Retool
Dev tools
internal tool builder
SHOW HN2018
592points
109comments
#21of 2,155 in 2018
Top 1%of 2018 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
37 positive, 27 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 8 critical, out of 72 comments about the project. Thread score +0.37.
Idea: 16 for, 0 againstExecution: 7 for, 1 againstDesign: 6 for, 0 againstDocs: 1 for, 4 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Polished product and landing page
From 3 comments
Your landing page is insanely good. How did you create those animations? Also just the general styling/design of the entire site + retool itself is so well done.
m0meni on HNCongrats! Your landing page is fantastic. I would definitely urge people in my company to give this a try for future internal tools. I hope it works out as well as you've sold it…
onlyrealcuzzo on HNNot having played with it, I love the concept! I'd suggest making the docs more readily available from your frontpage, as it's somewhat difficult to find a link to them. EDIT:…
mmastrac on HN
Responsive support team
From 2 comments
I've been using this for the last 3 months and it's a pretty amazing tool. We need to spin up tools quickly for our operation teams and this has been a godsend. The support has…
frostymarvelous on HNCongratulations on launching, the professionalism and communication from these guys are second to none. Now to go find and read the Slack bot integration!
arejaytee on HN
Saves time building internal apps
From 2 comments
I've been using this for the last 3 months and it's a pretty amazing tool. We need to spin up tools quickly for our operation teams and this has been a godsend. The support has…
frostymarvelous on HNHoly Crap. This is amazing. Lot of folks have tried to make a general purpose visual programming solution and it always sucks. However, if we narrow the problem to 1. Show some…
solutionyogi on HN
Objections
Requires on-premise install to avoid opening firewall to databases
From 2 comments
Really cool idea, and would completely simplify our internal tools building process, but opening our firewall to allow access to the small scale internal DBs that we would work…
nhunter on HNNo, your data never goes anywhere. You can deploy Retool and airgap it to prevent all inbound / outbound network connections. Then you can connect to it via a VPN. I will reach…
dvdhsu on HN
Hard to understand and maintain existing apps
From 1 comment
This seems optimized for creation of small apps (and is also presented very well). But what striked me watching the intriduction video: When you revisit your a written app, it…
kluck on HN
Name 'internal tools' is vague
From 1 comment
Definitely impressive. The short description seems a little vague or misleading to me though. "Internal tools" can mean a lot of different things - deployment tools, testing…
borntyping on HN
Requests
Docker deployment option
From 2 comments
Please add me to the list of people to talk about the install on EC2 Instance options, docker would be preferable though.
Roritharr on HNNot having played with it, I love the concept! I'd suggest making the docs more readily available from your frontpage, as it's somewhat difficult to find a link to them. EDIT:…
mmastrac on HN
Open-source on-premise version
From 1 comment
Do You have any plan, when the on premise tool will be publicly available on github?
topazas on HN
Slack bot support
From 2 comments
Hi dvdhsu, this looks great. At Thread we build lots of internal tools, but would like to be able to build more. We currently use ChartIO to build dashboards, but some of these…
danpalmer on HNNice! For the Slack bots, a fairly common thing we want to do is regular business updates from either Google spreadsheets (that are very dynamic/scripted) or from ChartIO. Some…
danpalmer on HN
Questions
Pricing for on-premise
From 1 comment
Holy Crap. This is amazing. Lot of folks have tried to make a general purpose visual programming solution and it always sucks. However, if we narrow the problem to 1. Show some…
solutionyogi on HN
GDPR and data handling
From 1 comment
Hi dvdhsu, this looks great. At Thread we build lots of internal tools, but would like to be able to build more. We currently use ChartIO to build dashboards, but some of these…
danpalmer on HN
Authentication options
From 2 comments
Hi dvdhsu, this looks great. At Thread we build lots of internal tools, but would like to be able to build more. We currently use ChartIO to build dashboards, but some of these…
danpalmer on HNAwesome idea. As somebody who wrote many internal tools for a small startup many moons ago (customer manager, shipping manager, inventory manager) Retool solves that pain. A few…
nodesocket on HN
Alternatives named
Google App Maker
From 1 comment
No one has mentioned Google App Maker which comes with GSuites Business and Enterprise. Retool seems to be in direct competition.
oxplot on HN
Blockspring
From 1 comment
Super impressive. This is like the perfect evolution of what Blockspring should've been!
orliesaurus on HN
ChartIO
From 1 comment
Hi dvdhsu, this looks great. At Thread we build lots of internal tools, but would like to be able to build more. We currently use ChartIO to build dashboards, but some of these…
danpalmer on HN