NodeTool - Agentic Workflow Builder

Build, automate, and integrate.

NodeTool is an open-source agentic workflow builder thet let's you build powerful tools. Connect your tools, streamline your work.

🚀 Why NodeTool?

NodeTool empowers you to build powerful agentic workflows:

• ☁️ Models: Use local models or connect to OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, and more.
• 🤖 Advanced Agent Design: Build intelligent multi-agent systems that can plan, reason, and use tools like web browsing and file operations.
• 🎨 Rapid Prototyping: The fastest way to prototype agentic workflows. Visual editor with no coding required.
• 💻 Integrations: Fetch emails, create posts, access any tool.

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⚙️ Quickstart Installation

1️⃣ Get Running in Minutes

• Windows / Mac / Linux: Download the installer here
• Launch the installer and run NodeTool.

Note: Requires an Nvidia GPU or Apple Silicon (M1+) and at least 20GB of free disk space for model downloads.

2️⃣ Create Your First AI Workflow

• Open NodeTool.
• Choose a prebuilt template or start with a blank canvas.
• Drag and drop AI nodes and connect them visually.
• Click Run and watch your local AI workflow execute!

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✨ Features

NodeTool empowers you with everything you need to build, automate, and deploy agentic workflows:

• Visual Workflow Editor: Build workflows with intuitive visual tools. No coding required.
• Local AI Models: Run powerful open-source models from Hugging Face and Ollama directly on your hardware for complete privacy and offline capability.
• Cloud AI Integration: Connect to major AI providers like OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Replicate, and Fal.ai.
• Advanced Vector Storage & RAG:
  • Built-in ChromaDB integration for efficient embedding storage and retrieval.
  • Easily create Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) workflows.
  • Index and query PDFs, documents, and other text sources.
  • Combine vector search with any supported LLM for context-rich responses.
• Multimodal Capabilities: Process text, images, audio, and video within a single workflow.
• System Tray Integration: Access workflows quickly via the system tray. Assign global shortcuts, manage clipboard content with AI, and monitor task status.
• Asset Management: Import, organize, and manage images, audio, video, and other media assets within your workflows.
• Ready-to-Use Templates: Start quickly with pre-built workflow templates for common AI tasks.
• Mini-App Builder: Convert workflows into standalone desktop applications with a few clicks.
• Chat Interface: Build personalized chatbot interfaces tailored to your specific needs.
• API Access: Integrate NodeTool with external applications and services via APIs.
• Custom Python Extensions: Extend functionality with custom Python scripts and integrations.
• Cross-Platform: Build and run workflows on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

🤖 NodeTool Agent System

Design sophisticated AI agents capable of handling complex, multi-step tasks using NodeTool's agent framework.

Core Capabilities:

• Strategic Task Planning: Automatically break down complex objectives into structured, executable plans.
• Chain of Thought Reasoning: Enable agents to perform step-by-step problem solving with explicit reasoning paths.
• Tool Integration: Equip agents with tools for web browsing, file operations, API calls, and more.
• Streaming Results: Get live updates as agents reason and execute tasks.

Ready-to-Use Agent Examples

NodeTool includes several pre-built agent examples:

• Wikipedia-Style Research Agent: Generates structured documentation via web research.
• ChromaDB Research Agent: Processes and indexes documents for semantic querying.
• Social Media Analysis Agents: Tracks and analyzes content from Twitter/X, Instagram, and Reddit.
• Professional Research Tools: Analyzes the LinkedIn job market and performs advanced Google searches.
• Utility Agents: Processes emails and integrates web search capabilities.

Find full implementations and more examples in the examples directory of the nodetool-core repository.

✨ Real-World Applications

See how NodeTool streamlines your workflows:

• 📧 Email Automation: Never miss important emails again. Automatically scan Gmail, extract key information, and create personalized daily summaries.
• 🐉 Creative AI Generator: Turn ideas into unique Pokemon with custom descriptions, images, types, and abilities using AI creativity.
• 🔍 Smart Document Q&A: Get instant answers from your documents. Upload PDFs and other files, then ask questions and get accurate responses.
• 🎨 Image Style Transfer: Transform any image with artistic styles while preserving the original structure and composition.

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💡 Join Our Community

Connect with other NodeTool users and the development team:

• 🌟 Star us on GitHub: github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool
• 💬 Join the Discussion: Discord Community
• 🚀 Contribute: Help shape the future of local-first AI. See Contributing below.

