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Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

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Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#31

So here is a case that I wanted to implement in n8n a few years ago and it required quite heavy JS blocks: - I want to check some input - pick one of your 138 blocks - I want to extract a list of items from that input - I want to check which items did I encounter before - Do something for the items that have not been encountered before; bonus point for detecting updated and deleted items - Rinse and repeat It could b…

I really like windmill.dev which should support your scenario just fine

Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

n8n uses a "Sustainable Use License"—source available, but not OSI-approved open source. This means you can only use it for internal business purposes or non-commercial use. Sim is Apache 2.0.

Edit: I checked out your materials, I see. Copilot; smart - one could probably do this themselves with the self hosted, and those that would do this aren’t good customers for you. Those that don’t want to bother will use the free tier and possibly convert, and maybe you’ll get some enterprise out of the bargain. Good luck! What is your business strategy, if someone like AWS could treat you like Elastic or Redis? Prem…

Copilot and a few modules are sim.ai-only, but self-hosters can access them with an API key. The core—execution engine, all integrations, deployment—is fully Apache 2.0.

We aimed for feature parity with n8n and improved much of the workflow building experience along the way. We also added what we think agentic workflows needed (mentioned above). Would love your feedback.

Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#34

So here is a case that I wanted to implement in n8n a few years ago and it required quite heavy JS blocks: - I want to check some input - pick one of your 138 blocks - I want to extract a list of items from that input - I want to check which items did I encounter before - Do something for the items that have not been encountered before; bonus point for detecting updated and deleted items - Rinse and repeat It could b…

Hey - could be a good use case for https://github.com/autokitteh/autokitteh - which gives you durable workflows over python. Since your logic is deterministic it's a simple python script that stores the history in memory, and autokitteh will take care of the persistancy aspect.

Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#35
Excited to try this out, I've been looking at LangFlow and similar tools for doing DAG workflows. Sure, I could prompt or try to do an MCP or a claude skill for my utility workflows, but they aren't strongly followed and I want to, where possible, make each AI agent call be smaller, like a function.

This is definitely going to be given a try tomorrow morning. I think first up will be something easy and personal like going through the collection of NPC character sheets in my recent campaign and ensuring all NPCs have the following sections with some content in them, and if not, flagging them for my review.

Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#36

Excited to try this out, I've been looking at LangFlow and similar tools for doing DAG workflows. Sure, I could prompt or try to do an MCP or a claude skill for my utility workflows, but they aren't strongly followed and I want to, where possible, make each AI agent call be smaller, like a function. This is definitely going to be given a try tomorrow morning. I think first up will be something easy and personal like…

sounds super cool! let me know how it goes

Re: Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative

#40
post #37

Development seems pretty rapid, how often are breaking changes forcing workflow modifications to keep updated with the latest versions?

We keep all workflows running on Sim cloud backwards compatible always. The idea is that you build, deploy, and never have to make modifications again unless you want to.

If we release a breaking change that requires a migration for existing local workflows, we release notice at least a few weeks ahead of time/bake it into the db migrations.

Incase there are significant changes made, everything is versioned so you opt-in to upgrading.

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