NodeTool: Visual Builder for AI Workflows and Agents

AI belongs on your machine, next to your data. Not behind a paywall. Not in someone else's cloud.

NodeTool is an open-source visual platform for building AI workflows. Connect LLMs, generate media, build agents, and process data through a drag-and-drop node interface — locally or in the cloud.

Key Features

| | | | :--- | :--- | | Visual workflow builder | Drag-and-drop nodes with type-safe connections — no code required | | Local-first AI | Run models on your machine via Ollama, MLX (Apple Silicon), and GGUF/GGML | | 500,000+ models | Access HuggingFace's full model library for any ML task | | Cloud APIs | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Replicate, Fal, MiniMax, Kie, OpenRouter | | AI agents | Build LLM agents with 100+ built-in tools and secure code execution | | Multimodal | Process and generate text, images, video, and audio in one workflow | | Real-time streaming | Async execution with live output previews | | Deploy anywhere | Docker, RunPod, Google Cloud Run, or self-hosted | | Extend with code | Build custom nodes in Python or TypeScript | | Cross-platform | Desktop (Electron), web, CLI, and mobile (React Native) |

What You Can Build

• LLM agents with tool use, planning, and multi-step reasoning
• Creative pipelines for image, video, and audio generation
• RAG systems with vector search and document processing
• Data transformation workflows with batch processing
• Mini-Apps — share workflows as interactive web applications
• Automation pipelines combining local AI with cloud services

Cloud Models

Access the latest generative AI models through simple nodes:

| Type | Models | | :--- | :--- | | Video | OpenAI Sora 2 Pro, Google Veo 3.1, xAI Grok Imagine, Alibaba Wan 2.6, MiniMax Hailuo 2.3, Kling 2.6 | | Image | Black Forest Labs FLUX.2, Google Nano Banana Pro, DALL-E 3 | | Audio | OpenAI Whisper, OpenAI TTS, ElevenLabs | | Text | GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama, Mistral (local or cloud) |

Use TextToVideo, ImageToVideo, or TextToImage nodes and select your provider and model.

Some models need direct API keys. Others work through kie.ai, which combines multiple providers and often has better prices.

How NodeTool Compares

| | NodeTool | ComfyUI | n8n | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Focus | General AI workflows + agents | Media generation | Business automation | | Local LLMs | Ollama, MLX, GGUF | Limited | No | | AI Agents | Built-in with 100+ tools | No | Basic | | RAG / Vector DB | Native support | No | Via plugins | | Streaming | Real-time async | Queue-based | Webhook-based | | Multimodal | Text, image, video, audio | Image, video | Text-focused | | Code execution | Sandboxed (Docker) | No | Limited |

Download

| Platform | Get It | Requirements | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Windows | Download | NVIDIA GPU recommended, 4GB+ VRAM (local AI), 20GB space | | macOS | Download | M1+ Apple Silicon, 16GB+ RAM (local AI) | | Linux | Download | NVIDIA GPU recommended, 4GB+ VRAM (local AI) |

Flatpak CI Builds are also available for Linux.

Cloud-only usage requires no GPU — just use API services.

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Documentation

• Getting Started — Build your first workflow
• Node Packs — Available operations and integrations
• Custom Nodes — Extend NodeTool
• Deployment — Share your work
• API Reference — Programmatic access

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Architecture

NodeTool is a monorepo with a TypeScript backend, React frontend, Electron desktop shell, and React Native mobile app.

nodetool/
├── packages/          # Backend monorepo (28 packages)
│   ├── kernel/        #   DAG orchestration & workflow runner
│   ├── node-sdk/      #   BaseNode class & node registry
│   ├── base-nodes/    #   100+ built-in node types
│   ├── agents/        #   Agent system with task planning & tools
│   ├── runtime/       #   Processing context & LLM providers
│   ├── websocket/     #   HTTP + WebSocket server (entry point)
│   ├── vectorstore/   #   SQLite-vec vector database
│   ├── code-runners/  #   Sandboxed code execution
│   └── ...            #   Protocol, config, auth, storage, deploy, etc.
├── web/               # React frontend (Vite + MUI + React Flow)
├── electron/          # Electron desktop app
├── mobile/            # React Native mobile app (Expo)
└── docs/              # Jekyll documentation site

For a detailed architecture overview, see ARCHITECTURE.md.

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Development Setup

Prerequisites: Node.js 22.x (LTS), npm. Python 3.11 with conda for Python nodes (optional).

Node 22 is required. Electron 35 embeds Node 22 — native modules must match. Use nvm use to activate the correct version (reads .nvmrc).

Quick Start

nvm use                    # Activate Node 22 (reads .nvmrc)
npm install
npm run build:packages     # Build all TS packages in dependency order

# Run backend (port 7777) and frontend (port 3000)
make dev

Python Nodes (optional)

Python nodes (HuggingFace, MLX, Apple integrations) require a conda environment:

conda activate nodetool
cd ../nodetool-core && pip install -e .
# Optional: install additional Python node packages
pip install -e ../nodetool-huggingface
pip install -e ../nodetool-mlx

The Python worker connects via stdio when a workflow uses Python nodes.

Electron App

make electron

The Electron app auto-detects your active Conda environment. Settings are stored in:

• Linux/macOS: ~/.config/nodetool/settings.yaml
• Windows: %APPDATA%\nodetool\settings.yaml

Mobile App

cd mobile && npm install && npm start

See mobile/README.md for full setup.

Make Commands

| Command | Description | | :--- | :--- | | make install | Install all dependencies | | make build | Build all packages + web | | make dev | Start backend + web dev server | | make electron | Build and start Electron app | | make check | Run typecheck + lint + test | | make test | Run all tests |

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Testing

# Unit tests
cd electron && npm test && npm run lint
cd web && npm test && npm run lint

# Web E2E (needs backend on port 7777)
cd web && npx playwright install chromium && npm run test:e2e

# Electron E2E (requires xvfb on Linux headless)
cd electron && npm run vite:build && npx tsc
cd electron && npx playwright install chromium && npm run test:e2e

For detailed testing documentation, see web/TESTING.md.

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Contributing

We welcome bug reports, feature requests, code contributions, and new node creation.

Please open an issue before starting major work so we can coordinate.

License

AGPL-3.0

Get in Touch

• General: hello@nodetool.ai
• Team: matti@nodetool.ai, david@nodetool.ai

GitHub | Discord | Website

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