking ahead, NocoBase will continue to advance its AI capabilities, progressively enabling the construction and operation of reliable business systems through AI. This will mark a key inflection point in the platform’s evolution, opening up new service scenarios, solution opportunities, and business growth potential for partners. For teams looking to invest in this ecosystem for the long term, now is an important moment to get involved.

Two Partnership Models

At this stage, the NocoBase Partner Program includes two partnership models. Partners can choose to participate in one based on their capabilities and business direction, or pursue both simultaneously based on their situation.

Channel Distribution

The channel distribution model is designed for teams with market development capabilities, customer resources, or industry connections. Partners can promote NocoBase products within target regions or vertical industries, connect with potential customers, facilitate commercial license purchases, and earn corresponding commission rebates.

This model is suited for teams looking to collaborate around product promotion, customer conversion, and market coverage.

Service Delivery

The service delivery model is designed for teams with technical delivery capabilities and project implementation experience. Partners can provide professional services to customers based on NocoBase, including requirements analysis, solution design, system implementation, custom development, training, and technical support.

This model is suited for teams looking to collaborate around project delivery, industry solution development, and ongoing service capabilities.

Ideal Partner Profiles

The NocoBase Partner Program is best suited for teams that are already familiar with NocoBase and possess real delivery capabilities. Generally, the following types of teams are a strong fit:

Already familiar with NocoBase with relevant project experience
Capable of independently completing system implementation, custom development, or customer delivery
Have expansion capabilities within specific regions, industries, or customer segments
Committed to long-term collaboration rather than short-term transactions

Our Vision for the Partner Ecosystem

Through the Partner Program, NocoBase aims to gradually build a long-term, open, and sustainable partner ecosystem.

The core objectives of this ecosystem include: enabling customers to access professional services and reliable delivery more conveniently; providing capable partners with clearer business opportunities; and ensuring that outstanding implementation experience, industry solutions, and extension outcomes are continuously accumulated within the ecosystem.

The Partner Program is not just the launch of a collaboration framework—it is the beginning of long-term ecosystem development. Going forward, NocoBase will continue to advance the partner system across areas including partnership support, market collaboration, joint case studies, and ecosystem improvement, driving a long-term, stable value cycle among the platform, partners, and customers.

How to Apply

We welcome qualified teams to join the NocoBase Partner Program.

For more information on partnership models, application requirements, and related details, please visit the Become a Partner page.

NocoBase Open Source License and Pricing Adjustments

NocoBase Team — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 01:59:11 GMT

NocoBase 2.0 was officially released on February 15, 2026. Starting with this version, NocoBase is pivoting toward being AI-driven, helping traditional enterprises implement AI capabilities and ensuring AI delivers real value in practical business scenarios. In line with this new direction, we have adjusted our open-source license and pricing structure to ensure the license is more flexible and friendly, the pricing plan is simpler, and the cost of use is lower for our users.

License Change: From AGPL-3.0 to Apache-2.0

This transition provides a more business-friendly environment, offering users greater flexibility for customization and commercial distribution with fewer constraints.

Open-Sourcing Major Commercial Plugins

The following commercial plugins are now open-source and free to use

Plugin	Package Name	Notes
AI LLM: GigaChat	`@nocobase/plugin-ai-gigachat`
Multi-step form	`@nocobase/plugin-block-multi-step-form`	Available in Page V1, not yet adapted for 2.0
Block: Tree	`@nocobase/plugin-block-tree`	Available in Page V1, not yet adapted for 2.0
Comments	`@nocobase/plugin-comments`
Custom variables	`@nocobase/plugin-custom-variables`	Available in Page V1, not yet adapted for 2.0
Data visualization: ECharts	`@nocobase/plugin-data-visualization-echarts`	Deprecated in 2.0, use Chart block instead
Embed NocoBase	`@nocobase/plugin-embed`	Available in Page V1, not yet adapted for 2.0
Field: Code	`@nocobase/plugin-field-code`	Not yet adapted for 2.0
Form drafts	`@nocobase/plugin-form-drafts`	Supports Form block 2.0 only
Multi-keyword filter	`@nocobase/plugin-multi-keyword-filter`
Workflow: Custom action trigger	`@nocobase/plugin-workflow-custom-action-trigger`
Workflow: Date calculation node	`@nocobase/plugin-workflow-date-calculation`
Workflow: JavaScript node	`@nocobase/plugin-workflow-javascript`
Workflow: Request interceptor	`@nocobase/plugin-workflow-request-interceptor`
Workflow: Variable	`@nocobase/plugin-workflow-variable`
Collection: Connect to foreign data (FDW)	`@nocobase/plugin-collection-fdw`

Consolidating Remaining Commercial Plugins

Remaining commercial plugins will no longer be sold individually. Instead, they are now bundled into the Commercial License. Once you purchase a Commercial License, you gain access to these features. For full details, please visit our pricing page: https://www.nocobase.com/commercial

Full Credit Toward Upgrades from Lower to Higher Editions

Under the pricing policy prior to February 15, when upgrading from a lower edition to a higher edition, only the remaining prorated value could be credited. For example, if upgrading from the Standard Edition to the Professional Edition after 6 months, with a remaining value of 400 USD, the required price difference would be 7,600 USD.

Under the pricing policy after February 15, when upgrading from a lower edition to a higher edition, the full amount spent on the lower edition can be credited. For example, if upgrading from the Standard Edition to the Professional Edition after 18 months, the full 800 USD spent on the Standard Edition can be credited, and the required price difference would be 7,200 USD.

Policies for Existing Customers

For users who purchased commercial licenses, plugins, or plugin packs before the transition:

Rights purchased before February 15 remain unaffected.
- All previously purchased or redeemed commercial plugins remain yours.
- Remaining points in plugin packs can still be used to redeem any commercial plugin.
New features added to commercial versions after February 15 will be available for free to users who previously purchased the corresponding commercial Edition.
Upgrading from a Commercial Edition purchased before February 15: When upgrading to a higher edition after February 15, the full amount paid for the original edition can be credited toward the upgrade.
Upgrading from individual Commercial Plugins to a Commercial Edition: If you purchased commercial plugins before February 15 and wish to upgrade to a Commercial Edition that now includes those plugins, the full amount spent on the original plugins can be credited toward the purchase of the edition.

FAQ

Q: I bought the Professional Edition before Feb 15, which included Multi-app and Multi-space. Now those features are only in the EnterpriseEdition. Will I lose them?

A: No. All features you already own, including Multi-app and Multi-space, are permanently included in your license.

Q: I bought the Standard Edition before Feb 15 and have 8 points left. I want to redeem the Approval plugin, but it’s now restricted to the Professional Edition. Can I still get it?

A: Yes. Your remaining plugin points can still be used to redeem any commercial plugin regardless of the new tiering.

Q: I bought the Standard Edition before it included External Data Sources. Now that the Standard Edition includes them (post-Feb 15), do I get them for free?

A: Yes. Any new features added to your Edition after Feb 15 are free for existing owners of that Edition. This includes MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, and Rest API external data sources.

Q: I purchased the Standard Edition and the Approval plugin before February 15, for a total of 800 USD + 800 USD = 1,600 USD. Can I credit this amount toward an upgrade to the Professional Edition?

A: Yes. The full 1,600 USD can be credited toward the upgrade.

The interpretation of these adjustments belongs to the parent company of NocoBase. For existing commercial users, all complimentary rights and adjustments will be finalized by February 24.

We want to thank all our paid and free users, as well as our open-source contributors. We will continue to iterate rapidly to provide a better product at a lower price.

NocoBase 2.0 Officially Released

NocoBase team — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:14:44 GMT

NocoBase 2.0 is a major upgrade focused on building complex applications and scaling deployments. This release brings systematic improvements to AI capabilities, application architecture, data editing experience, and frontend event flow, along with full adaptation of V2 pages and core features.

New Features

AI Employees

AI capabilities are now built into the core as a first-class citizen, with extensibility through the plugin system:

Integrated into the core with plugin-based extensibility
Upgraded and optimized LangChain dependencies for better stability and scalability
Simplified AI employee interaction flow, lowering configuration and usage barriers

Reference:

AI Employees

App Supervisor

The App Supervisor plugin provides unified discovery, scheduling, and management of multiple NocoBase application instances, suitable for multi-app and multi-environment deployment scenarios.

Application auto-discovery and centralized management
Shared memory mechanism for improved inter-instance collaboration
Multi-environment hybrid deployment for complex delivery requirements

Shared Memory

Multi-Environment Hybrid Deployment

Reference:

Multi-App Management

Workflow Canvas Enhancement

Drag-and-Drop Node Reordering

Copy and Paste Nodes

To meet different levels of complexity in related data editing, NocoBase offers two sub-table edit modes:

Sub-table (Inline Edit): Edit related data directly in the table for efficient operations, ideal for quick data entry and batch updates
Sub-table (Popup Edit): Edit data via popup forms with support for more complex field types and validation logic, suitable for high-complexity scenarios

Sub-table (Inline Edit)

Sub-table (Popup Edit)

Reference:

Field Assignment

The new field assignment mechanism unifies and enhances initialization and write logic for form data, improving clarity and consistency:

Unified field assignment configuration entry, reducing the complexity of scattered configuration
Field assignment logic no longer depends on field component type, making data behavior more stable and predictable
Support for field-level assignment on relation fields, enabling complex relational data modeling
Both default value and constant value assignment modes, covering initialization and override scenarios
Legacy “field default value” is deprecated; please migrate to the new field assignment mechanism

Reference: Field Assignment (documentation coming soon)

Event Flow Execution Order

Event flow runs strictly in the Event → Flow → Step hierarchy, with corresponding hooks triggered before and after each level for fine-grained control and extension.

event:
  before:
    - track_event_start
  flows:
    - name: flow1
      before:
        - track_flow_start
      steps:
        - name: step1
          before: [track_step_start]
          run: do_something
          after: [track_step_done]
      after:
        - track_flow_end
    - name: flow2
      ...
    - name: flow3
      ...
  after:
    - track_event_end

Reference:

Event Flow

Features Adapted to 2.0

Bulk Edit

Reference:

Bulk Edit

Duplicate

Reference:

Duplicate

Block Height

Reference:

Block Height

Table Row Drag-and-Drop Sort

Reference:

Drag Sort

Data Loading Method

Reference:

Data Loading Method

Displaying Relation Fields in Forms

Reference:

Form

Page (V2) Localization Support

V2 pages now fully support localization across pages, blocks, actions, and fields.

After enabling the localization plugin, the system automatically collects missing translation entries and displays them in the localization management list for centralized maintenance.

In JS blocks, use ctx.t() to retrieve localized text with variable interpolation:

const label = ctx.t('Your name is {{name}}', {
  name: await ctx.getVar('ctx.user.nickname')
});
ctx.render(label);

Approval 2.0

All newly created approval workflows use the 2.0 block-based layout. Existing 1.x configurations remain supported. To switch a 1.x approval to the 2.0 layout, select the v2 version and reconfigure the interface. Note that once switched, it cannot be reverted to 1.x.

Configure Initiator Interface

Configure Approver Interface

CC (Carbon Copy) 2.0

All newly created CC nodes use the 2.0 block-based layout for the recipient’s view. Existing 1.x configurations remain supported. To switch a 1.x CC to the 2.0 layout, select the v2 version and reconfigure the interface. Note that once switched, it cannot be reverted to 1.x.

Not Yet Available in 2.0

The following features are not yet available in 2.0 and will be upgraded in future releases:

Feature	Current Alternative
Custom Request	Workflow Request Node
Browser Print	JS Action
Multi-step Form	JS Block
Tree Filter Block	JS Block
Calendar Block	JS Block
Custom Variable	Event Flow
Gantt Block	JS Block
Kanban Block	JS Block
Text Copy	Event Flow
Column Settings	JS Action
Style Linkage Rule	Event Flow
Copy Text Shortcut	Event Flow
QR Code Field	JS Field
Scan to Input	Event Flow
Embed NocoBase	—
China Administrative Region Field	—
Code Field	—
Public Form	—
Workflow Manual Node Todo	—
After Successful Submission	Event Flow
Data Template	Event Flow

AI-Powered Ticketing Built with NocoBase 2.0

NocoBase team — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:25:20 GMT

AI-powered ticketing built on NocoBase 2.0, ready to deploy and extend.

Introduction: https://www.nocobase.com/en/solutions/ticketing-v2

Documentation: https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/en/solution/ticket-system/

Built for Change

In customer support, IT operations, equipment maintenance, and internal service desk scenarios, ticketing is a fundamental part of enterprise operations.

Yet in practice, many teams run into the same challenges:

Ticket requests come from everywhere: forms, emails, and customer service tools, each handled separately
Ticket classification and assignment rely heavily on manual effort, leading to low efficiency and frequent mistakes
SLAs exist on paper but are difficult to track and enforce in practice
The same issues keep recurring, while experience and solutions fail to accumulate over time

Is it possible to build a ticketing solution that can be launched quickly and still evolve as business requirements change?

This is the core problem the NocoBase AI ticketing solution is designed to address.

Limits of Traditional Ticketing

Based on our research, most teams end up choosing one of the following:

SaaS Ticketing

SaaS ticketing solutions are quick to adopt and come with a rich set of features, but their limitations are clear:

Limited flexibility in workflow and field customization
AI features are mostly superficial rather than deeply integrated
Data and business logic are not fully under the team’s control
Costs continue to rise as the organization scales

In-House Ticketing

This approach appears to offer maximum flexibility, but in practice:

Initial development takes a long time and requires significant investment
Ongoing maintenance relies entirely on the original developers
Any change in workflow requires additional development work
It is difficult to turn accumulated experience into a reusable, productized system

Design Principles

Our positioning is an extensible, configurable, and AI-native ticketing architecture.

The goal is to help enterprises build flexible, scalable, and fully self-controlled ticketing systems at a lower cost, allowing systems to continuously adapt to evolving business needs rather than being constrained by rigid capabilities.

Extensible Data Model

We use a T-shaped data model:

Ticket master table: handles shared capabilities such as status workflows, assignees, priorities, SLAs, and communication history
Business extension tables: designed for different use cases, including:
- IT support tickets
- Equipment maintenance tickets
- Customer complaints and feedback
- Internal administrative requests

This design brings several key advantages:

New ticket types can be added without changing the core workflow
Each business scenario can have its own fields and page layouts
Core logic stays consistent, keeping extension costs extremely low

As a result, this solution is well suited for enterprise environments with multiple departments and business lines.

Unified Ticket Intake

In NocoBase, tickets can be created through multiple channels:

External or internal forms
Automatically parsed emails
APIs and webhooks
Manual entry by customer support or operations teams

The system then standardizes everything by handling:

Source identification
Duplicate detection
Basic data enrichment

As a result, all requests are brought into a single, unified ticket workflow instead of being scattered across different tools and systems.

AI-Powered Assignment

In NocoBase, AI goes beyond automated replies and plays an active role throughout the ticket handling process:

Understanding ticket intent and urgency
Evaluating priority using rules and historical data
Assigning tickets intelligently based on team members’ skills and current workload
Providing agents with response suggestions and relevant context

AI is not designed to replace people. Its purpose is to reduce the cost of manual judgment, allowing teams to focus on decisions that truly require human involvement.

SLA

Without SLA enforcement, ticketing inevitably turns into nothing more than a task list.

In this solution:

Different priorities (P0-P3) can be configured with different SLA targets
Response time and resolution time are automatically tracked
SLA breaches trigger notifications or escalation workflows
SLA metrics can be directly used for reporting and retrospective analysis

Knowledge Base

A well-designed ticketing naturally evolves into a knowledge system over time.

In the NocoBase solution:

Ticket resolution processes are automatically captured as knowledge entries
When new tickets are created, the system recommends similar solutions
AI helps generate summaries, refine content, and support multiple languages
This knowledge base, in turn, continuously improves ticket handling efficiency

Differs from Traditional Solutions

Dimension	Traditional SaaS Ticketing	In-House Systems	NocoBase Ticketing Solution
Time to launch	Fast	Slow	Fast
Customization	Limited	High	High
Extension cost	High	High	Low
AI integration	Basic and add-on	Requires custom development	Native and deeply integrated
Data and deployment	Partially controlled	Fully controlled	Fully controlled

Installation and Usage

Please refer to the documentation and choose the option that best matches your NocoBase edition and technical background.

https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/cn/solution/ticket-system/installation

Roadmap

The NocoBase ticketing solution is still evolving, and some capabilities are not yet fully available in the current version. We will continue to improve and extend the solution based on real-world use cases and feedback from the community.

In the coming period, we plan to focus on the following areas:

Multi-language support: expanding language coverage for global teams
Documentation enhancements: providing detailed documentation for core workflows and modules to make the system easier to understand and use

If you run into any issues while using the system, or have suggestions about its features or design, we welcome you to share your feedback in the NocoBase community forum.

We actively review this feedback and use it as an important input for future iterations.

Forum: https://forum.nocobase.com

You are also welcome to try out the full ticketing solution in our demo environment: https://demo.nocobase.com/new

Announcing NocoBase 2.0-beta

NocoBase team — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 04:43:10 GMT

After 8 weeks of hard work by the NocoBase team and all contributors, NocoBase 2.0-beta has been released on schedule. This version includes extensive refinements and testing of the new features in NocoBase 2.0, bringing 2.0 into a more stable phase. We welcome early adopters to use this version for production testing and provide timely feedback on any issues or suggestions.

2.0-rc will be released before February 11, 2026, with more comprehensive testing and additional new features. Stay tuned.

New Features

AI Employees

We have made significant improvements to AI Employees, including:

Optimized capabilities of built-in AI Employees
Support for accessing external data sources
Support for querying large amounts of data
Preserving original formatting in conversation content
Improved error messages

User Manual: AI Employees

UI Templates

The 2.0 beta introduces a brand new UI Templates feature. Each template type supports both copying and referencing, including:

Block Templates
Field Templates
Popup Templates

Notably, Popup Templates allow you to save the entire popup content (all tabs and blocks in sub-pages) as a template, significantly reducing repetitive work from version 1.x.

User Manual: UI Templates

Multi-App 2.0

Multi-App Management is NocoBase’s unified application management solution for creating and managing multiple physically isolated NocoBase application instances across one or more runtime environments. Through the App Supervisor, users can create and maintain multiple applications from a unified entry point, meeting the needs of different businesses and scales. NocoBase supports three deployment architectures:

Single App: Deploy only one NocoBase instance where all business functions, data, and users run in the same application.
Shared Memory Multi-App: Multiple applications can run simultaneously within one NocoBase instance. Each application is independent, can connect to its own database, and can be created, started, and stopped individually, but they share the same process and memory space. Users still only need to maintain one NocoBase instance.
Multi-Environment Hybrid Deployment: Deploy one NocoBase as a unified management center, while deploying multiple NocoBase instances as application runtime environments for running business applications. Different applications can run on different nodes or clusters.

User Manual: Multi-App

Multi-Space

The Multi-Space plugin enables logical isolation to create multiple independent data spaces within a single application instance, suitable for scenarios like multi-factory or multi-store operations with highly consistent business processes and system configurations.

User Manual: Multi-Space

Data Visualization 2.0

Version 1.x provided basic data visualization plugins based on Ant Design Charts and ECharts for fundamental data visualization. However, it fell short in handling complex charts, personalized interactions, and data linkage scenarios.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces a brand new data visualization plugin based on ECharts, supporting visual configuration mode as well as SQL and JSON modes. It supports events, making it easy to handle complex charts, multi-chart linkage, and data drill-down scenarios.

Don’t worry about SQL and JSON being too complex—AI Employee Nathan is here to help.

User Manual: Data Visualization

Workflow

New “Multi-Condition Branch” Node

Similar to switch / case or if / else if statements in programming languages. The system evaluates multiple configured conditions in sequence and executes only the branch that satisfies a condition. This node will replace some functionality of the “Parallel Branch” node. We recommend replacing workflows that use both condition and parallel nodes with the new “Multi-Condition Branch” node.

User Manual: Multi-Condition Branch

Approval 2.0

Most block configurations in the Approval plugin have been refactored using FlowEngine, supporting more flexible configuration and usage. Several new features have also been added.

User Manual: Approval

Option to Display Data Snapshot or Latest State in Approval Processing Interface

Snapshot During the approval process, the applicant and approvers see the record state as it was when they entered, and after submission, they can only see the records they modified—they won’t see updates made by others afterward.
Latest During the approval process, the applicant and approvers always see the latest version of the record throughout the process, regardless of the record’s state before their action. After the process ends, they will see the final version of the record.

Support for Configuring Initiator Data Scope

You can configure user scope-based permissions to determine which users can initiate the approval.

In the To-Do Center, Support for Configuring Business Data Fields in “My Initiated” and “My Approvals” List Cards

The “My Initiated” card allows flexible configuration of approval information and business data fields.

The “My Approvals” card allows flexible configuration of approval task and business data fields.

Email Manager 2.0

The Email Manager plugin has been refactored using FlowEngine, enabling AI Employees to seamlessly participate in email summarization, analysis, and composition. New features like auto-save drafts have also been added.

User Manual: Email Manager

Record History

The Record History plugin tracks data changes by automatically saving snapshots and difference records for create, update, and delete operations, helping users quickly trace data changes and audit operations.

User Manual: Record History

Solutions

NocoBase 2.0 provides ready-to-use solution templates for quickly building business systems.

Intelligent Ticketing System

An AI-driven ticket management platform featuring:

Multi-Source Unified Access: Public forms, customer portal, email parsing, API/Webhook
AI Employee Team: Sam (routing), Grace (replies), Max (knowledge), Lexi (translation)…
Full SLA Monitoring: P0-P3 four-level priority with automatic escalation alerts
Knowledge Self-Circulation: Tickets automatically become knowledge articles after resolution

Solution Documentation: https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/solution/ticket-system/

CRM Customer Management (Preview)

Version Note: The current version is based on 1.x with partial frontend UI adapted for 2.0, for learning and preview only.

NocoBase CRM is a no-code, flexible, and powerful customer relationship management platform, covering:

Customer Management: Customer information, contacts, customer grading
Sales Pipeline: Lead management, opportunity tracking, sales funnel
Order Management: Quotations, orders, contracts
Data Analysis: Dashboards, reports, data visualization

Solution Documentation: https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/solution/crm/

Live Demo: https://demo.nocobase.com/new

2.0-beta vs 1.x

Legend

✅ Supported: 1.x features adapted in 2.0
🆕 New feature: New features in 2.0
✨ Enhanced: Features improved compared to 1.0
🔄 In progress: Features under development
🚀 Optimizing: Supported but needs improvement
❌ Not supported: Features not supported in 2.0
⚠️ Deprecated: Deprecated features
P0/P1/P2: Feature priority
- P0: Coming soon
- P1: Will be supported before 2.0 official release
- P2: Will be supported after 2.0 official release

Interface Builder

Routes & Menus

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Add menu item	Group	✅ Supported	-	-
Add menu item	Classic page (v1)	✅ Supported	-	-
Add menu item	Modern page (v2)	🆕 New feature	-	-
Add menu item	Link	✅ Supported	-	-

Pages

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Page settings	Display page title	✅ Supported	-	-
Page settings	Edit page title	✅ Supported	-	-
Page settings	Enable page tabs	✅ Supported	-	-
Page settings	Copy embedded link	❌ Not supported	-	-
Page settings	Enable page header	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Drag layout	Block drag layout	✨ Enhanced	-	-

Add Blocks

Data blocks

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Table	✅ Supported	-	-
Form (Edit)	✅ Supported	-	-
Form (Add new)	✅ Supported	-	-
Details	✅ Supported	-	-
List	✅ Supported	-	-
Grid card	✅ Supported	-	-
Comments	✅ Supported	-	-
Map	✅ Supported	-	-
Charts	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Calendar	❌ Not supported	-	-
Gantt	❌ Not supported	-	-
Kanban	❌ Not supported	-	-
Multi-step form	❌ Not supported	-	-

Filter blocks

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Form	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Collapse	❌ Not supported	-	-
Tree	❌ Not supported	-	-

Other blocks

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Block template	🆕 New feature	-	-
JS block	🆕 New feature	-	-
Iframe	✅ Supported	-	-
Action panel	✅ Supported	-	-
Markdown	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Record history	🆕 New feature	-	-
Email	✅ Supported	-	-
Workflow > To-Do	❌ Not supported	-	-
Workflow > Approval	🔄 In progress	P0	-

Tabs

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Tab settings	Edit tab	✅ Supported	-	-
Tab settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Tab settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-

Table Block

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Table settings	Title & description	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Block linkage rules	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table settings	Block height	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Table settings	Enable drag and drop sorting	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Table settings	Drag and drop sorting field	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Table settings	Data loading mode	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Table settings	Enable quick edit	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table settings	Show row numbers	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Page size	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Data scope	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Default sorting	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Enable tree table	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Expand all rows by default	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Table density	✅ Supported	-	-
Table settings	Save as template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Add new	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Filter	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Link	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Popup	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Refresh	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Bulk edit	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Table actions > Global actions	Bulk update	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Export	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Import	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Table actions > Global actions	Column settings	❌ Not supported	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table actions > Global actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	View	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Edit	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Update record	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Popup	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Link	✅ Supported	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	Duplicate	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Table actions > Row actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Table actions > Row actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table actions > Row actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table columns	Display collection fields	✅ Supported	-	-
Table columns	Display association fields	✅ Supported	-	-
Table columns > Other columns	JS field	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table columns > Other columns	JS column	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table columns > Other columns	Actions	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Column title	✅ Supported	-	-
Table column settings	Tooltip	✅ Supported	-	-
Table column settings	Column width	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Enable quick edit	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table column settings	Sortable	✅ Supported	-	-
Table column settings	Fixed	✅ Supported	-	-
Table column settings	Style	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Table column settings	Display mode	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table column settings	Display copy button	❌ Not supported	-	-
Table column settings	Ellipsis on text overflow	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Field component	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Render mode	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table column settings	Enable click-to-open	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Edit popup	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Table column settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Table column settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Table column settings	Hide column	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Table column settings	Connect data blocks	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Table column settings	Save as reference template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Table column settings	Save as inherited template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-

Add & Edit Form Block

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Form settings	Title & description	✅ Supported	-	-
Form settings	Block height	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Form settings	Form data templates	❌ Not supported	-	-
Form settings	Form initial values	🔄 In progress	P1	-
Form settings	Layout	✅ Supported	-	-
Form settings	Block linkage rules	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Form settings	Field linkage rules	🔄 In progress	P2	-
Form settings	Data scope	✅ Supported	-	-
Form settings	Enable drafts	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form settings	Save as template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form settings	Convert reference to duplicate	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form settings	Convert reference fields to duplicate	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Form settings	Save as reference template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Form settings	Save as inherited template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Form field items	Display collection fields	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field items	Display association fields	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Form field items > Others	Field template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form field items > Others	JS item	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form field items > Others	Divider	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Form field items > Others	Markdown	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Form field item settings	Show label	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Label	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Tooltip	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Description	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Default value	🚀 Optimizing	P0	-
Form field item settings	Validation	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Form field item settings	Required	✅ Supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Display mode	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Form field item settings > SubForm	Multiple	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Form field item settings > SubForm	Field linkage rules	🔄 In progress	P2	-
Form field item settings > SubTable	Field linkage rules	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Form field item settings > SubForm (Popover)	-	❌ Not supported	-	-
Form field item settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form field item settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Form actions	Submit	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Form actions	Trigger workflow	✅ Supported	-	-
Form actions	Popup	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Form actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Form actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
Form actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-

Details Block

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Details settings	Title & description	✅ Supported	-	-
Details settings	Block height	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Details settings	Block linkage rules	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details settings	Data loading mode	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Details settings	Layout	✅ Supported	-	-
Details settings	Data scope	✅ Supported	-	-
Details settings	Default sorting	✅ Supported	-	-
Details settings	Field linkage rules	🚀 Optimizing	-	-
Details settings	Save as template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Details settings	Save as reference template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Details settings	Save as inherited template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
Details actions	View	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details actions	Edit	✅ Supported	-	-
Details actions	Open popup	✅ Supported	-	-
Details actions	Update record	✅ Supported	-	-
Details actions	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Details actions	Link	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details actions	Template print	✅ Supported	-	-
Details actions	Print	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Details actions	Trigger workflow	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details fields	Display collection fields	✅ Supported	-	-
Details fields	Display association fields	✅ Supported	-	-
Details fields > Others	Field template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details fields > Others	JS field	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details fields > Others	JS item	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details fields > Others	Divider	✅ Supported	-	-
Details fields > Others	Markdown	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings	Show field name	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings	Field name	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings	Tooltip	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings	Description	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings	Style	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Title field	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Style	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Display mode	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Ellipsis on text overflow	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Enable click-to-open	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings > Title display (clickable field)	Popup settings	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings > SubTable	Page size	✅ Supported	-	-
Details item settings > SubTable	Set sorting rules	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details item settings > SubTable	Enable row numbers	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details item settings > SubTable	Linkage rules	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details item settings > SubDetails	Linkage rules	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details item settings > SubDetails	Layout	❌ Not supported	-	-
Details item settings > Large text	Ellipsis on text overflow	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings > Large text	Render mode	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings > Preview	-	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Details item settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Details item settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-

List Block

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
List settings	Title & description	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Block height	❌ Not supported	P1	-
List settings	Block linkage rules	✨ Enhanced	-	-
List settings	Page size	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Data scope	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Default sorting	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Data loading mode	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Layout	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Save as template	🆕 New feature	-	-
List settings	Convert reference to duplicate	🆕 New feature	-	-
List settings	Convert reference fields to duplicate	🆕 New feature	-	-
List settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
List settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
List settings	Save as reference template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
List settings	Save as inherited template	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Add new	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Filter	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Link	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Popup	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Refresh	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Bulk update	🚀 Optimizing	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Export	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Import	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Export attachments	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Send email	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Template print	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Trigger workflow	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Global actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
List actions > Global actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Global actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Row actions	View	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Edit	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Link	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Popup	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Update record	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Template print	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Trigger workflow	✅ Supported	-	-
List actions > Row actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
List actions > Row actions	AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
List actions > Row actions	JS action	🆕 New feature	-	-
List fields	Display collection fields	✅ Supported	-	-
List fields	Display association fields	✅ Supported	-	-
List fields > Others	JS field	🆕 New feature	-	-
List fields > Others	JS item	🆕 New feature	-	-
List fields > Others	Divider	✅ Supported	-	-
List fields > Others	Markdown	🆕 New feature	-	-

Other Blocks

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Grid card block	✅ Supported	-	-
Comments block	✅ Supported	-	-
Map block	✅ Supported	-	-
Charts block	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Calendar block	❌ Not supported	-	-
Gantt block	❌ Not supported	-	-
Kanban block	❌ Not supported	-	-
Multi-step form block	❌ Not supported	-	-
Filter form	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Filter collapse	❌ Not supported	-	-
Tree filter	❌ Not supported	-	-
Block template	🆕 New feature	-	-
JS block	🆕 New feature	-	-
Iframe	✅ Supported	-	-
Action panel	✅ Supported	-	-
Markdown	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Record history	🆕 New feature	-	-
Mail	✅ Supported	-	-
Workflow	🔄 In progress	P0	-

Action Panel

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Action panel settings	Title & description	✅ Supported	-	-
Action panel settings	Block height	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Action panel settings	Block linkage rules	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Action panel settings	Layout	✅ Supported	-	-
Action panel settings	Ellipsis on text overflow	✅ Supported	-	-
Action panel settings	Save as template	🆕 New feature	-	-
Action panel settings	Copy UID	🆕 New feature	-	-
Action panel settings	Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Actions	Popup	✅ Supported	-	-
Actions	Link	✅ Supported	-	-
Actions	Scan QR code	✅ Supported	-	-
Actions	Update record	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Actions	Custom request	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Actions	Trigger workflow	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Actions	JS Action	🆕 New feature	-	-

Fields

Read-only Mode

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Clickable field	Text display	✅ Supported	-	-
Clickable field	Number display	✅ Supported	-	-
Clickable field	Date display	✅ Supported	-	-
Clickable field	Time display	✅ Supported	-	-
Clickable field	Enum display	✅ Supported	-	-
Clickable field	Relation display	✅ Supported	-	-
Large text display	Rich text display	✅ Supported	-	-
Large text display	Markdown display	✅ Supported	-	-
Large text display	Code block display	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Large text display	JSON field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	URL field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Preview field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Checkbox field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Icon field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Color field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Formula calculation	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	Auto code	✅ Supported	-	-
Relation field	SubDetails	🔄 In progress	P0	-
Relation field	SubTable	🔄 In progress	P0	-
Field display	Map display	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	JS Field	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	TableOID	✅ Supported	-	-
Field display	China region	❌ Not supported	-	-
Field display	QR code	❌ Not supported	-	-

Edit Mode

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Single line input	✅ Supported	-	-
Number input	✅ Supported	-	-
Percentage input	✅ Supported	-	-
Password input	✅ Supported	-	-
NanoID input	✅ Supported	-	-
Multi-line text input	✅ Supported	-	-
Rich text editor	✅ Supported	-	-
Code editor	❌ Not supported	-	-
Markdown editor	✅ Supported	-	-
JSON input	✅ Supported	-	-
Selector	✅ Supported	-	-
Radio	✅ Supported	-	-
Checkbox	✅ Supported	-	-
Checkbox group	✅ Supported	-	-
Date picker	✅ Supported	-	-
Color picker	✅ Supported	-	-
Icon picker	✅ Supported	-	-
Time picker	✅ Supported	-	-
Record picker (dropdown)	✅ Supported	-	-
Record picker (popup)	✅ Supported	-	-
Record picker (cascade)	✅ Supported	-	-
File manager	✅ Supported	-	-
Collection selector	🔄 In progress	P2	-
China region	❌ Not supported	-	-
QR code	❌ Not supported	-	-
Scan to input	❌ Not supported	-	-
SubForm	🚀 Optimizing	P0	-
SubTable (simple)	🚀 Optimizing	P0	-
SubTable (advanced)	🔄 In progress	P1	-
Map picker	✅ Supported	-	-
JS Field	✅ Supported	-	-

Actions

Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
Popup	✅ Supported	-	-
View	✅ Supported	-	-
Filter	✅ Supported	-	-
Add	✅ Supported	-	-
Add sub-record	✅ Supported	-	-
Link	✅ Supported	-	-
Edit	✅ Supported	-	-
Delete	✅ Supported	-	-
Refresh	✅ Supported	-	-
Update record	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Submit	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Upload	✅ Supported	-	-
Trigger workflow	✅ Supported	-	-
Bulk edit	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Bulk update	✅ Supported	-	-
Custom request	❌ Not supported	-	-
Copy	❌ Not supported	-	-
Print	❌ Not supported	-	-
Template print	✅ Supported	-	-
Import	✅ Supported	-	-
Export	✅ Supported	-	-
Export attachments	✅ Supported	-	-
Scan QR code	✅ Supported	-	-
AI employees	🆕 New feature	-	-
JS Action	🆕 New feature	-	-

Advanced Features

Category	Feature	Status	Priority	Notes
UI templates	Block	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI templates	Popup	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI templates	Field	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI templates > Field	Form field	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI templates > Field	Details field	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI templates > Field	Approval field	🆕 New feature	-	-
UI and permissions	UI and permissions	✨ Enhanced	-	-
Event flow	Event flow events	🆕 New feature, 🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Event flow	Event flow actions	🆕 New feature, 🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Linkage rules	Linkage rules	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Variables	Current user	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Variables	Current role (identifier)	✅ Supported	-	-
Variables	Current space (identifier)	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Variables	API key	✅ Supported	-	-
Variables	URL query parameters	✅ Supported	-	-
Variables	Current device	🆕 New feature	-	-
Variables	Current record	✅ Supported	-	-
Variables	Current form	✅ Supported	-	-
Variables	Current object	❌ Not supported	P1	-
Variables	Current popup	🚀 Optimizing	P1	-
Variables	Current selected records	❌ Not supported	P2	-
Variables	Date variables	🔄 In progress	P1	-
Variables	Variables and keys	🔄 In progress	P1	-
JavaScript	Run JavaScript	🆕 New feature	-	-

Plugin Status

Plugin Name	Plugin Status	Priority	Notes
@nocobase/plugin-action-bulk-edit	❌ Not supported	P1	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-custom-request	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-duplicate	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-print	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-multi-step-form	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-tree	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-calendar	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-custom-variables	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-embed	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-china-region	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-code	❌ Not supported	P1	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-sort	❌ Not supported	-	Drag and drop sorting of records not supported
@nocobase/plugin-file-previewer-office	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-gantt	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-kanban	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-public-forms	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-text-copy	❌ Not supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-visualization-echarts	⚠️ Deprecated	-	Use @nocobase/plugin-data-visualization instead
@nocobase/plugin-field-component-mask	⚠️ Deprecated	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-mobile	⚠️ Deprecated	-	Use @nocobase/plugin-ui-layout instead
@nocobase/plugin-multi-app-manager	⚠️ Deprecated	-	Use @nocobase/plugin-app-supervisor instead
@nocobase/plugin-app-supervisor	🆕 New feature	P0	Coming soon
@nocobase/plugin-ai	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-ai-gigachat	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-grid-card	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-list	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-markdown	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-flow-engine	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-form-drafts	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-multi-space	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-record-history	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-telemetry	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-ui-layout	🆕 New feature, ❌ Not supported	P2	Planned
@nocobase/plugin-ui-templates	🆕 New feature	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-acl	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-bulk-update	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-export	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-export-pro	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-import	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-import-pro	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-action-template-print	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-api-doc	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-api-keys	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-async-task-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-audit-logger	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-audit-logs	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-cas	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-dingtalk	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-ldap	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-oidc	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-saml	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-sms	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-auth-wecom	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-backup-restore	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-backups	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-iframe	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-template	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-tree	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-block-workbench	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-client	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-collection-fdw	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-collection-sql	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-collection-tree	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-comments	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-custom-brand	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-external-mariadb	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-external-mssql	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-external-mysql	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-external-oracle	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-external-postgres	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-kingbase	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-main	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-source-rest-api	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-data-visualization	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-departments	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-email-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-environment-variables	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-error-handler	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-attachment-url	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-encryption	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-formula	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-m2m-array	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-markdown-vditor	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-field-sequence	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-file-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-file-storage-s3-pro	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-graph-collection-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-ip-restriction	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-license	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-locale-tester	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-localization	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-lock-adapter-redis	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-logger	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-map	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-migration-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-multi-keyword-filter	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-notification-email	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-notification-in-app-message	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-notification-manager	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-password-policy	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-pubsub-adapter-redis	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-queue-adapter-rabbitmq	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-queue-adapter-redis	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-request-encryption	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-system-settings	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-telemetry-prometheus	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-theme-editor	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-two-factor-authentication	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-ui-schema-storage	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-user-data-sync	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-users	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-verification	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-verification-totp-authenticator	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workerid-allocator-redis	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-action-trigger	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-aggregate	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-approval	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-cc	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-custom-action-trigger	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-date-calculation	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-delay	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-dynamic-calculation	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-javascript	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-json-query	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-json-variable-mapping	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-loop	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-mailer	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-manual	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-notification	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-parallel	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-request	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-request-interceptor	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-response-message	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-sql	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-subflow	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-variable	✅ Supported	-	-
@nocobase/plugin-workflow-webhook	✅ Supported	-	-

Software Vendor Boosts Delivery Efficiency by 70% with NocoBase

Deng Lijia — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:39:36 GMT

Introduction

This case highlights how NocoBase enhances large enterprise software architectures. Even teams with strong internal development capabilities find that a lightweight, open-source no-code/low-code layer is often the most effective way to handle long-tail customization.

