Re:Launch HN: Refine (YC S23) – Open-Source Retool for Enter...
by verdverm on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @04:36PM
(#37068027)
low-code doesn't necessarily mean drag-n-drop, though that is typically the association in people's minds
To us, low-code is really about creating simpler, or higher up the logical stack, abstractions, and then generating the implementation.
Our take is not so far off from yours, where we take a code first approach. Users declaratively define their application in CUE and then get most of the code. Rather than providing hooks, we let the user write directly in the output code. Unlike Refine, we enable our tool to continue to aid the developer beyond the initial scaffold phase, allowing things like the data model to update and the user gets new database migrations to be auto-generated and applied. We also make it really easy for anyone to create and share these application blueprints or generators (as we call them). In this way, the user can select any mix of technology.
To us, low-code is really about creating simpler, or higher up the logical stack, abstractions, and then generating the implementation.
Our take is not so far off from yours, where we take a code first approach. Users declaratively define their application in CUE and then get most of the code. Rather than providing hooks, we let the user write directly in the output code. Unlike Refine, we enable our tool to continue to aid the developer beyond the initial scaffold phase, allowing things like the data model to update and the user gets new database migrations to be auto-generated and applied. We also make it really easy for anyone to create and share these application blueprints or generators (as we call them). In this way, the user can select any mix of technology.
https://github.com/hofstadter-io/hof