Automatisch is an open-source business automation platform designed as a self-hosted alternative to proprietary tools like Zapier and Integromat. It enables users to connect services such as Twitter, Slack, Gmail, and more through a visual interface, creating automated workflows without writing code. Built for technical teams and privacy-conscious organizations, Automatisch gives full control over data by allowing deployment on private infrastructure—making it ideal for industries subject to GDPR or other compliance requirements. The platform is licensed under AGPL-3.0 for community use, with a commercial Enterprise Edition available for enhanced features.
Unlike cloud-based automation tools that require data to be sent to third-party servers, Automatisch runs entirely on your infrastructure. This eliminates concerns about data leaks, vendor lock-in, and subscription costs while providing transparency through open-source code. Whether you’re a small business automating email responses or an enterprise managing compliance-sensitive workflows, Automatisch offers a secure, flexible foundation for automation.
What You Get
- Self-hosted workflow automation - Deploy Automatisch on your own servers using Docker, ensuring all data remains within your infrastructure and never leaves your control.
- No-code visual builder - Create complex automations using a drag-and-drop interface with pre-built triggers and actions for services like Slack, Twitter, Gmail, and more—no programming required.
- GDPR and compliance-ready - Store sensitive data locally instead of sending it to third-party clouds, making it suitable for healthcare, finance, and European businesses bound by data protection regulations.
- No vendor lock-in - Since you own the infrastructure and data, switching to another automation platform is as simple as exporting your workflows—unlike proprietary SaaS tools that trap you in their ecosystem.
- Open-source foundation - All core functionality is available under AGPL-3.0 license; contributions from the community directly shape future development.
Common Use Cases
- Building a GDPR-compliant customer support workflow - Automate ticket creation in Jira from Slack messages and send email confirmations via Gmail—all while keeping customer data on-premises to meet EU data residency laws.
- Creating a social media content scheduler - Automatically post Twitter updates when new blog articles are published on WordPress, using your own server to avoid third-party data collection.
- Problem → Solution flow: Vendor lock-in and high SaaS costs → Self-hosted automation - Businesses tired of paying monthly fees to Zapier and losing control over their data can deploy Automatisch on a $5/month VPS, retain full ownership of workflows, and avoid recurring costs.
- Team/workflow scenario: DevOps teams managing internal tool integrations - Engineers automate alerts from monitoring tools like Prometheus into Slack and email, using Automatisch to avoid exposing internal system data to external cloud platforms.
Under The Hood
Automatisch is a low-code automation platform designed to enable users to create complex workflows by connecting various apps and services. It emphasizes extensibility, modular architecture, and agent-based execution to support dynamic and customizable automation flows.
Architecture
The system adopts a monolithic yet modular architecture that separates concerns across backend, frontend, and documentation layers. This design promotes reusability and maintainability through well-defined components.
- The backend is organized into distinct apps, models, controllers, and helpers that encapsulate functionality and support scalable development.
- The frontend is built using React with a component-based structure, enabling flexible UIs for workflow configuration and management.
- Design patterns such as strategy and factory are applied to handle app integrations and error handling in a consistent manner.
- API routes and shared models facilitate communication between frontend and backend services, ensuring seamless interaction.
Tech Stack
The platform is built as a JavaScript/TypeScript monorepo, combining modern frontend and backend technologies to deliver a full-stack automation solution.
- The frontend leverages React, MUI Joy, and Material components for a responsive and accessible user interface.
- The backend is powered by Node.js with Express.js, supported by tools like BullMQ for job processing and Knex for database operations.
- Development and testing are streamlined with Vite, Vitest, Playwright, ESLint, and Prettier for fast builds and code quality assurance.
Code Quality
The codebase demonstrates a mature approach to testing and error handling, with a focus on consistency and maintainability across modules.
- Comprehensive test coverage is present for core API endpoints and business logic, supporting reliable system behavior.
- Error handling is consistently implemented using try/catch blocks and explicit error throwing, particularly in authentication and validation flows.
- Code style and naming conventions are mostly consistent, though some technical debt remains in duplicated logic and conditional licensing checks.
What Makes It Unique
Automatisch distinguishes itself through its modular app architecture and agent-driven workflow engine, offering a flexible and extensible automation environment.
- Its modular app system enables easy addition of new integrations with consistent interfaces and patterns across all supported services.
- The agent-based execution engine allows for complex, multi-step automation flows with dynamic data handling and intelligent decision-making.
- The extensible action framework supports both built-in and custom actions through a unified interface, enhancing customization capabilities.
- A developer-friendly configuration system provides dynamic data fetching and credential management for seamless app integration.