Industry Context：Petrochemical Digitalization

Digital transformation in the petrochemical sector is defined by one thing: complexity. Processes vary widely, standards are hard to enforce, and business requirements shift constantly.

Factories differ in process routes, equipment scale, organizational models, and safety systems. Even for something as basic as an inspection workflow or a hazard-correction procedure, each enterprise executes it in its own way.

And in reality, this challenge extends far beyond petrochemicals. Most B2B software vendors encounter the same issues when serving diverse customer environments.

Challenges

This technology firm (kept anonymous at the client’s request) has been serving the petrochemical sector for years.

With strong in-house development and a customer base of hundreds of major petrochemical enterprises worldwide, they are considered a leader in industrial digitalization. They also maintain their own low-code engine, mainly used for workflows and form-driven scenarios.

Through ongoing project delivery, the team realized these challenges were not unique to petrochemicals but common across most B2B software vendors.

Customization has become unavoidable

Even the best-designed product cannot satisfy every requirement.

In petrochemicals, the differences are even sharper: safety management, hazard workflows, contractor oversight, and work-permit approvals vary significantly across enterprises. As a result, customers frequently request tweaks or fully customized features.

If these needs cannot be met, vendors risk losing the deal.

But adding customization to the core product clutters the codebase and undermines version stability, while building one-off solutions is costly and hard to maintain.

Limits of their internal low-code platform

They have a clear understanding of what their own low-code engine can and cannot do. It works well for basic workflow and form scenarios, but falls short when advanced data processing or highly flexible interactions are required.

Fragmented systems and high integration costs

Petrochemical enterprises run numerous systems. Safety & environment, equipment, inspection, DCS, video, and more. Data standards differ, APIs are inconsistent, and connecting these systems often costs far more than building applications themselves.

R&D capacity spread thin

Project-based delivery and constant patch requests consume valuable development time, making it hard for the team to focus on building core product capabilities.

Selecting a Better Platform

As project demands grew and their internal low-code engine hit its limits, the team began a systematic evaluation of available low-code platforms. They were looking for a solution that could:

Operate independently from their core product
Handle complex, highly variable business scenarios
Support cross-system data integration
Reduce front-end and back-end collaboration costs
Scale sustainably over the long term

After several rounds of testing and comparison, they chose NocoBase.

The key reasons were:

Open-source architecture with full control

For B2B software vendors, having full ownership of the stack is essential. As requirements evolve, they can modify or extend NocoBase at the code level without being constrained by the platform.

Native support for multiple data sources

Petrochemical enterprises use many systems with fragmented data. With NocoBase, they can unify external data into a single application layer, enabling consolidated business views and end-to-end workflows.

A robust plugin ecosystem for clean and scalable extensions

NocoBase’s plugin system allows them to build isolated modules for complex requirements without touching the core product. These extensions follow a standardized, maintainable structure that supports long-term iteration.

Enterprise-grade foundations: permissions, API gateway, multilingual support

These capabilities make it possible to manage complex role hierarchies, meet strict security expectations, and open the system to external integrations, all within one platform.

Two Core Use Cases

Use Case 1

Extending customer-specific requirements

NocoBase is ideal for handling one-off customer requests that don’t interfere with the core product but still need to be delivered quickly. For example, adding a small page under an existing menu to support a unique business step.

These requests typically share several traits:

Highly personalized with no chance of reuse
Not suitable for inclusion in the core product, as they complicate version management
Custom coding is costly and difficult to maintain
Yet customers **require these features to be delivered **(due to acceptance checks, or real operational needs)

With NocoBase, the team established a new delivery approach:

Build small modules quickly in NocoBase
Sync users, permissions, and data with the core product
Seamlessly embed the modules into the original system menus or page layout
Customers see a consistent interface, while the underlying layers stay fully decoupled

Results

For tasks of similar scope, effort dropped by roughly 70%
No front-end/back-end collaboration is needed; one technical teammate can complete most extensions independently
Major reduction in disruptions to the core product’s development roadmap

Use Case 2

Internal tools

As the company expanded and processes evolved, internal system needs changed frequently.

Asking the R&D team to build internal tools would slow down core product development, while off-the-shelf SaaS tools rarely match the company’s workflows.

In this context, NocoBase became a “lightweight platform for internal systems”:

Business teams can configure foundational components themselves
Most scenarios require no front-end/back-end involvement
Small modules can be adjusted easily as processes change
Core R&D capacity remains untouched

Results

The main product team stays focused
Internal systems can be delivered much faster
Process management becomes more aligned with real operations
Overall efficiency increases without adding pressure to the R&D team

Conclusion

For any B2B software company, true competitiveness comes from two things: a strong core product and healthy project margins.

By adopting NocoBase, the company made its strategic priorities much clearer:

Double down on core R&D

The core engineering team is no longer tied up by long-tail custom requests and can stay fully focused on high-impact, high-value system upgrades.

Protect project profitability

Scattered customization work is moved onto NocoBase, where it can be delivered faster and at a lower cost. Significantly improving gross margins in project delivery.

Build cleaner, two-layer architecture

With a “core system + NocoBase extensions” model, the main product stays stable and uncluttered, and its roadmap remains unaffected by customization projects.

This approach allows the company to maintain long-term product strength while adapting to fast-changing frontline business needs, all at far lower cost and operational burden.

More Customer Stories:

Community Spotlight: Building a Real-World ERP with NocoBase

Metroid145214, Deng lijia — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 03:03:02 GMT

TL;DR

A community member from Mexico recently shared his story in the NocoBase forum.

For more than a decade, he had been trying to build a system for his family business. One that could cover procurement, sales, inventory, logistics, projects, finance, HR, equipment maintenance, fuel management, and more.

He tried outsourcing, no-code tools, and even building it himself, but none of those attempts worked.

Until one day, he posted this message:

“Mi ERP soñado… gracias a NocoBase.”

My long-awaited ERP has finally come to life with NocoBase.

He wrote the full story in Spanish.

We translated and lightly edited it to keep the meaning clear while staying as close as possible to his original voice.

You can read his original post here: https://forum.nocobase.com/t/mi-erp-sonado-gracias-a-nocobase/8326

Below is the full translated version.

Original post

Hello NocoBase team and community,

I’d like to share my story and how this platform has transformed our family business.

I’m from northern Mexico, and for more than ten years, I had been dreaming of building an integrated system to manage our company, which sells fertilizers and grows crops like corn, beans, and sorghum.

What I wanted was a single ERP that could bring everything together. Purchasing, sales, inventory, logistics, projects, finance, HR, equipment maintenance, fuel management absolutely everything in one place.

Dream became a nightmare

I hired developers to build it.

For a system that covered barely a third of what I needed, they quoted about 200,000 Mexican pesos*.

I paid 60% upfront so they could start. Long story short, they weren’t able to finish it.

They handed me the source code useless to me since I have no technical background. And they never returned the money.

I felt like I’d failed my family, who had trusted me with this project.

The fight to keep going

Even though I felt discouraged, I didn’t give up.

I set up manual processes to collect data from each area and then transferred everything into Excel.

It was inefficient. Information got lost, and the spreadsheets quickly became a chaotic mess that I couldn’t analyze or link together.

I tried building a database in Access, but that didn’t work either.

The ideal solution would have been a custom mobile app for field work, but the quote was 360,000 pesos* plus VAT.

After already failing once, and losing people’s trust, that simply wasn’t an option.

I don’t have programming experience. I never managed to handle Visual Basic, macros, Power Apps, Power BI, and so on. It was all too hard for me, although with effort I did manage to understand entity–relationship diagrams.

Even when AI tools arrived, I tried using Visual Studio Code and learning to program, but the learning curve was still too steep.

The endless search

I tried more than ten no-code tools like Airtable and NocoDB.

I kept running into the same issues: the per-user pricing was too high (I needed at least ten users), there were limits on records and automations, and the features just weren’t enough for our complex needs.

I was close to giving up.

NocoBase came out of nowhere

Then I discovered NocoBase.

Honestly, at first I assumed it was just another tool.

But after testing the demo, I realized it was completely different. Radically different.

Why NocoBase became the real solution?

Completely free: The community version is powerful and doesn’t cost a peso.
Self-hosted: I installed it on my own server, with full control.
No limits: No user caps, no record caps, no automation caps.
Highly customizable: The drag-and-drop interface lets me build everything I needed without writing code.
Easy access: I connected it to a domain, and now we can use it from any device with the internet — or even offline on our local network.

How I finally made it work

I set up NocoBase on a small PC I bought just to use as a server:

8th-gen Intel
i3 with 16GB of RAM
256GB SSD

It cost only 2,350 pesos*.

It uses very little power and has been running nonstop, 24/7, for more than six months.

I discovered NocoBase in March 2025, back when it was on version 1.6.

The timing couldn’t have been better, as key features like variables and responsive layouts were just being added.

For me, the four pillars of building a powerful app in NocoBase are:

A well-structured database
An intuitive interface
Efficient workflows
Clearly defined permissions

A dream realized

Thanks to NocoBase, I finally achieved my dream.

I built the ideal application for our business, with every feature I had imagined, all in one place and without depending on a developer who would charge me for every change.

Each user now has a role with the right permissions, so they only see what they need.

This lets us capture real-time data from the field with almost no errors.

And the biggest transformation is that we can now analyze our information to make better strategic decisions:

Smarter purchasing: We can identify the best suppliers and the most profitable products.
Sales and customers: We can see who our most valuable customers are, who has stopped buying, and offer tailored deals based on data.
Inventory control: We make sure essential items never run out.
Trend insights: We know when sales rise or fall, helping us plan ahead.
Workforce management: We measure each employee’s productivity and profitability.
Predictive maintenance: We stay on top of equipment and machinery upkeep.
Complete traceability: We keep a detailed log for every field and plot.

I’m deeply grateful to the entire NocoBase team and to the community that keeps making it better.

I plan to upgrade soon. First to the Pro version, and later to the Enterprise edition, so I can unlock its full potential.

Looking ahead

I’m really excited about the official 2.0 release.

With the Code Agent and the ability to work directly with database context, I feel I’ll be able to customize my app even further and add advanced analytics without ever needing to learn how to code.

To me, it feels like the ultimate tool.

It took effort to learn everything, but the documentation has it all. Right now, I’m studying the new 2.0 alpha docs using a copy of my production database.

A call to action

It frustrates me that when you search “NocoBase” on Google, YouTube, or Facebook, there’s barely any content in Spanish. While paid tools with far fewer capabilities get promoted everywhere.

So I’ve decided to start a Spanish-language YouTube channel to teach and spread the word about NocoBase, so more people like me can build their own ERP without spending a fortune.

Thank you again. To me, NocoBase isn’t just software — it represents ten years of persistence finally paying off.

A big hug to the whole team and community. Thanks to you, I was able to make my dream come true.

I’m convinced NocoBase is the future of business applications. Its potential is huge, and I’m certain it will soon be at the top.

What I admire most is how the team stays humble, without overselling or making big promises, letting people discover its value on their own — unlike other tools that promise everything and only want our money.

Notes

200,000 Mexican pesos is roughly $11,000.
360,000 Mexican pesos is roughly $19,800.
2,350 Mexican pesos is roughly $129.

Closing words

When we first came across his post in the community, our whole team was genuinely excited. Knowing that NocoBase helped someone turn a ten-year dream into something real is one of the most rewarding parts of our work.

It’s our privilege that NocoBase could serve as the tool to support his vision. But the real credit goes to his persistence and patience, which kept the project moving forward.

We’re also glad to see him sharing his experience with more Spanish-speaking users in his own way. He has already published his first video, and we’d love for you to watch and support it.

Within the NocoBase community, there are engineering leaders, freelance developers, students, and many users like him who are building their own business systems.

Thank you to everyone who shares experiences, offers suggestions, contributes plugins, or joins discussions.

We will continue to listen and bring your feedback into the product so that more people can build the applications they envision.

We also look forward to hearing more voices from around the world and seeing the NocoBase community continue to grow!

More Customer Stories:

Two Commercial Plugins Are Now Open Source

NocoBase team — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 02:23:20 GMT

Based on user feedback, we decided to make two commercial workflow plugins open-source:

Why open source?

These plugins are among the most frequently used in workflows and are often required after SQL or HTTP Request nodes. When they were commercial plugins, community-edition users were unable to fully use the HTTP Request node, which created a poor experience. That is why we are making them open-source.

Plugin overview

JSON Calculation

Handles complex JSON produced by upstream nodes, allowing you to compute, extract, or reshape the data.

Common use cases include:

SQL query results
Data returned from HTTP requests It helps convert these outputs into the variable formats and field values needed by downstream nodes.

JSON Variable Mapping

Maps complex JSON structures into variables that are easier to use in later workflow steps.

Common use cases include:

Extracting key fields from nested JSON returned by APIs or SQL
Renaming fields or adjusting array structures
Preparing cleaner variables for subsequent nodes

With this plugin, you avoid repeatedly configuring deep field paths in every node.

Adjustments for existing customers

Your entitlements will remain unchanged. We will refund plugin points as follows:

Lifetime use, 1-year upgrade → 2 points
Lifetime use & upgrade → 4 points

These adjustments will be completed for all existing customers by November 23, 2025, and NocoBase’s parent company will provide the final interpretation.

In closing

Thank you to all NocoBase users and open-source contributors. Your feedback and issues help us improve with every release. We will continue to move faster and deliver stronger capabilities at a more friendly price.

No AI, No VC, Just 17K Stars and Real Revenue

Zhou Yanliang — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 14:15:07 GMT

Background

Last year, when NocoBase 1.0 was released, we published an article titled “How much revenue can an unknown open-source project get” sharing what we had earned over the previous 12 months.

Another year has passed. The world has changed dramatically - ChatGPT became a household name, DeepSeek pushed costs to almost nothing, and Cursor and Claude are in a fierce race. The whole world is talking about AI, as if it’s ready to take over everything. Stock markets have surged to historic highs on that belief.

Amid this wave of enthusiasm, NocoBase has remained quietly focused on its original mission - building a “no-code platform”.

While continuously improving our 1.X versions, we often get asked:

“Now that AI can write code so well, does your kind of product still make sense?”

Where We Stand

It’s been more than four years since our first commit on GitHub. We’ve just started the third stage of our two-year roadmap. Over the past 12 months, our team grew from 10 to 14 people.

We still have no sales team, and we still haven’t spent a single dollar on marketing. There has been almost no media coverage. Apart from some basic SEO, every bit of our effort has gone into product development.

Here’s where we stand today. Compared with last year, NocoBase has grown steadily - not explosively, but meaningfully. Compared with AI projects pulling in hundreds of thousands of GitHub stars, calling NocoBase a product from a bygone era wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

GitHub Stars: 17K
Contributors: 94
NPM package downloads in the past 12 months: 240K
Docker image pulls in the past 12 months: 250K
Git clones: 1.5K per day

Revenue

In the past 12 months, we received orders from more than 400 companies across 57 countries, with total revenue reaching 1.45 million USD (converted at current exchange rates).

Top 20 countries by number of commercial customers:

China
United States
Brazil
Japan
Germany
Vietnam
Indonesia
Russia
France
India
United Kingdom
Italy
Malaysia
United Arab Emirates
Turkey
South Korea
Switzerland
Poland
Portugal
Australia

Top 20 countries by total revenue:

China
United States
Japan
Russia
Vietnam
United Kingdom
India
Vanuatu
Poland
Malaysia
Brazil
Indonesia
Germany
France
Turkey
Thailand
Netherlands
Tunisia
Kazakhstan
Colombia

Compared with the previous period, our paying users now include many large enterprises. Global brands in traditional and new-energy vehicles, smartphones, chip design and manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, consumer drones, renewable energy, consulting, advertising, banking, and higher education - NocoBase has quietly entered all of these sectors.

The Life We’re Living

In early 2024, a few months before the release of NocoBase 1.0, I felt it was time to bring in someone to handle marketing.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what kind of person we needed. Our product is highly technical, and our users are all from technical backgrounds. People with both technical depth and international marketing experience rarely choose to work for small open source projects like ours.

Then I came across Lijia’s profile. An energetic, outdoors-loving girl with a bright smile and white teeth - and I knew right away she was the right one.

She had never worked in tech, never used a no-code platform, and never done global marketing. But within a few months, she was ready. When we launched 1.0, NocoBase reached the GitHub Trending Top 10 for several consecutive days and #2 on Product Hunt.

Over the following year or so, website traffic increased fivefold, GitHub stars rose from 5.7K to 17K, and revenue quadrupled.

None of this came from all-nighters or burnout.

Lijia spends dozens of hours every week in the gym, on the badminton court, or hiking at altitudes above 4,000 meters. One month she might be writing copy in a café in a small European town; the next, holding a morning meeting at the foot of Mount Fuji. This freedom of work and life keeps her energy and happiness high - and that shows in her work.

Just last week, she single-handedly prepared everything for the NocoBase 2.0 launch, edited dozens of product videos, and arranged a week-long tropical retreat for the entire team.

As for me - I’m a husband and father of two elementary-school-aged children. My wife and I have been together since university. She has a passion for life, and almost every morning and evening, our family sits down together for home-cooked meals. Our kids get to enjoy their mother’s cooking every day. We also have a cat, a bird, and a large tank full of fish and shrimp.

Weekends are family days - hiking, cycling, camping, playing soccer, or wading into rivers to catch small fish and shrimp for the aquarium.

Every year, we spend about three months traveling - across different countries, cities, forests, grasslands, deserts, and seas. Since they were born, the kids have experienced more than 150,000 kilometers of road trips. They can recognize many plants and animals, and most crops - rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, soybeans, and fruit trees. We’ve planted, cared for, and harvested vegetables and fruits with our own hands. Whether at the dinner table or on the road, we have long conversations - about school, books, their thoughts, and sometimes about our products, team, and customers. They love reading, play sports, eat everything, and solve problems calmly.

Including NocoBase, I run three companies in different fields. But this doesn’t drain me - it gives me more time with my family. Together, we’ve built a life that keeps getting better.

Being with my children gives me endless inspiration and reflection on both work and life. Like Lijia, I keep my energy and happiness at a high level. I’m in work mode almost all year round - even when traveling or waking up at night - yet I never feel tired, only deeply connected to what we’re creating.

Several members of the NocoBase team are also fathers. Some go camping and fishing every week; others always travel with their laptops because developing NocoBase is their favorite hobby.

Over the past year, two teammates got married, two welcomed babies, and two bought new cars. Behind NocoBase are a dozen ordinary lives - Although we live in different cities and even different time zones, we organize a team gathering and trip every six months. Everyone, without exception, brings incredible energy — and it’s this energy that flows into NocoBase, making it a little better every single day.

Will AI Kill NocoBase?

That’s the question I’ve been asked most often lately - and perhaps the real theme of this article.

As an ordinary person, I can’t predict whether AI will reshape humanity or burst like a bubble one day. But I can share our experience.

Before version 2.0, NocoBase 1.X had nothing to do with AI at the product level. Yet in practice, our team has long benefited from it - for writing documents, coding, fixing bugs, translating, and reviewing contracts. GPT, Gemini, Claude, and others have been our daily assistants.

Through frequent use, we’ve come to understand both the power and the limits of AI. Based on that understanding, we began designing and developing NocoBase 2.0 six months ago.

Compared with 1.X, version 2.0 introduces many refactors and new features - most notably two things: adding AI Employees, and restructuring core modules to support them.

We use NocoBase to build our own CRM and customer service system, serving hundreds of companies across dozens of countries. During the 1.X period, we ran into two recurring problems.

Problem 1: We used the Email Manager plugin to sync Gmail into our CRM, so every customer record displayed the full email history. But when conversations span months and dozens of messages, reviewing them to understand a customer’s tone or intent took too much time.

Problem 2: We often receive inquiries from unfamiliar companies in different countries. Before replying, we want to know who they are - what they do, their size, and which edition might fit them.

Before AI, we manually copied email content into Google to search for background information. When AI gained web access, we started pasting emails into ChatGPT to get background summaries - more efficient, but still disconnected from our CRM.

Now, in NocoBase 2.0, we have an AI Employee named Ellis right next to the email list.

When I open a customer record and want to know how my teammates have communicated with them - their satisfaction, interest in paid plans, and so on - I just click to summon Ellis. She automatically reads all related emails, summarizes the key points, and presents the insights - no typing, no copy-paste, no switching windows.

Next to each lead, another AI Employee, Vera, gathers background information. She reads the lead’s data - email domain, content, and signature - searches the web for relevant company and contact info, compiles a background report, and fills it into the CRM automatically. Again, no manual input or switching needed.

Orin builds data models. Vix analyzes data insights. Lexi translates across languages. Nathan writes frontend code.

Each AI Employee works directly inside our system, understanding context from data and UI, calling tools and workflows automatically. They’re not flashy “AI Agents” that promise to build an entire business system from a few prompts. They’re more like specialized, dependable coworkers - with defined skills and boundaries, working tirelessly wherever they’re needed.

So, will AI kill NocoBase?

If AI ever becomes powerful enough to kill NocoBase, it won’t stop there - it would change life itself, in ways far more serious than one project disappearing. If it doesn’t, then the stronger AI becomes, the more NocoBase will benefit.

Enterprises don’t ultimately need “AI,” “BI,” or “CI,” nor do they care how many lines of code are written. They need systems that keep operations running smoothly, reduce costs, and increase profits.

In business systems, code may account for only one-third of the real work. The rest - understanding, planning, communication, implementation, iteration - still relies on humans.

With today’s AI, achieving full, reliable automation remains extremely difficult, and demands very capable users.

NocoBase aims to be the framework where humans and AI collaborate - providing the infrastructure they both need, while defining clear boundaries so AI can assist reliably within them.

What’s Next

For a small team like ours, being alive in this era of AI is a great stroke of luck - just as the iPhone once ushered in the smartphone age, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for developers worldwide. Today, while major players and startups with vast resources create dazzling AI products, they also leave behind plenty of open space - room for small, focused teams like ours to thrive.

We’ll keep focusing on real, practical problems - helping AI employees blend naturally into enterprise workflows, solving one real problem at a time.

Right now, AI accounts for less than 10% of what NocoBase 2.0 can do.

Over the coming year, we hope to keep raising that percentage.

When it reaches 50%, that may be the moment we release NocoBase 3.0.

The Finale

We’re ready. It’s time to officially introduce NocoBase 2.0 - and invite you to meet your AI Employees.

NocoBase 2.0: Meet Your AI Employees

NocoBase team — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 02:19:11 GMT

NocoBase 1.0-alpha was released on April 28, 2024, marking the beginning of our commercial journey. In the past year or so, we have received feedback from thousands of users, code contributions from developers around the world, and commercial orders from hundreds of companies across more than 50 countries.

We sincerely thank every user, contributor, and paying customer for your trust and support.

During the past six months, while continuously iterating and improving version 1.x, we have also spent significant time thinking, discussing, and developing the next generation of NocoBase.

Now, it’s time to officially introduce NocoBase 2.0-alpha!

AI Employees

The past year has seen rapid advances in AI, with large models showing remarkable-even astonishing-capabilities across many domains.

As heavy AI users ourselves, we’ve brought AI directly into NocoBase 2.0 in the form of AI Employees - intelligent colleagues that work inside your system.

AI Employees in NocoBase are not chatbots, nor isolated agents.

They are seamlessly integrated into your business system, capable of understanding context and executing tasks directly.

They appear wherever you need them - beside your tables and forms - ready to assist.
They can summarize emails, analyze data, organize unstructured content and fill forms automatically, design data models, or even write JavaScript code.
They automatically retrieve contextual data and page structures for intelligent task execution.
Each has unique skills, tools, and knowledge bases.
You can create an unlimited number of AI Employees to form your own AI team.

Learn more about AI Employees

Try the Demo

A Brand-New 2.0 Page System

While NocoBase has always been plugin-based, version 1.x had limitations when dealing with dynamic interactions, flexible layouts, or customized logic on the frontend.

It was difficult to achieve such requirements without significant cost.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces a completely restructured page system designed to support personalized and complex frontend needs efficiently.

RUNJS

RunJS provides a lightweight way to extend and customize UI logic or styling - without creating plugins or modifying source code.

Within the page designer, you can write JavaScript directly to:

Customize rendered content (fields, blocks, columns, items, etc.)
Define custom interactions (button actions, event triggers)
Combine with contextual data for dynamic behaviors

RunJS is supported in:

JS block
JS action
JS field
JS item
Linkage rules
Event flows

Learn more about RUNJS

Event Flow

In NocoBase 1.x, the linkage rule system allowed limited logic orchestration, constrained to a single block.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces Event Flow, a major enhancement to frontend logic configuration.

An Event Flow consists of:

Trigger events, such as before render, on click, or value change
Trigger conditions
Action steps, such as showing notifications, refreshing target blocks, or executing JavaScript

Learn more about Event Flow

Grid Layout

In version 1.x, blocks and fields used a full-width flexible drag layout, which limited precision and aesthetics.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces a new grid layout system, allowing every element to align with grid units for more refined control.

Reusable Blocks and Modals

In 1.x, the copy/reference features for blocks were limited and prone to bugs, and entire modals couldn’t be referenced.

NocoBase 2.0 completely redefines this - enabling flexible referencing and duplication of both blocks and modals, dramatically reducing configuration effort.

Learn more about Block References & Copies

Learn more about Modal References

Enhanced Block Experience

Based on user feedback, NocoBase 2.0 brings many refinements to block components.

For example, tables now support inline editing directly within cells - no popup needed.

More improvements are on the way.

Better Performance

NocoBase 2.0 delivers significantly improved frontend performance compared to 1.x.

FlowEngine

The new page system in 2.0 is powered by FlowEngine - a next-generation low-code frontend engine combining Models and Flows.

It simplifies frontend logic, enhances reusability, and improves maintainability.

By leveraging Flow’s configurable nature, it brings no-code orchestration to frontend components and business logic.

Developing plugin frontends in 1.x often involved complex challenges. With FlowEngine, these are now greatly simplified.

Learn more about FlowEngine

Multi-Application and Multi-Space

Version 1.x supported basic multi-application capability, but all apps shared a single process and could not be monitored or managed individually.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces a completely new Multi-App and Multi-Space architecture.

Multi-App Plugin (in development) Enables dynamic creation and management of multiple standalone apps without separate deployments. Each app runs as an independent instance with its own database, plugins, and configuration - either in isolated or shared processes. The parent app can monitor and manage resource usage and status of sub-apps, ideal for multi-tenant scenarios.
Multi-Space Plugin Allows logical isolation within a single instance - perfect for scenarios like multi-branch or multi-factory setups. Business logic, workflows, and configurations remain consistent, while data stays completely isolated.

Learn more about Multi-Space

New Data Visualization

The 1.x chart plugin was based on Ant Design Charts and ECharts, suitable for simple cases but limited for complex, interactive, or linked visualizations.

NocoBase 2.0 introduces a new Data Visualization Plugin built fully on ECharts, supporting:

Visual configuration mode
SQL and JSON modes
Event-driven interaction
Multi-chart linkage and drill-down

And if SQL or JSON seems too complex - your AI Employee Nathan can help.

Learn more about Data Visualization

Syncing Database Structure & Changing Field Types

In version 1.x, tables and fields could only be created through NocoBase’s Data Source Manager and field types couldn’t be changed afterward.

NocoBase 2.0 now allows:

Synchronizing existing tables and fields from your main database
Changing field types after creation

This means you can directly use an existing database schema as your primary data source.

Additional Plugins

Record History

The Record History plugin automatically tracks data changes - insertions, updates, deletions - saving snapshots and diffs for audit and rollback purposes.

Learn more about Record History

Form Drafts

The Form Draft plugin automatically saves draft data while users fill out forms, preventing accidental loss.

New Email Manager

Rebuilt with FlowEngine, the new Email Manager seamlessly integrates AI Employees for summarizing, analyzing, and composing emails.

It also introduces automatic draft saving and other enhancements.

Learn more about Email Manager

Upgrading from 1.x to 2.0

Upgrading from 1.x to 2.0 is straightforward - simply follow the official guide.

However, note that NocoBase 2.0 is currently in alpha, so expect some instability.

Thanks to NocoBase’s decoupled architecture between UI and data, your existing 1.x applications will remain fully intact.

When creating new pages, you can now choose between v1 and v2 types - select v2 to access the new NocoBase 2.0 features.

Announcing NocoBase v1.9.0

NocoBase team — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT

New Feature

Field Validation Rules

Supports configuring multiple validation rules for fields — such as required, format, length, range, and custom expressions. Input data is automatically validated upon form submission to ensure accuracy and consistency. Validation rules can be flexibly configured in field settings.

Reference: Field validation

Table Block Support Column Settings

The table block now includes a Column Settings feature, allowing users to adjust column order, visibility, and pinned position without entering edit mode — making data display more flexible and user-friendly.

Before Data Saved Trigger Mode for Approvals

Approvals now support a Before Data Saved trigger mode — when enabled, data will not be stored when the approval starts and will only be saved after the approval is approved.

Approval Trigger Exposes Approval ID Variable

The approval trigger now exposes the approval ID variable, allowing it to be referenced in workflows and automation processes for more flexible configuration and data tracking.

[Async Task Manager] Support for Service Splitting via Environment Variables and Queues

Introduces a new service splitting mechanism, allowing asynchronous task and workflow services to run independently through the WORKER_MODE environment variable — enabling multi-node deployment and performance optimization.

Reference: Service Splitting

New Event Queue for Handling Queue Messages

Adds a dedicated event queue for handling system queue messages, improving asynchronous task processing and reliability.

Reference: Cluster Mode: Message Queue

Graceful Shutdown Lifecycle Support

Introduces graceful shutdown handling. When the application process receives a SIGTERM or SIGINT signal, it now initiates a proper shutdown sequence to prevent issues from ongoing operations.

Improvements

System Tables Use 53-bit Snowflake-like IDs

Update the IDs of system tables that previously used auto-increment primary keys without global uniqueness to 53-bit Snowflake-style IDs for globally unique identification.

