🤖 VIBE CODED. This project was built end-to-end through AI-assisted ("vibe coding") development sessions. Review the generated code before trusting it in production, same as you would for any dependency.

visual-node

Visual, node-based backend builder for Node.js. Drag-and-drop flows compile to real, readable, git-friendly Express.js source — this is a codegen tool, not a runtime interpreter. Nothing from this package ships inside the servers it generates.

Full documentation, core concepts, and guides are available at Documentation.

Install & run

npx visual-node [projectDir]
# or
npm install -g visual-node
visual-node [projectDir]

Opens an editor at http://localhost:4000 against projectDir (defaults to the current directory). Build a flow, Compile it to a real Express server, Run Server to spawn and hit it right there, or just read the generated files yourself.

Environment variables

| Variable | Default | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | PORT | 4000 | Port the editor listens on | | VISUAL_NODE_PROJECT_DIR | current directory | Project directory (overridden by a CLI arg) |

Examples

The source repository ships five worked examples under examples/ — a minimal route, an in-memory REST API using Variables, a custom-middleware logger, a visual Function Graph with branching, and an npm-dependency example — each with its source flow and compiled output committed side by side.

What this is not

Not a runtime interpreter (no Node-RED/n8n-style flow engine ships with generated servers), not a hosted service, and not a multi-tenant tool — it's a local, single-project codegen editor meant to hand you real source code you keep, read, and commit.