Let's build amazing AI workflows together! ✨

🚀 Quickstart (Release Info)

Release 0.6 is in pre-release.

🛠️ Development Setup

Follow these steps to set up a local development environment for the entire NodeTool platform, including the UI, backend services, and the core library (nodetool-core). If you are primarily interested in contributing to the core library itself, please also refer to the nodetool-core repository for its specific development setup using Poetry.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11: Required for the backend.
• Conda: Download and install from miniconda.org.
• Node.js (Latest LTS): Required for the frontend. Download and install from nodejs.org.

1. Set Up Conda Environment

# Create and activate the Conda environment
conda create -n nodetool python=3.11 -y
conda activate nodetool

# Install essential system dependencies via Conda
conda install -c conda-forge ffmpeg cairo x264 x265 aom libopus libvorbis lame pandoc uv -y

2. Install Core Python Dependencies

These are the essential packages to run NodeTool.

# Install nodetool-core and nodetool-base
# On macOS / Linux / Windows:
pip install git+https://github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool-core
pip install git+https://github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool-base

3. Install Optional Node Packs (As Needed)

NodeTool's functionality is extended via packs. Install only the ones you need.

# List available packs (optional)
nodetool package list -a

# Example: Install packs for specific integrations
pip install git+https://github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool-huggingface --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121 # For HuggingFace models (PyTorch/CUDA)
# ... install other packs like replicate, fal, elevenlabs, etc.
# ... add other relevant packs here

Note: Some packs like nodetool-huggingface may require specific PyTorch versions or CUDA drivers. Use the --extra-index-url when necessary.

4. Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file inside the web directory (you can copy web/.env.example as a starting point). Set the following variables to match your deployment:

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:8000            # URL of the NodeTool API server
VITE_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-supabase.supabase.co
VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key

These variables are loaded by Vite at build time and allow you to point the UI at a different backend or Supabase project without changing the source code.

5. Run NodeTool Backend & Web UI

Ensure the nodetool Conda environment is active.

Option A: Run Backend with Web UI (for Development)

This command starts the backend server and serves the web UI directly with hot reloading enabled.

# On macOS / Linux / Windows:
nodetool serve

Access the UI in your browser at http://localhost:3000.

Option B: Run with Electron App

This provides the full desktop application experience.

Configure Conda Path: Ensure your settings.yaml file points to your Conda environment path:

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

CONDA_ENV: /path/to/your/conda/envs/nodetool # e.g., /Users/me/miniconda3/envs/nodetool

Build Frontends: You only need to do this once or when frontend code changes.

# Build the main web UI
cd web
npm install
npm run build
cd ..

# Build the apps UI (if needed)
cd apps
npm install
npm run build
cd ..

Start Electron:

cd electron
npm install
npm start

The Electron app will launch, automatically starting the backend and frontend.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome community contributions!

1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
2. Create a new branch for your feature (git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name).
3. Make your changes and commit them (git commit -am 'Add some amazing feature').
4. Push your branch to your fork (git push origin feature/your-feature-name).
5. Open a Pull Request against the main branch of the original repository.

Please follow our contribution guidelines and code of conduct.

📄 License

AGPL

📬 Get in Touch

We'd love to hear from you! Whether you have questions, suggestions, or feedback, feel free to reach out through any of the following channels:

• NodeTool Platform Repository: github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool
• NodeTool Core Library Repository: github.com/nodetool-ai/nodetool-core
• Email: hello@nodetool.ai
• Discord Community: Join us on Discord
• Community Forum: Visit the NodeTool Forum
• GitHub Issues: Report issues or request features
• Project Leads: Matthias Georgi (matti@nodetool.ai), David Bührer (david@nodetool.ai)

We're excited to collaborate and build amazing AI workflows together! 🚀✨

📦 NodeTool Packs Registry

Extend NodeTool's capabilities with specialized Node Packs. The NodeTool Packs Registry manages discovery, installation, and distribution.

Using Packs (For Users)

Manage packs easily through the NodeTool UI:

• Browse available packs.
• Install, uninstall, and update packs (uses pip behind the scenes).
• View pack details and documentation.

Alternatively, install directly via pip (see Development Setup).

Refer to the NodeTool Registry repository for detailed guidelines on creating and publishing packs.

📚 Documentation

The documentation site is built with Jekyll on GitHub Pages. Markdown files live in the docs/ directory and changes on main are deployed automatically. Start with the Getting Started guide and browse our new Tips and Tricks section for handy workflow shortcuts.