View and Resume Tasks from Disabled Workflows

Manual task blocks now display pending tasks even from disabled workflows and allow users to continue processing them.

Mail Manager Enhancements

Mail data supports resynchronization
Allows resizing images inserted into the email editor.
Rich text editor now supports soft line breaks, improving email formatting experience.
Improved email list performance for smoother operations.

Workflow Module Optimization

Optimized query performance in workflow queue execution by introducing separated fields and indexes for faster data retrieval.

Inside: How an 8-Person Team Delivers at Enterprise Speed

Deng lijia — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 02:50:43 GMT

Introduction

For many tech teams, writing code feels like the core of progress.

But at Shenzhen Chuanglianyun Tech, coding accounts for only about 20% of a project’s lifecycle.

The real obstacles to delivery speed lie in everything around it — defining requirements, managing releases, handling operations, and conducting security testing.

This eight-person team has long served clients in the food inspection industry, completing three full projects in just two months — with half the usual manpower and no compromise on quality.

Their secret isn’t overtime. It’s a structured approach that turns efficiency into a system — powered by the right methods and tools.

Here’s how Chuanglianyun built a framework that lets a small team move with enterprise-level speed.

Code-First vs. Business-First

In the tech world, opinions about low-code platforms often fall into two camps.

Some worry about losing flexibility or facing long-term maintenance issues, while others view them as powerful enablers of efficiency.

But as Chuanglianyun’s experience shows, the real difference doesn’t lie in the tools — it lies in how teams think about development.

“Our team began experimenting with low-code back in 2009. We’ve built numerous low-code projects within the DingTalk ecosystem and even developed our own frameworks. We’ve always approached low-code with a positive mindset.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

They discovered a key distinction: some teams express logic through code, while others express it through models or documents.

The former focuses on implementation; the latter focuses on understanding.

Chuanglianyun belongs firmly in the latter group.

“Our discussions rarely start with code,” Wu said. “We start from business logic and data structures. Once the data model is set and relationships are clear, the interfaces and workflows naturally fall into place.”

This business-first approach helps the team visualize system structure and feasibility early on, making communication with clients much smoother.

For them, coding isn’t the goal — it’s simply one of many ways to bring business logic to life.

From Framework to Platform

Chuanglianyun has always followed a business-first approach to development — focusing on delivering systems quickly while keeping business logic clear and intuitive.

Over years of project work, the team came to recognize the limitations of two common paths:

SaaS low-code platforms: easy to get started with, but often unable to meet enterprise needs for on-premise deployment, data security, and deep customization.
Traditional frameworks: highly flexible, but expensive to maintain and difficult for teams to collaborate on.

“Our clients all operate in intranet environments — running systems on external servers simply isn’t an option. Some platforms offer private versions, but they can cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is just too high.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

This realization pushed the team to search for a base platform that could balance self-hosting, scalability, and flexibility.

When they discovered NocoBase on the 1Panel application marketplace, they decided to give it a try.

It didn’t take long to see how well NocoBase aligned with their development philosophy:

Data-model–driven: systems built directly from business logic.
Plugin-extensible: project-level customization with minimal effort.
Fully self-hostable: secure and compliant in any environment.

“Projects we used to build with other frameworks now take almost no coding to recreate in NocoBase. For a small team like ours, it’s a true amplifier.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

Proven in Practice: A Complete System in Just Two Weeks

Chuanglianyun’s business-logic–driven approach proved its value in their very first project.

The team needed to build a sample photo management system for the food inspection process — including both a backend management panel and a mobile app.

They started by defining data sources and structures directly within the platform. From there, interfaces were auto-generated, and APIs were created simultaneously.

With documentation instantly available, the app team could begin development in parallel — no need to wait for backend integration.

In under two weeks, the entire system was ready: both the backend and the app went live at the same time, with data automatically synchronized to the client’s business system through workflows.

“In the past, we had to write code, compile, release, and go through endless back-and-forth. Now, with API documentation, collaboration happens in one go.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

This experience reinforced the team’s belief: data-model–driven development combined with visual collaboration not only accelerates delivery but also drastically reduces communication overhead and rework.

From there, they began establishing a standardized development workflow built around no-code and low-code platforms.

Method 1: Keeping Complex Projects Under Control

Most of Chuanglianyun’s clients require full source code delivery.

In the past, when using traditional frameworks, each feature had to be split into separate modules, libraries, or services. As projects accumulated, managing versions, syncing documentation, and coordinating deployments became increasingly time-consuming and expensive.

“Engineers tend to abstract common modules, but in delivery-driven projects, that often creates more management overhead instead of reducing it.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

With NocoBase’s plugin-based architecture, the team now encapsulates each project’s custom logic into independent plugins — establishing clear version boundaries and controlled extensibility: “one project, one plugin.”

This approach gives every project its own isolated customization space and a fully traceable maintenance path:

Clear version isolation: updates in one project no longer affect others.
Simplified maintenance: fixes and extensions are handled within a single plugin.
Higher delivery efficiency: clients receive clean, easy-to-deploy source code.

The result: a steadier delivery rhythm and a dramatically lighter maintenance workload.

Method 2: Streamlining Version Updates

In the food inspection industry, nearly all systems must run within clients’ internal networks.

That means developers can’t simply push updates online like typical web projects. Every change involves multiple security layers — connecting to a VPN, passing through a bastion host and internal jump server, and finally reaching the Linux server.

This traditional workflow is slow, error-prone, and draining to maintain.

“In the past, even a small tweak meant logging into the VPN, accessing the bastion host, and manually uploading the code again.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

With NocoBase, the systems still run inside the intranet, but updates made through visual configuration now take effect directly on the live instance — eliminating the need for repeated remote compilations or manual deployments.

This change not only saves time but also greatly reduces coordination overhead.

What once required multiple teams — development, testing, and operations — now happens almost in a single step.

“Before, updating a version inside the intranet could take half a day. Now, it takes barely ten minutes to see the results.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

Method 3: Raising the Bar on Delivery Quality

In software delivery, speed and quality are often seen as opposing goals.

But once development shifts from a traditional framework-based approach to a platform-based one, the two can actually reinforce each other.

Nearly all of Chuanglianyun’s projects must pass rigorous client-side security tests and vulnerability scans. In the past, using traditional frameworks, each scan would surface five to eight high-risk issues — often stemming from outdated dependencies or integration mismatches.

“In the old days, every security test meant a week of patching and retesting.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

After adopting NocoBase, the difference was dramatic: their last three security reports each contained only one high-risk vulnerability, typically resolved within just a few hours.

Wu noted that this responsiveness not only impressed clients but also gave the team greater confidence in every delivery.

The improvement stemmed from an architectural shift.

With traditional frameworks, integrators must assemble dependencies, front-end and back-end frameworks, permission systems, and logging modules — each introducing potential vulnerabilities.

In a platform-based model, these components are centrally maintained and updated by the core team, allowing developers to focus entirely on business logic.

This clear separation of responsibilities brings three major benefits:

Reduced vulnerability surface: fewer risks from mixing self-developed and third-party components.
Faster security response: centralized fixes eliminate the need for individual dependency audits.
Consistent quality: productized experience minimizes repeated pitfalls.

For Chuanglianyun, this shift means spending less time fixing bugs — and more time refining business logic.

Insights for Vertical Industry Tech Teams

Chuanglianyun’s story goes far beyond the food inspection industry.

Their development methodology applies to small teams across many verticals — from manufacturing quality control and medical follow-up systems to government approval workflows and warehouse logistics platforms.

Business-driven, not code-driven

Express logic through visual models and documentation, enabling teams to align early on system structure and feasibility.

This not only reduces the risk of coding errors but also encourages clients to participate in the design process — turning requirements into shared understanding.

Model-first development, parallel execution

Start with data modeling to define the system’s core structure, then automatically generate interfaces and APIs.

Front-end, app, and back-end teams can then move forward in parallel — dramatically shortening delivery cycles and improving collaboration consistency.

Standardization as the foundation of quality

Unify architecture, processes, and delivery standards so that quality assurance happens in real time, not after the fact.

This ensures every project is reliable, reusable, and verifiable from day one.

All these methods share a single principle: turning 70–80% of non-coding work into something visual, collaborative, and controllable.

“Low-code doesn’t weaken technology — it empowers developers to focus their efforts where they truly create value.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

Conclusion

Efficiency is a systemic capability.

Within such a framework, developers break free from repetitive work, clients see results faster, and teams continuously build reusable strengths with every delivery.

That’s the true competitive edge of a small team.

“A small team doesn’t mean small output — with the right approach, eight people can achieve what eighty would.” — Wu Zhengjie, Head of Chuanglianyun Tech

This is the belief Chuanglianyun hopes to share with more development teams across different industries.

More Customer Stories:

Built an AI Multimodal R&D Platform in Days — with NocoBase

Deng lijia — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 04:35:00 GMT

Introduction

Wasu Media has built an AI multimodal R&D platform from scratch — in just a few days — using NocoBase.

As a major player in digital television and media industry, Wasu Media has been actively exploring how emerging technologies like AI and AIGC can reshape content production.

Here’s how their team turned complex data pipelines and model workflows into a unified, visual platform for AIGC innovation.

Image generated by AI

Scenario

In reality, content generation isn’t just about chaining models together — it’s about managing tons of data moving through different steps.

To handle this complexity, the team identified three key areas to focus on:

Data Management: Internal multimodal assets (such as text, images, and other materials) must be centrally organized, labeled, and incorporated into a structured content repository. Only with a systematic data management framework can semantic search, content recommendation, and intelligent generation be effectively supported.
Workflow and Production Scheduling: From topic selection → content generation → review → output, every stage needs to be automated and visualized. A unified scheduling platform not only improves efficiency but also enables multi-model orchestration, task assignment, and version control.
Data Monitoring: In large-scale content generation, real-time monitoring of data—such as scripts, generation records, and model call logs—is critical. It helps teams quickly locate issues and provides valuable feedback for future optimization and iteration.

Challenges

As the team worked to validate workflows quickly while ensuring long-term scalability, several key challenges emerged:

Too many moving parts: The number of assets exploded, from text scripts to image outputs. Managing them all — along with models and compute nodes — became chaotic.
UI bottleneck: Each interface change required days of front-end work.
Fast iteration pressure: Business teams needed new features every few days. Any delay slowed experiments and validation.

Before adopting NocoBase, the team had tried other AIGC-oriented application development tools. However, while those tools offered more vertical features, they still required substantial coding and came with steep learning curves — making them ill-suited for a fast-paced, trial-and-error development process.

Adoption and Implementation of NocoBase

To tackle these challenges, the R&D team ultimately chose NocoBase as the foundation of their system. Its no-code architecture allowed developers to focus on data modeling and business logic, without spending time on front-end development. For a back-end–oriented team, this meant they could get started quickly and dramatically shorten their development cycle.

With NocoBase, the team built their core platform in just 1–2 days — what used to take dozens of APIs and multiple front-end pages.

Workflows replaced hundreds of lines of logic with clear visual automation.

Back-end developers no longer had to touch front-end code — NocoBase automatically generated the interfaces they needed.

Complex business logic was implemented through workflow configurations, effectively turning dozens of lines of if-else statements into clear, visual flowcharts—with alerts triggered at critical nodes.

At the same time, the platform integrated seamlessly with their PostgreSQL database, enabling data to be accessed both within NocoBase and through external SQL queries or BI tools, preserving the existing data ecosystem.

In their typical use cases, NocoBase served as the core infrastructure for the AI multimodal R&D platform:

As an AI scheduling and management hub, it centralized the orchestration of different compute and model pipelines, eliminating fragmented processes.
On the content generation side, it supported large-scale image generation and management, while laying the groundwork for future multimodal expansion—truly bridging text, image, and other content types.

This not only shortened development cycles but also improved the overall R&D experience.

Team members were especially impressed by the platform’s ease of use and scalability:

“As back-end developers, we don’t have to worry about front-end interfaces anymore. NocoBase covers almost all of our business design needs. With workflows handling complex logic, the efficiency gains are remarkable.”

Although the platform is still in its R&D phase, it has already been deployed internally and is demonstrating significant value.

Outlook

For Wasu Media, this is just the beginning.

By unifying AI workflows and data pipelines under one roof, they’re setting the stage for scalable, multimodal innovation — powered by NocoBase.

And this story shows how no-code can accelerate even the most advanced AI R&D.

More Customer Stories:

NocoBase in Russia: Multi-Scenario Digital Solutions in Action

Deng lijia — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:16:06 GMT

Introduction

NocoBase Russia, our branch, is actively exploring how no-code can deliver more efficient digital solutions across different industries.NocoBase has proven to be highly versatile in practice:

Streamline task, document, and HR management within enterprises
Support ticketing, registration, and media management at large cultural events
Enable unified registration and data management across regions in nationwide education programs

From small teams to large-scale projects with tens of thousands of participants, our platform has been leveraged for rapid development and flexible expansion, achieving significant efficiency gains for organizations across Russia.

What We Achieved

Matreshka Market

Matreshka Market is a platform that connects local Russian producers, helping small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs network, showcase their products, and drive the growth of domestic production.

As the team grew, daily operations depended on several separate tools—task management, document storage, HR, and financial records. With information scattered across different platforms, communication became inefficient and onboarding new members increasingly complex.

Solution

With our team’s support, the Matreshka Market team built an all-in-one internal system on our platform:

Task and project management: A custom task tracker and kanban board linked progress directly with documents and team members.

Document hub: Centralized technical and project materials created a living knowledge base, making it easy for new members to get up to speed.

HR and employee database: Profiles recorded roles, departments, hours, leave, and payroll—replacing the old Excel sheets.

Automation and notifications: Integrated with Telegram Bot to push task updates and reminders, ensuring timely communication.

Outcomes

Migrated over 80% of internal processes to NocoBase
Replaced more than four external services (task management, CRM, Wiki, Excel)
Boosted response speed by 40% through automation and notifications
Significantly improved onboarding, with new hires able to integrate quickly

Using our platform, the Matreshka Market team created a digital workplace of their own—free from reliance on external templates and designed to evolve with their needs.

Flat White Champ

Every year in St. Petersburg, Russia, hundreds of dancers gather for the Flat White Champ dance festival. The event offers newcomers a stage to shine and gives professionals a high-level platform to perform. From live shows to high-quality livestreams, and through partnerships in tourism and culture, the festival has become a vital part of the city’s cultural scene.

But organizing the festival was never easy. Registration, ticketing, merchandise sales, volunteer scheduling, and media storage all relied on manual work or scattered tools—making operations labor-intensive and error-prone. With growing participation year after year, the team urgently needed a more reliable system.

Solution

Our platform was used to transform the way the festival is managed. Organizers built a complete digital system that included:

Registration and sign-up: Contestants register through personal accounts, with all details stored in the CRM and linked to orders and event records.

Ticketing and entry**: Each ticket generates a unique QR code, enabling fast check-in and smoother on-site operations.

Online store: Tickets and merchandise are managed in one system, directly connected to participant and spectator data.

Volunteer and team management: The CRM tracks staff and volunteer roles, schedules, and past involvement for easy coordination.

Media and file storage: Using S3 storage, all photos and videos are linked to event details, ensuring reliable access and easy distribution.

Outcomes

With our platform, almost all festival processes are now automated, cutting manual work by 60%. The system can be reused for future festivals and runs reliably even during peak days. Data is more accurate, and errors have dropped significantly.

For Flat White Champ, NocoBase platform is not just a management tool—it’s part of the event experience. It empowers dancers, audiences, and organizers to immerse themselves in the passion of dance, supported by a seamless digital system.

”Я в деле” (I’m In)

“I’m In” is a nationwide youth entrepreneurship initiative supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. Spanning 72 regions across Russia, the program provides end-to-end support for tens of thousands of students - from shaping ideas to bringing them to life. In just eight weeks, participants work with mentors and entrepreneurs to refine their concepts into real projects and present them at the national forum.

Managing a program of this scale comes with major challenges. Previously, student registration and check-in relied on manual forms—slow and error-prone. Course and workshop sign-ups lacked centralized management, causing confusion. Meanwhile, organizers also needed a way to track interactions and outcomes between mentors and students.

Solution

Our team used our platform to create a unified digital system for the program:

Student registration and check-in: Each participant registers online and receives a unique QR code. This serves as both an entry pass and a way for organizers to access complete personal information, cutting verification time dramatically.

Course and activity management: Students can log into their accounts to browse available lectures and workshops, check real-time availability, and reserve a spot. The system updates automatically, preventing overbooking or duplicate sign-ups.

CRM management: All contact details and participation records—whether for students, mentors, or experts—are stored in a single CRM, giving organizers clear oversight and ensuring project progress remains transparent.

Outcomes

Centralized registration data from 72 regions, ensuring far greater consistency
Entry efficiency improved several times, with wait and verification times sharply reduced
More accurate tracking of participation and outcomes, with duplicate or incorrect records minimized

For “I’m In,” our platform is more than just a technical fix—it’s what makes the program scalable. As the initiative continues to grow, the team can build on the same system, providing even more young people with the opportunity to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to life.

Our Experience in Russia

Our clients in Russia primarily value the platform’s flexibility and all-in-one capabilities. Whatever the project, we make it easy to configure, scale, and run — all in one platform.

Key strengths include:

No-code building: Teams can build and adjust modules on their own, without relying on developers.
All-in-one platform: CRM, ticketing, inventory, documents, media, and HR management are all centralized in one system.
Flexible data and views: Multi-dimensional filtering, relationships, and display options make information management more efficient.
High-load stability: Even at peak moments—such as during dance festivals or large national programs—the system runs reliably.
Easy expansion and replication: The same setup can be quickly replicated and customized for new teams, events, or regions.

Thanks to these features, our team has been able to deliver versatile digital solutions across multiple scenarios.

As our Russian team puts it：

“NocoBase allows us to quickly build the systems our clients truly need across different industries—without being constrained by predefined product structures or templates.”

Looking Ahead

From Matreshka Market’s internal management to Flat White Champ’s cultural events, and nationwide programs like “I’m In,” our team has demonstrated the real value of the work we do: understanding client needs and turning them into practical systems with speed and precision.

This is the shared goal we pursue with our partners: enabling more organizations to realize digital solutions that fit their needs—faster and at lower cost.

We also look forward to welcoming new partners to jointly expand NocoBase’s capabilities in new industries and use cases, helping more teams achieve their goals.

More Customer Stories:

NocoBase Enters German University Classrooms

Deng lijia — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 04:36:41 GMT

Background

In a course titled “Application Development with Low-Code Platforms” at a technical university in Germany, the instructor wanted students to go beyond theory and build real applications. The course used several low/no-code tools, with NocoBase as the primary hands-on example.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Quick Start: Task Management in the First Session

On day one, students jumped straight into practice: following NocoBase’s getting-started tutorial to build a task management app. Within a single class, they learned the basics of data modeling and UI configuration, and experienced how quickly a low-code platform enables rapid prototyping.

Deep Dive: Re-implementing Salesforce Modules

In later sessions, students used NocoBase to re-implement core Salesforce modules:

Contacts
Leads
Opportunities
Customer Management

This exercise taught them how to design data structures and business logic in NocoBase, while comparing its feature depth, extensibility, and limitations against Salesforce. The course also included Appsmith and Microsoft Power Apps for a side-by-side comparison of strengths and trade-offs across platforms.

Project Work: A Low-Code Application Manager

For a three-week project phase, the instructor built a Low-Code Application Manager in NocoBase to support the class. Within this system, students could:

Register the requirements their apps aim to solve
Configure data sources (tables or collections)
Manage app pages
Design and implement business-logic patterns

On the instructor side, the system provided a consolidated view of all projects, plus grading and commenting workflows for feedback. It served both as a teaching management tool and a project knowledge base.

Experience and Feedback

The instructor reported positively on NocoBase in class:

Stability: Ran smoothly across multiple sessions and projects.
Architecture: Flexible data modeling and a plugin-based design made the coursework easy to extend.

“Overall, I’m very satisfied with the platform and appreciate its design and stability.” — Professor, Technical University in Germany

More Customer Stories:

NocoBase as ED’s Technology Foundation: From Internal Systems to Commercial Products

Deng lijia — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:03:07 GMT

Intro

A fun fact from our journey: in our pre-sales process, we often combine NocoBase with AI to deliver proof-of-concepts at record speed. Clients are frequently surprised when, after meeting us on Monday, they return on Wednesday to see a fully working prototype. The usual reaction is: “What’s the magic?” When we reveal NocoBase, it always creates a moment of surprise—and curiosity.

—— Fabio Farzat，ED CEO

About ED

ED is a Brazil-based technology company with more than 130 professionals across 16 states. For years, the team has delivered and supported mission-critical systems for large enterprises in insurance, capital markets, utilities, and the public sector.

On the delivery side, ED holds ISO 9001 certification (covering software, project, and infrastructure management processes) and has achieved CMMI-DEV Level 3, reflecting internationally recognized standards and sustainable engineering maturity.

Organizationally, ED has been ranked in Brazil’s “Great Place to Work” Top 10 for four consecutive years—peaking at No. 1 and currently holding No. 6. This recognition highlights ED’s ability to attract and retain top talent, ensuring professionalism and stability in every project.

With its scale, rigorous quality systems, and broad customer base, ED is recognized as a leading enterprise technology service provider in Brazil. Today, it is accelerating efforts in modern platforms and AI-driven solutions to help clients prepare for the future.

Pain Points and Decision

In daily project delivery, ED’s engineering team repeatedly faced the same challenge: endless cycles of CRUD and integration development. Whether for internal systems or client-facing projects, they needed to quickly build data management layers, generate APIs, handle import/export, and still ensure security and scalability. Each time meant starting from scratch—consuming significant time and resources, and ultimately slowing down innovation.

To break out of this cycle, ED compiled an enterprise-grade requirements checklist:

Security — access control, data isolation, compliance assurance
Performance — fast response times even under large-scale datasets
Scalability — flexible adaptation across diverse projects and client environments
Observability — transparent operations for monitoring and troubleshooting

What they needed was more than just a table-dragging tool. They were looking for a platform that could support complete data models, enforce strong types and relational structures, and automatically generate APIs.

After evaluating multiple market solutions, ED ultimately chose NocoBase. Internal proof-of-concepts showed that NocoBase not only met every item on their checklist but also delivered greater flexibility and efficiency in real-world use.

Implementation Scenarios

After completing the proof of concept, ED quickly rolled out NocoBase into its core business systems and gradually extended it to multiple scenarios.

Scenario 1: Commercial Product – AssistFlow

Unlike most companies that only use NocoBase for internal systems, ED built an external commercial platform directly on it—AssistFlow. AssistFlow enables enterprises to rapidly create intelligent agents that run seamlessly across multiple social media channels, supporting multimodal interactions with text, voice, images, and files. Beyond customer service, it also extends to sales, HR, technical support, and more.

In this commercial product, the entire configuration module and management interface are powered by NocoBase. This means the team doesn’t need to redevelop frontend logic; instead, they can model and configure directly in NocoBase to provide customers with flexible and scalable management capabilities.

AssistFlow Highlights:

Fast onboarding — Create and launch an intelligent agent in just 5 minutes, no coding required
Multi-channel integration — Supports WhatsApp, Teams, Slack, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more
Multimodal interaction — Handles text, voice, images, and files to meet diverse business needs
Wide applicability — Covers customer service, sales, marketing, HR, and technical support
Automation and integration — Built-in APIs enable seamless connections with existing systems and streamline workflows
Secure and controllable — Supports private cloud deployment to meet enterprise-grade security and compliance requirements

Scenario 2: Project Management Platform

Built to support the full lifecycle of ED’s client delivery projects. Tasks that once required multiple rounds of development—such as CRUD operations and permission logic—can now be completed in a single step through simple data modeling, frontend configuration, and auto-generated APIs.

Scenario 3: Ticketing System

An external-facing support and service request system fully powered by NocoBase’s data layer and interface. Customers can submit and track tickets directly, while backend workflows are automatically triggered to handle each request.

Scenario 4: Vendor Management System

In this system, vendors can upload invoices, which automatically trigger payment approval workflows. With NocoBase’s data modeling and workflow capabilities, the entire process is automated and fully traceable.

Results

With NocoBase, ED achieved significant improvements in both delivery speed and quality:

Shorter delivery cycles — Modules that previously required 2–3 iterations of 15 days each can now be completed in just one iteration
Faster testing and launch — Most features only require direct functional testing, without the complex layers typical of traditional development
Greater production stability — Smoother go-lives and stronger team confidence

Engineers at ED believe NocoBase has transformed the way they build. Visual modeling, automated CRUD, flexible workflows, and auto-generated APIs have freed developers from repetitive work, allowing them to focus directly on business outcomes. QA and user feedback loops have become much shorter, enabling projects to reach production faster.

Today, NocoBase has become ED’s technology backbone: powering internal systems, forming the foundation of external commercial products, and supporting nearly all day-to-day delivery. More importantly, this “Monday meeting, Wednesday prototype” magic is not only the starting point of customer surprise and trust—it also represents a new paradigm of delivery.

Outlook

For technology teams worldwide, ED’s experience shows that NocoBase not only meets enterprise-grade requirements—security, performance, scalability, and observability—but also enables faster iterations, shifting focus from repetitive tasks to innovation and value creation.

In Brazil, ED has already reshaped its delivery model with NocoBase. Next, they aim to bring this approach to more industries and organizations together with NocoBase.

More Customer Stories:

Sub-Second Response at Scale: Classact Runs NocoBase on Kubernetes

Deng lijia — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:02:39 GMT

About Classact

Classact Co., Ltd. is an IT infrastructure service provider offering technical support and engineer staffing. It is also among the first companies in Japan to receive Proxmox Gold Partner certification, with extensive experience in virtualization and data centers. While delivering highly available IT solutions to clients, Classact has also been working to streamline its own internal systems and processes to ensure operational efficiency and compliance.

Like many companies, Classact’s digital needs go beyond its technical teams. Departments such as administration, HR, and sales also require reliable systems to manage recruitment, employee operations, training, and information security compliance.

Challenges and Requirements

Before adopting NocoBase, Classact relied primarily on the open-source tool Exment for internal database management.

However, as business operations scaled and data volume grew, Exment’s performance issues began to affect daily use:

Slow page loads: In large datasets, a single page could take 5–10 seconds to load, significantly slowing down workflows.
Poor user experience: Long waiting times led to frequent employee complaints and reduced willingness to use the system.
Limited scalability: The system lacked the flexibility to accommodate growing business needs or support new application scenarios.

At the same time, different teams were experimenting with other tools. Some adopted ClickUp for task management, while Classact also evaluated Airtable and NocoDB.

Through this exploration, Classact clarified its requirements for a new solution:

High performance: Handle hundreds of thousands of records while maintaining fast response times.
Flexibility: Allow departments to quickly tailor applications to their specific needs.
Enterprise control: Support self-hosted and private deployments, ensuring full control of data.

These requirements ultimately led Classact to choose NocoBase as the most suitable solution.

Deployment and Validation

Before going live, Classact first tested NocoBase in a staging environment. The team imported hundreds of thousands of records to simulate real business scenarios, focusing on query and page load performance. The results showed that NocoBase maintained stable performance even with large datasets, fully meeting expectations.

Based on this validation, the company deployed NocoBase on its self-managed Kubernetes cluster to ensure enterprise-grade stability. The technical team also purchased several plugins, which accelerated application development and enabled the rapid rollout of employee operations and training management systems that had previously been stalled.

This deployment and validation approach not only confirmed NocoBase’s reliability in performance and scalability but also allowed Classact to migrate with minimal risk and quickly advance its internal digital transformation.

Application Coverage

After deployment, Classact quickly built and launched a series of applications to support different aspects of internal operations. These applications covered common business processes such as HR, employee services, and asset management, as well as more specialized areas like ISMS compliance and mentoring programs.

Human Resources Management

Employee data maintenance, training reports and notifications, recruitment activities (interview records and notifications), role and position assignments, employee representative elections, and professional certification tracking.

Employee Services

Information updates (e.g., address or commuting route), benefit applications, expense reimbursements, equipment and book purchases, business card requests, medical consultations, and reporting for celebrations or condolence events.

Asset and Task Management

Management of internal systems and equipment assets, along with daily task tracking.

Learning and Development

E-learning license management, mentoring program management and reporting to support ongoing employee growth.

Information Security and Compliance

ISMS operations management to meet information security standards.

Data Collection and Engagement

Public forms for collecting candidate information, employee surveys, and internal feedback.

Most enterprise systems only cover a single scenario, forcing organizations to rely on multiple tools to manage different processes in parallel. NocoBase breaks this limitation, enabling Classact to build and combine applications freely within a single platform.

With this approach, Classact has created an integrated internal management platform tailored to its needs, with far greater flexibility than traditional solutions.

Results

By adopting NocoBase, Classact achieved significant improvements in both performance and user experience:

Performance optimization: Page load times dropped from 5–10 seconds to just 1–2 seconds, greatly improving daily efficiency.
Higher user satisfaction: Reduced waiting times eased frustration and resistance, leading to consistently positive employee feedback.
Visualization: Charts, flexible filters, and display options made data far more intuitive to analyze.
Process optimization: Workflow features simplified complex business processes even further.

Classact also shared positive feedback on their experience with NocoBase:

“What we value most about NocoBase is its stability and scalability. Even with large datasets, it consistently delivers stable performance. The charting features give us intuitive data visualization, the LDAP plugin allows seamless integration with Active Directory, public forms make candidate and employee data collection easy, and the workflow functions have greatly streamlined our internal processes.” — Hidetoshi Honma, CEO of Classact

Conclusion

Classact’s experience shows that NocoBase not only delivers sub-second response times with datasets in the hundreds of thousands but also, through Kubernetes deployment and its plugin architecture, supports complex multi-department, multi-process needs on a single platform.

Unlike traditional siloed systems, NocoBase provides a model-driven, extensible, and composable architecture. This allows enterprises to continuously evolve their internal systems at lower cost while keeping room for future expansion.

More Customer Stories:

NocoBase CRM Solution is Now Live — Ready for You to Explore

Albert Ma, Deng lijia — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:14:14 GMT

We’re excited to announce the official launch of the NocoBase CRM Solution!

As an open-source no-code platform, NocoBase has been widely used to build all kinds of business applications. Among them, CRM is one of the most common starting points—so it only made sense for us to make it the first official solution in our lineup.

You can now try it directly in our live demo environment and easily replicate it for your own needs.

👉 Try it now: https://www.nocobase.com/en/solutions/crm

Why CRM?

CRM systems are one of the most popular use cases for NocoBase. They have a clear structure, standardized workflows, and well-defined data relationships—making them a perfect showcase of NocoBase’s strengths: visual data modeling, flexible permissions, automated workflows, and built-in charts.

Even more importantly, CRM is a use case that’s been validated across a wide range of real-world scenarios by our global user base.

What’s Inside the CRM Demo?

You’ll find a fully functional CRM system where you can:

Manage customers, contacts, and organizational profiles
Customize dashboards with funnel charts, rankings, and more
Handle approvals and send emails directly within the platform
Set up reminders, automate workflows, and assign tasks
Tailor fields, relationships, permissions, and interface layouts

From data modeling to UI design to business logic, everything is configured visually—no code required.

What Commercial Plugins Are Used?

The current CRM Demo includes the following commercial plugins to provide a complete experience:

Plugin	Role in CRM	Alternative Without Plugin
Data Visualization: ECharts	Customizable charts (e.g., funnels, bar, pie)	Use the free chart plugin or embed external charts via iframe blocks
Data Table: Comments	Add comments to customers, contacts, tickets, etc.	Combine Markdown (Vditor) with list views as a workaround
Email Manager	Send and manage emails within the system (supports high-volume usage)	Basic functionality (~50%) achievable with data tables + email workflow node; attachments not supported
Backups Manager	Backup, restore, and distribute your app data	Use manual database migration as an alternative
Workflow: Approval	Supports approval flows (e.g., quotes, orders)	Use status fields with linkage rules; limited for complex workflows
Workflow: JSON Variable Mapping	Parse SQL results and assign leads to sales reps	Can use SQL stored procedures for complex logic
Workflow: JSON Query	Advanced JSON parsing for tasks after lead assignment	SQL stored procedures can be used as an alternative
Workflow: Custom Variable	Temporarily store values (e.g., customer ID after creating a service ticket)	SQL stored procedures can serve as a workaround
Action: Export records (Pro)	Export data from any table	Use the default export feature (limited capabilities)
Action: Import records (Pro)	Import data into any table	Use the default import feature as a basic alternative
Custom Variable	Display numeric badges on tab labels	⚠️ No
Template Printing	Generate printable quotes and orders	⚠️ No
History (in beta)	Track changes to data records	⚠️ No

What If You Haven’t Purchased Commercial Plugins?

Even without commercial plugins, you can still build and run a fully functional CRM using NocoBase’s core features. Here’s how to handle some of the more advanced use cases:

Complex Logic (e.g., Lead Assignment)

If you don’t have access to features like pre-operation events, JSON parsing nodes, or JavaScript nodes, you can shift the logic into SQL stored procedures. This works, but it can make the codebase harder to manage and complicate future migrations.

Change Tracking Without History Logs

Without the history log plugin, you can approximate this functionality by combining pre-operation events, query nodes, and JavaScript nodes to compare field values. However, this method is manual, complex, and may affect performance—especially for large datasets or frequent changes.

Basic Commenting Without Specialized Blocks

Missing features like the Comments plugin? You can recreate basic commenting using list views and Markdown fields. Check out this tutorial for an example:

👉 Using the Task Tutorial Plugin

While not as seamless, it covers most basic scenarios.

Other Features

Some capabilities—like custom variable, template printing, or history logs—are difficult to replicate without the respective plugins. These may require significant custom development or workarounds.

Copy It to Your Own Environment

You can copy the entire CRM system into your own NocoBase environment with just a few clicks. It’s a solid foundation to build on—add, remove, or customize any features to fit your exact business needs.

Read the guide: NocoBase CRM Demo Deployment Guide

We’ll also be publishing step-by-step tutorials that explain exactly how this CRM was built.

And this is just the start—more ready-to-use solutions are on the way, including ticketing systems, project management tools, and more.

Related reading:

BIEL Crystal’s Digital Factory: Powering 1.85 Billion Units a Year

Deng lijia — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 04:23:43 GMT

The Glass Legend Behind the Screen

In January 2007, just weeks before Apple’s first iPhone was set to launch, Steve Jobs made a last-minute call: ditch the plastic screen and go with glass.

At the time, virtually all mobile phones used plastic screens. Switching to glass on such short notice posed immense technical and supply chain challenges. But within that narrow window, BIEL Crystal delivered — producing glass panels that met Apple’s exacting standards. That win marked their entry into the core supply chain of the world’s most iconic consumer electronics brand.

