activepieces

Activepieces

Overview

Activepieces is an open-source workflow automation platform built with TypeScript. It ships a visual flow builder, 400+ pre-built pieces (integrations), MCP server support, code steps, and conditional branching. It is self-hosted for free with no limit on flows or runs, or used as a managed cloud service.

Instructions

Self-host with Docker Compose

Generate the two secrets first, then start the stack:

export AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 16)   # 256-bit key, 32 hex chars
export AP_JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  activepieces:
    image: ghcr.io/activepieces/activepieces:latest
    ports: ["8080:80"]
    environment:
      AP_ENGINE_EXECUTABLE_PATH: dist/packages/engine/main.js
      AP_API_URL: http://localhost:8080/api
      AP_FRONTEND_URL: http://localhost:8080
      AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY: ${AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
      AP_JWT_SECRET: ${AP_JWT_SECRET}
      AP_POSTGRES_DATABASE: activepieces
      AP_POSTGRES_HOST: postgres
      AP_POSTGRES_PORT: "5432"
      AP_POSTGRES_USERNAME: activepieces
      AP_POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      AP_REDIS_HOST: redis
      AP_REDIS_PORT: "6379"
      AP_EXECUTION_MODE: UNSANDBOXED
    depends_on: [postgres, redis]

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: activepieces
      POSTGRES_USER: activepieces
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes: [pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data]

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine

volumes:
  pgdata:

export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 16)
docker compose up -d

AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY and AP_JWT_SECRET must stay the same for the life of the deployment: rotating the encryption key makes every stored connection undecryptable, and rotating the JWT secret signs everyone out.

Build a flow with a code step

Code steps run Node.js inside the flow:

// Inside an Activepieces Code step
export const code = async (inputs: { lineItems: { sku: string; price: number; qty: number }[] }) => {
  const total = inputs.lineItems.reduce((sum, item) => sum + item.price * item.qty, 0)
  return {
    total,
    overThreshold: total > 500,
  }
}