Nodered

App in the BluixApps catalog

What it is

Node-RED is a flow-based programming tool for wiring devices, APIs, and services together — drag-and-drop nodes representing HTTP requests, MQTT messages, database queries, transformations. Originally built by IBM for IoT, now the de-facto standard for visual automation in Home Assistant and prosumer IoT.

If your automation needs are too complex for IFTTT but you don't want to write code, Node-RED is the answer.

What it's for

  • Home automation — Home Assistant integration, MQTT-driven flows
  • IoT prototyping — wire sensors to cloud APIs visually
  • API mashups — combine multiple APIs without writing glue code
  • Workflow automation — internal automations across services
  • Hardware control — Raspberry Pi GPIO, serial, USB interfaces

Who it's for

  • Home automation enthusiasts building flows for Home Assistant
  • IoT prototypers experimenting with sensor networks
  • Hobbyists building API mashups and personal automations
  • Educators teaching programming concepts visually
  • Citizen developers in larger orgs automating ops tasks

Why teams pick Node-RED over alternatives

  • Apache 2.0 — fully open
  • Massive node library — 3000+ community nodes for any service
  • Mature — running in production since 2013
  • Active community — strong Home Assistant ecosystem adoption
  • Embeddable — JS-based, runs on Raspberry Pi to enterprise hardware
  • Function nodes — drop into JavaScript when visual hits its limit

Integrations

  • Protocols — HTTP, MQTT, WebSocket, TCP, UDP, Serial, modbus
  • Home automation — Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Hubitat, Zigbee2MQTT
  • Cloud services — Google, AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud nodes
  • Databases — MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB, Redis, InfluxDB
  • Messaging — Slack, Discord, Telegram, email
  • Hardware — Raspberry Pi GPIO, Arduino, ESP32
  • API platforms — Twilio, Stripe, Shopify, custom REST

Notable users & community

  • 20k+ GitHub stars
  • Standard tool in Home Assistant ecosystem
  • Backed by OpenJS Foundation (originally IBM project)
  • Strong community on r/nodered, Discord, forum
  • Featured in countless homelab + IoT tutorials

Tips & operations

  • Persist /data — flows + credentials live here; mount volume from day one
  • Use Git versioning — built-in Git integration for flow version control
  • Credential encryption key — set early; can't be migrated without it
  • Mind function node sandbox — JS execution security varies by version
  • Backup flows.json — your automation logic; backup regularly
  • Connection pooling — DB nodes can leak connections; review under load

What we ship in BluixApps

  • Docker compose: Node-RED + persistent data volume
  • Pinned nodered/node-red:4.0 (release-tagged)
  • HTTPS via Let's Encrypt
  • Admin auth + flow editor protected
  • Persistent volume at /data
  • Auto-detection of Mosquitto on same VPS for MQTT pairing
  • Backup hook covers /data (flows + credentials + node settings)
Read this app's deep dive on bluix.app ↗

Get this app — pick a BluixApps plan

Same catalog. Scaling tenant isolation, white-label and support tier.

TierTenantsCatalogSupportWhite-labelMonthly
Stacks119 curated stacksStandard$19/moDetailDeploy
Starter10Full catalogStandard+$15–25/mo$49/moDetailDeploy
Pro25Full catalogPriority bugfix+$15–25/mo$149/moDetailDeploy
Growth100Full catalogPriority bugfix+$15–25/mo$349/moDetailDeploy
Scale500Full catalog7-day window+$15–25/mo$799/moDetailDeploy
EnterpriseUnlimitedFull catalogPriority 7-dayBundled$1,499/moDetailDeploy

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