Eighteen years later, BIEL has grown into a quietly dominant force in the global consumer electronics industry — a hidden giant in the world of glass.

Their client list includes many of the world’s leading tech brands. From smartphones and wearables to AR/VR headsets and in-car displays, BIEL’s products are everywhere. Whether it’s a glass cover, a sapphire watch face, a fingerprint sensor component, or a ceramic accessory, BIEL holds a leading position across multiple specialized domains.

In fact, maybe you’re reading this through a glass screen made by BIEL.

The Factory Behind Every Glass Screen

For a manufacturing powerhouse like BIEL Crystal, keeping equipment running smoothly isn’t just about productivity—it directly impacts product yield and delivery reliability.

Take a single smartphone glass cover as an example. From cutting and edge grinding to strengthening, coating, cleaning, inspection, and assembly—the process spans more than a dozen steps and dozens of machines. And not a single one can afford to fail. A minor glitch anywhere in the line can set off a chain reaction, jeopardizing delivery timelines for global clients.

That’s why routine equipment inspections are mission-critical—ensuring machines are checked on time, faults spotted early, history recorded, and issues flagged for quick resolution.

In the past, BIEL’s inspection teams relied on paper forms. Each check was logged by hand on sheets of paper inside the factory, passed manually to back-office teams, and eventually stored away in file cabinets.

Once the data was on paper, it became static — unsearchable, untraceable, and unusable.

When a breakdown occurred, maintenance teams had no quick access to past records. Hard-won troubleshooting knowledge couldn’t be reused at other plants.

And this isn’t just BIEL’s challenge — it’s a common pain point across the manufacturing industry. High-frequency, repetitive, collaborative workflows often lack the right digital tools to support them.

That’s why BIEL began looking for a better solution — one that could digitize critical inspection processes without requiring heavy development resources.

Starting with Equipment Inspections

After evaluating several no-code and low-code platforms, BIEL chose NocoBase as the foundation for its new equipment inspection system. With its streamlined setup, flexible permission controls, strong data security, and a rich plugin and workflow ecosystem, NocoBase quickly proved to be the ideal choice.

What sets NocoBase apart from traditional development is simple but transformative: business users can build fully functional systems without writing code—just by mapping out their own workflows.

Once the new system went live, BIEL’s inspection process saw immediate and dramatic improvements:

1. Inspection Records Are No Longer Lost

All inspection data is automatically stored in a centralized system. Technicians can quickly look up any machine’s history—viewing past issues and how they were resolved in seconds.

2. Valuable Experience Is Captured

Every resolved issue is logged in the system. When similar problems arise, engineers can skip the guesswork and apply proven solutions—accelerating repairs and avoiding repetitive work.

3. Real-Time Transparency on the Shop Floor

With real-time visibility into equipment status, inspection routines, and anomalies, supervisors can stay in control—making faster, smarter decisions without ever leaving their desks.

4. Frontline Inspections Are Easier and More Accurate

No more clipboards. Inspectors now use mobile devices to log equipment conditions on the spot and report issues instantly—eliminating manual paperwork for good.

5. No More Overlooked Issues

When an issue is flagged during an inspection, the system immediately notifies the right person. They can respond directly with a solution—keeping the process fast, transparent, and foolproof.

How One Workflow Transformed an Entire Factory

The equipment inspection system was the spark, not the end goal.

Digital transformation in manufacturing often starts with a single business scenario. But the real challenge lies in scaling that success—extending it across more factories, more workflows, and more operational contexts. Every new system rollout must first go through a full POC cycle: rapidly building prototypes, validating feasibility, and determining whether broader adoption makes sense.

In the past, this process was often slow and costly. Frequent requirement changes, custom development, and repeated testing and fine-tuning consumed significant resources and dragged down the pace of transformation.

But with NocoBase, that equation changed dramatically.

With NocoBase’s support for managing multiple applications, BIEL can now build multiple independent business systems on a single platform—and do so rapidly. When a new business need arises, teams can spin up a prototype in a matter of hours, test it on the spot.

Process reuse across factories has also become remarkably easy. Once a solution is validated in one facility, it can be quickly duplicated, lightly adapted, and deployed elsewhere—drastically cutting the overall cost of digitalization.

The success of the inspection system inspired more departments to get involved. Now, everything from maintenance to scheduling is going digital, with more teams joining the shift.

Digitalization Is Reshaping the Future of Manufacturing

With over 90,000 employees and an annual output of 1.85 billion units, BIEL Crystal is one of the world’s leading manufacturers in advanced glass components. Every piece of glass is the result of finely tuned machinery, streamlined processes, and massive operational coordination.

Now, BIEL is going further—leveraging digital tools to transform the way factories run.

In manufacturing, innovation isn’t just about better products — it’s the ability to adapt, scale, and stay precise in a world of constant change.

More Customer Stories:

Announcing NocoBase v1.8.0

NocoBase team — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 02:00:00 GMT

New Feature

Forgot Password – Email Recovery Supported

Users can now recover their passwords via email. Enable this feature in Settings > Authentication > Forgot Password, configure an email notification channel, and customize the password reset email (supports variables and HTML format).

Reference: Forgot Password

Custom Aggregation Variables

Supports creating statistical variables such as count, sum, and average. These variables can be used in menu badges, page labels, and other areas to make the interface more intuitive and information-rich.

Reference: Custom Variables

Email Management

The email management module has been fully upgraded, now supporting email deletion, batch sending, sync interval settings, and various user experience improvements.

Data Sources

Supports the SQL Server BIT field in external data sources and enables on-demand loading of data tables from external sources.

Text Copy

Supports one-click copying of text field content.

[Workflow: HTTP Request Node] Support for `multipart/form-data` Type

When configuring an HTTP Request node in a workflow, you can now select the multipart/form-data content type. Once enabled, the request body accepts form-data submissions—including file fields—to support file uploads and similar scenarios.

[Workflow: Approval] Approval Node Results Support Generating Approval Record Variables

Approval node execution results can now be used as variables in subsequent nodes, with automatic recording of status and related data.

Reference: Node Results

Improvements

Scan-to-Fill Input

The generic text input component now includes an Enable Scan option. When enabled, a scan button appears on the right side of the input field, allowing data to be entered via scanning devices. You can also configure whether manual input is allowed.

Reference: Enable scan

Localization Support in Markdown Block

Markdown content now supports localization using the {{t 'xxx'}} syntax to insert multilingual text.

Reference: Localization

A new “Open in new window” option has been added for menu links, allowing you to customize how links are opened.

Calendar Block Supports Setting Week Start Day

You can now customize the calendar view’s week start day, choosing either Sunday or Monday to fit different regional preferences and habits.

Reference: Week start day

Markdown (Vditor) View Mode Supports Image Click-to-Zoom

In view mode, images within Markdown content can be clicked to enlarge, enhancing the reading experience.

Comprehensive Enhancement Of Workflow Module Functionality And Performance

Support filtering workflows by more fields to improve search efficiency
Optimize mobile display styles to enhance user experience
Exclude JSON field loading to significantly improve execution plan list loading performance
Add a new log API for node test runs
Adjust the API interface of the getCollectionFieldOptions method to enhance flexibility

Approval Process Functionality Enhancements And Experience Improvements

Added Configuration Option For Transfer And Add Sign Personnel Selection Lists, Supporting Display Of More Field Information To Assist More Accurate Selection
Adjusted Time Display In Timeline To Absolute Time To Improve Readability
Imported Approval-Related Data Tables From Workflow Plugin To Prevent Local Tables From Being Overwritten
Adjusted Variable API Interface Structure To Enhance Flexibility And Consistency

Support Configuring Database Connection Pool Options Via Environment Variables

Database connection pool parameters can be flexibly set through environment variables to improve deployment flexibility.

Comment Block Supports Pagination

Supports paginated loading of comments to enhance loading performance and reading experience in scenarios with large data volumes.

Mobile Experience Improvements

Notification Popups Adapted To Mobile Styles
Optimized Mobile Layout Detection Logic To Enhance Responsiveness Accuracy

NocoBase Commercial License Activation Guide

Albert Ma — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 01:30:33 GMT

NocoBase Commercial License Activation Guide

To enhance user experience and strengthen security, we have comprehensively upgraded our commercial licensing and activation process. The new authorization method replaces the previous approach of entering usernames and passwords in configuration files, introducing a mechanism based on “Instance ID” and “License Key”.

The core advantages of the new solution include:

Enhanced Security: No longer requires storing your account information in plain text, reducing the risk of sensitive information leakage.
Simplified Process: Authorization is directly bound to your NocoBase instance, making license management and updates more intuitive and convenient.
Increased Flexibility: When your deployment environment changes, you can easily regenerate authorization to quickly adapt to the new environment.
License Protection: Through backend license management and status monitoring, you can monitor the actual usage of your license, promptly detect and handle unauthorized applications, and prevent commercial license misuse.

This guide will walk you through the complete new NocoBase commercial license activation process.

License Activation Step-by-Step Guide

Before starting, please ensure you have successfully installed and are running NocoBase Community Edition.

Step 1: Access License Page and Copy Instance ID

In your local NocoBase application, navigate to System Settings -> License Settings page.
On this page, you will see an Instance ID string, which is the unique identifier for your current running environment. Click the copy icon to its right.

Step 2: Create Application on Service Platform and Associate Instance ID

Log in to the NocoBase Service platform, click the “Add” button on the “Applications” management page.
In the popup form, fill in your application information and paste the Instance ID copied from the previous step into the Instance ID input field, then submit.

Step 3: Obtain License Key

After the application is successfully created, return to the license list, find the corresponding entry, and click the “View License” button in the action column.
In the license details popup, click the “Copy” button to obtain the License Key that matches your instance.

Step 4: Configure License Key in NocoBase

Return to your local NocoBase License Settings page.
Paste the just-copied License Key into the License key input field and click the “Submit” button.
After successful saving, the system will display “License key saved successfully, please restart the server”, indicating that the license key has been configured successfully and is awaiting restart.

Step 5: Complete Activation and Download Commercial Version and Commercial Plugins

Restart your NocoBase service to apply the license and automatically download the commercial version and commercial plugins.

For Docker deployment: Execute the restart command docker compose restart app.
For source code or create-nocobase-app deployment: Execute the yarn nocobase pkg download-pro command in the project root directory.

After the service restarts and successfully downloads plugins, your commercial license is activated. If you need to change the license, you can re-enter the license settings page, click the “Change key” button, and repeat the above process.

How to View License Information

After license activation, you can click the license information icon in the upper right corner of the NocoBase interface at any time to view detailed status of the current license, including license version, expiration date, domain matching status, and authorized plugin list.

Deployment and License Quick Checklist

When encountering issues, you can refer to this checklist for quick troubleshooting:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

During installation or use, you may encounter the following prompts. Please follow the corresponding solutions:

1. `License key mismatch` - License Key Does Not Match Environment

[Q]Why do I get License key mismatch after configuration?

[A]Your running environment may have changed, causing the “Instance ID” to update, but your application still has the old “License Key”. Solution: Please strictly follow Step 1 of this guide to get the latest Instance ID from your current environment, then complete the subsequent process to generate a new “key”.

2. `Invalid license key` - License Key Has Expired

[Q]What does Invalid license key mean?

[A]Your License Key may have expired or been marked as invalid by the platform for other reasons. Solution: Please contact us or check your license status on the service platform. If needed, regenerate the License Key and configure it.

3. `Invalid license key format` - License Key Format Error

[Q]What should I do about Invalid license key format?

[A]The License Key you pasted is incomplete or has incorrect format, preventing the system from parsing it. Solution: Please return to the service platform, ensure you have completely copied the License Key, then re-paste and save.

4. License Information Dialog Forcibly Appears When Accessing System

[Q]Why does the license information dialog always appear?

[A]This popup usually indicates license verification failure. Possible reasons include:

License Key is corrupted or doesn’t match the local environment
License has expired or is invalid
License Key doesn’t match the version of commercial plugins you’re running

Solution: The most direct solution is to completely re-execute the license configuration process: get the latest Instance ID, generate a new License Key, and set it in the local system.

[Q]I migrated my server/database, and commercial plugins stopped working. What should I do?

[A]This is the same issue as above. The server or database is key information that constitutes the “ID card (Instance ID)”, and when they change, the Instance ID changes.

Solution: Same as above, get the new Instance ID, generate a new License Key, and reactivate. The entire process is like updating your ID address after moving.

6. Plugin Not Taking Effect

[Q]I’ve restarted, why are commercial plugins still not working?

[A]If you’ve confirmed the License Key configuration is correct, try the following troubleshooting:

Check Network: Ensure your server can access NocoBase’s npm repository.
Check Logs: Review NocoBase startup logs for plugin download failures or license verification errors.
Manual Execution: If you’re using source deployment, manually execute the yarn nocobase pkg download-pro command again and observe the command line output.

7. Commercial plugins not showing up after activating on a running system?

[Q] I started the NocoBase system first and then entered the License Key in the settings. The activation was successful, so why aren’t the commercial plugins appearing?

[A] This is expected behavior and a very common question. NocoBase is designed to check the license and load the corresponding plugins at service startup. If you completed the activation while the system was already running, you need to restart the NocoBase service to trigger the download and activation of the commercial plugins.

Simply put, the license is like a “pass” for NocoBase, but it needs to “re-enter the door” (restart) to check and use this pass.

Please perform the restart operation according to your deployment method:

For Docker deployment: Execute the restart command docker compose restart app.
For source code or create-nocobase-app deployment: First, stop the running service in your terminal (usually by pressing Ctrl+C), and then run the start command again, such as yarn start.

8. Comparison Between New and Old Authorization Methods

[Q]How is this process different from the previous username/password method?

[A]The old method exposed your account password directly in the environment, which wasn’t secure enough. The new License Key system has several benefits:

More Secure: You don’t need to expose your main account password, only use keys bound to specific environments.
More Flexible: You can generate different License Keys for different clients or projects, making management easier.
Clearer: License information is clear at a glance, with all details recorded on the Service platform.

How Distinct HealthCare Uses NocoBase to Build a Personalized, Long-Term Care System

Deng lijia — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:33:31 GMT

The Family Doctor Model Begins to Take Shape in China

In countries like those in Europe and the U.S., the General Practitioner (GP) system has long been the norm. From routine checkups to vaccinations and chronic disease management, patients are cared for by the same doctor over time—ensuring stable and continuous care.

In China, however, this model is only beginning to emerge. As public awareness of health increases, family doctor-style services have gradually taken root through market-driven, chain-based clinics. Especially in major cities, a new generation of clinics is experimenting with GP-centered models that prioritize proactive care, personalized follow-ups, and long-term doctor–patient relationships—distinct from the traditional pay-per-visit model of public hospitals.

Distinct HealthCare is one of the pioneers in proposing and practicing this family doctor-style, chain-clinic approach in China.

Distinct HealthCare’s Journey into Family Doctor Care

Over a decade ago, Distinct HealthCare opened its first clinics in China’s major cities with a vision to build a full-spectrum, long-term care model centered on general practice. Today, the company has expanded to 12 cities, operating one-stop, multi-specialty clinics staffed by more than 300 full-time physicians from top institutions like Peking Union Medical College, Peking University, and West China Medical Center. Their services span pediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, aesthetic medicine, and more.

Distinct HealthCare operates on a membership-based model: a single “family card” connects all family members, whose health is continuously managed by a dedicated medical team. Rather than visiting hospital departments based on symptoms, members receive long-term, personalized care—as if they had a trusted medical partner who understands their family’s needs.

But healthcare—especially in China—remains a conservative and slow-to-evolve industry. Most public hospitals operate in departmental silos and pay little attention to follow-up care or patient engagement. Even in the private sector, mature models are still rare. For Distinct HealthCare, pioneering a model that blends chain operations, family doctor services, and proactive care meant forging their own path—without off-the-shelf digital tools or proven frameworks to rely on.

As the business scaled, new challenges quickly emerged:

Clinics in different cities operated differently, making standardized service workflows difficult to implement;
Each specialty had unique follow-up needs, making generic tools hard to adapt;
Development resources were limited, and each new feature required long back-and-forth cycles;
As services became more refined, manual work still dominated daily tasks—reducing efficiency and increasing the risk of errors.

Distinct HealthCare realized that traditional development approaches and commercial systems could no longer meet the demands of their high-frequency, lightweight, and fragmented care model.

Building Without a Coding Background

In search of the right digital tools, Distinct HealthCare tested various no-code platforms and traditional SaaS solutions. It didn’t take long to discover that many of these tools, despite appearing simple, posed significant barriers: some were too rigid or difficult to configure, while others required the dev team to adopt completely new logic—an impractical expectation given limited resources.

What they really needed was a tool that fit just right:

Flexible enough to integrate with existing systems and support custom data structures;
Simple enough for product managers to build interfaces independently;
Ready for private deployment, allowing secure and scalable expansion;
Technically open, so developers could retain control over databases and backend logic.

That’s why they chose NocoBase.

“Some minor features? I can tweak them myself—no need to wait on the dev team.” — Iris Meng, Product Manager at Distinct HealthCare

At Distinct HealthCare, this ability to build independently was a key reason NocoBase was quickly adopted.

More importantly, NocoBase wasn’t meant to sideline developers—it helped break down complex workflows into a more flexible toolchain. The backend logic stays in the hands of the dev team, while product managers can rapidly build and adjust interfaces. It’s both efficient and stable.

“We didn’t choose no-code—we chose a smarter, faster way to work.” — Iris Meng, Product Manager at Distinct HealthCare

One System, Seven Teams: How NocoBase Sparked Internal Innovation

Distinct HealthCare’s first project with NocoBase was a follow-up management system. Unlike traditional hospitals that rely on patients to return voluntarily, Distinct HealthCare aimed to offer proactive, ongoing care—tailored to each specialty and scenario, with customized tasks, follow-up content, and communication rhythms.

They started with aesthetic medicine and ophthalmology, building a fully functional, custom follow-up system using NocoBase.

Follow-Up System

Thanks to NocoBase’s open APIs, the system integrates data from sources like HIS, EMR, and pharmacy systems. On a single interface, doctors and nurses can view patient histories, prescriptions, and appointments; create follow-up tasks; and log communications—eliminating the need for tab-switching or manual lookups. This greatly streamlined frontline operations.

From initial evaluation to rollout, the project took just three months—cutting development time by about 60%. After launch, both follow-up completion rates and patient satisfaction improved significantly.

As word spread, other departments began requesting systems tailored to their needs. Thanks to NocoBase’s flexible configuration and fine-grained access controls, Distinct HealthCare trained business teams to build independently. So far, seven small teams across different departments have built internal tools on NocoBase—establishing a shared platform with decentralized development.

“It’s like a step up from complex spreadsheets—our teams can build what they need without waiting on the dev team.”

— Iris Meng, Product Manager at Distinct HealthCare

Rather than bottlenecking development, this shift empowered business teams and unlocked a new mode of cross-functional collaboration.

The Follow-Up System: Seamless Integration with Diverse Systems

More Than Just a System

For Distinct HealthCare, NocoBase isn’t just a tool—it represents a new approach to digital transformation. It enables teams to build and adapt internal systems more efficiently, without being constrained by dev cycles or one-off launches. Instead, teams can iterate continuously, turning real-world frontline needs into standardized workflows—quickly.

In an industry still shaped by intuition, manual work, and long-standing routines, this kind of agility is precisely what makes family doctor-style care truly achievable.

As Distinct HealthCare states on its website:

“We stay true to the essence of medicine. Our diagnoses are grounded in evidence-based practices, avoiding unnecessary tests or medication.”

It’s this mindset—and the efforts of pioneers like Distinct HealthCare—that allow digital tools to go beyond surface-level change and truly embed themselves into the heart of healthcare, helping a traditionally slow-moving industry take meaningful steps forward.

More Customer Stories:

A No-Code Journey Inside SHIMANO

Deng lijia — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 01:00:00 GMT

Zdenek’s Story from the Czech Factory

If you’ve ever ridden a bike, chances are SHIMANO was right there with you.

You might not have noticed it, but every smooth gear change and effortless pedal stroke is made possible by SHIMANO working quietly behind the scenes. For hundreds of millions of cyclists around the world, SHIMANO is an essential part of the ride.

Photo by streetsh on Unsplash

As a global manufacturing powerhouse, SHIMANO runs production facilities all over the world.

One of SHIMANO’s key facilities—a factory in the Czech Republic—has been operating continuously for over two decades, playing a vital role in its global production network.

Here, precision and efficiency are part of the culture. Every screw, every step in the process is executed with standardized workflows and attention to detail.

At the center of today’s story is Zdenek, a seasoned engineer who’s spent years at this Czech facility—and recently, he’s begun exploring a new way to build: without code.

Zdenek, the Engineer at SHIMANO

Zdenek’s No-Code Journey

While Zdenek’s official role is overseeing assembly line processes, that’s just a small part of what he does each day. As a process engineer, he plays a key role in driving continuous improvement across the factory—from digital transformation initiatives to boosting production efficiency and enhancing workplace safety.

He used to collaborate closely with the IT department, co-developing internal systems and streamlining workflows. But once the factory fully transitioned to SAP, the IT team’s focus shifted to maintaining core infrastructure. As a result, many internal tooling needs were left unmet.

“We had plenty of needs, but IT was too busy—there were a lot of issues we just couldn’t fix.” —Zdenek

With growing frustration over messy Excel files and labor-intensive workflows, Zdenek decided to take action himself.

He began exploring no-code platforms, aiming to bypass the coding barrier and empower engineers on the ground to build solutions on their own.

His first stop was Power Apps. On paper, it seemed like an enterprise-grade solution within the Microsoft ecosystem. But once he started using it, the experience was far from smooth: the UI logic wasn’t intuitive, permission settings were overly complex, and even minor changes required IT approval. What frontline engineers needed was speed and autonomy.

That’s when he came across NocoBase—a discovery that would fundamentally change his approach.

With no license fees and no reliance on complex IT setups, NocoBase gave Zdenek exactly what he needed: the power to build, adapt, and improve systems independently. For the first time, he could turn ideas into working tools—without writing a single line of code.

From Excel to Integrated Systems

Initially, Zdenek simply wanted to solve a very specific problem: how to streamline the ISO audit process.

Using NocoBase, they developed their first system: the Audit App. This application seamlessly connected every stage of the audit workflow, from “Evidence Collection” to “Closing.” While initially used only for recording and tracking audit items, Zdenek progressively enhanced the system with more features as its use deepened:

User notification mechanisms that immediately alert responsible parties.
A public form portal allowing frontline employees to directly report risks.
Delegation of audit report responsibilities (Report Delegation), significantly improving completion rates.

“We no longer need to constantly chase people down; every record now has a clear process and designated owner,” Zdenek stated.

Audit App Dashboard

The successful implementation of this system broadened Zdenek’s perspective. If one system could be built, why not more? He began systematically migrating other Excel-managed forms and processes within the factory to NocoBase.

Over the following weeks, Zdenek developed several additional systems:

A spare parts inventory management system to track the inflow, outflow, and stock changes of components, significantly reducing manual errors and optimizing stock levels.
A document approval system to standardize file circulation, ensuring consistent workflows and faster approvals.
A task list module for assigning work items to individuals, helping departments monitor progress.
An equipment approval system for managing equipment usage and authorization requests.
A mobile inspection tool enabling frontline staff to complete forms and submit data directly from their phones.

“The most surprising part was how intuitive it was; users could pick it up almost without any training,” Zdenek remarked.

Spare parts evidence (store out)

With NocoBase’s flexible setup options and role-based controls, they could tailor each interface to the exact needs of different teams. What truly amazed him, however, was its automated workflow configuration. This enabled features like automatic reminders for responsible parties during audits, notifications sent before task deadlines, and even seamless data transfer across different forms.

Throughout this entire process, Zdenek leveraged a flexible no-code tool to transform previously unaddressed needs for small tools into genuinely functional systems, all without traditional programming.

“My first impression was ‘Wow.’ Data entry and processing became incredibly simple,” Zdenek said.

Factory users quickly adapted to the new systems. They no longer worried about formatting errors or spending time searching for misplaced files. The clear interface, granular permission settings, and mobile support empowered frontline employees to truly integrate the tools into their daily work. From a management perspective, capabilities like audit logs, field-level control, and workflow automation ensured the stability and security of their processes.

Zdenek and his colleagues are now planning to build even more frontline tools using NocoBase, from production scheduling to equipment maintenance, continually unlocking processes that were once stalled due to a lack of coding resources.

Key Takeaways

With limited resources, Zdenek discovered a lighter, more efficient, and fully controllable approach to digitalization. Although he’s not a developer, his no-code efforts have genuinely reshaped the internal management methods at Shimano’s Czech factory.

Zdenek’s story shows that true digital transformation isn’t reserved for developers—it begins when those closest to the work are given the power to improve it.

This perfectly exemplifies NocoBase’s typical application in manufacturing: enabling those who understand the business to directly transform their processes into practical tools.

The cover image of the article is by David Dvořáček on Unsplash.

More Customer Stories:

NocoBase v1.7.0 Officially Released

NocoBase team — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 06:00:03 GMT

New Feature

Role Union

Role Union is a permission management mode. According to system settings, system developers can choose to use Independent roles, Allow roles union, or Allow roles union, to meet different permission requirements.

Reference: Role Union

Verification and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

The original verification code feature has been upgraded to a comprehensive verification management system, supporting multiple authentication methods (such as TOTP). The system also supports two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires an additional verification step during login, on top of the password, significantly enhancing account security.

Reference:

Template Printing

Template printing now supports dynamic image and barcode rendering.

Reference: Template Printing

Multiple Keyword Filter

The multi-keyword filter plugin adds powerful text filtering capabilities to the NocoBase platform, enabling you to filter data using multiple keywords and greatly enhancing the flexibility and efficiency of data queries.

Reference: Multiple keyword filter

Date Filter Supports Relative Date Range Selection

Supports filtering by custom time offsets (days/weeks/months/quarters/years) and specific dates, enabling more flexible time range queries.

Left-side Variables

The left-side variables in a condition are used to define the “object being judged” in the linkage rule, i.e., the condition will evaluate this variable’s value to determine whether the linkage behavior should be triggered.

Reference: Left-side Variables

Inherited Template

Inherited templates are ideal when you want blocks to follow a template’s basic updates but also allow specific changes. Blocks inherit the template’s settings and can extend or override them. Settings not changed in the block will update automatically with the template.

Reference: Inherited Template

Block Linkage Rules

Block linkage rules allow users to dynamically control the visibility of blocks, enabling the management of element display at the block level.

Reference: Block Linkage Rules

After Successful Submission

After successful submission, supports refreshing data in other blocks and navigating to detail pages with parameters.

Reference: After Successful Submission

Workflow Category Management

Open Source Plugins for Department and Attachment URL

Improvements

Linkage Rule Property Enhancements

Selectable fields now support configurable options
Date fields now support setting a date range

Reference: Field Linkage Rules

Import Pro

Import configuration now supports using multiple fields to uniquely identify records, as well as options to either overwrite or ignore blank cells during import.

Reference:Import Pro

Performance Optimization for Exporting XLSX

Memory overflow and application freezing when exporting large data tables
There is a probability of duplicate data in the exported data
Query optimization for exported data based on indexes, unique constraints, and index strategies
Add an export concurrent queue and set the concurrency number through environment variables.

Reference:

Performance Optimization for Importing XLSX Files

Change the original single - row import strategy to batch insertion
Reconstruct the duplicate identification mechanism. Change from single - row processing to batch processing while keeping the update logic and triggering workflow unchanged

Reference: About Performance

Workflow Execution Efficiency Improved by 100%

What made Japan's leading real estate firm switch from Salesforce to open-source NocoBase?

Deng lijia — Wed, 28 May 2025 08:01:40 GMT

Introduction

They had options like Salesforce and Kintone. So why did this leader in Japan’s real estate industry ultimately choose an open-source platform—NocoBase?

Who is HouseWell?

In Japan, Century 21 is a household name. Since it entered the Japanese market in 1983, Century 21 has opened nearly a thousand stores across the country, becoming a leading brand in Japan’s real estate agency industry.

Within this huge franchise network, one company’s performance really stands out. For years, it has consistently been among the top performers in Century 21 Japan, making it one of the most respected and influential franchisees. That company is HouseWell.

Based in Saitama, HouseWell has a very diverse business model. It covers a wide range of areas, including property sales and purchases, rental management, renovations and construction, insurance consulting, and IT services.

HR: The Missing Piece in HouseWell’s Digital Puzzle

HouseWell has grown fast—and so has its team, now reaching over 110 employees.

While the company had already gone digital in many areas—using Salesforce for customer data and business workflows—their HR and internal admin processes told a different story. Most of it still ran on paper forms and spreadsheets.

Take leave requests, for example. About 30 are submitted each month, but the process still involves printing, signing, and passing papers between departments. Delays, lost forms, and missed details were common—driving up costs and frustrating staff.

Managing HR data—from team structures to job changes and annual hiring plans—was no better. Info was scattered across files, with no clear system to track or analyze it. That lack of visibility was slowing down decisions and weakening management efficiency.

As the business expanded, it became clear that CRM alone couldn’t cover it all. HR needed a digital upgrade too.

So HouseWell launched a deep search for a system that could work alongside their existing tools—while staying flexible for the road ahead.

A Carefully Considered Choice

HouseWell had three main options on the table, each with its own strengths:

Continue with Salesforce: Salesforce is the world’s top CRM. It’s feature-rich, uses mature technology, has a strong ecosystem, and boasts many success stories in real estate.
Adopt Kintone, a low-code platform: Kintone is Japan’s leading low-code platform. It’s simple to use, quick to deploy, and very well-known with a large market share among Japanese companies.
Choose open-source NocoBase: As an open-source no-code platform, NocoBase offers highly flexible data modeling and UI customization. It also supports on-premise deployment and a one-time purchase model.

Before making a final decision, the team did a deep dive comparison of these three options:

1. Salesforce: Powerful but Limited in Scope

Salesforce is widely recognized as a powerful tool in the real estate industry. It offers a rich set of CRM features, standardized processes, and numerous third-party integrations — all well-suited to large enterprises seeking customer management, data analysis, and sales automation.

However, during a deeper evaluation, the HouseWell team encountered several practical challenges:

Cost Concerns: Salesforce was mainly used by the sales and investment teams, while other departments had little need for CRM functions. To support the back-office operations targeted in this project, licenses would have to be purchased for users who do not actually need CRM features, significantly increasing overall costs.
Limited Customization: Although feature-rich, Salesforce’s interface and process customization options are relatively limited in practice, making it difficult to precisely adapt the system to the specific needs of HouseWell’s diverse business areas.

2.Kintone: Easy to Use, but Lacks Flexibility

As a homegrown Japanese platform, Kintone has clear advantages in ease of use, operation, and quickly launching new processes. Many small and medium-sized businesses are fond of it. HouseWell initially had high hopes, but a deeper look revealed:

Modules Too Rigid: Kintone’s low-code model allows for fast deployment of business processes. However, its system modules are quite standardized, offering limited room for personalization. This made it difficult to meet the precise needs of complex business scenarios.
Limited Scalability: HouseWell planned to integrate its CRM, HR systems, and administrative workflows later on. Kintone’s closed architecture and limited API capabilities proved to be a drawback, unable to support their long-term strategy.

3.NocoBase: Both Powerful and Flexible

Initially, NocoBase was just another option on their evaluation list. But as the comparison deepened, it increasingly showed its strong flexibility and control.

Highly flexible data modeling and interface design capabilities, which could almost perfectly match HouseWell’s business needs.
A one-time purchase model, meaning no ongoing high subscription fees, keeping overall costs manageable.
Strong API integration capabilities, allowing seamless connection with existing systems like Salesforce and providing room for future system integrations.
Completely open-source, making deep customization and further development easier. This also provides a technical foundation for potentially standardizing the system for external use later.

After thorough functional testing and cost evaluation, the team concluded that NocoBase is not only highly flexible in terms of functionality but also excels in openness and scalability — making it a system that can evolve and grow alongside the company.

After careful consideration, HouseWell ultimately chose NocoBase.

From Decision to Go-Live: How Did NocoBase Change Things?

Once they decided on NocoBase, the HouseWell team quickly got to work on implementation.

Phase One: Quickly Setting Up an Admin and HR System

As their first project, HouseWell started by moving their paper-based and inefficient HR and administrative processes onto the NocoBase system:

Fully digitizing the leave request process

Previously, about 30 leave requests each month had to be passed around as paper copies within the company. With NocoBase, employees simply submit requests via an online form. Approvers get instant notifications and can approve them online. The whole process is smooth and straightforward, greatly reducing human error and lost information. Once the system was live, this frequent process became almost entirely paperless right away, leading to a clear boost in management efficiency.

Clearer visibility of HR information

Using NocoBase’s flexible data modeling and customization features, HouseWell quickly built modules for things like employee organizational structure, recruitment channels, and HR statistics. The HR department can now see real-time hiring status for each department and how staff are distributed across different roles. The company’s overall HR picture became much clearer.

Compared to managing information through scattered spreadsheets and emails before, the efficiency gains were substantial.

Phase Two: System Integration and Real Estate Management Package Development

Before adopting NocoBase, HouseWell was already using Salesforce for customer management, with all customer details and transaction records stored there. As they continued using NocoBase, they gradually realized that it was not only suitable for flexible HR management but also fully capable of supporting CRM system development.

The technical team quickly started working on system integration:

By leveraging NocoBase’s powerful API capabilities, they synchronized existing customer data from Salesforce, enabling seamless data sharing. This efficient integration allowed the team to access both customer information and internal business data in one place, avoiding duplicate data entry and improving data consistency.
Using NocoBase’s customizable data models and page layouts, HouseWell is now developing a new real estate management solution tailored for the industry, built upon their expertise in customer management. (Planned for release soon)

Through this process, NocoBase evolved from just a “supplementary tool” into the core platform for HouseWell to create a unified business system.

Real Feedback After Implementation

After implementing NocoBase, the HouseWell team shared clear feedback:

The system’s flexibility and UI customization met their expectations perfectly.
The API integration capabilities exceeded their expectations, making data integration smoother.
Overall costs were significantly reduced, making it much more economical for long-term use.
The NocoBase support team was very responsive, and any issues they encountered were resolved quickly.

Bigger Ambitions: From System User to Solution Provider

HouseWell isn’t just stopping at upgrading its own internal systems. Drawing on their deep experience in real estate, they plan to use NocoBase to create standardized information management systems for the industry. They then aim to offer these as replicable solutions to other businesses.

Thanks to NocoBase’s open-source nature and flexible one-time purchase model, HouseWell can freely customize and develop it further. This allows them to perfectly tailor solutions to the specific needs of various clients in the real estate industry.

This strategic move is transforming HouseWell from simply a user of internal systems into a solution provider for the entire real estate industry.

