Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python

Hey HN, I’m Jimmy, co-founder of Dropbase (https://www.dropbase.io). We are an internal tools builder for Python developers. All you have to do is import any Python scripts/libraries, declare UI components, and layer app permissions so you can share them with others.

We’re a middle ground between Airplane and Retool—simpler UI creation than Airplane, more code-centered than Retool. UI building is declarative and you can bind Python scripts/functions to UI components. You can write Python scripts/functions using our App Studio with support from a Python Language Server Protocol (LSP) for linting. Since the self-hosted worker directly references .py or .sql files in the filesystem, you can even write them on VSCode directly or import any other Python script or library.

Our app layout is highly opinionated to speed up app building. Instead of an open canvas for UI building, we just give you a main table view and a widget sidebar. This approach significantly reduces app-building time while still covering what most tools need: see some data and take actions based on it. It’s not flexible enough to do absolutely anything, but that’s the point—there’s a tradeoff between flexibility and speed. Dropbase gives you most of what you need, plus speed!

A neat feature we are experimenting with to build admin panels fast is “Smart Tables”. We convert any SQL SELECT statement (even across multiple joins and filters) into an inline editable table, like spreadsheets, without any additional code.

We have a hybrid hosting model that combines a self-hosted client and a worker server, with a backend API for app/component definitions hosted by us to simplify pushing feature updates. The worker server sits in your machines so your sensitive data doesn’t leave your infra.

We’re Python-centric for now, but plan to add support for Rust, Go, and others later.

We made a few demo videos building common tools: - Customer approval tool: https://youtu.be/A1MIIRNkv3Q - Data editing tool (with Smart Table): https://youtu.be/R1cHO9lMRXo

To try Dropbase, create an account at https://app.dropbase.io and generate a token, then follow these instructions for local setup: https://docs.dropbase.io/setup/developer.

We are very early so we're really excited to get your feedback, especially on our approach to tools building with Python! My co-founder Ayazhan and some of our teammates will be around to answer questions.

Show HN: Dropbase – Build internal web apps with just Python
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Hell yeah. I build internal web apps with Django. I'll definitely try this out in my upcoming project. Some major pain points are going past tables of data to (1) graphs (2) create/update modals (3) cron jobs. I've used and contributed to some plotting library I don't remember. For modals I usually use Vue+Primevue and for cron jobs I use celery+redis. Login is a pain, but it's mostly a solved problem on my end.

I'd say it's closer to the latter, unless you are already quite familiar with Django. Dropbase is a lighter framework with a more narrow use case, whereas Django is a much more powerful, complete, and you could practically build anything with it. For internal web apps/tools specifically though, it'd be much faster and with a smaller learning curve to build with Dropbase.

Congrats on launching!

> a backend API for app/component definitions hosted by us to simplify pushing feature updates

Any plans to open-source that part as well?

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