BlinkBox

Visual automation platform — build workflows that used to take a sprint in an afternoon.

BlinkBox replaces Zapier, Make, and n8n for teams that need AI agents, headless scraping, and sandboxed code execution — all on a flat-rate plan with no per-task fees.

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What it does

• Drag-and-drop canvas — connect triggers, actions, AI nodes, and logic blocks visually
• Brian AI — describe an automation in plain English, get a fully wired workflow in seconds
• AI Agents — LLM nodes that reason over data and output structured results
• Headless scraping — full Chromium pool, defeats anti-bot, renders JavaScript
• Code sandbox — write JavaScript in an isolated V8 sandbox with memory limits
• 250+ integrations — Gmail, Slack, Stripe, GitHub, Notion, Airtable, Shopify, and more
• Encrypted credential vault — AES-256-GCM; secrets never leave the server decrypted
• Multi-turn chat — Brian remembers context across follow-ups to refine your workflow

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Stack

| Layer | Tech | |-------|------| | Frontend | React 18 + Vite + Tailwind CSS + ReactFlow | | Backend | Node.js + Express + MongoDB Atlas + Redis | | AI | Anthropic Claude (primary) → Groq → Gemini (fallback) | | Scraping | Puppeteer + Chromium | | Execution | Cursor-based distributed engine, 4 worker cells | | Deployment | Railway (nixpacks) |

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Local setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 22
• MongoDB Atlas cluster (or local MongoDB)
• Redis (local or Upstash)

1. Clone

git clone https://github.com/blinkboxhq/Blinkbox.git
cd Blinkbox
npm install

2. Configure environment

cp apps/backend/.env.example apps/backend/.env

Edit apps/backend/.env — at minimum you need:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://...
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
JWT_SECRET=your-32-char-secret
ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-exactly-32-char-key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...          # enables Brian AI

3. Run

# Terminal 1 — backend (port 3000)
cd apps/backend && npm run dev

# Terminal 2 — frontend (port 5174)
cd apps/frontend && npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5174.

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Environment variables

Required

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | MONGODB_URI | MongoDB connection string | | REDIS_URL | Redis connection string | | JWT_SECRET | ≥ 32 chars, any random string | | ENCRYPTION_KEY | Exactly 32 chars — used for credential vault AES encryption |

AI (at least one recommended)

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Enables Brian AI via Claude Sonnet 4.6 | | GROQ_API_KEY | Fallback LLM (Llama 3.3 70B) | | GOOGLE_AI_KEY | Fallback LLM (Gemini 2.0 Flash) |

OAuth integrations (optional)

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET | Gmail, Drive, Calendar OAuth | | SLACK_CLIENT_ID / SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET | Slack OAuth | | GITHUB_CLIENT_ID / GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET | GitHub OAuth | | MICROSOFT_CLIENT_ID / MICROSOFT_CLIENT_SECRET | Microsoft 365 OAuth | | NOTION_CLIENT_ID / NOTION_CLIENT_SECRET | Notion OAuth | | AIRTABLE_CLIENT_ID / AIRTABLE_CLIENT_SECRET | Airtable OAuth |

Deployment

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | BACKEND_PUBLIC_URL | Public-facing backend URL (e.g. https://api.blinkbox.net) — required for OAuth callbacks | | FRONTEND_URL | Frontend URL for CORS allowlist | | PORT | Backend port (default: 3000) |

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Frontend (Vite)                  │
│  Dashboard · Workspace Canvas · Brian AI Chat       │
└───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                        │ REST API
┌───────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────┐
│                Backend (Express)                    │
│  Auth · Automations · Executions · Credentials      │
│  Brian Controller · OAuth · Webhooks                │
└──────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
           │                  │
    ┌──────▼──────┐    ┌──────▼──────┐
    │  MongoDB    │    │    Redis    │
    │  Atlas      │    │   Queues   │
    └─────────────┘    └──────┬──────┘
                              │
                    ┌─────────▼───────────┐
                    │  Execution Workers  │
                    │  (4 cursor cells)   │
                    │  Chromium pool      │
                    └─────────────────────┘

Execution engine

Workflows run as cursor-based state machines. Each execution is a MongoDB document with a cursor array. Workers claim cursors atomically via arrayFilters, run the node handler, advance the cursor, and release. Redis queues decouple trigger fan-out from execution. A resumer process recovers crashed executions every 5 seconds.

Node system

Every integration is a node with two halves:

• Frontend (nodeRegistry.js) — config panel, icon, label, category
• Backend (nodes/) — stateless handler async (config, context) => result

The same backendType key connects both sides. 250+ nodes are registered.

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Brian AI

Brian is the AI workflow builder. Type a description in the dashboard chat bar:

"When a new Stripe payment comes in, look up the customer in HubSpot, and send a Slack alert to #revenue"

Brian calls Claude Sonnet 4.6 with a 70-node knowledge base and forced tool use. It outputs a fully configured workflow with real field values, correct variable chaining ({{trigger.data.from}}), and proper node positions — ready to run.

Provider fallback chain: Anthropic → Groq → Gemini

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Security

• JWT auth on all API routes, workspace-scoped queries
• AES-256-GCM credential encryption (key never stored in DB)
• SSRF guard on all outbound HTTP requests
• Code sandbox: isolated V8 with memory/time limits (isolated-vm)
• Shell tool nodes gated behind ENABLE_SHELL_TOOLS=true (off by default)
• OAuth state tokens (CSRF protection), postMessage to explicit origins only
• Rate limiting on webhook triggers (Redis-backed, survives restarts)

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Deployment on Railway

1. Create a Railway project, add the repo
2. Set all required env vars in Railway dashboard
3. Set BACKEND_PUBLIC_URL to your Railway backend URL
4. Register that URL as an OAuth redirect URI in Google Cloud Console (if using Gmail)

The nixpacks.toml in apps/backend/ installs Chromium and all native deps automatically.

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License

MIT