Get Started with No-Code Development Using NocoDB

No-code platforms are all the rage nowadays, and it’s not that hard to see why. They make it possible for anyone to create applications for their specific needs in no time and save serious money in the process. Even if you have coding chops, you may find a no-code solution useful for whipping up a quick prototype or a simple application instead of building it from the ground up.

While there are several open source no-code platforms to choose from, NocoDB strikes a perfect balance between functionality and user-friendliness. It’s also supremely easy to deploy, which makes it a perfect platform for building simple and more advanced applications.

Deploying NocoDB

The easiest way to deploy NocoDB on a local machine is by using the NocoDB Docker container image. The first step is to install Docker. To do this on Ubuntu and Linux Mint, run:

sudo apt install docker

To be able to run Docker as a regular user, add the current user to the Docker group using the command:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Reboot the machine, and you’re done.

Next, create a dedicated directory for storing NocoDB data (e.g., ~/nocodb). This ensures that even when you delete a NocoDB container, your data remains intact.

Finally, run the following command in the terminal (replacing /path/to/nocodb with the actual path to the data directory) to start the NocoDB container:

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 --name nocodb -v /path/to/nocodb:/usr/app/data/ nocodb/nocodb:latest

Upgrading NocoDB

Because NocoDB is deployed as a container, upgrading the platform is a matter of deleting both the container and the image:

docker stop nocodb
docker rm nocodb
docker rmi nocodb/nocodb:latest

You then rerun the command you initially used to start the NocoDB container above to automatically fetch the latest NocoDB image.

Creating a NocoDB Application

Point your browser to 127.0.0.1:8080 (replace 127.0.0.1 with the actual IP address of the machine running NocoDB), and you should see the welcome page. When prompted, create a user account.

NocoDB makes it possible to create a wide range of applications, from a simple task manager to a more complex note-taking tool consisting of several connected tables. Building a note-taking tool as your first project may sound like a daunting proposition, but it demonstrates how easy it actually is to turn ideas into working applications using NocoDB. This project also provides a perfect opportunity to master most of NocoDB’s features. In addition to storing notes, this note-taking application project will allow you to attach files to each note, assign tags, and group notes into categories.

The first step is to create a new application and populate it with tables. After you’ve created an account, NocoDB displays the My Projects dialog (Figure 1). Click New Project and select Create. Give the project a descriptive name and press Create. This drops you into the Team & Auth section, with your owner account automatically added to the project. If you want to invite other users to the project, press New User, add their email addresses, choose the desired role, and press Invite.