This not only helps them quickly recoup their system development costs but also opens up new revenue streams for the company, multiplying the value of their IT investment.

Conclusion

HouseWell’s choice of NocoBase over Salesforce or Kintone was far more than a simple software decision — it was a precise, forward-looking strategic move:

From high long-term costs to a flexible and cost-effective one-time purchase model.
From rigid functional modules to a highly customizable open architecture.
From being a system user to becoming a developer and provider of industry solutions.

HouseWell’s success story shows us that true digital transformation lies in finding a solution that truly aligns with your business needs and future strategy.

We hope HouseWell’s story inspires other businesses.

Related reading:

How Second-Brain built an AI system for financial institutions with NocoBase

Deng lijia — Wed, 21 May 2025 05:43:43 GMT

An AI Startup’s Critical Choice

Second-Brain is an AI startup based in Hong Kong, founded by a team with backgrounds in finance and consulting. They specialize in building AI-driven decision-making systems for enterprises.

In B2B enterprise settings, the hardest part of building AI systems isn’t the models themselves—but the messy and fragmented data behind them. Internal policies, workflows, and business records often exist in silos, in inconsistent formats, and sometimes even contradict each other. Without cleaning and structuring this data, AI simply can’t generate meaningful insights.

To enable AI to “understand” an enterprise, Second-Brain’s first step is to build a foundational layer that consolidates proprietary enterprise knowledge, including internal rules and regulations, business processes, and external compliance standards.

While developing an AI knowledge system for a banking client, Second-Brain encountered significant delivery challenges:

Supporting hundreds of pages with intricate permission control
Fully offline deployment with no access to online services
Tight delivery timeline with zero compromise on user experience

With a strong focus on AI models and vertical product design, Second-Brain needed a system backbone that was flexible, self-hosted, and fast to implement—with powerful support for data modeling and configuration.

Why NocoBase?

When the project started, Second-Brain carefully looked at several low-code and no-code platforms. This included various SaaS tools and open-source projects from both home and abroad. However, issues with deployment options, licensing, or code control meant they couldn’t meet the client’s strict needs for offline deployment and information security.

At one point, they even considered going back to a “traditional approach”: developing the entire front-end and back-end in-house. This method offered great control and helped protect intellectual property (IP). But with a tight delivery deadline and high client expectations, this path was too costly and risky.

Just as the team was struggling with this decision, they discovered NocoBase.

The team was drawn to NocoBase’s architecture and principles: it doesn’t rely on SaaS, offers flexibility, and is customizable, extensible, and deliverable. Its open-source nature allowed Second-Brain to get a deep understanding of how NocoBase works, helping them quickly address client feedback.

In the end, Second-Brain chose NocoBase as the foundational platform for their system and began building and delivering the project. The real challenge wasn’t just picking the tool, but how to use it to build a complex, data-driven AI application system and deliver it quickly.

Project Implementation: Challenges and Solutions

This project wasn’t just about building a traditional knowledge management platform—it was about creating a reliable, long-term knowledge base that AI could actually understand and use.

The goal was to clean, classify, and model unstructured internal regulations and business rules, then expose them through standardized APIs for AI model access. This required advanced capabilities in data modeling, organization, and interface design.

Because the client operates in the financial industry, security was paramount. The entire deployment had to run fully offline, and every update had to pass through a physically isolated approval and transfer process.

Once NocoBase proved technically viable, Second-Brain moved forward with solution architecture and tech selection, eventually winning the bid and driving the project forward.

NocoBase served as the backbone of the system, enabling the team to:

Transform regulatory documents and policies into structured, standardized data that AI models could consume

Power the data infrastructure behind the AI Q&A module, enabling:
- Everyday Q&A and policy-related inquiries
- Business queries spanning multiple datasets
- Management-facing analyses that deliver structured conclusions

Support AI workflows with internal tools like
preprocessing (e.g., converting PDFs, Word files, or images into extractable text)

Generating Q&A pairs from curated corpora to enrich fine-tuning datasets.
Build a custom ECharts plugin to visualize relationships between rules and regulations as a knowledge graph.

The Plugin Architecture: A Pleasant Surprise

When dealing with strict security requirements, NocoBase’s plugin-based design proved to be a game-changer for both deployment and collaboration.

Second-Brain modularized core features into individual plugins—so every time the system needed to be updated, they could submit just the updated plugins for approval. This made it much easier to comply with the client’s review process and dramatically cut down on security scans and testing overhead. It was an ideal fit for financial institutions with tight control over software updates.

The benefits didn’t stop there. The plugin approach also boosted the team’s development speed.

It took about two weeks to create the first plugin while figuring out the ideal structure and template. But after that, new plugins could be cloned and customized in a fraction of the time.

They have now developed nearly 20 plugins covering various modules like graph visualization, permission management, and data cleansing. This built up a library of reusable assets for future deliveries.

Frontline Insights from Real-World Use

Throughout the delivery process, Second-Brain shared several key takeaways from working with NocoBase in production.

1. Stability

Even with frequent iterations, NocoBase maintained strong version consistency. The system never went down due to an upgrade—a critical factor when working with clients in the financial industry.

“NocoBase has been impressively consistent across versions. We haven’t run into a single crash during cross-version upgrades—which, honestly, is quite rare.” — Zhengxing Yang, Technical Lead at Second-Brain

2. Collaboration

Second-Brain had a smooth, responsive collaboration with the NocoBase tech team throughout the entire delivery cycle. From bug fixes to feature requests, every response was timely and helpful.

This “open source, but never alone” working model was a key enabler in a high-stakes, high-security project.

While the project is now complete, its tools and approach continue to shape how the client operates today.

Conclusion

Second-Brain delivered a complex, high-security AI system with a lean team. By relying on NocoBase to handle the system foundation, the team was free to channel their energy into building AI capabilities that truly mattered.

That’s exactly what NocoBase aims to do: free teams from repetitive system development, so they can focus on high-impact, creative work that drives real business value.

In industries with strict security demands and complex requirements, this project shows how a truly flexible no-code and low-code platform can redefine what’s possible in enterprise system delivery.

Related reading:

How the No.1 AI Voice Recorder Brand Built Its Internal Systems

Deng lijia — Mon, 19 May 2025 00:07:28 GMT

Introduction

In 2023, PLAUD NOTE made its first appearance on a crowdfunding platform—and instantly stood out as the world’s first AI recorder powered by ChatGPT. With innovative hardware design and powerful AI capabilities, it quickly captured global attention.

During pre-sales alone, it brought in nearly $6 million and gained 35,000 paying members, rapidly becoming a breakout hit in the AI hardware world.

The buzz didn’t stop there—

In less than two years, PLAUD had amassed 700,000 users across 168 countries, featured in top global tech media, and picked up major international design awards like the Red Dot, iF, and Good Design.

In 2024, revenue had soared past $70 million, the team size had doubled, and the company hit 10x growth two years in a row.

But as sales exploded and users kept pouring in, a tough question surfaced:

Was the internal system strong enough to keep up with this rocket-speed growth?

Beyond a Voice Recorder

Most people know PLAUD for its ultra-slim, card-sized recorder—PLAUD NOTE.

But PLAUD NOTE isn’t your typical voice recorder. Once the recording is done, it automatically transcribes the audio, summarizes it, and even drafts publish-ready content using AI.

For content creators, it’s more than a device—it’s an AI-powered writing companion you can carry anywhere.

What powers this hardware is a constantly evolving software platform. Within the PLAUD app, there’s a growing community where users can upload, edit, and share transcription templates tailored for different fields—like law, healthcare, and education—making it easier for everyone to work with voice content.

The hardware is just the starting point. What truly sets PLAUD apart is the platform behind it—designed to help content flow and grow through user collaboration.

How to Quickly Build Systems from Scratch?

As demand surged, PLAUD’s internal needs became more complex.

The support team needed quick access to user data and tools to resolve account issues.

The operations team wanted better ways to manage app content and oversee community templates.

But back then, none of that infrastructure existed.

“We didn’t have any of it—only when needs kept piling up did we start figuring out how to support them,” said Lucas, PLAUD’s Product Manager.

While PLAUD’s product and engineering teams are world-class, their focus was squarely on innovation. Rebuilding internal systems wasn’t the priority—yet support and ops directly impact user experience, and couldn’t be left behind.

So instead of relying on rigid SaaS tools, PLAUD chose a different path: they used the open-source no-code platform NocoBase to build a system tailored to their needs.

They weren’t specifically searching for a “no-code tool.” It’s simply that NocoBase perfectly addressed their three core requirements.

Zero to launch fast: No legacy burden, just build what’s needed
Flexible by design: Fully customizable data models and logic, no vendor lock-in
Product-first: Owned by the product team, with minimal dev support

In just a few days, the team had a working system—and they’ve been improving it ever since.

One Platform, Two Core Systems

So far, PLAUD has used NocoBase to build two key systems. One serves their customer service team, and the other supports their operations team.

Customer Service System: Centralized User Info

PLAUD’s customer service backend is mainly used to:

Look up basic user information and how they signed up.
Check account status and what benefits they’ve purchased.
Perform backend actions, like changing statuses or flagging records.

The system connects to the company’s main database using an external data source plugin. It links data across different tables. This allows customer service staff to find and manage information all in one place within NocoBase, significantly boosting their efficiency.

“We can now find all our user information right in the system. The data connects directly using SQL.”

– Lucas, Product Manager at PLAUD

Operations System: Managing Template Community Content

For operations, the team built a review system for their template community using NocoBase. This system manages user-submitted content templates, like voice-to-text templates for areas such as healthcare, sales, law, and education.

The system supports:

Automatic intake of template content.
Setting up review workflows and managing their statuses.
Automatically publishing approved templates to the app community.

The entire setup needed very little developer input. It was mostly configured by the product team. A few plugins and some technical help were only brought in for complex data tasks, like JSON conversion.

Just two people, and the whole system ran smoothly

When the PLAUD team talks about NocoBase, three words come up again and again: flexible, efficient, and in control.

The entire customer support and operations system was built mainly by the product manager, with only occasional help from developers for API connections or plugin tweaks.

This setup took the pressure off the dev team and let the product vision take shape faster, with quicker iteration cycles.

“NocoBase is used across the whole company, but the actual setup? Just me and one colleague. The devs stepped in only when we needed to hook up interfaces.”

— Lucas, Product Manager at PLAUD

What stood out most was NocoBase’s powerful data modeling.

PLAUD’s business logic involves complex relationships across multiple tables, along with strict access control.

Thanks to NocoBase’s model-driven structure, they could flexibly define fields, set up relational logic, and easily link data across modules—making the whole system much more usable.

“We needed lots of table relationships, and NocoBase really nailed that part.”

— Lucas, Product Manager at PLAUD

And with its plugin-based architecture, NocoBase also gave the team a solid foundation for future expansion—on their terms.

From viral hit to lasting success

In under two years, PLAUD went from making waves with its debut product to running a full-fledged platform. Just last year, they launched NotePin—a next-gen wearable AI recorder.

But behind this rapid evolution wasn’t just cutting-edge hardware or powerful models. What really made the difference was PLAUD’s sharp judgment and speed in building the right systems.

They didn’t pour money into heavy SaaS solutions or build a massive dev team. Instead, they took a leaner, more self-directed approach—building a custom operations and support platform with open-source tools that fit their business like a glove.

At the heart of it all is a key capability: being able to create a flexible, controllable system with minimal resources—so the team can stay agile even as things move fast.

Looking ahead, NocoBase will continue to support PLAUD on its journey—unlocking even more possibilities where software meets hardware.

Related reading:

Beyond Spreadsheets: Classmethod’s Employee Data Management with NocoBase

Deng lijia — Tue, 06 May 2025 08:23:20 GMT

Introduction

By moving away from spreadsheets, Classmethod leveraged NocoBase to create an employee information management platform featuring a clear structure and flexible access controls.

This system has not only streamlined their internal operations, but will also enable them to deliver more effective technical solutions to their clients.

About Classmethod

Classmethod Inc. is one of Japan’s top IT service providers, best known for its comprehensive AWS support—including cost optimization, security, implementation, and ongoing operations.

Beyond AWS, Classmethod also delivers services across cloud adoption, data infrastructure, generative AI solutions, application development, and SaaS integration, working with major platforms such as Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Informatica, and Snowflake.

Many developers may know Classmethod from their well-known tech media site, DevelopersIO. True to their reputation, the team is highly technical, fast-moving, and execution-driven.

The Challenge of Information Management: When Excel Just Isn’t Enough

As Classmethod’s business has grown, their team structure has become increasingly complex—now with around 500 employees in Japan and more than 850 across the group. The workforce includes not just full-time staff, but also part-timers, side-job collaborators, contractors, and partners, spread across Japan and overseas.

With this growth, Classmethod started looking for better ways to manage their organization:

How can they manage employees in different countries and employment types with a single, unified standard?
How can processes like onboarding, offboarding, or internal transfers be automated—covering data entry, access permissions, and notifications?
How can the company centrally track everyone’s certifications, professional backgrounds, and training records to support smarter job assignments, talent development, and hiring?
How can systematic management not only boost operational efficiency, but also provide junior engineers with real-world operations and development experience—while keeping system costs under control?

Now, imagine trying to handle all of this with just Excel or Google Sheets. It’s easy to see how problems would quickly pile up. In fact, these are exactly the pain points Classmethod’s team has faced firsthand:

Managing with Excel and Google Sheets	Key Challenges
⚠️ Software license records were kept in Excel	❌ License assignments were often inaccurate—unused accounts still had active licenses
⚠️ Each department managed its own Google Sheet	❌ Audits became slow and burdensome for both users and IT
⚠️ Data access permissions were tracked in separate spreadsheets	❌ Inconsistent data definitions made sharing and managing information difficult, and permissions were easy to get wrong
⚠️ Complex information had to be cross-checked manually with VLOOKUP	❌ Finding information across departments was difficult, slowing down workflows
⚠️ Every onboarding, transfer, or departure required manual updates	❌ Onboarding could take up to 10 business days, creating a poor experience for new hires

Most importantly, as the team grew and processes became more complex, these issues only got worse. Without a centralized and automated system, the burden on the admin team increased—and the entire organization suffered from slower responses and less reliable data.

This is why Classmethod set out to find a more systematic and flexible solution: one that could centralize data management, support business-specific configurations, and enable automation over time.

System Selection Process

When Classmethod decided to move beyond spreadsheets, the team evaluated a range of tools, including Airtable and NocoDB. These solutions stood out for their ease of use, intuitive interfaces, and some level of extensibility. Ultimately, though, the team chose NocoBase for a few clear reasons: it offered the flexibility, control, and alignment with Classmethod’s needs that other tools couldn’t match.

Here’s what mattered most in their decision:

1. Flexible, open-source deployment

As a tech-driven company, Classmethod prefers to run critical systems in their own AWS environment to meet security and compliance requirements. NocoBase is fully open-source and deployable anywhere, without SaaS restrictions.

2. No per-user fees—ideal for “many viewers, few editors”

While only a small group enters data, many departments need access. With per-user pricing, costs would escalate quickly. NocoBase’s open-source model avoids this issue entirely.

3. Fine-grained access control

NocoBase supports record- and field-level visibility settings for different users—essential for secure, hierarchical data access in an employee management system.

4. Separation of UI and data structure for custom interfaces

Different teams need to see different information. With NocoBase, the UI and data model are configured independently, making it easy to create flexible, tailored interfaces.

5. Built-in workflow engine—no external automation needed

Business logic like automatically creating accounts for new hires or revoking temporary permissions can be handled entirely with built-in workflows, no need for third-party automation tools or custom scripts.

6. Automatic API generation for easy integration

Every new data collection in NocoBase comes with automatically generated APIs, making it much easier for engineering teams to automate scripts and sync data.

In short, NocoBase might not have the longest feature list, but it delivers exactly what Classmethod needs most: security, autonomy, flexibility, and total control over development and operations.

NocoBase in Action: Early Impact

Once the plan was set, Classmethod quickly deployed and modeled their data with NocoBase. The engineering team rolled out NocoBase in their own AWS environment and set up core data collections reflecting the organization—covering employees, departments, software licenses, company assets, system accounts (like Slack and GitHub), and certifications. Business users could also update fields and adjust the UI layout as needed.

Initial data was imported via CSV, and future updates were automated using Python scripts and NocoBase’s auto-generated APIs. By linking all data through relational fields, the team achieved truly structured information management.

After going live, the new system drove major efficiency gains:

Data was no longer scattered across different department spreadsheets, which greatly reduced sync issues and version conflicts
SaaS license management was automated, making IT audits much more efficient
Tasks like revoking temporary permissions, confirming device assignments, and sending expiry alerts were increasingly automated
Business teams could tweak fields and interfaces themselves—no more waiting on engineers, and maintenance became much lighter
Talent data (certifications, training, experience) was now structured, making it easier to manage internal transfers and hiring

Most importantly, this new system sets the stage for future growth. Whether it’s integrating new systems, expanding workflows, or adding AI capabilities, NocoBase offers the flexibility and technical power Classmethod needs to keep evolving.

Continuous Improvement: Turning Internal Success into Client Value

Classmethod has now fully migrated its day-to-day employee information management to NocoBase and is pushing ahead with automation and integration, such as:

Triggering approval workflows when new data is added or updated
Sending notifications to other teams via Slack
Exporting data to external systems (like Google Sheets or integrated platforms)
Automatically requesting license renewals before they expire
Confirming asset ownership (for laptops, security badges, etc.)
Auto-revoking temporary permissions
Sending license expiry reminders through automated workflows
Integrating with large language models via their MCP server

The team is also working to better visualize employee data—such as certifications, job histories, and training records—to improve hiring, talent development, and internal knowledge sharing.

With NocoBase, Classmethod has centralized and automated its HR management, while building up valuable hands-on experience in system development and operations.

As a tech-driven IT services company, Classmethod is committed to turning practical experience into real value for clients. Now, they’re applying these proven practices to client projects—helping more businesses build flexible, controllable systems for today’s complex environments.

As their website puts it: Make technology the core of your business, and drive higher quality and speed with technical excellence and real results.

Related reading:

How One Furniture Factory Built Its Own ERP—No Coding Needed

Deng lijia — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 01:38:47 GMT

Every home has its own story of custom furniture

Ask anyone who’s just finished renovating, and chances are they’ll say: “Cut costs where you can—but never skimp on custom cabinetry.”

That’s because the way your cabinets fit, and how efficiently they use space, will affect your daily life for the next decade or more. Issues like excess formaldehyde, wardrobe doors that crack, gaps in cabinetry, or tatami mats that don’t quite fit—all of these can turn into constant headaches down the road.

Mistakes happen all the time in the custom furniture business, and for good reason—production, design, and installation are handled by different teams, who rely on old-school communication: phone calls and chat groups. With so many moving parts, errors are almost guaranteed.

Across China, hundreds of thousands of small companies keep up with the booming demand for custom furniture. But most of them still run on pen-and-paper management, where messy data and chaotic workflows are the norm.

For consumers, “custom” means a better experience. But for most factory owners, it means tougher management, higher costs, and greater risk.

The Hidden Struggles of Small Businesses

The custom furniture industry is far more complicated than most people realize.

For customers, it seems simple—just tell your designer what you want, wait a few weeks, and your new home takes shape.

Behind the scenes, though, a single order can mean a dozen different steps: sourcing raw materials, cutting panels, scheduling production, arranging delivery, coordinating on-site installation, and handling after-sales support. At any point, something can go wrong—and when it does, the customer is quick to complain.

The challenge is even bigger in China, where over 90% of furniture makers are small or midsize businesses. Most don’t use proper digital systems. Instead, they manage everything through Excel spreadsheets, WeChat groups, or even handwritten notes. Design errors, lost work orders, mismatched accounts at month’s end—these are everyday headaches in a furniture factory.

OLMON Furniture is just one of hundreds of thousands of small custom furniture companies in China. Their team isn’t huge, but they serve plenty of customers every year—and for years, they faced all of these same issues, day in and day out.

They looked into buying ERP software or hiring outside vendors to help. But most solutions were either way too expensive, or simply didn’t fit their needs. Whenever they discussed requirements, the answer was always: “That’s not a standard feature. If you want customization, it’ll cost extra.”

“But our customers all have unique needs! Are we really supposed to pay every time we need the system changed?” For OLMON, this just didn’t make sense.

Building their own system was out of the question, too—hiring IT staff, buying servers, and ongoing maintenance would cost a fortune every year.

It’s not that they didn’t see the value of going digital—it’s that, for small businesses like theirs, the barriers were just too high.

How OLMON Furniture Found a New Way Forward

Everything changed when they discovered NocoBase.

Unlike traditional ERP systems, NocoBase is open source—which makes it much more affordable—and it uses a no-code approach, so even non-technical staff can build and manage the system. The promise of “building systems without writing code” gave OLMON Furniture a real sense of hope.

“It made them think: maybe this is worth a try.”

NocoBase stands out from the usual options—it isn’t as expensive or complicated as traditional coding frameworks, but it’s not as rigid or limited as most other no-code or low-code platforms. Instead, it combines the best of both worlds: all the flexibility of high-code, with the ease of no-code.

As OLMON Furniture dug deeper, they found several features that were a perfect fit for their business:

Flexible, controllable costs.

NocoBase is open source, free to use, and supports self-hosting—no need to worry about expensive subscriptions or hidden fees. Pay only for the plugins you actually need.

Ultra-flexible data modeling.

All those tricky business rules—like managing multi-level relationships between customers, orders, and production schedules—can be handled through simple configurations. Complex structures like one-to-many or many-to-many relationships (including organizational hierarchies and permission systems) are easy to set up. You can even link directly to MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, with no need for endless data migrations.

No-code setup, so business teams take the lead.

Instead of waiting for IT, business staff can now make changes themselves through a drag-and-drop interface. Workflows support multiple approval processes, and rule changes can be made nearly 90% faster. Dozens of built-in components make it easy to design interfaces for both desktop and mobile.

Enterprise-grade data security.

With self-hosting, your core data stays physically separated from the cloud, solving the biggest data privacy concerns. Granular permissions—even down to a single field, like making order amounts visible only to specific roles—ensure sensitive data is protected.

Limitless extensibility.

NocoBase’s unique microkernel architecture keeps the system lean (just 200KB at its core), so adding new features—like BI analytics—only takes a plugin. And with a thriving open-source community, there’s always a solution for any custom need.

ERP Isn’t Just for Big Companies Anymore

After OLMON Furniture adopted NocoBase, they gradually brought more and more of their operations onto the new digital platform. Two game-changing scenarios stood out—dynamic business rule configuration and real-time production data reconciliation.

Dynamic Rule Configuration: No More Painful Development Cycles

With traditional development, even the smallest change in business rules meant weeks of work for the tech team:

Backend developers had to rewrite interface code late into the night.
Frontend engineers scrambled to update React or Vue components.
Database specialists nervously adjusted table structures and migrated old data.
The whole process could drag on for two to three weeks. Any slip-ups meant growing technical debt, until eventually no one wanted to touch the codebase.

But with NocoBase, everything changed:

Business teams can now update data models and business rules directly through an easy-to-use interface—new tables and APIs are generated automatically.

What once took two days to add a field now takes just five seconds.

Changing a form, which used to require three days of back-and-forth, is now done in ten minutes on the platform.
Built-in workflow versioning makes it easy to track changes and avoid confusion.

Best of all, business users are now in the driver’s seat, while IT only needs to handle a few core extensions—their workload is drastically reduced.

Manual Reconciliation Is a Thing of the Past

Piece-rate pay is common in the furniture business—but it’s also a major source of payroll disputes. OLMON Furniture used to manage payroll with paper slips and Excel sheets. Every month, five people on the finance team would work overtime for a full week to check records, yet errors still hovered around 20%, and pay disputes were routine.

To finally fix this, OLMON hooked up NocoBase to their shop floor barcode scanners and PDAs. Now, every time a worker completes a task, they scan and confirm it on the spot—data flows straight into the backend system for instant validation:

If a worker scans the same code within ten minutes, the system spots the duplicate and blocks it.
MES and finance data are now seamlessly connected, so production progress and payroll always stay in sync.
Monthly reconciliation shrank from five people spending seven days to just one person in a few hours—with errors and pay disputes virtually eliminated.

Supervisors can now track real-time productivity rankings by the hour. If efficiency swings by more than 20%, the system automatically triggers an alert for a quick follow-up.

With integrations to Kingdee ERP and other platforms, multi-source data updates instantly, and financial documents are generated automatically—making finance management even smoother.

As for the workers? No more bugging finance for pay details—now they can check their daily earnings anytime, right from the company’s WeChat.

Let Data Speak

With the digital system fully in place, OLMON Furniture’s team saw firsthand that “efficiency” isn’t just a buzzword—it’s something they now experience every single day.

Problems that once seemed impossible to solve can now be tracked, measured, and resolved with clear, reliable data.

Management Metrics	Before	After	Improvement
Rule adjustment time	14 days	2 hours	↓98.5%
Data error rate	12%	0.30%	↓97.5%
Manual labor cost	¥50,000/mo	¥5,000/mo	↓90.0%
Customer complaint rate	8%	0.50%	↓93.7%

Behind it all is a total shift in how the company operates.

Data checks and reconciliations are more accurate than ever. The finance and management teams are freed from endless manual work, and customer service has reached a whole new level.

Most importantly, all these improvements came from within—driven by OLMON’s own staff, not costly outside consultants. The power to go digital is truly back in their own hands.

The True Future of Digitalization: Tools You Can Afford, and Tools That Really Work

For a long time, “digital transformation” and “ERP systems” belonged only to big companies. For countless traditional small businesses like OLMON Furniture, the high costs, complicated development, and drawn-out rollouts made digitalization feel totally out of reach.

But now, everything is different.

OLMON Furniture isn’t content with just “going digital”—they want to turn these new digital capabilities into a foundation for ongoing innovation and growth.

Looking ahead, their goals are clear:

Deeper Technology

Build out industry-specific features with NocoBase’s plugin system—like automated order splitting and smart process scheduling—to fine-tune workflows for custom furniture.

A Collaborative Ecosystem

Co-create a shared library of solutions for the home customization industry with the NocoBase community, driving standards and making it easier for more businesses to share experiences, learn, and grow together—no one has to go it alone.

Industry Vision

Prove that even in industries as complex and ever-changing as custom furniture, you can achieve efficient, elegant management with open-source, no-code tools. Digital transformation shouldn’t be reserved for big companies—it should be within reach for every small business that’s serious about growth.

NocoBase empowers traditional businesses that once could only watch from the sidelines to finally build their own digital management systems—on their own terms. Our mission: make digitalization truly accessible, truly usable, and truly impactful for every business that’s ready to embrace change. Every company that puts care into its work deserves to experience the growth that comes from going digital.

Related reading:

From Designer to Builder: L&A’s Digital Transformation with NocoBase

Deng lijia — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 03:06:59 GMT

Introduction

At L&A, digital transformation means more than just using an ERP. Driven by real business needs, the team built a flexible platform that allows designers and frontline teams to create their own intelligent tools.

With data-driven low-code development, they’ve advanced data democratization and added a crucial missing piece to L&A’s digital ecosystem.

This is a digitalization journey driven by business needs, starting from the inside out.

About L&A

From urban parks to child-friendly spaces, and from cultural tourism towns to theme parks, L&A has delivered thousands of projects over the past 20 years, establishing itself as a leading force in China’s urban and landscape design sector.

As the first publicly listed landscape design firm in China (300949), L&A continues to push boundaries with a bold vision: to become a globally influential operator of family-focused tourism brands and a key player in revitalizing existing assets.

Why L&A Sought a More Flexible Solution

As L&A’s business model evolved, so did its expectations for internal collaboration. The team began looking for a platform flexible enough to support fast-moving projects and changing workflows.

This led the team to a key question: could there be a tool that not only aligns closely with their business logic, but also grows with their needs?

That question opened the door to a new direction—modern database tools.

These tools blur the lines between traditional databases, spreadsheets, and collaboration platforms. By embracing the idea of “database democratization,” they empower non-technical users to take part in system building and process design, giving business teams greater autonomy and control.

However, after researching tools like Airtable, Notion, and various domestic platforms, the team encountered common drawbacks in mainstream SaaS models:

Ongoing subscription fees that put long-term pressure on budgets
Poor feature alignment—either bloated with unused functions or too limited for real needs
Lack of agility, with high customization costs

What L&A needed was a solution that could complement their existing systems—something flexible enough to support innovation, yet simple enough for business teams to build and adapt on their own.

From Designer to Builder: A Business User’s Leap into System Development

“I stumbled upon NocoBase by chance. Since we approached it purely from a business angle, the official team was understandably cautious. After all, NocoBase isn’t an out-of-the-box solution. So instead of the usual sales pitch, what I got was honest, no-pressure advice. That sincerity made me want to give it a shot.

It felt like stepping into a kitchen for the first time—just having the ingredients doesn’t mean you can cook something that actually tastes good. But it’s doable, if you’re willing to learn and take on the challenge.”

This was the first impression of a business-side leader encountering NocoBase, an experience that likely resonates with many others in similar roles. With that mindset, L&A began their journey with NocoBase.

Soon after, he started building a fully functional business system prototype. From learning the platform to interacting with its features, NocoBase matched everything he had imagined.

“NocoBase fulfilled my dream of having it all—I didn’t want SaaS, I wanted low-code, and I wanted full extensibility. And I got them all.”

From Prototype to Practice: Rapid Business Rollout

Once the system prototype was ready, he didn’t stop at experimentation. Instead, he quickly put NocoBase into real-world use across multiple teams. By leveraging its configurable workflows and view modules, he successfully implemented several complex scenarios—and unlocked opportunities to explore even more innovative processes.

Scenario 1: Bridging Cross-Department Collaboration and Scheduling

In a typical L&A project, dozens of teams need to coordinate with multiple specialized departments. Each department operates with its own rhythm and rules, and the old process used to look like this:

Teams submit requests manually
Schedules are coordinated by hand
Endless back-and-forth communication and adjustments

The result? Low efficiency, high conflict, and heavy workload.

With NocoBase, everything changed:

A single workflow node now handles availability checks
The calendar view makes shared resource schedules instantly clear
Teams can directly request available time slots

Request submission interface built with NocoBase:

Availability check via workflow node:

These powerful workflow capabilities have proven more than capable of handling L&A’s complex scheduling and automation needs—dramatically reducing time wasted on constant rescheduling.

Scenario 2: Making Spec Checks and Parameter Calculations Effortless

In their daily work, designers often need to reference design codes and run parameter calculations. With traditional development, even a small request like this could trigger a lengthy process—complex, costly, and hardly worth it for such lightweight tools.

With NocoBase, things are much easier:

Built-in formulas and dynamic rules allow direct implementation of specification-based calculations
Internal platform teams can quickly create handy tools tailored to business needs

These seemingly simple features have significantly boosted the efficiency of standard compliance in day-to-day work.

Scenario 3: Instrumenting Project Data and Tracking Workflow Progress

L&A has a well-established data system. But the real value lies in the “last mile”: capturing and tracking data within actual process steps.

Here’s how NocoBase makes a difference:

Workflows can be configured to automatically tag key process nodes
Project documents and activity histories are managed with precision
Custom data is structured and recorded automatically along the way

In this way, data evolves into a true business asset—anchored in real operations and ready to drive insights.

A Business-Driven Journey from Hesitation to Full Adoption

NocoBase isn’t a one-click solution—it’s a flexible platform built with modular components. For those who are willing to get hands-on and truly understand their business needs, it can become the foundation for a tailor-made system.

As one business leader shared:

“If you’re willing to learn and take on challenges, NocoBase has a surprisingly smooth learning curve. After just a few days, I was already testing it with real business cases—and the results truly exceeded expectations.”

For organizations like L&A that treat digital transformation as a long-term strategy, NocoBase is more than a tool—it’s becoming a core engine for sustainable innovation, built from the ground up by the people who know the business best.

Related reading:

How KIGLAND Scaled Custom Anime Mask Production with Open-Source Tools

Deng lijia — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 07:25:04 GMT

Introduction

In Suzhou China, a team is quietly reinventing the world of personalized production. They don’t make fast-fashion goods or chase mass production, but they’ve built a loyal global following among cosplay fans.

Meet KIGLAND — a studio that crafts 2D-style character head masks, known as KIGURUMI. These masks are highly personalized, tricky to customize, and require precise handiwork — the perfect example of low-volume, high-variety manufacturing.

At first glance, they might seem like a niche artisan team.

But in reality, they’re more like a flexible manufacturing lab for entertainment products. By combining digital production, standardized workflows, and AI-driven supply chain innovation, they’re transforming handcrafted creations into near-industrial products.

From GitHub Issues to Lark’s Base

In its early days, KIGLAND ran things like a true hacker-style startup:

Customer orders were tracked in GitHub Issues
Production progress was updated in Lark’s Base
Feedback and communication were scattered across comments, screenshots, and chat threads

Early use of GitHub Issues to manage orders:

Manage orders through Lark’s Base:

“It was manageable when we were small—but as soon as the volume picked up, the whole system started to break down.”

The problems will sound familiar to anyone who’s scaled from side project to real operation:

Limited structure – Traditional Issue lists couldn’t handle the growing number of custom fields or stage-specific data needs across departments.
Workflow blind spots – Comments and discussions weren’t easily searchable or structured, making it hard to track progress.
Collaboration breakdown – Non-technical team members struggled with GitHub’s developer-oriented tools, and the spreadsheet setup required increasingly complex permission management.

As the communication overhead grew exponentially, KIGLAND knew it was time to stop patching things together—and start looking for a real system built for their unique needs.

Looking for a System They Could Truly Own

As open-source veterans with strong technical backgrounds, KIGLAND’s founding team wasn’t looking for yet another bloated SaaS platform. They needed something different—something they could shape around their business, not the other way around.

“We wanted a tool that could grow with us—not a rigid platform we had to constantly work around.”

So they started exploring alternatives to traditional tools like Airtable. After testing several options, they landed on NocoBase.

The reasons were clear:

Flexible data modeling to handle the complexity of custom orders
Plugin-based architecture with open APIs, giving their team the freedom to extend functionality
User-friendly interface with a shallow learning curve, even for non-developers
A fast-moving, active open-source community
And above all: self-hostable and fully open, giving them complete control over their system

A Custom Management System—Built in Just Three Weeks

In less than three weeks, KIGLAND had a fully functional internal management system built entirely on NocoBase. It was designed to match their workflows exactly, without compromise.

Their setup included:

End-to-end order lifecycle management – covering every step from order intake, design, and production, to quality control and shipping
Multi-role collaboration – with clearly defined permissions for sales, design, and production teams, ensuring smooth handoffs and accountability
Log-driven responsibility tracking – enabling full traceability and faster issue resolution
Flexible materials and inventory tracking – with custom categories, linked records, and real-time visibility

Order list managed in NocoBase:

Order details and production steps:

Activity logs and traceability:

Linking logs to specific orders:

Once the core system was up and running, the team continued to evolve it alongside NocoBase’s regular updates—adapting new features as they came and contributing feedback to the community.

