Open-source projects have revolutionized how developers create, innovate, and collaborate.
NocoBase, a highly scalable open-source no-code development platform, is an infrastructure tailored for development teams and developers. In creating NocoBase, we leveraged numerous excellent and mature open-source projects. We extend our sincere gratitude to these outstanding open-source projects.
This article will introduce the open-source projects used by NocoBase, analyze their strengths, weaknesses, use cases, and more examples.
Bookmark this curated list of awesome open-source projects for developers!
Node.js forms the foundation of NocoBase, providing a powerful JavaScript runtime environment based on Chrome’s V8 engine. It enables NocoBase to handle a large number of concurrent connections with high throughput, making it ideal for real-time applications.
As a mature open-source project, Node.js excels in certain application scenarios, particularly in handling high concurrency and real-time data. However, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Developers should weigh project requirements and characteristics when opting for Node.js.
Pros
Event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, suitable for I/O-intensive applications
Full-stack JavaScript development, reducing learning curve
Vast npm ecosystem with rich modules
High performance, especially for real-time and streaming applications
Cross-platform compatibility
Cons
Unsuitable for CPU-intensive tasks
Callback nesting issues (mitigated by Promises and async/await)
Single-threaded model may crash entire application due to uncaught exceptions
Frequent version updates may cause compatibility issues
Challenging code organization and maintenance for large, complex applications
Use Cases
Real-time applications (e.g., chat systems, game servers)
Streaming applications
Single Page Application (SPA) backends
RESTful API services
Microservices architecture
Command line tools
Examples
LinkedIn rebuilt its mobile app backend using Node.js, migrating from Ruby on Rails
Netflix uses Node.js to build and customize their user interface
PayPal rewrote its account overview page with Node.js, improving page response speed
NASA built an end-to-end system with Node.js for data storage and distribution to reduce data access time
Walmart redesigned their mobile app with Node.js during the holiday shopping season to handle large concurrent connections
Koa is a next-generation Node.js web framework developed by the Express team. It is adopting a middleware stack architecture to build robust web applications and APIs, enhancing NocoBase’s modularity and scalability.
Koa, as a lightweight web framework, offers developers great flexibility and control. It is particularly suitable for those who want more control over application architecture without being constrained by a large framework. Koa’s design philosophy of “less is more” makes it preferable to express in certain scenarios, especially when building small to medium-sized web applications and APIs.
Pros
Lightweight and minimalist design, with core code only about 2000 lines
Based on async functions (async/await), avoiding callback nesting
Powerful middleware system, easy to extend and customize
Better error handling mechanism
More elegant API design compared to Express
Smaller learning curve, especially for developers already familiar with Node.js
Cons
Smaller community and ecosystem compared to Express
Many functions need to be implemented through middleware, possibly increasing initial setup time
Incompatible with older versions of Node.js (requires Node v7.6.0 or higher)
High flexibility may lead to a lack of “fixed” solutions
Use Cases
RESTful API development
Microservices architecture
Real-time web applications
Lightweight web application backends
Handling specific routes or functions as part of larger applications
Examples
Alibaba Group uses Koa as the standard Node.js web framework
Uber uses Koa in some of its microservices
Shopify uses Koa in some internal tools and services
Yahoo adopts Koa in certain projects to build APIs
Many small and medium-sized startups choose Koa for its simplicity and flexibility
React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, playing a crucial role in NocoBase’s front-end development.
Its component-based architecture allows for UI component reuse, ensuring a consistent and dynamic user experience. React is particularly suited for building large, complex single-page applications, and its componentization philosophy enables development teams to better organize and manage code. React’s virtual DOM and efficient rendering mechanism make it outstanding in handling frequently updated UIs. However, for simple static websites or small projects, using React may be overkill.
