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Ask HN: Build a no code API creator?

by londondev45 on 12/13/20, 9:38 AM with 6 comments

Hey HN,

I'm a software engineer and seem to spend more and more time writing pretty much the same system. Read message from x, call api, call api... respond etc etc. It's is integration work largely but it seems to be becoming the norm. I've had an idea to essentially distill those patterns in a Saas system. Is this a stupid idea or not? Would any of the engineers/managers entertain using such a tool?

  • by raidicy on 12/13/20, 10:04 AM

    I would use it only if I could be able to see/edit the source code. Sometimes it's vastly more simple to write 2 lines of code than construct a thought with drag and drop logic. For some Ux inspiration you might want to check out gdevelop. Its game creation software but uses drag and drop logic with slots for wiring things up. Kind of like a simpler scratch.

    I'm an indie dev who doesn't make any money from my side projects so pricing is always a factor as well. Read: I always use a free tier.

  • by hackerpain on 12/13/20, 10:57 AM

    Most no-code solutions are proprietary and it would be hard to optimize and maintain them. But it may work for smaller applications and mobile apps where you want to define a small set of feature.

  • by verdverm on 12/13/20, 9:46 PM

    I've been working on a low-code setup for developers. Working with the generated code is paramount.

    You can see https://github.com/hofstadter-io/hofmod-server for some ideas. Mimic for your favorite technologies.

    Technically, I built an framework for building low-code modules for developers. https://github.com/hofstadter-io/hof

  • by brudgers on 12/13/20, 2:53 PM

    Would you use it?