[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":419},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-46234186":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":28,"sentiment":29,"stance_mix":30,"scored_comments":35,"aspects":36,"strip":44,"post_text":46,"what":47,"said":101,"maker_in_thread":215,"shape":227,"grid":231,"attempts":375,"same_week":382,"maker_shows":39,"maker_hidden":411,"reader_version":412,"card":413},"46234186","Sim","Apache-2.0 n8n alternative","title","Show HN: Sim – Apache-2.0 n8n alternative","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fsimstudioai\u002Fsim","github.com","waleedlatif1",1765473611,2025,240,61,253,3837,7,"notable","ai","agent workflow builder","web_app",[24,25,26,27],"agentic workflows","n8n alternative","visual workflow editor","ai agents","curious",0.087,{"positive":31,"neutral":32,"mixed":33,"critical":34},4,16,0,3,23,{"execution":37,"idea":38,"pricing":40,"performance":41,"docs":42,"design":43},{"positive":33,"critical":33},{"positive":39,"critical":33},1,{"positive":39,"critical":33},{"positive":33,"critical":39},{"positive":33,"critical":39},{"positive":33,"critical":33},[34,33,33,34,34,33,33,33,45,45,33,34,33,33,33,33,33,34,34,45,39,34,34,33,33,33,33,39,34,33,34,34,39,33,34,34,34,33,34,45],5,"Hey HN, Waleed here. We're building Sim (https:\u002F\u002Fsim.ai\u002F), an open-source visual editor to build agentic workflows. Repo here: https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fsimstudioai\u002Fsim\u002F. Docs here: https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.sim.ai.\n\nYou can run Sim locally using Docker, with no execution limits or other restrictions.\n\nWe started building Sim almost a year ago after repeatedly troubleshooting why our agents failed in production. Code-first frameworks felt hard to debug because of implicit control flow, and workflow platforms added more overhead than they removed. We wanted granular control and easy observability without piecing e",{"problem":48,"audience":54,"pricing":63,"motivation":72,"time_to_build":76,"stack":77,"openness":98,"stage":99,"team_size":100},{"value":49,"source":50,"evidence":51},"Debugging agents that fail in production and workflow platforms adding overhead","maker",[52],{"id":53},"post",{"value":55,"source":56,"evidence":57},"Developers building AI agent workflows who want control and observability","inferred",[58,59],{"id":53},{"id":60,"by":61,"text":62},"46240560","Multicomp","Excited to try this out, I've been looking at LangFlow and similar tools for doing DAG workflows. Sure, I could prompt or try to do an MCP or a claude skill for my utility…",{"value":64,"source":50,"evidence":65},"Apache 2.0 license; Copilot and some modules only on sim.ai, self-hosting free",[66,69],{"id":67,"by":11,"text":68},"46240017","Copilot and a few modules are sim.ai-only, but self-hosters can access them with an API key. The core—execution engine, all integrations, deployment—is fully Apache 2.0. We aimed…",{"id":70,"by":11,"text":71},"46237723","n8n uses a \"Sustainable Use License\"—source available, but not OSI-approved open source. This means you can only use it for internal business purposes or non-commercial use. Sim…",{"value":73,"source":50,"evidence":74},"Repeated production agent failures and dislike of code-first frameworks and workflow platforms",[75],{"id":53},null,[78,84,88,92],{"value":79,"source":56,"evidence":80},"TypeScript",[81],{"id":82,"by":11,"text":83},"46246741","we built an execution engine ourselves https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fsimstudioai\u002Fsim\u002Ftree\u002Fmain\u002Fapps\u002Fsim\u002Fexecutor and for the infra for background jobs, we use https:\u002F\u002Ftrigger.dev\u002F",{"value":85,"source":50,"evidence":86},"pgvector",[87],{"id":53},{"value":89,"source":50,"evidence":90},"trigger.dev",[91],{"id":82,"by":11,"text":83},{"value":93,"source":50,"evidence":94},"E2B",[95],{"id":96,"by":11,"text":97},"46259398","1) functionally, not that I'm aware of. the only thing right now is running from a specific block onwards, something that we are rolling out this week. you'll be able to run the…","open_source","launched","team",{"praise":102,"objections":115,"requests":143,"questions":157,"alternatives":183},[103,111],{"value":104,"source":105,"evidence":106},"Running locally with no execution limits","commenter",[107],{"id":108,"by":109,"text":110},"46241089","popalchemist","> You can run Sim locally using Docker, with no execution limits or other restrictions. This is big. Thank