Three Quarters In, the Results Spoke for Themselves

“After adopting NocoBase, we went from a scrambling small studio to one of the top teams in our niche.”

And the numbers back it up:

📦 3× increase in order processing capacity
❌ 80% drop in collaboration-related errors
😊 Significantly higher customer satisfaction
🔧 Greater self-sufficiency for the tech team, with ongoing in-house development and iteration

But the biggest win? The team finally stepped out of the day-to-day grind and began focusing on growing the business and improving user experience.

Here’s what their customers had to say:

Scaling Beyond the System

With NocoBase as their foundation, KIGLAND continues to expand what their internal systems can do—one step closer to building a fully automated, fully customized production pipeline.

Their roadmap includes:

AI-powered production scheduling using self-hosted LLMs and a modular control platform (MCP)
Predictive manufacturing models based on historical order data, enabling real-time dispatch to suppliers
Client-side ordering integration for a fully standardized, end-to-end custom workflow

For KIGLAND, this isn’t just about adopting better tools—it’s a strategic shift in how they scale.

“In personalized manufacturing, systemization is no longer a ‘nice to have.’ It’s the foundation for growth.” —Remi, Co-Founder of KIGLAND

Final Thoughts

KIGLAND’s journey is a reminder of a simple but powerful truth:

The more complex and personalized your business becomes, the more structure you need underneath. And if you want to scale, you can’t rely on manual processes alone.

Their transformation wasn’t powered by an out-of-the-box solution—it was made possible by a system they could shape, extend, and evolve alongside their business.

For teams navigating digital transformation, the real breakthrough might not come from finding a perfect all-in-one platform—but from building on something like NocoBase: a flexible, open foundation that grows with you.

NocoBase Pricing adjustment

NocoBase Team — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

NocoBase was released on GitHub in March 2021, and after three years of community development, version 1.0 was launched on April 28, 2024, officially offering commercial editions and services. In the 11 months since version 1.0, we have released a total of 229 versions across the Main, Beta, and Alpha branches, securing commercial licenses from nearly 200 companies in 32 countries worldwide. As an open-source product, these commercial clients have provided us with the foundation for survival and are crucial to our continued development. With the support of these users, we have achieved a state of stable profitability.

We plan to release NocoBase 2.0 soon, which will include significant features such as AI employees. To thank these nearly 200 commercial clients and to enable more users to access NocoBase’s advanced features at a lower cost, we have decided to reduce the pricing of commercial plugins and increase the benefits of commercial editions.

The adjustments to commercial plugins are as follows:

Some plugins will be changed from commercial to free. For example: Workflow - Response Message Node, Departments.
The pricing of all other plugins will be reduced to 50% of the original price.

The adjustments to commercial plugin bundles are as follows:

New P8 and P16 plugin bundles will be added with corresponding discounts, lowering the barrier to entry for plugin bundles.
The pricing of the existing P32, P64, and P128 plugin bundles will be reduced to 50% of the original price.
The pricing of the existing P256 plugin bundles will be reduced to 50% of the original price, and the benefits will be adjusted to an “Unlimited” plugin bundles, meaning access to licenses for all current and future commercial plugins developed by NocoBase.

The adjustments to commercial editions benefits are as follows:

The number of plugin points included in the Standard Edition will be increased by 100% to 8. Subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30% of the first year’s fee.
The number of plugin points included in the Professional Edition will be increased by 100% to 64. Subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30%(the service fee) + 30% (the upgrade fee) of the first year’s fee, with the option to choose either or both.
The Enterprise Edition will have its included plugin bundle upgraded from P64 to an “Unlimited” plugin bundle, meaning access to licenses for all current and future commercial plugins developed by NocoBase. Subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30%(the service fee) + 30% (the upgrade fee) of the first year’s fee, with the option to choose either or both.

The following free adjustments will be made for users who have already purchased commercial edition licenses, commercial plugins, or commercial plugin bundles:

Users who have purchased commercial plugins (not redeemed using points):
- Plugins with 1-year upgrade validity: Lifetime upgrades will be awarded.
- Plugins with lifetime upgrade validity: Points equivalent to 1 year of upgrades for the corresponding plugin will be awarded.
Users who have purchased commercial plugin bundles:
- 100% of the plugin bundle points will be awarded.
Users who have purchased commercial edition licenses (only for users who have not used any discounts):
- Standard Edition: 4 plugin points will be awarded, and subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30% of the first year’s fee.
- Professional Edition: 32 plugin points will be awarded, and subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30%(the service fee) + 30% (the upgrade fee) of the first year’s fee, with the option to choose either or both.
- Enterprise Edition: An “Unlimited” plugin package will be awarded, and subsequent upgrade fees will be reduced to 30%(the service fee) + 30% (the upgrade fee) of the first year’s fee, with the option to choose either or both.

The interpretation rights of the above adjustments belong to NocoBase. The benefits for users who have already purchased commercial edition licenses, commercial plugins, or commercial plugin bundles will be adjusted by April 10th.

Once again, we thank all paid and free users for your support, and we thank all NocoBase open-source contributors. We will continue to iterate rapidly to provide everyone with better products and lower prices.

How a 400+ Lawyer Firm Streamlines Commission Management with NocoBase

Deng lijia — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 01:38:45 GMT

Background

This law firm remains anonymous at the request of its clients and specializes in civil and commercial law, intellectual property, and related fields. Offering both litigation and advisory services, the firm has grown to a team of over 400 members and handles more than 10,000 cases annually. However, rapid business growth has brought challenges to managing lawyer commissions:

Complex case categorization: Cases are split into 8 main categories and further subdivided into 16 subcategories, creating intricate calculation rules;
Refined lawyer ranking system: The firm employs a detailed five-level hierarchy, each with distinct commission standards;
Frequent rule adjustments: Commission policies change at least annually, making traditional management tools like Excel inadequate for handling frequent updates.

Traditional compensation management tools can no longer keep up with the rapidly expanding business needs of law firms, highlighting an urgent demand for a more lightweight and flexible solution.

The dilemma with traditional management tools

Phase 1: Excel falters under complex data management

Initially, Excel served the law firm’s finance team adequately for calculating lawyer commissions when case volumes were relatively low. But as monthly case numbers surpassed 800, Excel’s limitations rapidly surfaced. The team had to maintain 12 intricate templates, managing up to 45 dynamic parameters with deeply nested formulas, making ongoing maintenance extremely challenging.

Consequently, even a minor error could have severe repercussions. For example, in 2023, a finance employee accidentally hid a crucial linked table in Excel, causing commission calculation errors for three lawyers. Rectifying this single mistake required 32 hours of emergency work.

Moreover, management faced another headache: new hires needed at least two months of training to become proficient with these complex templates, during which the error rate reached a staggering 17%, significantly increasing both workload and operational risks.

Phase 2: Building an in-house system leads to a digital standstill

To escape Excel’s growing difficulties, the law firm invested nearly 200,000 yuan to develop its own dedicated case management system. However, this initially promising solution quickly revealed deeper issues.

The system’s initial design failed to adequately anticipate frequent and complex changes to business rules. Every time new rules emerged—such as the introduction of a “cross-region collaboration rule”, the tech team had to rewrite fundamental parts of the code. Even minor adjustments required up to two months of development work, greatly exceeding initial budgets.

Worse yet, the in-house system couldn’t sync data in real-time with the firm’s existing OA system, forcing staff to manually export and cross-check more than 40% of case data. As the system became increasingly unwieldy, fragmented data created additional workloads and heightened the risk of manual errors.

Instead of the smooth digital transformation originally envisioned, the firm found itself trapped in a costly digital standstill.

Hidden risks: Data security and chaotic management

Both Excel and the self-built management system phases shared a common, yet overlooked critical issue: data security risks combined with chaotic management.

Because finance and business teams maintained commission data separately, a single case could result in three conflicting calculations, causing not only accounting confusion but also distrust among lawyers. Furthermore, due to the absence of unified data management tools, sensitive information—especially regarding partner commissions—was frequently shared through unsecured channels like WeChat, significantly raising the risk of data leakage.

What appeared to be a minor data management problem was, in reality, creating serious risks, undermining internal trust and operational efficiency.

Adopting NocoBase

To break free from these challenges, the law firm adopted NocoBase and immediately started optimizing their commission management workflow.

1.Dynamic rule configuration without writing a single line of code

Using NocoBase’s visual workflow engine, the law firm transformed previously complicated calculation rules into intuitive, drag-and-drop visual nodes, entirely eliminating the tedious coding process.

The system automatically selects and applies relevant calculation rules based on case type. For instance, if a case is identified as an “Intellectual Property” matter, the “Technical Value Additional Coefficient” is applied automatically, eliminating the need for manual input. Moreover, seamless integration with the firm’s existing OA system ensures real-time synchronization of lawyer rankings, guaranteeing accurate calculations every time.

A typical commission calculation might look like this:

Base commission × [1 + (Subject amount coefficient × 0.3)] + Cross-region collaboration bonus × Lawyer participation weighting

By leveraging no-code configuration, modifications to rules that previously took weeks can now be completed 90% faster, delivering unparalleled flexibility to support the firm’s ongoing business innovation.

2.Integrated and connected data, eliminating data silos

Previously, the firm’s case data was fragmented across multiple systems, requiring manual export and verification for each commission calculation—an inefficient and error-prone process. With NocoBase, the law firm successfully integrated its data, creating automated connections between previously isolated datasets.

Now, when finance staff view a case, all relevant information instantly appears on a single page, including:

Invoice Information: Automatically displays invoice amounts and status updates in real-time;
Commission Breakdown: Clearly illustrates the detailed calculation steps and final commission results for each lawyer;
Cost Details: Lists associated case expenses such as travel costs and appraisal fees at a glance.

Additionally, NocoBase’s powerful filtering tools enable finance teams to quickly access commission data categorized by status, such as “Pending Payment,” “Disputed,” or “Archived,” greatly enhancing efficiency.

Using NocoBase’s workflow version control, the firm retains historical calculation rules and data permanently. Whenever commission rules change, a new workflow version is created by duplication, preserving past rules and calculations intact, ensuring they remain unaffected by subsequent updates.

3.Workflow automation for smarter risk management

After implementing NocoBase, the law firm significantly strengthened its risk management through intelligent workflows:

Automatic Compliance Checks: The system monitors commission data in real-time, automatically validating compliance criteria—such as ensuring commission amounts remain within permitted limits—and immediately alerts staff when anomalies occur, effectively preventing errors and risks.
Proactive Risk Alerts: If the system detects unusual commission fluctuations or overdue case statuses, it proactively issues alerts, enabling quick intervention to prevent issues from escalating.
Data-driven Decision Making: Through comprehensive data analysis, the firm can clearly understand correlations between case types, lawyer seniority, and revenue contributions, enabling management to optimize case assignments and improve overall team efficiency and profitability.

4.Management dashboards providing real-time insights into team operations

Previously, law firm management had to manually extract and painstakingly analyze data from multiple systems to evaluate financials and team performance. With NocoBase’s dashboards, management can now instantly access essential operational data, enabling quicker and more informed decision-making.

Instant visibility into cash flow: Partners reviewing case details can immediately view clients’ payment statuses and related lawyer commission payouts, eliminating the wait for financial reports.
Real-time cost tracking and alerts: Dashboards clearly highlight expenses exceeding budgets—such as travel or appraisal fees—allowing timely corrective actions.
Transparent team performance insights: Dashboards automatically rank lawyers based on case efficiency and revenue generation, helping management quickly pinpoint high-performing teams and exceptional lawyers to streamline team structure and better allocate resources.

Results and Benefits: A Transformational Improvement in Law Firm Management

With NocoBase, the law firm quickly experienced substantial enhancements in commission management efficiency and quality, finally resolving long-standing management challenges:

Significantly Improved Efficiency: Monthly commission calculations that previously took 3 full days now only require 4 hours—a 6-fold increase in efficiency, freeing finance staff from repetitive calculation tasks.
Greater Accuracy in Calculations: Since adopting NocoBase, the firm has maintained a flawless record for commission accuracy, completely eliminating past conflicts caused by manual errors.
Rapid and Flexible Rule Adjustments: When faced with policy changes, lengthy code modifications are no longer necessary. For example, introducing a quarterly case subsidy policy took only 2 hours from initial rule creation to implementation.
Reduced Management Risks: Through precise data management and strict risk-control processes, the firm effectively prevented potential labor disputes, saving an estimated $70k+ in potential losses.
More Transparent and Accurate Decision-making: With real-time data dashboards, partners gain immediate insight into team revenues and cost structures, allowing swift adjustments to case assignments and staffing, greatly enhancing the quality of management decisions.

Conclusion: Professional management empowered by no-code flexibility

At its core, managing lawyer commissions means continuously adapting to complex rules and changing data. NocoBase offers a simpler, more flexible, no-code solution that turns previously challenging rule adjustments and complicated data calculations into easy, routine tasks without coding.

By embracing the no-code approach, the law firm can refocus its energy on core business activities rather than being bogged down by tedious calculations and system development. NocoBase simplifies management complexities, enabling the firm to adapt to business changes with greater ease, accuracy, and confidence.

Related reading:

Rapid Development with NocoBase: Driving Digital Transformation in Construction

Youchao Digital, Deng lijia — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:58:10 GMT

Author: Youchao Digital

About Youchao Digital

Youchao Digital is a leading innovator in the construction and transportation industry. The company is dedicated to providing smart digital solutions. Its services cater to government regulators, construction firms, contractors, project supervisors, and monitoring agencies.

By integrating BIM, GIS, IoT, and other cutting-edge technologies, Youchao Digital is reshaping the construction landscape. Our mission: to make construction smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable—one innovation at a time.

Accelerating Smart Digital Transformation in Construction

The construction industry is experiencing rapid growth in smart digitalization.As demand for intelligent solutions grows, Youchao Digital has continuously evolved its technology stack.

The company has transitioned from a monolithic architecture to a microservices framework, moved from full-stack C# development to a C#+Angular frontend-backend separation, and ultimately adopted a SpringCloud+Angular architecture.

Youchao Digital has overcome numerous obstacles in product and project development—and continues to tackle new ones.

Challenges Faced

Navigating Unclear User Requirements

Digital adoption in construction lags behind other industries. Many professionals find it challenging to define their digital needs, leaving us to bridge the gap—translating abstract ideas into practical solutions.

This simultaneous design-and-execution approach not only intensifies communication challenges between product and development teams but also adds uncertainty to project delivery.

Moreover, the industry is highly diverse, spanning technical fields such as building construction, bridges, tunnels, electromechanical systems, water services, surveying, and testing. It also includes functional areas like safety, materials management, equipment, business operations, and finance. Each domain has its own specialized terminology, further complicating the digitalization process.

The Pressure of Rapid Delivery

In large-scale infrastructure projects, every milestone is under scrutiny. Digital applications often take center stage, with clients expecting today’s ideas to become tomorrow’s reality—live and operational in record time.

Adding to the pressure, the industry operates on a relentless 7×11 schedule, with no holidays. Late-night remote meetings are common, and all-nighters become unavoidable to meet tight deadlines. In this high-intensity environment, development teams must adopt more efficient strategies to keep pace with the industry’s demanding expectations.

Industry Shift and Rising Competition

In recent years, the construction industry has shifted from rapid expansion to a focus on efficiency and quality. Companies are now prioritizing cost-effectiveness and streamlined operations.

At the same time, many firms have established their own digital technology subsidiaries, transforming former partners into direct competitors and intensifying market competition. This evolving landscape pushes us to adopt new technologies that enhance efficiency and reduce costs for project delivery.

Transforming Our Technology with NocoBase

To tackle these challenges, we redefined our technology strategy—cutting costs, boosting efficiency, and sharpening our competitive edge.

Between September and October 2024, we explored key advancements in code generation, modular components, SaaS productization, microservices architecture, and low-code platforms. After evaluating nearly 20 development frameworks across more than 30 criteria, we ultimately chose NocoBase as our technology foundation.

NocoBase’s plugin-based architecture unlocked limitless possibilities for us. While some features required further refinement in the early stages, its flexibility allowed us to rapidly build, adjust, and iterate on functionalities. Additionally, our collaboration with the NocoBase team was truly inspiring—their passion, expertise, and drive deeply motivated our own team and reinforced our confidence in this transformative shift.

Remarkable Progress

After adopting NocoBase, we assembled a dedicated team and quickly immersed ourselves in mastering the new technology stack. Shifting from Java and Angular to Node.js and React was no small feat. But with NocoBase’s expert guidance, our team quickly overcame the learning curve, unlocking new efficiencies in the process. In a short time, we not only embraced this new approach but also delivered tangible results, reinforcing our confidence in the platform.

Building a Suite of Custom Plugins

In less than six months, we have developed nearly 10 custom NocoBase plugins, including Data Dictionary and Automatic Encoding. Looking ahead, we plan to standardize and refine these plugins, gradually introducing them to the NocoBase Plugin Marketplace to contribute to the ecosystem’s growth.

At the same time, we are actively exploring ways to enhance NocoBase’s capabilities, expanding plugin functionality and improving adaptability to meet evolving industry needs.

Enhancing Internal Systems with NocoBase

NocoBase is not only the foundation for our client solutions but also the backbone of our internal management system. By implementing hands-on internal projects, we gained deep insights into its features and identified key areas for optimization. Our feedback contributed to several important improvements in the platform.

This has significantly enhanced our internal management efficiency while deepening our understanding of NocoBase’s potential and extensibility.

Record-Breaking Project Delivery in Two Months

Partnering with our client, we developed a railway safety management platform to comply with new safety regulations. In just one week, our team built a fully functional system from scratch, and within two months, we completed full deployment—our fastest project delivery to date.

Completing deployment in just two months showcased NocoBase’s ability to accelerate development while seamlessly adapting to complex industry requirements

Shaping the Future with NocoBase

As our collaboration with NocoBase deepens, we plan to transition our product expertise to the framework, developing standalone plugins and core applications such as IoT cloud platforms, BIM+GIS, digital twins, and digital dashboards. These innovations will streamline development and enhance usability for industry professionals. Moving forward, we will continue refining NocoBase-based solutions, delivering efficient and reusable digital transformation tools tailored for the construction industry.

Our technology journey has been one of continuous evolution—from monolithic architecture to microservices, from full-stack C# development to the NocoBase no-code platform. Looking ahead, we are excited to collaborate with the NocoBase team, driving the future of digital intelligence in construction and equipping our clients with smarter, more efficient solutions.

As NocoBase’s ecosystem grows, we see it becoming a cornerstone of construction’s digital future—powering the next wave of industry innovation and growth.

Related reading:

Orchisky’s Smart Manufacturing Upgrade: Why They Chose NocoBase

Deng lijia, Zhang Lu — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 07:07:13 GMT

The Challenges of Intelligent Manufacturing: The Inevitable Trend of Digital Transformation

Under the global acceleration toward digitalization and intelligence in manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing has become a critical strategy for enhancing corporate competitiveness. According to data from Fortune Business Insights, the global intelligent manufacturing market reached 310.92 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $998.99 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0%.

This growth is driven by the widespread adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data.

However, digital transformation remains a significant challenge for many small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. Traditional enterprise management software often struggles to flexibly adapt to diverse business needs, while in-house system development entails high costs in time, labor, and technology. These hurdles create technical bottlenecks and management dilemmas for companies transitioning to intelligent manufacturing.

Jiangsu Orchisky Software Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Orchisky”) is a pioneer in providing intelligent solutions for manufacturers amid this industry landscape.

Orchisky: A Deep-rooted Informatization Service Provider for Manufacturing

Image source: Unsplash

Founded in 2004, Orchisky is a leading comprehensive informatization service provider in East China. The company specializes in intelligent manufacturing, offering one-stop digital factory solutions centered on informatization, digitalization, and intelligence to empower SMEs in achieving rapid digital transformation.

As a national-level pilot platform for SME digital transformation, Orchisky serves over 2,000 clients, including industry leaders such as Shanggong Shenbei, CGN, MEMMINGER-IRO, Wuyang Group, and maintains long-term partnerships with global giants like Microsoft, Siemens, and Hikvision.

Yet even for an experienced company like Orchisky, continuous optimization of its products and technical architecture has posed persistent challenges.

Challenges: Obstacles in Digital Factory System Development

As a one-stop smart factory solution provider, Orchisky’s software products span production management, supply chain optimization, equipment monitoring, and more. However, while addressing clients’ evolving customization needs, its development team faced three core challenges:

Challenge 1: Prolonged R&D Cycles, High Costs, and Difficulty in Agile Response

Orchisky’s software development process involved complex, highly customized workflows. From requirement analysis and coding to testing and delivery, each stage demanded significant time and labor. In the intelligent manufacturing sector, where clients’ management models vary widely, traditional development methods struggled to swiftly align systems with unique production workflows.

Challenge 2: Misaligned Requirements Leading to Rework and Cost Overruns

Building intelligent manufacturing systems required intricate business logic, and differing interpretations of requirements among developers often led to repeated revisions. This not only delayed progress but also increased labor costs. Additionally, as business expanded, developers faced mounting pressure to master new technical frameworks to meet diverse client demands.

Challenge 3: Project Delivery Delays Impacting Client Satisfaction

High technical complexity and communication costs caused frequent project delays, resulting in financial penalties and eroded client trust, potentially weakening Orchisky’s competitive edge.

To overcome these hurdles, Orchisky sought a more efficient and flexible development model to streamline R&D, reduce costs, and accelerate delivery. This led them to adopt NocoBase as their key technological solution.

Reshaping R&D with NocoBase

As an open-source, extensible no-code/low-code platform, NocoBase offers robust data modeling capabilities and a flexible plugin architecture, enabling Orchisky to rapidly build tailored management systems. By leveraging NocoBase, Orchisky revolutionized its software development approach for intelligent manufacturing systems:

✅ Shortened Development Cycles, Multiplied Efficiency

Traditional development required extensive coding, but NocoBase’s visual interface allowed developers to drag-and-drop components and configure parameters for rapid application assembly. Systems that once took months to develop could now be delivered in weeks, dramatically improving agility.

✅ Lowered Technical Barriers, Enhanced Team Collaboration

NocoBase not only enables professional developers to build applications more efficiently but also allows business personnel and product managers to be more deeply involved in the system-building process, promoting cross-team collaboration and improving overall development efficiency.

Under the traditional development model, companies often relied on senior engineers proficient in programming languages such as Java and Python. NocoBase provides visual data modeling and application-building tools, allowing developers to focus more on optimizing and innovating business logic, reducing the burden of basic coding. This not only accelerates system delivery but also helps companies allocate technical resources more reasonably, enabling the R&D team to devote more energy to high-value innovation projects.

✅ Component Reusability, Minimized Redundancy

NocoBase’s highly reusable plugin architecture allows companies to expand based on existing modules, avoiding redundant development and improving development efficiency. For example, when building a new manufacturing enterprise management system, Orchisky’s development team can directly reuse the previously built “production management” module, eliminating the need to start from scratch and significantly shortening the delivery time.

✅ Customization Flexibility, Elevated Client Satisfaction

The open-source nature of NocoBase enables Orchisky to provide highly flexible personalized customization capabilities to customers, more accurately matching the business needs of different enterprises.

The low-code feature of NocoBase not only reduces the development cycle but also allows Orchisky to respond more agilely to customer needs. Compared with traditional customized development models, system delivery speed has increased several times, significantly improving customer satisfaction.

NocoBase Empowers Orchisky to Accelerate Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation

Through in-depth cooperation with NocoBase, Orchisky has not only improved its own R&D efficiency but also helped more manufacturing enterprises accelerate their digital transformation. To date, nearly 10 customers have used the systems developed by Orchisky based on NocoBase. In the future, Orchisky will further leverage NocoBase’s flexible architecture and agile development capabilities to gradually replace the original intelligent factory source code development model, providing customers with more efficient and intelligent solutions.

This is not only a technological innovation but also a transformation of the digital upgrade model for manufacturing enterprises. From cumbersome code development to agile configuration, and from long delivery cycles to rapid deployment, Orchisky and NocoBase are exploring a more efficient and sustainable digital path for the manufacturing industry. In the future, Orchisky will continue to focus on the application of low-code technology in the field of intelligent manufacturing and join hands with more enterprises to step into the new digital era.

“Let technology serve business, and let innovation reach further.”

Related reading:

How to Backup and Restore NocoBase

Chen lin — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 13:31:36 GMT

Background

Starting from NocoBase v0.19, we introduced the @nocobase/plugin-backup-restore plugin for application backup and restoration. However, the actual user experience has not been ideal, with the following key issues:

The plugin does not support backing up and restoring database-level metadata such as default values, unique indexes, etc.
Database views, stored procedures, functions, triggers, and other components cannot be backed up or restored.
Each plugin form requires separate configuration of dumpRules, and plugin developers may need to implement custom logic. Without this, backup and restoration can easily fail.
The backup grouping design is complex and has a high learning curve. Improper selection could lead to backup failure or data loss.
The backup and restoration process occurs at the application layer. If the application fails to start, the backup or restoration will also fail.

After careful consideration, starting from version v1.4, we have decided to deprecate this plugin. So, how should backup and restoration be handled in the new version? This article will provide a detailed introduction to the new backup solution.

What Data Should Be Backed Up?

In the NocoBase backup and restoration process, the following types of data are primarily involved:

Main Database Data: Supported main database types include PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, and KingbaseES.
External Database Data: Supported external database types include PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MSSQL, Oracle, and KingbaseES.
Sub-application Database Data: Each sub-application is an independent database. If using PostgreSQL, different sub-applications can also be differentiated by schemas.
Storage Directory Data: You can back up the entire folder or only specific important data, such as:
- Attachment Data: Files in the ./storage/uploads directory, which is the local storage for the file manager.
- Plugin Code: Plugins in the ./storage/plugins directory, including commercial plugins and third-party plugins.

Backup and Restoration Process

1. Backing Up Database Data

The backup commands for different databases are as follows:

PostgreSQL

pg_dump -U [username] -h [host] -p [port] -F c -b --quote-all-identifiers -f [backup-file-path] [database-name]

MySQL/MariaDB

mysqldump -u [username] -p -h [host] -P [port] --databases [database-name] --replace --single-transaction --column-statistics=0 --skip-lock-tables --routines --triggers > [backup-file-path].sql

2. Restoring Backup to the Target Application’s Database

The restoration commands for different databases are as follows:

PostgreSQL

pg_restore -U [username] -h [host] -p [port] -d [database-name] --clean --if-exists --no-owner [backup-file-path]

MySQL/MariaDB

mysql -u [username] -p -h [host] -P [port] [database-name] < [backup-file-path].sql

3. Overwriting the Target Application’s Storage with the Backup Storage

# 1. Backup the /app2/storage/ directory to /app2/storage-bak/
mv /app2/storage /app2/storage-bak

# 2. Copy all contents from /app1/storage/ to /app2/storage/
cp -r /app1/storage/. /app2/storage/

4. Execute the Upgrade Command and Start the Application

# Upgrade the application
yarn nocobase upgrade

# Start the application in production environment
yarn start

# Start the application in local development environment
yarn dev

Note:

If you are using Docker, simply restart the container.

Backups Manager Plugin

Starting from NocoBase v1.4, Professional or Enterprise edition users can directly use the brand-new Backups Manager plugin to easily manage application data backup and restoration.

Why Nint Chose NocoBase: Best Practices for In-House Development Transformation

Deng lijia — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 01:03:12 GMT

About Nint

Nint Digital Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (Nint) is a digital retail technology company with the mission of “Data makes the world free.” The company focuses on providing decision support services to enterprises through big data analysis. Nint has established a broad service network in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, with clients covering 80% of the global top 500 consumer goods companies, as well as thousands of brands and e-commerce stores.

In the wave of digital transformation, Nint has been exploring how to use technology to improve management efficiency and business decision-making. At the beginning of the digital transformation journey, Nint firmly chose to develop its own systems. The reason was simple: there were too many customization needs, and the available products in the market at the time couldn’t support them.

Identifying Bottlenecks in In-House Digital Management Systems

As Nint continues to expand, its in-house digital management system is facing several key challenges:

Agility in Iteration With rapid changes in business innovation and management demands, the need for faster iterations of the internal system has grown significantly, adding pressure on the digital development team.
Cross-Department Collaboration As business volume increases and operations expand, seamless collaboration across departments—including procurement, inventory, production, sales, HR, finance, assets, and marketing—has become crucial. Establishing a unified digital platform to integrate workflows, streamline processes, and provide clear operational pathways is now a pressing priority.
Architectural Scalability As enterprise management processes evolve, the existing system architecture struggles to keep up with dynamic business changes, hindering further improvements in operational efficiency.

Recognizing these challenges, Nint acknowledges that an in-house development model alone is no longer sufficient to support rapid business growth. To address these issues, the company is actively exploring more flexible and efficient solutions to enhance operational agility and scalability.

Breaking the Deadlock – Introducing No-Code Development Tools

Nint’s digital transformation needs were clear:

Efficient management of people, finance, and tasks.
Comprehensive integration of multiple systems and data sharing.
Ensuring the security and autonomy of code and data.
Keeping construction and maintenance costs low.

After researching various digital tools on the market, Nint began to focus on the potential of open-source low-code/no-code platforms. The flexibility and ease of use of these tools could quickly meet the company’s customization needs while significantly reducing development and maintenance costs. After evaluating over 50 systems, Nint ultimately chose NocoBase as a key tool for their digital transformation.

We searched GitHub for low-code/no-code systems, and there were many systems available, offering a wide variety of features.

Popular tools such as Storybook, Supabase, NocoDB, n8n, Directus, Appsmith, ToolJet, Budibase, Node-RED, ERPNext, and Odoo are all excellent tools with high ratings.

During our selection process, we noted that many systems were either cloud services or had excessively high costs for local deployment, which limited their flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Then we discovered NocoBase: open-source, drag-and-drop design, complete workflows, plugin system, simple technical architecture, and affordable commercial plugins. After researching over 50 systems, we decided to choose NocoBase.

—— Gu Zhi Chao, Director of Digital Technology Services, Nint

Key Features of NocoBase and How They Align with Nint’s Needs:

Open-Source and Flexibility: Supports plugin-based development, allowing enterprises to flexibly customize functionality.
Ease of Use: The WYSIWYG UI editor and configurable operations significantly lower the barriers to system development and usage.
Data Security and Permission Management: Supports field-level data permissions to meet strict corporate data security requirements.
Multi-Data Source Compatibility: Compatible with multiple databases like MySQL, Postgres, and MariaDB, enabling real-time integration of external data.
Complete Workflow Support: Supports full-process automation for complex approval scenarios.

During the testing phase, NocoBase’s flexibility and efficiency left a strong impression on the team, offering new insights into the digital upgrade of internal management.

Implementation and Results

During the introduction of NocoBase, Nint’s team fully leveraged its open-source nature to optimize the system according to the company’s specific needs, while also contributing some of the results back to the NocoBase open-source community.

In the early stages, the following achievements were made:

Process Optimization: By solidifying more than 30 core business processes, Nint quickly customized new process iteration capabilities, improving internal management efficiency.
Centralized Asset Management: Over 3,000 cloud and fixed assets were centrally managed, greatly reducing management complexity.
Data Integration and Sharing: Broke down data silos between departments, enabling efficient data sharing under secure conditions.
Efficiency Improvement: Through drag-and-drop design and workflow capabilities, development cycles were significantly shortened, and non-technical personnel could quickly build systems.
Shift in Development Model: The R&D team was freed from heavy foundational development work and started focusing on innovative design.

These achievements marked a significant milestone in Nint’s digital transformation, resulting in a notable improvement in corporate management efficiency and resource integration capabilities.

Looking to the Future

Through NocoBase, we’ve seen the new possibilities that technology brings. In the future, we look forward to working with NocoBase to help more companies drive digital transformation.

Nint plans to apply NocoBase to more management scenarios, gradually replacing scattered management tools. The company also intends to explore higher-level applications in data analysis and intelligence to further enhance business decision-making capabilities.

GemelSoft Enhances Internal Systems and Expands External Business Through NocoBase Integration

Zhang Lu, Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:13:29 GMT

About GemelSoft

Shenzhen GemelSoft Software Co., Ltd. has been at the forefront of cross-border enterprise services since its establishment in 2006. Recognized as a leading high-tech IT company, it is also one of the specialized,high-end, and innovation-driven enterprises in China. In recent years, GemelSoft has combined AI technology with business scenarios to provide customers with innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of cross-border trade. The main product modules of GemelSoft Software include:

Enterprise Brain: The AI-based knowledge base system intelligently customizes enterprises’ unique needs and reasonably uses massive data content through professional-level training and access to various applications.
Digital Smart Assistant: A 7/24 intelligent business assistant that understands and responds to customer needs through simple training, providing personalized product recommendations and efficient customer service.
Intelligent unified panel: Integrate digital salesman, intelligent Q&A voice interaction, and AI library to provide users with professional advice and industry trends.
Cross-border trade: a global unbounded trade platform that provides one-click fast delivery, a safe and convenient payment system, real-time translation, and warehousing services in two places.

Challenges Emerge with Opportunities

As competition in the cross-border industry grows, GemelSoft focuses on artificial intelligence for new growth opportunities. This shift has expanded its customer base, increased business volume, and unlocked vast market potential.

With the rapid expansion of GemelSoft’s business, many problems began to emerge in the internal system:

Outdated system: The previous system was slow, with data query results taking minutes to return, hindering productivity.
Lack of flexibility: Making simple modifications and additions to fields was often cumbersome and typically required developer intervention, leading to slow response times.
Low level of digitalization: The internal HR system was not fully implemented, affecting the overall workflow.
Uneven distribution of resources: Development resources focused mainly on external business, leaving internal system maintenance underemphasized and issues challenging to resolve promptly.

Together with NocoBase: Upgrading the Internal Systems

GemelSoft’s technical team explored various low-code and no-code platforms but found none that met their needs. Upon discovering NocoBase, the team appreciated its flexibility and scalability. After its successful deployment, GemelSoft effectively resolved several legacy issues:

Enhanced System Agility and Efficiency: The system’s efficiency has improved significantly. Adding fields takes just five seconds, and modifying forms can be done in under ten minutes, enhancing flexibility and speeding up business processes.

GemelSoft HRM System

Available for Non-technical personnel: Non-technical staff, such as those in business roles, can handle basic development tasks effectively. This lessens the reliance on developers and enhances overall work efficiency.
Customized Plugin development: NocoBase’s flexible plugin architecture allows quick customization. A front-end developer created a tailored plugin to meet the business’s needs in two days.

