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)
Get this app — pick a BluixApps plan
Same catalog. Scaling tenant isolation, white-label and support tier.
| Tier | Tenants | Catalog | Support | White-label | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stacks | 1 | 19 curated stacks | Standard | — | $19/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Starter | 10 | Full catalog | Standard | +$15–25/mo | $49/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Pro | 25 | Full catalog | Priority bugfix | +$15–25/mo | $149/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Growth | 100 | Full catalog | Priority bugfix | +$15–25/mo | $349/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Scale | 500 | Full catalog | 7-day window | +$15–25/mo | $799/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Enterprise | Unlimited | Full catalog | Priority 7-day | Bundled | $1,499/mo | DetailDeploy |