you.",{"value":112,"source":105,"evidence":113},"Apache 2.0 licensing versus n8n's source-available license",[114],{"id":70,"by":11,"text":71},[116,126,136],{"value":117,"source":105,"evidence":118},"Copilot requires Azure OpenAI rather than custom LLM endpoints",[119,123],{"id":120,"by":121,"text":122},"46241968","rcarmo","This looks really cool, but not being able to use my own LLM endpoints for the Copilot is an instant turn-off.",{"id":124,"by":11,"text":125},"46242286","You actually can, if you self-host there are environment variables to control what models are available to the copilot but it’s tuned to Azure for the time being. We can work on…",{"value":127,"source":105,"evidence":128},"High 12GB minimum RAM for self-hosting",[129,133],{"id":130,"by":131,"text":132},"46237417","spflueger","Looks interesting. The 12GB minimum RAM requirements seem quite steep though. Why so much?",{"id":134,"by":11,"text":135},"46238402","its a conservative estimate, but primarily because there's a socket server that runs alongside the main container, so you never have to manually save because changes are…",{"value":137,"source":105,"evidence":138},"Docs and README gifs hard to follow",[139],{"id":140,"by":141,"text":142},"46236422","SCUSKU","A bit of feedback, the readme gifs are a little too fast, it's hard to tell what exactly is happening.",[144,151],{"value":145,"source":105,"evidence":146},"Dark mode on the main site",[147],{"id":148,"by":149,"text":150},"46244700","pylotlight","Also on the topic of UX. Dark mode on main site to prevent the blinding?",{"value":152,"source":105,"evidence":153},"Better documentation for custom LLM endpoints",[154],{"id":155,"by":121,"text":156},"46242491","Azure is just fine, as long as it's documented someplace. I'll take a look, although I also couldn't find prebuilt Docker images referenced in the compose.local file (I will look…",[158,169,176],{"value":159,"source":105,"evidence":160},"How loops and nested loops are handled",[161,165],{"id":162,"by":163,"text":164},"46236104","brene","How does it deal with loops? I’ve often see workflow builders struggle at that?",{"id":166,"by":167,"text":168},"46236153","Natfan","and specifically nested loops. if you're spinning up full runtime copies for each loop, you're gonna have a hard time",{"value":170,"source":105,"evidence":171},"Whether it can use LangGraph agents or MCP",[172],{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},"46238813","solarkraft","This looks really cool for DIYing workflows, especially since you seem to have a very useful selection of tools! Did you build your own agent engine? Why not LangGraph? Say I was…",{"value":177,"source":105,"evidence":178},"Business strategy and monetization",[179],{"id":180,"by":181,"text":182},"46239260","threecheese","Edit: I checked out your materials, I see. Copilot; smart - one could probably do this themselves with the self hosted, and those that would do this aren’t good customers for…",[184,191,198,202,208],{"value":185,"source":105,"evidence":186},"n8n",[187],{"id":188,"by":189,"text":190},"46237382","hbarka","I wonder how the free open-source in this stacks up to the free open-source in n8n.",{"value":192,"source":105,"evidence":193},"Node-RED",[194],{"id":195,"by":196,"text":197},"46239574","saubeidl","How does this compare to say, Node Red?",{"value":199,"source":105,"evidence":200},"LangGraph",[201],{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},{"value":203,"source":105,"evidence":204},"Activepieces",[205],{"id":206,"by":149,"text":207},"46244712","This is the other major project in this space, although there are many, so finding the differences can be challenging. https:\u002F\u002Fwww.activepieces.com |…",{"value":209,"source":105,"evidence":210},"Windmill",[211],{"id":212,"by":213,"text":214},"46239695","grantith","I really like windmill.dev which should support your scenario just fine",{"comments":35,"answered":216,"key":217},13,[218,221,224],{"id":219,"text":220},"46239238","1. we wanted to have full control over the agent orchestration and the execution since we didn't like the abstractions that many of the existing frameworks had built, and didn't…",{"id":222,"text":223},"46239171","the agents would be great in the instructions where we need to `do something`, but asides from that is sounds like a pure orchestration task. now, handling an integration to…",{"id":225,"text":226},"46239112","this is actually a perfect use case, mostly deterministic workflows that need LLMs to fill in the gaps or do the knowledge work. 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