GemelSoft is upgrading its ERP system with NocoBase’s support. The procurement and delivery management modules are complete, while logistics and warehousing are in development, aiming to streamline processes and boost efficiency.

Integrating the Enterprise Brain with NocoBase

NocoBase has played a significant role in optimizing GemelSoft’s internal system and has also enhanced the product technology architecture. As GemelSoft Software’s flagship product in the wave of artificial intelligence, “Enterprise Brain” has been successfully implemented in various customer scenarios. NocoBase serves as a crucial link between the “Enterprise Brain” and the instant messaging (IM) platform, facilitating efficient data and information exchange and improving the product’s overall capabilities.

In this model, the “Enterprise Brain” focuses on data analysis, while NocoBase manages data collection and distribution and executes complex business logic. This division allows the “Enterprise Brain” to concentrate on AI capabilities without complicating the system with specific customer needs.

For example, in the offline experience store project, NocoBase maintains the store manager profile and geolocation information. It also handles the location data customers share through WeChat and quickly matches the nearest experience stores. In the meantime, NocoBase integrates with the “Enterprise Brain” to execute API calls, manage data acquisition, and push customer information and recommendations through workflows, allowing the “Enterprise Brain” to finalize customer interactions.

Moreover, NocoBase effectively addresses the limitations of the “Enterprise Brain” in managing customer data and maintaining customer contact. Its flexible and automated features enhance the efficiency and intelligence of customer service, ultimately driving better outcomes.

GemelSoft Omni-Channel CRM

Extended Use of NocoBase: Incubation of External Solutions

With the successful transformation of its internal systems and product capabilities, GemelSoft is confident in applying NocoBase to various customer business scenarios. The company has started to expand NocoBase’s application to external businesses, offering customized solutions for clients across different industries.

IC industry customer: Created a CRM system that integrates with Kingdee’s ERP system, streamlines complex profit-sharing calculations, automatically generates essential reports, and enhances channel management efficiency and real-time order data.
Chambers of Commerce and Associations: Developed a CRM system that streamlined membership management and event information collection while using AI to send personalized birthday wishes, enhancing user experience and community engagement.

Intelligent CRM

Foreign comprehensive service: The system efficiently handles currency conversions and profit-sharing, enabling smooth cross-border capital flow and fund transfers back to China.

Foreign comprehensive service

“Our R&D team only spends 20% of their time on NocoBase, but it has significantly impacted our overall business.”

—GemelSoft Product Leader

It’s important to note that, based on NocoBase, GemelSoft has significantly enhanced its ability to incubate external solutions. In two days, the technical team developed a custom plug-in to streamline cross-border e-commerce store launches. It converts complex JSON product attributes into user-friendly forms, simplifying data entry and management for operations personnel.

The ERP system of cross-border e-commerce based on NocoBase

Interpreting JSON code into visible fields - on the right-side panel

NocoBase boosts GemelSoft’s ability to explore and deliver solutions for various business needs. It enables quick responses to custom development requests, enhancing market adaptability and customer service efficiency.

“NocoBase stands out for its speed and scalability. We quickly adjusted the system to fit business needs, enabling non-technical staff to participate in configuration, which boosted our development efficiency. As a no-code/low-code platform, NocoBase has lowered development barriers, allowing a recent graduate on our team to manage two projects independently. This platform helps us respond effectively to customer needs and focus on valuable innovations.

—GemelSoft Product Leader

Looking Ahead

NocoBase played a significant role in GemelSoft’s digital transformation. It addresses internal digital challenges and fosters innovative solutions for customers. With its fast, flexible, and user-friendly platform, NocoBase enables GemelSoft to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing market and meet the evolving needs of its customers.

Moving forward, NocoBase will continue to partner with GemelSoft Software to drive innovation and growth by exploring opportunities in international markets.

Like GemelSoft’s story, NocoBase aspires to empower technical engineers by freeing them from the complexities of coding, enabling them to concentrate on creative and impactful business opportunities for more remarkable achievement.

The TEDxDUTH Transformation with NocoBase

TEDxDUTH — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 03:05:01 GMT

TEDxDUTH is a vibrant, passionate community operating under the TEDx license at Democritus University of Thrace. Our mission is simple yet powerful: to spread ideas that inspire and ignite change. Through carefully curated events, we bring together innovative thinkers, creators, and visionaries who share their stories and insights with the world.

Our team consists of volunteers from various fields, united by a common goal: to organize seamless, professional, and inspiring TEDx events. However, the road to achieving this vision was not without its challenges. From onboarding team members to managing speaker nominations, partnerships, and recruitment, the complexity of our operations often led to inefficiencies and disorganization. That was, until we found NocoBase —a tool that has transformed how we operate and collaborate.

The Chaos We Faced

At TEDxDUTH, managing multiple moving parts across various platforms was our biggest challenge. As a team that thrives on creativity and collaboration, we quickly realized that our processes were fragmented, which was slowing us down. Our data was scattered across different platforms, and this disorganization made it difficult to stay aligned and focused on our core mission.

Here are a few of the key problems we were facing before Nocobase:

1. Scattered Information

Important data, from speaker details to team guidelines, was spread across various platforms. Some information lived in Word documents, others in Excel sheets, and some were buried in Discord or Teams conversations. As our team grew, this fragmentation became harder to manage, resulting in confusion, lost time, and even missed opportunities.

2. Manual Task Management

We had no centralized way to track team tasks or monitor progress. The invitation process for speakers, for example, required us to manually check off stages of outreach and follow-up, often leading to delays. This manual process extended to managing partnerships, making it difficult to stay organized.

3. Recruitment Challenges

With every TEDxDUTH event, we bring new volunteers on board. Our recruitment process was entirely manual— applications came in through forms, but reviewing and evaluating them was slow. Tracking the status of each application was a logistical challenge, and there was little clarity about who was responsible for what at different stages of the process.

NocoBase: A Solution Tailored to Our Needs

Realizing the need for a robust, flexible, and user-friendly system, we began exploring different options. After evaluating several tools, we discovered NocoBase, and it quickly became clear that this was the solution we had been searching for.

We chose NocoBase for several reasons:

Customizable Workflows: NocoBase’s no-code interface allowed us to design workflows tailored specifically to the needs of TEDxDUTH. We didn’t have to mold our processes to fit the tool—it was the other way around.
Centralized Platform: With NocoBase, we could finally bring all our data into one place. Whether it was onboarding new team members, managing speaker invitations, or tracking partnerships, everything could be consolidated into a single hub.
Role-based Permissions: Sensitive information, such as recruitment evaluations or partnership agreements, could be accessed only by authorized members. This level of control ensured transparency while safeguarding important data.
API Integration: One of NocoBase’s most valuable features was its ability to integrate with external systems. This allowed us to import data from public nomination forms, recruitment applications, and other sources automatically, further reducing manual input and errors.

How We Use NocoBase at TEDxDUTH

Once we implemented NocoBase, the way we operated changed dramatically. Suddenly, we had a single platform that could handle everything we needed—and more. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how we’ve been leveraging NocoBase to improve various aspects of our work:

1. Streamlined Team Onboarding

One of the first areas we optimized was the onboarding process for new team members. Previously, new volunteers had to navigate a mess of scattered documents and chat threads to get up to speed. Now, NocoBase offers a comprehensive welcome page, where new team members can access key information about TED, TEDx, and TEDxDUTH. We’ve even created a special section for personal details, like birthdays and team guidelines, which helps foster team spirit and ensures everyone’s on the same page from day one.

2. Speaker Management and Invitation Tracking

TEDx events revolve around our speakers, so organizing and managing their invitations is crucial. With NocoBase, we’ve built a system that tracks each stage of the speaker invitation process—whether it’s outreach, confirmation, or logistical coordination. Moreover, we use public forms to gather speaker nominations, and NocoBase’s API integration allows us to automatically import nomination data into our system. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures that no nomination gets overlooked.

Now, instead of juggling emails and spreadsheets, our team can track each speaker’s status in real-time, which has led to a significant reduction in response times and increased efficiency in securing speakers for our events.

3. Partnership Management

Managing partnerships is another critical element of our success. With NocoBase, we now have a dedicated partnership module where all relevant contact information, agreements, and communication histories are stored. This module ensures that everyone who needs to stay informed about partnerships has access to the latest information, eliminating miscommunications or delays.

4. Recruitment and Application Review

Recruitment is an ongoing task for TEDxDUTH, especially as we grow and take on more ambitious projects. Before NocoBase, our recruitment process was slow and disorganized. Now, with NocoBase’s recruitment module, all applications are imported directly from public forms, and team members can evaluate candidates in real-time.

We’ve created custom workflows that allow for each application to be reviewed, evaluated, and moved through the recruitment pipeline, from the initial application to final onboarding.

The best part? Automated status notifications ensure that applicants are kept in the loop at every stage of the process, making the entire experience smoother and more transparent for everyone involved.

The Results: Tangible Improvements

The impact of NocoBase on TEDxDUTH has been nothing short of transformative. Here are some key results we’ve seen since implementing the platform:

50% Reduction in Time Spent on Admin Tasks: By centralizing our data and automating key processes, we’ve cut down on the time spent managing administrative tasks by more than half. This freed up valuable time that we now spend on more creative and strategic initiatives.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication: With everything in one place, collaboration between team members has improved dramatically. Everyone has access to the information they need, and our workflows are transparent and easy to follow.
Faster, More Efficient Recruitment: Thanks to our streamlined recruitment process, we can evaluate and onboard new team members much faster than before, allowing us to build stronger, more effective teams.
Data-Driven Decision-Making: With access to real-time data and insights, we’ve been able to make faster, more informed decisions about everything from speaker invitations to partnership agreements.

Our Evaluation of NocoBase

After 4 weeks of working with NocoBase, we have a clear perspective on its strengths and areas for improvement:

Strengths:

Ease of Use: The platform’s no-code interface is intuitive and user-friendly, allowing non-technical team members to create and manage workflows with ease.
Customizability: NocoBase offers an unparalleled level of customization, making it a perfect fit for our unique needs.
Centralized Management: The ability to consolidate all our processes into one system has significantly improved our workflow, communication, and collaboration.

An Inspirational Note: The Power of Innovation

At TEDxDUTH, we believe in the power of innovation and collaboration to change the world. NocoBase has empowered us to streamline our operations and focus more on what truly matters—delivering inspiring events that spread ideas worth sharing.

If your organization is struggling with disorganization or inefficient workflows, NocoBase isn’t just a tool—it’s a solution that can empower your team to achieve more. For us, it’s been a game-changer, helping us dream bigger, work smarter, and create lasting impact in our community.

Thank you, NocoBase, for being an integral part of our journey. We look forward to growing alongside you as we continue to push boundaries and spread ideas that matter!

Related reading:

Sambruk Leverages NocoBase to Ensure Digital Learning Resources in Sweden Comply with GDPR

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 03:19:36 GMT

About Sambruk

In Sweden, half of the municipalities are members of Sambruk, and 61% of Sweden residents live in municipal areas participating in Sambruk’s cooperation.

Who is Sambruk? Sambruk is a non-profit organization based in Sweden dedicated to driving and supporting the digital transformation of municipal departments nationwide. Its primary mission is to help municipalities in Sweden digitalize more efficiently through collaboration and sharing of resources.

Sambruk’s scope of work includes collecting and managing digital solutions developed by various municipalities in Sweden, then rolling them out to other cities in need, and maintaining and improving the system through co-financing. In addition, Sambruk organizes and leads the development of new digital solutions. Sometimes, Sambruk also open-sources some of these digital solutions.

For example, Bibblix, a digital library app designed for children aged 6 to 12 in Sweden;EGIL– an automated system for managing students’ digital accounts for schools; and Tillarbetslivet, a system to manage pupilswork experience programes.

These projects are all developed or promoted by Sambruk.

In present-day education, schools rely heavily on digital learning resources like e-books, online courses, educational software, instructional videos, and interactive courseware. These data resources must adhere to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) requirements to protect students’ data.

The GDPR, implemented by the European Union in May 2018, is a significant privacy and security regulation that applies to all organizations processing the personal data of EU residents.

For the education sector, GDPR brought particular challenges in the following ways:

Data Minimization Principles: Schools can only collect and process necessary student data, requiring a rigorous data collection review of each digital learning resource.
Informed consent: Schools must ensure that explicit permission from the student or their guardian is obtained when using digital learning resources.
Data Subject Rights: Students have the right to access, correct, and delete their data, and schools need to ensure that the digital learning resources they use support these features.
Data Protection Impact Assessment: Schools are required to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment for high-risk data processing activities.
Vendor management: Schools must ensure that all digital learning resource suppliers are GDPR compliant.

About the Project Tjänstekatalog

The project Tjänstekatalog aimed to collect data as a basis for assessment of GDPR compliance for digital learning resources. Sambruk, along with 27 Swedish municipalities, kicked off the project in 2023.

The project had three main objectives in particular:

Information Collection and Compliance Assessment: The system collected information about digital learning resources to help school managers assess GDPR compliance with data use.
Resources Sharing and Decision-making Support: School managers can share assessment results in the system for other users to refer to, reducing duplication of effort and improving efficiency.
Supplier Information Enquiry: Suppliers were requested to answer approximately 100 questions in the system and provide the necessary information for the school to evaluate.

However, to implement the project, they encountered several technical obstacles:

Large data volume and high complexity: Managing large amounts of digital learning resources requires efficient management and evaluation.
Strict compliance rules: Ensure all resources are strictly GDPR compliant, especially regarding student data handling.
Multi-stakeholder involved: Multiple municipalities and schools need to be coordinated to ensure that the system is designed and implemented to meet the needs of all parties and enable effective information sharing.

Sambruk sought a technical solution to address these challenges, meet project requirements, and be cost-effective and scalable.

A Quick MVP with NocoBase

Sambruk initially assessed the cost and time required to develop the solution using traditional coding methods. The project team concluded that the cost was too high. Therefore, Sambruk began searching for other alternatives. The team partnered with a low-code platform company in India. While the team had made some progress, the platform failed to meet their needs fully.

In 2023, the team heard about NocoBase and decided to try it.

“We developed the core of the solution over a couple of weeks while learning the platform itself. NocoBase turned out to be very intuitive and easy to learn; we really apricated the “no bullshit” approach with the platform. We had an MVP in place quite fast and have continued to develop from that base.”

—— Thomas Wennersten, Sambruk CTO

Thomas Wennersten explained the reasons for choosing NocoBase to implement the project after trying it out:

Data Model-driven: NocoBase’s focus on establishing a data model first facilitated smoother subsequent development for Sambruk and made creating various interfaces tailored to different roles’ needs simple.
Self-hosting: Sambruk can host the applications developed with NocoBase. Self-hosting is a critical project requirement because it enhances data control and fulfills data security and privacy protection needs.
User Friendly: NocoBase offers a user-friendly experience without sacrificing functionality, making it an ideal platform for teams developing CRUD applications due to its low learning curve and fast development speed.
Rapid Delivery: With NocoBase, Sambruk can rapidly develop and launch a minimum viable product (MVP), which is extremely helpful for quickly validating and iterating on projects.

System screenshots of the project Tjänstekatalog:

Result: Immediate Benefits From the Trial Phase

“Our experience with NocoBase, the no-code platform, has been fantastic. It’s incredibly user-friendly, and our development process is smooth and efficient. The streamlined approach allowed us to develop a complete system in just a few weeks suitable for use in hundreds of organizations.

NocoBase dispels the misconception that powerful systems take months or years to complete. I highly recommend it to any organization looking for a quick development cycle without sacrificing quality.”

—— Thomas Wennersten， Sambruk CTO

The project’s development, based on NocoBase, is progressing steadily, with core functions of the project going live successfully. The project team efficiently leveraged NocoBase’s capabilities to develop and launch the MVP within weeks. Throughout the process, the Sambruk team significantly reduced development time by about 30% and slashed the budget by nearly 40% compared to traditional methods.

Municipalities and schools highly recognize NocoBase for its ease of use and flexibility. They appreciate its straightforward data processing and interface generation capabilities, allowing quick application development. Some schools have benefitted from NocoBase during the trial phase, especially regarding data management and decision support.

We expect the project to be fully deployed and rolled out more broadly in the upcoming months. As the project advances, the Sambruk team will continue to improve and expand NocoBase’s capabilities with plugins to better meet the needs of all parties involved, bringing tangible benefits to more municipalities and educational institutions in Sweden.

Related reading:

Bestone Leverages NocoBase to Streamline Legal Case Processing to Improve Productivity

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 03:15:55 GMT

About Bestone

Founded in 2006, Shanghai Bestone Information Technology Co., Ltd. is a large-scale innovative legal service provider that has built a legal digital intelligence platform to provide innovative technologies and services for the next generation of legal solutions.

Bestone’s business spans 31 provinces and regions nationwide and actively contributes to building the public legal service system. In 2023, Bestone’s legal services had a market share of 50% among legal service providers, with serving times exceeding 7 million.

Bestone has revolutionized corporate legal services with its intelligent legal service system, making processes more efficient and transparent. By utilizing big data, it has improved dispute mediation efficiency. Bestone’s clients come from various industries, including Internet, e-commerce, insurance, banking, auto finance, logistics, and manufacturing.

Challenges: Surge of Cases and Diversifying Demands

Bestone undertakes many legal cases yearly as a large-scale legal service provider and faces two main challenges.

Firstly, the significant increase in new businesses resulted in a decrease in the tool’s efficiency.

In the beginning, Bestone used an online workbook to record new cases, which was convenient and quick when there were few cases. However, as cases surged, entry efficiency decreased, and management difficulty increased dramatically.

The operation team frequently needs to swiftly access historical case information and conduct batch analysis to make decisions. However, utilizing an online workbook for in-depth analysis presents numerous drawbacks.

In addition, the diversifying and changing market demand led to more complex processes.

The market for cases and customer needs is becoming more diverse. Bestone needed to match different processing processes to accommodate various cases, often consuming much labor and time. Therefore, finding the optimal solution for entering and processing case information has been a long-standing problem for the operations team.

Moreover, Bestone’s management panel constantly adjusts its marketing strategy to ensure a wide range of services. The adjustments will change the requirements of business specifications and quality inspection standards.

To sum up, the issues faced by Bestone had imposed extremely high requirements for the technical solution chosen by Bestone’s technical team, which should:

be able to respond quickly to changing needs;
deeply tailor for Bestone’s and be agile enough to adjust continuously.

From Online Workbooks to the Legal Case Management System

The search for the solution has undergone in-depth thinking and careful evaluation to meet the needs of all parties. Like other large companies, Bestone initially considered developing an in-house low-code system to cope with the rapidly changing needs of the business, but it was clear that it would be a great deal of work.

As a result, Bestone began searching for a mature low-code provider that could meet their requirements. After conducting thorough market research and comparative analysis, the team finally selected NocoBase for its outstanding features, hoping it could become the key to solving the problem.

NocoBase’s architecture is highly flexible and data model-driven. It allows the operations team to quickly adapt to changes in case processing without relying on complex custom development, significantly shortening the traditional page interaction development period.

——Ziya Wang, Product Manager

Here are a few core reasons why Bestone chose NocoBase:

User-friendly Configuration UI: NocoBase’s user interface is straightforward to use, allowing business adjustments to take effect quickly.
Flexible Plug-in Development: NocoBase’s plug-in architecture enables the development of custom plug-ins based on business requirements. This adaptability ensures that the system can grow alongside the business.
Batch Data processing: NocoBase supports the creation and maintenance of data in batches, which is critical for processing large amounts of case information;
Robust Workflow Configuration: Using NocoBase, users can define various workflows easily to automate business processes.

Here are some screenshots of the legal case management system built by Bestone’s team using NocoBase:

Bestone Adopts NocoBase for Future-proof Development

After choosing NocoBase as a partner, Bestone perfectly integrated its business with NocoBase. As a result, the company’s business operation model significantly changed, especially in improving data management efficiency and process automation.

NocoBase’s straightforward interfaces provide convenient new case entries for Bestone, greatly improving their efficiency. Data statistics can quickly be traced back to relevant historical cases, enhancing the efficiency of case processing and addressing the challenges of using online workbooks.

The Bestone’s team achieved several key improvements with NocoBase:

Refined Permission & Role Management: Enhanced role-based permissions and transparent responsibilities in NocoBase improved data security and team collaboration efficiency.
Efficient Data Processing Capabilities: NocoBase’s batch data processing function significantly improved operational efficiency and shortened the business processing cycle.
Streamlined Case Data Processing: the team used NocoBase to standardize and unify case data management, enabling traceability, detectability, and analysis of business processes while providing solid data support for strategic decision-making.
Automated Business Processes: NocoBase’s workflow function helped Bestone automate business processes, simplify operational processes, improve the efficiency of legal case processing, and reduce human error.
Shortened Time-to-market: NocoBase’s application allows for easy adjustment of page functions, business processes, report configurations, etc., enabling timely response to the group’s changing marketing strategies.

Apart from the above benefits Bestone has gained, NocoBase’s open-source nature can unleash even greater potential. This means Bestone can modify and customize the system and harness the power of the community to enhance the system’s capabilities and support the platform’s development.

Promising Future with NocoBase

“Implementing NocoBase is not just a technical upgrade but also a crucial part of our business development strategy. We are confident that by continuously optimizing and utilizing NocoBase, we will be able to address more business scenarios and enhance business efficiency.”

——Ziya Wang, Product Manager

Bestone specializes in enterprise legal technology services, while NocoBase focuses on no-code platform technology. NocoBase assists Bestone in achieving rapid development and deep customization by offering a stable and scalable no-code platform supported by microkernel architecture and model-driven design. This enables Bestone to concentrate on product enhancements and innovation.

In the future, Bestone aims to maintain its leading position in legal services by collaborating closely with NocoBase. They plan to explore and implement innovative solutions for a broader range of clients. With advancing technology, Bestone looks forward to providing high-quality legal services and achieving more successful cases.

Related reading:

Xiangcheng Records Leverages NocoBase to Drive Rapid Development in Smart Record Management

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 13:08:07 GMT

About the Record Management Industry

Record management has been an essential practice across various civilizations throughout history. Early examples include the ancient Egyptians, who kept detailed records on papyrus, and the Romans, who maintained public records known as tabularia.

Over time, the importance of preserving documents for administrative, legal, and historical purposes became widely recognized, leading to the development of systematic record management practices worldwide.

Today, records play a crucial role in preserving history and are indispensable in administrative, legal, financial, and cultural fields. In response to increasing demand, organizations are gradually outsourcing record management to professional third-party companies for efficient and secure management.

However, in China, the development of archival service outsourcing has lagged behind faster-paced industries like the Internet. There is a pressing need for innovation to bring new technologies into record management and deliver efficient services to society. Xiangcheng Records is stepping in to fill this gap.

A Game-changer in the Industry

Xiangcheng Records Co., Ltd. (hereinafter called Xiangcheng Records) was established on July 1, 2023. The company specializes in file sorting, digitization, management consulting, and storage services. Its clientele includes large enterprises, government departments, families, and individuals.

To capitalize on the market opportunity in the records service outsourcing industry, the company has focused on traditional file management while also making a decisive move toward intelligent record management.

Xiangcheng Records has two intelligent record management centers, the latest of which was officially opened on July 25. The center has established cooperation with several government departments, courts, universities, hospitals, and insurance companies and has received good market feedback.

How can a young company quickly establish two efficient record management centers, operate them successfully, and attract valuable partners’ attention?

The Real Smart Record Management Center

The Xiangcheng Smart Record Management Center project covers a total construction area of 5,930.8 square meters, including 2,223 square meters for the record intelligent library. It features three records storage warehouses with 210,000 boxes (2 million volumes) and 22 data cabinets. Smart robots are used for unmanned storage management, and safety features include gas fire extinguishing, optical fiber temperature control, and inhalation smoke detection systems.

Digitization and automation technology have made record management more efficient and secure. For instance, customers can submit document query requests through the software. Once the staff reviews the request, a robot can retrieve and deliver the files to the customer.

The center has reduced labor input by 90% compared to other record management companies.

Efficient record management depends on advanced hardware facilities and, most importantly, a suite of robust and flexible business management systems. These systems serve as the “brain” of the entire smart record management center, enabling unified warehouse management, contract management, customer management, and more.

However, the Xiangcheng team encountered numerous challenges while developing this central management system.

The Problem of “Brain” Building

How can the central management system be built to support the smart record management center’s efficient operation? Due to record management services’ unique and complex needs, few out-of-the-box products are available on the market. Additionally, the cost and time required to develop a new system are unacceptable to Xiangcheng Records. The sensitivity of archival data also requires the system’s on-premise deployment.

Therefore, the Xiangcheng Records team decided to find a low/no-code platform for quickly developing the business management system. However, converting business requirements into system functions remains a significant challenge, regardless of the software type.

Archivists typically understand record operations such as collection, organization, transfer, retrieval, and other related tasks. However, they may need more expertise in information systems technology. Many low-code platforms introduce data structures, views, and code, making it challenging for frontline staff to begin building the system to meet complex requirements.

A successful low/no-code platform should be user-friendly and easy to learn for non-technical staff. Xiangcheng Records urgently needed a solution for a project with tight deadlines and complex functions. The chosen platform should be self-hosting, secure, and able to meet the specific needs of the record center while breaking traditional low-code limitations.

NocoBase: Putting Development on the Fast Track

When Xiangcheng’s records business frontline staff tried and abandoned many low-code platforms at home and abroad, the project delivery deadline was approaching desperately. Fortunately, the team encountered NocoBase.

It was the three highlights of NocoBase that captured the teams’ attention:

Freely switchable WYSIWYG pages
Freely organized block-style layout
Freely adapted external interfaces

It isn’t easy to find these freedoms with other low-code platforms. Growing organizations need tools like LEGO that can be freely combined and creative rather than complex, obscure, slow-moving machines.

For instance, frontline records staff can easily create a page for records management by dragging and dropping fields and actions. Combining different page blocks builds a commonly used operation page. NocoBase offers flexible API capabilities, enabling quick integration with RFID systems and hardware for efficient warehouse management.

After verifying the system’s feasibility, the Xiangcheng records team quickly invested in its development. At the end of 2023, the team launched part of the essential business systems in just one month.

By April 2024, Xiangcheng Records began to connect with WMS and RFID systems, and the integration work went smoothly thanks to NocoBase’s cooperation.

Xiangcheng Records has integrated various systems, including CRM, RMS, WMS, AMS, and RFID tags, through the integrated management system built by NocoBase. The system also allows flexible adjustments to meet changing needs.

In June 2024, the Xiangcheng records team successfully ran the overall business process using the integrated management system built by NocoBase. The process included entering contracts, assigning tasks, generating orders, printing RFID tags, and completing automatic warehousing after receiving instructions.

Interface of the City of Aroma archival business management system:

The interface for each role is straightforward to understand, leading to efficient business operations and improved automation. From the arrival of the first batch of records in June to the library’s opening in July, the records center operated effectively, with an inventory utilization rate of 5.9% in the first month, surpassing the planned 2.8%.

Looking Ahead

Xiangcheng Records has taken on a challenging journey by launching the Smart Records Management Center. However, even more challenges are ahead, including comprehensive management of smart parks, integration of IoT devices, aggregation and visualization of various data, transformation of LLMs of business systems, and implementation of customer systems.

Concurrently, new features and plugins are continually being released according to NocoBase’s Roadmap, providing strong product support for Xiangcheng Records.

Moving forward, Xiangcheng Records will continue to explore NocoBase’s potential. For example, the team plans to develop low-code systems for managing smart factories, parks, and buildings. This initiative will facilitate IoT integration and establish a data governance platform based on NocoBase, making it a promising option for the industry.

With the right strategy, NocoBase can help enterprises streamline and standardize their essential operations, laying a solid foundation for Xiangcheng Records to build a brand image of “safety, wisdom, and professionalism.”. Additionally, NocoBase fosters employee growth and enterprise development, shaping a promising future for Xiangcheng Records.

—— Sun Xiaofeng, head of Xiangcheng Records

Tool upgrading helps the company to innovate and become a game changer in the industry, drives organizational change, and injects unlimited impetus into development. For Xiangcheng Records, NocoBase is a production tool and a key force promoting the enterprise’s development.

Related reading:

NocoBase Transforms Education Management at University of Siena

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 04:39:16 GMT

About the University of Siena

Established in 1240, the University of Siena (Italy: Università degli Studi di Siena, UNISI) is one of the oldest academic institutions in Europe. Located in the historic town of Tuscany, the university is renowned for its law and medical schools. It has campuses in various cities across the region, including Arezzo, Grosseto, and San Giovanni Valdarno, and offers a wide range of study programs and research initiatives across 15 disciplinary departments.

How to Discover the Optimal Solution for Data Management and User Interaction?

At the University of Siena, students are a top priority. That means ensuring they have the education, experiences, and support they need to graduate and live successfully.

To meet the diverse demands of students and staff, a dedicated team of experts from the University of Siena’s e-learning support service sector, continuous training, and technology team came together to find a solution to simplify and optimize the flow of data management and user interaction.

This small but dedicated team embarked on a journey to commit to innovative, cutting-edge solutions to serve students and faculties better.

The improvement of education management at the University of Siena involved the following critical processes:

integrating existing administrative systems.
delivering educational content via video conferencing platforms.
managing e-learning platform support tickets.
supporting FAQs.
collecting data from students and professors for administrative purpose

While implementing these features, the University aimed to provide an intuitive user interface to interact with complex existing systems. However, they didn’t want to rely on highly customized code that could introduce more system pitfalls. The University of Siena needed a solution that could quickly implement new requirements and flexibly interface with complicated systems.

The team searched for an effective solution and tried several CRUD solutions, but none fully met their needs. These solutions either lacked the flexibility to accommodate the University’s complex administrative processes or required extensive programming effort to implement customized functions. The team also found that many existing tools could have performed better when working with large-scale data, making integrating seamlessly with their existing systems difficult. Additionally, these solutions often required a long learning curve, which posed a significant hurdle for faculty and staff from non-technical backgrounds.

These challenges reduced work efficiency and limited the University’s ability to adapt to a rapidly changing educational environment.

NocoBase Led to Enhanced Educational Infrastructure

Until the team discovered NocoBase in 2023, the unique no-code tool with a perfect blend of user-friendliness and powerful features, they finally found the key to solving the problems they faced over the years.

After implementing NocoBase, the team quickly found it easy to define complex layouts and involve customized features. NocoBase’s plugin architecture and workflow capabilities significantly simplified the team’s operations and improved overall efficiency.

By using Nocabase, the team was able to:

Use the WYSIWYG UI design interface to build pages quickly.
Integrate with existing video conferencing platforms with NocoBase’s API.
Configure automated workflows to handle the assignment and tracking of support requests.

Unlike previous solutions, NocoBase didn’t require tedious prerequisite steps, allowing the team to focus on core tasks without being bogged down by technical details.

In addition, NocoBase seamlessly integrated with MySQL databases, simplifying data manipulation and improving query efficiency, which made large-scale data management more efficient. As a result, the University of Siena team reconsidered and redesigned their database to fully leverage NocoBase’s capabilities.

“Currently, we are making substantial changes to our database to adapt it to NocoBase’s features, confident that it will provide us with an even more straightforward and powerful development base than we had previously thought. ”

— e-learning and collaboration platforms, the University of Siena

Furthermore, NocoBase’s flexibility and user-friendly interface motivated the team to create new services and investigate inventive solutions. This has allowed the University of Siena team to enhance the end-user experience and streamline internal processes, which was previously thought impossible. These changes have significantly improved the University of Siena’s educational infrastructure.

Results and Benefits

One of the main reasons the team chose Nocobase was its development speed, but the platform turned out to be much more than that.

By implementing systems with Nocobase, the University of Siena team not only boosted productivity but also observed a significant enhancement in overall user experience. Nocobase’s intuitive and customizable interface improved operational efficiency and user satisfaction. Secondly, seamless integration with the platform simplifies data management and exchange, facilitating collaboration among team members.

For example, NocoBase will dramatically improve the University’s e-learning support services. Teachers will be able to easily browse and manage course content, schedule video conferences, and respond to student support requests easily. The system will streamline the workflow, resulting in a 50% reduction in the average wait time for students and a nearly 30% increase in teacher productivity. This directly contributes to a more positive learning experience and higher student satisfaction.

Course Management Interface - Course Details

In the future, the University of Siena is excited to continue exploring NocoBase’s potential. The team intends to maximize NocoBase’s flexibility and scalability to support its growth and development. They are especially interested in integrating NocoBase with other emerging technologies and exploring new use cases.

“We would like to thank the NocoBase team for their support and for creating such a useful and intuitive product. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and sharing further successes on our journey with NocoBase. ”

— e-learning and collaboration platforms team, the University of Siena

The University of Siena’s experience demonstrates the potential of NocoBase in education. The platform’s flexibility and scalability enable schools to swiftly adjust to educational trends and technological advancements while streamlining data management and improving the user experience. Through NocoBase, the University of Siena has enhanced its education management system and created continuous innovation opportunities.

Related reading:

UUL Saves 70% on Logistics System Upgrade with NocoBase

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 03:55:27 GMT

About UUL

U.S. United Logistics (UUL), established in 2004, is a comprehensive international logistics company specializing in trans-Pacific routes. The company’s core business is Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) international freight forwarding, and it also extends its container services to major ports worldwide.

Leveraging its high-quality service and excellent reputation, UUL has built an extensive global agency network, offering customers safe and efficient integrated logistics solutions that encompass sea, air, and land transportation.

Challenges of Business Expansion

Software vendors in traditional industries are gradually shifting from on-premises deployment to cloud-based SaaS delivery. This enhances software standardization and speeds up software delivery and updates, improving service capabilities and quality for small and medium-sized customers.

However, for a leading company like UUL, the range of services and complexity of scenarios placed extremely high demands on the data processing capacity of systems. While integrating the systems across various business sectors, several drawbacks became apparent. The IT system consistently needed to catch up to actual business operations, leading to increased cross-organization and cross-business collaboration costs. Furthermore, exemplary business practices heavily relied on experienced employees, posing challenges for promoting best practices within the organization and hindering the enterprise’s large-scale development process.

As a result, UUL began looking for a new solution. UUL needed a best-of-suite logistics delivery system as a full-link logistics service provider. In addition to the basic applications OA, CRM, and FMS, they also required other business operations supporting systems, including WMS, TMS, CDS, OMS, and a customer care system.

How can UUL develop a solution that is both flexibly integrated and cost-effective?

NocoBase: Reconstructing the Logistic Delivery System

UUL approached Yuqi Technology Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Yuqi Tech) for assistance in upgrading the entire system. After establishing a partnership, Yuqi Tech began to explore a suitable solution for UUL.

In June 2022, Zhang Zhuo, the CEO of Yuqi Tech, discovered NocoBase, the no-code development suite. Intrigued by its unique data model-driven structure, he started building up various business data models using NocoBase for trial purposes.

