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Open source alternatives to Airtable
Airtable starts at $20 (pricing). Here are 3 self-hostable options – free to run on your own server.
Build it yourself with AI
Use NocoDB/Baserow; custom CRUD apps are easy AI builds.
Paste this prompt into Cursor, Claude Code, Codex or any coding agent to build a minimal self-hosted Airtable clone, deployable with Docker on a VPS.
You are a senior full-stack engineer. Build a minimal, self-hosted clone of Airtable (database / no-code) that I can run on my own VPS. Keep it small, production-sane, and easy to maintain. ## Goal Replace my paid Airtable subscription for a single person or small team. MVP only — no billing, no enterprise features. ## Core features (build exactly these) 1. bases with tables and typed fields (text, number, select, link, attachment) 2. grid, kanban, form views 3. linked records across tables 4. REST API per table 5. filters and sorts saved per view ## Stack - Next.js (App Router, TypeScript) + Tailwind + shadcn/ui - PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM (migrations checked in) - Auth: Better Auth (email + password, optional GitHub OAuth); every query scoped to the signed-in user/workspace - Background jobs (if needed): pg-boss on the same Postgres - File storage (if needed): S3-compatible (MinIO container) ## Data model (start here, extend only if required) User, Base, Table, Field, Record, View Use UUID primary keys, createdAt/updatedAt on every table, and foreign keys with sensible ON DELETE behavior. ## Deliverables 1. Working app with the features above and a clean, minimal UI 2. docker-compose.yml with app, postgres, minio and Caddy (automatic HTTPS) — `docker compose up -d` must be all I run 3. .env.example documenting every variable; no secrets in code 4. Seed script with demo data 5. README: local dev, deploy on a fresh Ubuntu VPS (install Docker, set DNS A record, compose up), backups (pg_dump cron), and updating ## Rules - Build in small steps; after each feature, run typecheck and the app, and fix errors before moving on - Validate all input with zod; rate-limit public endpoints - Write a few Playwright smoke tests for the main flow - Ask me before adding any dependency beyond the stack above For reference (study the approach, don't copy code): https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb, https://github.com/baserow/baserow, https://github.com/teableio/teable
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