I had a look at your product, it seems like a good idea, using yaml to declaratively describe the ui.
I'm curious though if this is actually low code, when I see the docs I still imagine it's actual developers who will be writing all the yaml or not.
As more use cases pop up I actually expect the yaml to grow considerably complex, at which point you will need to reuse yaml blocks, reference other blocks and so on. Essentially it feels to me writing yaml is no different from coding using a high level library or framework.
We've been asking ourselves the same question and trying to figure it out. We currently have some developers and non-developer users, but the mimimum requirement seems to be that the builder understands the data and is proficient in writing data queries. For now, we mostly try to make Lowdefy work for developers, since it is developers who carry the responsibility of solving software and data related problems in companies. We do plan to make Lowdefy more attractive for citizen developers in the future, but we believe the first goal should be to serve developers well.
What is really cool about writing these apps in YAML is that it enables all developers to build a web UI. Many backend developers have the need to put a UI in front of their services but have very little desire to learn React, webpack, css, etc. And for frontend developers, they often want to focus on the consumer side of their applications, yet spend a great deal of time building administrative features. Lowdefy enables all developers to build web apps without learning additional skills - it's almost like full stack "infrastructure as code".
> you will need to reuse yaml blocks, reference other blocks and so on. Essentially it feels to me writing yaml is no different from coding using a high level library or framework.
Absolutely. We have a _ref [0] operator which enables you to template our parts of your YAML. Then helps Lowdefy apps scale really well.
It is true that one has to "think like a coder" to write Lowdefy apps. But I'm wondering if this can or should be removed at all when you are working with data. Even when using Excel I need to think like an excel developer to develop a more complicated sheet.
Especially curious what the actual distribution of users for these low code internal tools are. Theres a lot of rhetoric about how business users/operations can quickly create tools, but it really seems like developers are the main customer.
Most low code / no code products are used by developers. But a no code integration product like Zapier would have a high number of business users, while a low code product would have very few business users. Low code products tend to be aimed at developers in a hurry or ones with limited skills.
As more use cases pop up I actually expect the yaml to grow considerably complex, at which point you will need to reuse yaml blocks, reference other blocks and so on. Essentially it feels to me writing yaml is no different from coding using a high level library or framework.