“During the trial, we found that NocoBase has the potential to revolutionize the way low-code apps are built.

The unique structure, which separates the frontend and backend systems, enables efficient metadata management and offers a standard UI, allowing us to create data-driven applications using a WYSIWYG approach.”

Zhang Zhuo, CEO of Yuqi Tech

NocoBase enables flexible and intuitive interface design based on data models, allowing users to receive clear and immediate feedback when interacting with data.

Zhang Zhuo also mentioned a common issue in the industry: the high cost of data governance. However, NocoBase effectively solves this problem by automatically cleaning the data as it enters NocoBase.

After proving the product concepts, the Yuqi Tech team used NocoBase as the platform infrastructure to develop UUL’s new logistics delivery system.

In this collaborative project, UUL contributed expertise and knowledge in the logistics industry. Yuqi Tech was responsible for data modeling and user interface design, while NocoBase provided infrastructure support. This project structure facilitated the efficient and flexible development of the logistics delivery system.

System Implemented Smoothly with Cost Decreasing

After Yuqi Tech clearly defined the project’s direction, they entered a stage of rapid development. With the flexible and robust architecture of NocoBase, the team can now complete one business requirement every week, even for complex models. Using NocoBase, it took only four months for Yuqi Tech to help UUL implement the financial system from scratch.

Zhang Zhuo shared:

“As an experienced NocoBase user, I can build a page in just 3 minutes. Once I establish the model based on data standards and configure the fields, I can set up the UI on the configuration page to develop the system. While going through business processes and integrating complex back-end functions may take longer, creating a functional page in NocoBase is generally quick. For example, our team can implement a small content management system or product center within a week. ”

Delivering digital management systems in this collaborative mode greatly improved delivery speed and significantly reduced costs to a lower magnitude.

It is attributed to the excellent system design logic of NocoBase:

Model-driven Logic: Once the data model is defined at an early stage, building the page later becomes much more straightforward.
Function as a Plugin: NocoBase’s architectural design allows developers to develop new plugins that adopt new requirements and can be reused.

As Zhang Zhuo said, “Once the business model and process work properly, the cost will continually decrease, as we can replicate the standard development processes on different systems.”

System Architecture：

Now, UUL is gradually transitioning from its current longstanding system to NocoBase.

UUL Data Center- Accounting Catalogue：

UUL Data Center – Organization Management：

UUL Data Center – Multiple Application Management：

Looking Ahead

Based on the estimation, if the team upgraded UUL’s logistics delivery system with traditional development tools, the project budget may range from 10 million to 20 million CNY. However, by using NocoBase as an infrastructure for development, the expected cost would be reduced to less than 30% of the original budget. Currently, the systems built with NocoBase have replaced 10% of the existing system’s financial and 5% of the transportation part. Zhang Zhuo anticipated that by the beginning of 2025, they will transfer 50% of the system to the new one.

Looking ahead, UUL and Yuqi Tech will continue collaborating to optimize and expand the logistics delivery system by maximizing NocoBase. As more modules are gradually brought online and integrated, UUL’s entire system will become increasingly efficient and agile. UUL plans to accomplish system-wide digital transformation over the next two years to respond to rapid changes in the market and growing customer demands.

Related reading:

Energy company Turcomp, empowers agile and secure development with NocoBase

Deng lijia, Huang yiqun — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 01:51:16 GMT

About Turcomp

On the west coast of Sabah, near the island of Borneo in East Malaysia, there is an island of only 92 square kilometers – Labuan. With a population of only 80,000, Labuan is an international offshore financial center and free trade zone.

The Labuan region is rich in oil and gas fields, which has led to the development of various oil and gas-related industries, including oil refining and natural gas liquefaction. Turcomp Engineering Services Sdn Bhd, also known as Turcomp, was founded in Labuan in 1992. The name “Turcomp” is a combination of “Turbine” and “Compressor,” reflecting the company’s focus on turbocharger and compressor technologies.

After more than 30 years of development, Turcomp has become an integrated service and solutions provider for the oil & gas and energy industry with 15 offices in major cities in Malaysia.

A Journey Toward Efficiency and Autonomy

Due to the oil industry’s data-sensitive nature, Turcomp tended to develop in-house digital systems to achieve full control of the data and the system. Due to Turcomp’s fast development, in-house development must be agile and efficient while ensuring strict data security.

As one of Turcomp’s IT directors said, “While proficient in various programming languages and advanced frameworks such as Laravel and Django, we recognize the inherent complexities and time-consuming nature of traditional development processes.”

Traditional development was complex and required highly skilled developers, and sometimes, it often meant relying heavily on external parties. As a result, Turcomp began investigating low-code and no-code platforms to introduce a development platform that would enable agile development while ensuring security.

Focusing on Speed and Safety

Among the many options of no-code and low-code platforms, Turcomp found NocoBase.

Once the product concepts were validated, NocoBase became an essential development tool for Turcomp. It facilitated rapid development and ensured compliance with security protocols.

“We were pleasantly surprised by Nocobase’s seamless integration capabilities and intuitive interface.”

Turcomp IT department

As the IT Development Team at Turcomp emphasized, NocoBase was the preferred choice for the following reasons:

Straightforward and user-friendly interfaces for fast prototype design;
Extendable plugins to tailor to precise requirements;
Embedded high data security policy to prevent data breaches;
Seamless data exchange among multiple systems;
In-promise deployment to have full control of the system and data.

With a full suite of comprehensive features, NocoBase enables Turcomp to quickly design customized module systems to meet its specific needs and facilitate seamless data exchange among systems without compromising security protocols. Additionally, it allows the integration of existing systems into NocoBase for unified management, thereby improving operational efficiency.

The Turcomp team can now utilize NocoBase to rapidly develop the internal management systems and deploy them securely without heavy dependence on external parties, significantly reducing development time.

Leveraging NocoBase to drive Innovation and Progress

Recently, Turcomp has developed multiple modules with NocoBase, including Timesheets and HR systems. The LDAP authentication plugin seamlessly integrates Turcomp’s existing user authentication system with NocoBase, allowing users to start using NocoBase without any obstacles.

It’s important to note that NocoBase’s extraordinary extension design allowed the development of the LDAP authentication plugin was developed, documented, and tested in just two days—a task that previously would have taken over a week.

As the IT team commended:

“Nocobase’s versatility has transcended our initial expectations, revolutionized our development workflows, and fostered a culture of innovation within our organization. Its comprehensive suite of features has endowed us with newfound flexibility and efficiency, enabling us to navigate complex challenges with unparalleled agility and efficacy.”

Since NocoBase was introduced, Turcomp has improved in-house development’s agility, efficiency, and security, strengthening its leading position in the industry. With NocoBase’s ongoing growth and expansion, it will continue to support Turcomp’s innovation and progress in the oil and gas sector.

“In summary, Nocobase has emerged as the cornerstone of our no-code development endeavors, catalyzing tangible progress and reinforcing our commitment to excellence in the oil and gas sector. We commend its efficacy and commendability, acknowledging its instrumental role in our continued success and growth trajectory.”

Turcomp IT department

Related reading:

How to upload a Docker image to an intranet server

Chen Lin — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:39:57 GMT

1. Download the Docker image

Run the following command in your local terminal:

docker pull registry.cn-shanghai.aliyuncs.com/nocobase/nocobase:latest

2. Save the Docker image as a tar file

After the download is complete, run the following command to save the image as a tar file:

docker save -o nocobase-latest.tar registry.cn-shanghai.aliyuncs.com/nocobase/nocobase:latest

3. Upload the tar file to the server

Run the following command in your local terminal to upload nocobase-latest.tar to the server:

scp nocobase-latest.tar user@ip:/home/user/

4. Load the Docker image on the server

Connect to the server via SSH and load the Docker image:

ssh user@ip
docker load -i /home/user/nocobase-latest.tar

After completing these steps, the Docker image will be successfully imported into the internal server.

How much revenue can an unknown open-source project get

Zhou Yanliang — Mon, 13 May 2024 09:09:19 GMT

Origin

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread, I ran three companies simultaneously. The other two companies were unaffected except for one sports event platform that had to close due to the pandemic. Their revenues and profits continued to increase. However, being unable to travel or meet friends and clients for several months in a row made me feel depressed. One day, I told my wife I didn’t want to disconnect from the world. I wanted to hear fresh stories daily and start working on a product that would excite me in the long run.

So, I immediately contacted Chenlin. At that time, he was working on another team of ours and was responsible for developing the sports event platform. The two of us had been intermittently discussing this product since 2018. After several weeks of brainstorming, we finalized the target scenarios, design principles, product forms, technical architecture, and other vital factors. I also brought in a colleague from another team, and the initial team was formed.

It wasn’t until several months later that we settled on the final name for this product from several alternative names: NocoBase. It is a no-code development platform designed for developers, serving as the infrastructure for development teams. Its design principle is that 80% of requirements can be implemented without code, while the remaining 20% can be implemented through extension development. It is designed with a microkernel, plugin-based architecture, extending all functionalities as plugins.

At the same time, we also established three principles:

Open Source: The code for this product will be open source. Only by being open source and open can its extensibility advantage be maximized. Moreover, open source will help us reach users worldwide without investing too many resources in marketing and sales.
6 Years: Refrain from judging whether this is correct too early; at least do it for six years before concluding. In the first two years, create an MVP to express our core ideas; in the second two years, deploy the product for actual use in production environments and continuously verify and improve it; in the third two years, introduce our product to more enterprises and invest in building the open-source community. We will gradually expand the team and balance development speed and risk according to income and expenditure.
20%: Once we start making profits, allocate 20% (now increased to 30%) of the annual earnings to the core team. The core team is creating a career, jointly creating work they are proud of rather than just doing an ordinary job.

And so it began.

Current Situation

Over three years have passed since the first commit on GitHub on March 29, 2021, which is in the middle of our second two-year plan.

During these three years, we have posted a small number of posts about NocoBase on communities such as Reddit, Dev; besides that, we have yet to do much promotion and publicity. The reason is that NocoBase could be better as an enterprise product and infrastructure. We emphasize the documentation homepage and GitHub Readme: NocoBase is in the early development stage; please use it cautiously in production environments. In addition, users from multiple countries have introduced NocoBase on their blogs and social media, bringing many new users to NocoBase. Dozens of contributors have contributed code to NocoBase. Thank you all for your contributions.

Here are some of our current data. From these data, it can be seen that NocoBase is not well known and is not used by many people as an open-source project; it is still an unknown project.

Item	data
GitHub Star	5.7k
Contributors	57
Google results	11.2k
Npm package downloads	37k
Docker image pulls	50k
Git cloners	50/day

It is worth celebrating that two weeks ago, on the last day of April, we upgraded the root version number from 0 to 1 and officially released version 1.0-alpha. We also opened official accounts for NocoBase on various social platforms. We are preparing to introduce NocoBase to more people and embark on our journey of commercialization.

Revenue for the Past 12 Months

Although we have just released 1.0-alpha and have yet to offer standard commercial licenses and commercial plugins publicly, we received our first considerable revenue in October 2022. In the past 12 months (from May 2023 to April 2024), our total revenue was $315,000 (the currency unit in the screenshot is CNY)

The primary sources of this revenue are:

United States
China
India
Europe
Brazil

The types of revenue mainly include:

Users paying us to prioritize the development of required plugins (non-customized)
Commercial licenses
Commercial plugins
Revenue sharing from derivative products

This revenue is just average for a product developed for three years, but it exceeded our expectations.

More Important Gains

Two months ago, while I was driving on the highway, Todd contacted me. So, I stopped by the roadside and chatted for over an hour. After the conversation, it was already evening. As I continued on the road, watching the fiery sunset in the rearview mirror, I felt increasingly excited, as if pulsating with the whole world.

Todd works at a company called PLAUD. Their flagship product, PLAUD NOTE, is the world’s first AI device that uses LLM for intelligent recording, transcription, and summarizing. At that time, they had just completed a crowdfunding campaign of millions of dollars, and today, their sales have exceeded 10 million dollars. They have a strong professional technical team to develop the world’s best products, but they could have invested more energy in developing business support systems, resulting in the market, after-sales, and other teams’ work efficiency far behind the pace of business growth.

After seeing PLAUD NOTE’s product introduction, I thought it was very cool, and the team behind it was also cool. I couldn’t help but introduce it to many friends around me. Todd’s team also found NocoBase very cool, and we hit it off. Their development team spent a few days developing a business support system based on NocoBase, greatly improving the team’s work efficiency.

In this process, the NocoBase team personally participated in the rapid growth of PLAUD.

Ke has been active in the NocoBase open-source community for two years and has become a contributor. He works at SINOPEC FIFTH CONSTRUCTION CO.LTD, the earliest large-scale construction enterprise engaged in petrochemical construction in China and the earliest construction unit to informatize and digitize petrochemical engineering systems. Facing the same problems as many traditional industries, external software development companies need to understand their industry, and their sector needs more professional developers.

NocoBase has significantly changed its development model. They have integrated the original databases and connected to many hardware devices, and business experts are exploring the digital transformation of the entire industry step by step based on the WYSIWYG no-code development method provided by NocoBase.

In daily communication with Ke, we learned about projects in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and listened to stories we never imagined. It is inevitable to admire and be proud of China’s construction capabilities.

800 years, 8000 kilometers – can you imagine opening your mailbox one clear morning and engaging in conversation or collaboration with someone from such a distant place as if he was an old friend?

Founded in 1240, the University of Siena is one of the oldest academic institutions globally. Nestled in the heart of a medieval town in Tuscany, Italy, it boasts a rich history of scholarship and innovation. The last time Italy and the year 1240 felt this close was when I was in high school, studying the tales of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance in history class. And today, in this university established 800 years ago, situated 8000 kilometers away, there’s a team comprised of tech experts, training specialists, and e-learning support departments, all using NocoBase as their infrastructure to streamline a vast array of processes, from administrative systems to online education platforms to ticketing systems.

The saga continues—just last Friday, Fabrizio from this team sent me news about a collaboration between Wenzhou University and the University of Siena. Suddenly, those 8,000 kilometers felt much closer, as Wenzhou University is right in our neighborhood. Fabrizio told me that his office is located in the building in the news photo.

We’ve never ventured into producing excellent hardware products like PLAUD NOTE, never touched upon petrochemical construction, and never even set foot in Italy. Without NocoBase, they might never have appeared in our sights and lives.

But now they have. We created NocoBase, and people around the world are discovering it. These individuals leverage digital technology to enhance lives, improve work, and even transform entire industries. In their journey of earnestly bettering the world, NocoBase becomes their reliable assistant. For us, NocoBase becomes our connector to the world. It bridges what we’ve never done, people we’ve never met, and places we’ve never been. Our life radius is no longer just a few kilometers, and our scope of work is no longer just a few lines of code. Every day, we step into fresh narratives. How can mere money measure such rewards?

How We Did It

1. Finding the Right Direction

The foremost topic discussed in all entrepreneurship courses is finding the right direction. Conventional wisdom suggests identifying user pain points and assessing market size.

On this subject, I have a different perspective. Over the years, I’ve run several companies and invested in others, some of which have closed down while others have steadily grown, continuously generating profits. When evaluating opportunities like NocoBase, my focus is on something other than user needs or market size. Instead, I’m more concerned with its suitability for me. I have the most profound understanding of my personality, knowing what I want, what I excel at, and what I’m not suited for. When deciding to create NocoBase, I considered the following questions:

Will it replenish my mental energy rather than deplete it?
Is it something worth investing ten years or more into, with more accumulation over time?
Does it offer a niche, less-traveled path?
Can it generate profits without relying on financing?
Is it a standardized product that generates revenue through licensing rather than project implementation?

Once all these questions received affirmative answers, we began.

2. Lowering Expectations and Going with the Flow

Almost all startup tutorials emphasize the importance of growth, even exponential growth. I admire companies that can proliferate. However, we cannot do the same. On one hand, our capabilities are limited; on the other hand, we don’t want ourselves and our team to be led by numbers. What we do can positively impact a stable life rather than relentlessly chasing figures.

Therefore, we set meager expectations from the beginning and pay little attention to the speed of growth or set income targets.

3. Embracing Shortcomings, Long-term Commitment

There are no dropouts from the world’s top universities or celebrity entrepreneurs surrounded by media glare in our team. Everyone is ordinary, emotionally stable, responsible, well-educated, and experienced. During the development of NocoBase, we often encounter complex problems to solve, frequently spend much more time than expected, and usually find certain aspects of NocoBase challenging to use. It took us three years to upgrade the version number to 1.0, and it’s still 1.0 alpha. We accept these situations calmly and without anxiety.

In the past 1000 days, we’ve had new commits almost every day, and every day, NocoBase is better than the day before.

4. Setting the Pace, Managing Risks

We don’t seek funding; we need healthy profits to ensure normal development. Profit = Income - Expenses, so we need to control expenses early to stay within income by less and achieve income greater than expenses as soon as possible.

Our worst-case scenario was no income for six years on the first day of operation. I prepared funding for six years to ensure we could survive even in extreme situations so everyone could create products with peace of mind without worrying about unemployment.

The main expense for a team like NocoBase is salaries. So, starting with three people, we kept costs under $10,000 per month for over ten months. As income generation approached, we gradually expanded the team until recently, when we reached ten people.

We are already profitable now, and the income structure is becoming healthier.

5. Working for an Ideal Life

NocoBase is a remote team living in different cities with different lifestyles. We have a fixed weekly meeting and no other constraints. There’s no workload tracking or clocking in and out; you don’t need to ask for permission. Each person is responsible for certain aspects, and everyone is accountable for the results.

As mentioned at the beginning, we distribute 30% of the profits annually to the core team. Everyone is responsible for NocoBase, which means being accountable for their career.

As I write this, everyone is preparing for a team gathering and vacation two weeks from now.

6. Helping Users Succeed

We don’t have a sales team and won’t have one for a long time. We aim to attract users through the product itself, establish a connection with them, and then help them achieve their goals through the product. We don’t sell commercial licenses to users; we recommend using open-source licenses to achieve their goals as much as possible or at least undergo several months of practical testing in their business scenarios. NocoBase effectively helps users earn more money or reduce costs, which is the basis for users willing to pay us.

What We Do Next?

We don’t have a detailed schedule or a growth plan, but we can be confident that our six-year plan has just passed its midpoint. Over the next 1000 days, we will still have commits almost every day, and NocoBase will continue to improve day by day.

Of course, we also look forward to connecting with more exciting stories and dancing closely with them. If your company is using or planning to try NocoBase, or if you’re interested in participating in its development, feel free to get in touch with us.

First Optimization Process for NocoBase Server-Side APIs

NocoBase team — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 08:11:23 GMT

Background

A user reported unsatisfactory system throughput for NocoBase via a GitHub issue. Given our product’s rapid iteration, the team is currently prioritizing system functionality improvements, with less focus on specific optimizations for performance. However, as NocoBase moves into production and expands its user base, performance issues are emerging. It is imperative for us to intensify our focus and initiate optimization efforts.

Certainly, for a product like NocoBase, real-world application scenarios tend to be complex, and there’s significant variation in user habits. Performance optimization necessitates specific, phased analyses for different scenarios. It’s not feasible to comprehensively address all issues in a single optimization round.

This optimization round focuses on providing an initial assessment of the system’s server-side API performance, followed by targeted foundational improvements.

Performance testing

Explanation

NocoBase utilizes the underlying framework of Koa + Sequelize. We have designed several test scenarios to use as benchmarks for comparative analysis:

Koa + Sequelize: This represents the foundational framework, reflecting the theoretical optimum, although real-world scenarios might introduce some compromises.
Koa + @nocobase/database: @nocobase/database is a Sequelize-based abstraction layer for database operations.
Koa + @nocobase/resourcer: @nocobase/resourcer functions as the routing and dispatching layer.
Koa + @nocobase/server: @nocobase/server serves as the NocoBase server.
Koa + Nocobase: This is the complete NocoBase program, incorporating built-in plugins.

This performance test is not a simulation of a production environment for exhaustive stress testing. Instead, it focuses on layered testing to compare data and identify the primary factors affecting API performance. The tests were primarily conducted on my personal computer with the following specifications:

Operating System: MacOS 14.0
CPU: 10 cores
Memory: 32GB
Database: PostgreSQL (Docker, latest version)
NocoBase Execution: yarn start -d

The tested API endpoint is /api/users:list, equivalent to executing select ... limit 20 and count statements on the users table. The specific code can be referenced here.

Each test scenario was evaluated using the command wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m.

Koa + Sequelize

RPS: 6938.71

> $ wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m http://localhost:13020/ 
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13020/
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     2.91ms    0.88ms  38.10ms   97.01%
    Req/Sec   348.52     30.22   434.00     84.53%
  416831 requests in 1.00m, 141.52MB read
Requests/sec:   6938.71
Transfer/sec:      2.36MB

Databse CPU > 100%

CONTAINER ID   NAME       CPU %     MEM USAGE / LIMIT     MEM %     NET I/O           BLOCK I/O         PIDS
80393e7580c1   postgres   125.63%   196.7MiB / 7.748GiB   2.48%     11.6GB / 15.8GB   76.4MB / 2.81GB   11

PostgreSQL typically utilizes only one CPU core, indicating that the performance bottleneck lies within the database.

Koa + @nocobase/database

RPS: 5487.29

> $ wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m http://localhost:13010/                   
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13010/
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     3.66ms  795.89us  32.80ms   91.85%
    Req/Sec   275.53     21.87   434.00     82.60%
  329784 requests in 1.00m, 121.71MB read
Requests/sec:   5487.29
Transfer/sec:      2.03MB

Database CPU > 100%

CONTAINER ID   NAME       CPU %     MEM USAGE / LIMIT     MEM %     NET I/O           BLOCK I/O         PIDS
80393e7580c1   postgres   102.99%   197.7MiB / 7.748GiB   2.49%     12.3GB / 16.6GB   76.5MB / 2.82GB   11

Performance has declined somewhat, but it is acceptable, and the database is generally running at its capacity.

Koa + @nocobase/resourcer

RPS: 4787.94

> $ wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m 'http://localhost:13040/api/users:list'
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13040/api/users
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     4.20ms    0.92ms  30.97ms   88.29%
    Req/Sec   240.48     18.01   333.00     80.79%
  287757 requests in 1.00m, 120.47MB read
Requests/sec:   4787.94
Transfer/sec:      2.00MB

CONTAINER ID   NAME       CPU %     MEM USAGE / LIMIT     MEM %     NET I/O         BLOCK I/O         PIDS
80393e7580c1   postgres   87.72%    197.3MiB / 7.748GiB   2.49%     12.6GB / 17GB   76.5MB / 2.82GB   11

Performance has further degraded, and the database has not reached its full capacity. We will analyze the reasons later.

Koa + @nocobase/server

RPS: 2285.86

> $ wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m 'http://localhost:13030/api/users:list'                                                   
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13030/api/users:list
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     8.80ms    2.05ms  93.25ms   97.23%
    Req/Sec   114.80      9.27   300.00     93.35%
  137358 requests in 1.00m, 87.90MB read
Requests/sec:   2285.86
Transfer/sec:      1.46MB

CONTAINER ID   NAME       CPU %     MEM USAGE / LIMIT     MEM %     NET I/O           BLOCK I/O         PIDS
80393e7580c1   postgres   47.82%    197.5MiB / 7.748GiB   2.49%     13.2GB / 17.7GB   76.9MB / 3.15GB   11

Comparing the test data with Koa + @nocobase/resourcer, there is approximately a 50% reduction in performance, indicating that the primary performance bottleneck has shifted from the database to the program itself.

Nocobase

RPS: 580.48

> $ wrk -t20 -c20 -d1m 'http://localhost:13000/api/users:list?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VySWQiOjEsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY3MjA3MCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMjc2ODcwfQ.ISmvJ7cc2XhlNO3xB6O2gndvwKS2Xs71Fo2bXuRpmfg' 
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13000/api/users:list?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VySWQiOjEsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY3MjA3MCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMjc2ODcwfQ.ISmvJ7cc2XhlNO3xB6O2gndvwKS2Xs71Fo2bXuRpmfg
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency    34.44ms    3.85ms  97.95ms   85.18%
    Req/Sec    29.03      3.94    50.00     85.04%
  34886 requests in 1.00m, 26.25MB read
Requests/sec:    580.48
Transfer/sec:    447.27KB

The comprehensive performance of NocoBase has significantly declined, as anticipated before testing. This is because the interfaces traverse numerous plugin middlewares, involving authentication, permission checks, and database queries. Notably, caching has not been implemented up to this point, making it a key focus for optimization in the current phase.

Code Analysis and Optimization

Sequelize -> database -> resourcer

Transitioning from the underlying Sequelize to the database, and then to the resourcer, although each layer incurs some performance overhead, it remains acceptable for a single process. This is mainly due to additional encapsulation of code logic. As the current optimization focus is not on achieving a complete solution in one go, this part will be maintained as is for now, and any necessary adjustments will be addressed separately in the future.

resourcer -> server

Transitioning from the resourcer to the server, the performance degradation exceeds half, indicating a definite issue in this area. Therefore, let’s start the analysis here. The server introduces additional application-level middleware compared to the resourcer (refer to helper.ts). Upon reviewing the code, most logic seems relatively straightforward, with no apparent areas significantly impacting performance. Consequently, I have decided to collect data related to the time consumption of middleware to gain further insights.

perf_hooks

NodeJS provides performance testing APIs through perf_hooks. These APIs offer a richer set of metrics beyond simple execution time calculations. In our context, the focus remains on scrutinizing the time spent in each middleware. By utilizing perf_hooks.createHistogram to construct histograms, we can execute stress tests, meticulously logging the execution times of each middleware. This approach enables us to derive key statistics such as minimum, maximum, and median execution times over the stress testing period. For instance:

{
  "i18n": {
    "count": 12455,
    "min": 1875,
    "max": 927231,
    "mean": 4867.227137695704,
    "exceeds": 0,
    "stddev": 10258.399954791737,
    "percentiles": {
      "0": 1875,
      "50": 3250,
      "75": 5372,
      "100": 926720
    }
  }
}

Upon sorting the results, two middleware components that notably impact performance stand out: logging and i18n.

Logging

By default, NocoBase outputs logs to both files and the terminal simultaneously. Referring to the Node.js documentation on process I/O,

Warning: Synchronous writes block the event loop until the write has completed.

In my testing environment, both of these outputs are likely synchronous, and since there is logging for every request and response, it inevitably has some impact on performance. Considering that interface logs are essential, we will maintain the current configuration for now. However, in a production environment, it’s common to only retain file logs. Therefore, in future tests, we can consider disabling terminal logs to reduce some performance overhead. In production, adjusting log levels as needed is also a viable option.

i18n

The i18n middleware, responsible for managing localized resources, showed significant time consumption, with the main bottleneck identified in the following code line:

const i18n = ctx.app.i18n.cloneInstance({ initImmediate: false });

The current approach of cloning an i18n instance for isolating language resources in different requests is time-consuming. To optimize, a singleton pattern based on language can be implemented, allowing the reuse of existing instances for the same language instead of reloading them for each request.

server -> NocoBase

Transition from a simple server to the complete NocoBase, there’s a significant performance drop. As mentioned earlier, the full NocoBase includes numerous built-in plugins, introducing many route-layer middlewares, including authentication and permissions. Following the methods discussed earlier, we used perf_hooks to measure the time spent in these middlewares. The results highlight the two most impactful middlewares and their main execution logic:

authManager.middleware - Middleware for user authentication
1. Check if the user token is in the blacklist.
2. Retrieve the currently used authentication method.
3. Obtain user information based on the authentication method.
acl.setCurrentRole - Middleware for setting role information in the permission module
- Retrieve associated role information based on the current user ID and set the user’s role.

Both of these middlewares perform database queries in their primary logic for each request. To address this, we are introducing caching.

Caching strategy

Storage

NocoBase currently employs both in-memory and Redis caching. For relatively static data, like system authentication methods, we store it in memory. Data related to user information follows the default storage configuration, allowing users to opt for Redis as the default storage method.

On-Demand Caching + Hook Updates

Data such as authentication methods, user information, and roles typically fall into the category of read-intensive and write-minimal. We implement an on-demand caching strategy, where the first request triggers a database query, and the results are cached. Subsequent requests use the cached results. To ensure data consistency, we introduce hooks to listen for any database changes and synchronize them with the cache.

Bloom Filter

For token blacklist queries, where we need to compare user tokens with those on the blacklist, on-demand caching is not suitable. Instead, during program startup, we preload the blacklist tokens into the cache. To save memory space, we employ a Bloom filter for caching the blacklist. The Bloom filter accurately determines if a value is not present, with a probability of misjudging the existence of a value. Initially, the Bloom filter checks whether a user token is in the blacklist. If the Bloom filter indicates existence, we perform a secondary database query for accuracy.

LRU

NocoBase’s in-memory cache defaults to using the Least Recently Used (LRU) strategy for cache eviction. Users can configure cache policies, such as setting an upper limit on cache space. For Redis users, custom cache strategies like LRU or LFU can be configured as needed.

Other Optimizations

In addition to the middleware optimizations mentioned earlier, some middleware, such as db2resource and ACLMiddleware, also impact performance. To further analyze potential performance bottlenecks, and since there are currently no straightforward optimization tasks, we plan to enable the inspector to examine the system’s CPU profile during runtime.

# Enable inspector
NODE_ARGS=--inspect yarn start

By continuously sending requests to the API using wrk and capturing the CPU profile in Chrome DevTools over a specific duration, we can obtain results similar to the following.

Upon inspecting the profile, we identified that certain logic in the db2resource for parsing routes, such as the use of pathToRegexp, has a noticeable impact on performance, explaining the further degradation in performance at the routing layer observed in previous tests. In the ACLMiddleware, operations related to permission handling, like miniMatch, also showed longer execution times. For these aspects, we have implemented some preliminary optimizations, such as caching variables for repetitive calculations. More extensive optimizations will be addressed in future iterations.

Summary

Optimization Results

In this optimization effort, we focused on:

Use variables for caching time-consuming operations in middleware, such as i18n instance creation and permission checks.
Introducing appropriate caching mechanisms for middleware operations that involve frequent database queries.

Additionally, we recommend adjusting the logging output level and method in the production environment based on requirements to mitigate the impact of log printing on API performance.

After implementing these optimizations, retesting the complete NocoBase application revealed significant improvements in API performance.

> $ wrk -c20 -t20 -d1m 'http://localhost:13000/api/users:list?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VySWQiOjEsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY5NzU5MCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMzAyMzkwfQ.Fs7ccoBKi2F2MPOCO5kpJHTH_mnVhqkFVQmlBzgBza0'
Running 1m test @ http://localhost:13000/api/users:list?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VySWQiOjEsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY5NzU5MCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMzAyMzkwfQ.Fs7ccoBKi2F2MPOCO5kpJHTH_mnVhqkFVQmlBzgBza0
  20 threads and 20 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     9.60ms    2.62ms 103.80ms   96.32%
    Req/Sec   105.44     11.62   393.00     83.66%
  126047 requests in 1.00m, 60.10MB read
  Non-2xx or 3xx responses: 2
Requests/sec:   2097.31
Transfer/sec:      1.00MB

Continuous Optimization

The optimization process in this round has certain limitations:

On one hand, we only tested simple requests. In real business scenarios, aspects like filtering, variable parsing, complex transactions, etc., may present additional performance challenges that require further optimization.

On the other hand, we focused on optimizing the parts that significantly impact performance, leaving room for improvement in other areas.

In the future, we will continue to optimize the performance of NocoBase. If you encounter performance issues in your usage, please feel free to provide specific cases for analysis and optimization. Your feedback will be valuable in addressing real-world usage scenarios.

References

Removed：drepcated authentication APIs in Users plugin

NocoBase team — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:55:26 GMT

In the v0.10 version released in June, the user authentication functionality in the User plugin(@nocobase/plugin-users) has been replaced by the Auth plugin(@nocobase/plugin-auth). The authentication-related APIs, like sign in and sign up, provided by the User plugin have been depreacted. For more details, refer to NocoBase 0.10: New features in the second quarter#signin/signup api changes.

/api/users:signin -> /api/auth:signIn
/api/users:signup -> /api/auth:signUp
/api/users:signout -> /api/auth:signOut
/api/users:check -> /api/auth:check

The authentication-related APIs in the user plugin have now been removed, as detaild in PR-3122.

NocoBase Blog

Announcing NocoBase 2.1-beta

What’s New

NocoBase CLI becomes the official entry point for AI Agents

AI-assisted building: replace manual configuration with conversation

NocoBase Skills cover the full building flow

AI development plugin

AI Employees enhancements

2.0 adaptation and new features

How to Deliver a Complex OA System in 3 Months with NocoBase

Context & Constraints

Solution & Implementation

1. Digitizing Administrative and Financial Workflows

2. Embedding Budget Control into Workflows

3.Automating Financial Integration with ERP

4. System Integration & Unified Identity

5. Iteration in an Air-Gapped Environment

Delivery Timeline

Preparing for AI Integration

Outcome

Case Study: Digitizing Medical Manufacturing Workflows with NocoBase

Context & Problem

The Solution: An Open-Source, Self-Hosted Foundation

Key Implementation Details

1. Equipment Management & Knowledge Base

2. IT Asset Lifecycle Tracking

3. Validation Record Management (V&V)

Outcome & Impact

Final Thoughts

The NocoBase Partner Program Is Live

Why We’re Launching a Partner Program

Two Partnership Models

Channel Distribution

Service Delivery

Ideal Partner Profiles

Our Vision for the Partner Ecosystem

How to Apply

NocoBase Open Source License and Pricing Adjustments

License Change: From AGPL-3.0 to Apache-2.0

Open-Sourcing Major Commercial Plugins

Consolidating Remaining Commercial Plugins

Full Credit Toward Upgrades from Lower to Higher Editions

Policies for Existing Customers

FAQ

NocoBase 2.0 Officially Released

New Features

AI Employees

App Supervisor

Workflow Canvas Enhancement

Drag-and-Drop Node Reordering

Copy and Paste Nodes

Sub-table (Inline Edit / Popup Edit)

Field Assignment

Event Flow Execution Order

Features Adapted to 2.0

Bulk Edit

Duplicate

Block Height

Table Row Drag-and-Drop Sort

Data Loading Method

Displaying Relation Fields in Forms

Page (V2) Localization Support

Approval 2.0

Configure Initiator Interface

Configure Approver Interface

CC (Carbon Copy) 2.0

Not Yet Available in 2.0

AI-Powered Ticketing Built with NocoBase 2.0

Built for Change

Limits of Traditional Ticketing

SaaS Ticketing

In-House Ticketing

Design Principles

Extensible Data Model

Unified Ticket Intake

AI-Powered Assignment

SLA

Knowledge Base

Installation and Usage

Roadmap