Nhost
Build Apps Users Love
Nhost is a an open-source backend and development platform that enables developers to build and scale their web and mobile apps.
So we've been working for over a year now with the foundation with Nhost and I think we've really nailed it.
We now provide a modern backend for every Jamstack app with:
- Postgres
- GraphQL (realtime)
- Authentication
- Storage
- Serverless Functions
- CLI for local development
- GitHub workflow
- Database migrations
Will it scale?
Benchmarks and scaling is one of the first things you worry about when considering a new backend service.
Obviously you don't want to bet on a backend and realise it can't handle the amount of users you have once you're successful.
At Nhost we provide a performant backend on our starter plan. The starter plan is only $4/mo (perfect for indie hackers and side projects).
Not only do you get a performant GraphQL API.
You also get a Postgres database, user management, storage, serverless functions and a GitHub integration.
Is it easy to get started?
Yes.
In this video I'm following our quick start guide building a todo app with authentication:
Today we're launching a beta of our Custom API.
All you need is a api/ folder where you have your functions. Each file is going to resolve to an endpoint automatically.
In the file you write your handles like this:
module.exports = (req, res) => {
res.json({
body: req.body,
query: req.query,
cookies: req.cookies,
});
};
With custom APIs released a Nhost project now consists of:
- Database (Postgres)
- GraphQL API (Hasura)
- Authentication
- Storage
- Custom API
Custom API was by far the most upvoted feature requested by our users and and important feature to build apps with Nhost.
We're hosting everything on Google Cloud Run and will allow customers to bring their own Dockerfile in the future.
Read more about our Custom API here: https://docs.nhost.io/custom-api
Look: https://nhost.io
We are currently redesigning and repackaging our product at bit. We switched design to a more modern and lighter design.
Our message was also changed a bit. From "The serverless backend with Hasura" to "The Jamstack backend with Hasura".
Time for a recap of what has happened since the last update a few months ago.
First paying customers
- Stripe integration on place and working
Company created and in place in Sweden.
Blog created and posts posted at https://blog.nhost.io.
Example project updates
Video recordings
How to get started with the example project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPF6_TYPhqY
From create-react-app to Hacker News MVP in 3 hours:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA4Z6dpU_dI
Improvements for Hasura Backend Plus
- External authentication providers (Github, Google, Facebook)
- Using access tokens to access files
- Improved file upload handling
- And much more
Co-founder search initiated. Looking for person with overall design and marketing skills.
General local networking in Stockholm with fellow entrepreneurs and indie hackers!
That's it a short list of things that has happened with Nhost for the last months. I'll try to write more frequently here on Indie Hackers. Hopefully people will find it both valuable and interesting.
I spent the last weekend to build infrastructure to scale nhost.io internally and to add multiple locations for projects around the world.
Right now any developer can get a nhost.io project up and running in the following locations:
- San Fransisco, US
- Amsterdam, Europe
- Bangalore, India
Already users are starting projects in the new locations. This is very exciting!
Today was a very good milestone! I did some last minute update yesterday evening and felt comfortable (too late?) doing a soft launch today.
Currently there is around 50 users that has signed up. Almost all users, I expect, comes from my Github page (https://github.com/elitan/hasura-backend-plus).
Next milestone is to get Stripe up and working and get my first actual paying customers!
Some big technical milestones done this weekend with the authentication part of the system. Users can now be managed per project. Just like Firebase.
Also I switched the app design to https://github.com/siriwatknp/mui-layout which I can recommend when developing admin apps using Material UI.
Will try to go 100% live after next weekends work!
Todo:
- Minor project db schema improvements
- Track tables and relationships automatically on project creation
- Docker project volume improvements
OK looking landing page for now. It is available now at https://nhost.io.
Next up: Improve the UI of logged in users.
It works! I just pushed the last code for a super early beta release.
Users can no register and create a project. All parts of a created project is Open Source so there is 0% lock-in. This is a big advantage compared to similar services such as Firebase.
Also, you get:
- GraphQL
- Real time GraphQL subscriptions
- Fine-grained access control
- Authentication
- S3 file storage
The plan right now is to let a few, limited, people try it out to get some feedback.
In the mean time I will continue work in tools to make it easy for developers to get up and running with nHost. More about that in a later post.