Pros
Virtual DOM improves rendering performance
Component-based development facilitates code reuse and maintenance
Unidirectional data flow makes application state management more predictable
JSX syntax allows writing HTML-like code directly in JavaScript
Cross-platform support (Web, mobile via React Native)
Efficient reconciliation algorithm
Server-side rendering (SSR) support
Cons
Steep learning curve, especially for developers unfamiliar with JSX and functional programming
Focuses solely on the UI layer, requiring additional libraries (e.g., Redux) for complex state management
More initial configuration and decision-making compared to a full-fledged framework
Not SEO-friendly by default (though solvable through SSR)
Large applications may face performance optimization challenges
Use Cases
Single-page application (SPA) development
Large, complex web applications
Applications requiring high-performance and responsive UIs
Real-time, data-intensive applications
Cross-platform application development (with React Native)
Enterprise-level application front-end development
Applications with frequent UI updates (e.g., social media feeds)
Examples
Facebook (React’s creator) uses React extensively in its main products
Instagram and WhatsApp web versions are built with React
Airbnb’s front-end architecture is based on React
Netflix uses React to enhance its user interface performance
Dropbox adopts React in its web application
Ant Design is an enterprise-level UI design system, providing a complete set of high-quality React components to help developers quickly build beautiful user interfaces. NocoBase uses Ant Design to provide an intuitive and consistent user experience, making application interfaces more professional and user-friendly.
Ant Design is particularly suitable for medium to large projects requiring rapid development and unified design style, especially enterprise-level applications and backend management systems. Ant Design’s design language is simple and modern, and its rich components and powerful functions can greatly improve development efficiency.
Pros
Rich component library covering most common UI needs
Beautiful design following a unified design language
Comprehensive documentation and examples, easy to learn and use
Strong TypeScript support
Responsive design, adapting to different screen sizes
Enterprise-friendly, offering complex components like tables and forms
Supports server-side rendering (SSR)
Cons
Large file size, may affect initial load speed
Steep learning curve, especially for complex components
Overly “Ant Design-ized” UI may lack uniqueness
Some components may be overly complex for simple requirements
Deeply bound to React, not suitable for other frameworks (though there is a Vue version)
Use Cases
Enterprise-level web application development
Backend management systems
Data visualization applications
Medium to large projects requiring rapid development
Products needing a unified design language
UI layer for React projects
Web applications with rich interactions
Examples
Many internal systems at Alibaba Group use Ant Design
Several products at Ant Financial use Ant Design
Part of Tencent Cloud’s console interface uses Ant Design
Some internal tools at ByteDance use Ant Design
Many management systems and SaaS products at small and medium-sized companies use Ant Design
Dnd Kit is a modern drag-and-drop library supporting React. It provides a flexible and powerful API, making it easy and intuitive to implement complex drag-and-drop interactions. In NocoBase, Dnd Kit is used to enhance the interactivity and operability of the user interface, improving user experience.
Dnd Kit’s lightweight and high-performance characteristics make it an ideal choice for projects requiring smooth drag-and-drop experiences, especially those handling a large number of draggable items or highly customized drag-and-drop behaviors.
Pros
Lightweight, core package only about 10KB (gzipped)
Highly modular, can import only needed features
Powerful customization, supports complex drag-and-drop interactions
Excellent performance, uses virtualization for handling large items
Framework-agnostic, compatible with React, Vue, etc.
Supports various drag-and-drop sensors (mouse, touch, keyboard)
Provides rich hooks and utility functions
Good TypeScript support
Cons
Smaller community and ecosystem compared to some more mature drag-and-drop libraries
Steep learning curve, especially for complex drag-and-drop needs
Comprehensive documentation may still be challenging for beginners
Some advanced features may require additional configuration and code
Integration with specific UI libraries may need extra work
Use Cases:
Web applications requiring drag-and-drop functionality
Sortable lists or grids
Kanban-style interfaces
Complex drag-and-drop interactions, such as multi-column sorting
Applications needing highly customized drag-and-drop behaviors
Large-scale data drag-and-drop operations (using virtualization)
Examples:
Over 12,000 stars on GitHub, adopted by many developers and small projects
Some open-source projects and tools use Dnd Kit for drag-and-drop features, such as some React component libraries and development tools
Many educational and training platforms use Dnd Kit in interactive coding environments
Online resume builders and visual design tools also use Dnd Kit
Conclusion
This article detailed five open-source projects extensively used by NocoBase. Other projects like Formily, i18next, Sequelize, and UmiJS will be shared in subsequent articles. We hope this information helps developers find the best open-source products for their projects, enhancing development efficiency.