How to become 10x person - OSS low code

I'm a huge fan o making something easier in my life and automating things that are manual - not always it is worth it, more than often I spent more times on doing the automation than the automation saves me.

In terms of low code in OSS world we have more options that I thought at first we will, here is quick breakdown of the most useful software (in my opinion):

Workflows

There is clear number one and this is n8n.

GetResponse & n8n Integration
n8n logo

Why? There are pros:

  • the biggest number of integrations in OSS world
  • selfhostable
  • polished, I didn't find any bugs since I'm using it
  • powerful, it can even work as backend

Of course, there are some cons:

  • writing your own integrations is hard
  • there is no import OpenAPI/Swagger/GraphQL button to easily integrate with apis
  • some features (like multiple environments) are behind paywall

Alternatives:

  • Activepieces - young project that is evolving really fast
  • Automatisch - even younger project, not so many integrations

Here are my automations that I use in n8n:

Workflows on my selfhosted n8n
  1. Job scrapper - goes through popular IT job boards, fetches the offers, adds them to NocoDB
  2. Simple cron job that imports my bank transactions to Firefly III
  3. Synchronization between my todo list (Vikunja) and my time tracker app (Cattr)
  4. Webhook for syncing SMS from my phone to NocoDB

App builders

There are some times when simple workflow isn't enough and you need to create internal app. My example: I often lend money to my friends, but they don't always remember how much they have borrowed. So I created simple app in Plasmic to which I can just send link to them (also it sends them reminders to give the money back 😄).

Website created in plasmic in few minutes

How does it work?

  1. It fetches liability accounts from my Firefly III instance.
  2. Filters out accounts which names doesn't include username query param.
  3. Displays them in a list.

Reminders are handled in n8n via scheduled job.

Honorable mentions:

  • Windmill - if you really like coding and not so UI
  • Tooljet - really good option, but it's better suited for internal apps
  • Lowcoder (OpenBlocks) - good OpenAPI integration

Nice-to-haves

If you are like me and like to automate EVERYTHING in your life, you will want to look also for this apps:

  • Budgeting - Firefly III
  • Kitchen supplies, meal planning, shopping lists - Grocy
  • Todo list, kanban - Vikunja
  • Notes app - Memos
  • Personal CRM - Monica (4.0.0, because of integration with n8n)
  • Dashboard for all of this - Dashy
  • Nocode database - NocoDB

I put a lot of research into this apps and I'm pretty sure those are the best in their respective niche, but if you have a different opinion, let me know at hello@reix.tech.