Appsmith

Builds admin panels, internal tools and dashboards that connect to databases and APIs.

Replaces

Paid internal tool builder services, such as Retool.

All open-source alternatives to Retool

Difficulty

Difficulty: Easy

1 service, 1 volume mount, no env values to set, no elevated host access. Heuristic score 0 of 11: easy.

Stack

TypeScript (language)

Deployment

docker_compose

Requirements

Not stated.

License

Apache-2.0 (OSI-approved open source)

Read from github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/LICENSE

Business model

Unknown

The README at the pinned commit does not state a business model, so it stays unknown.

Source: github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/README.md, read on 2026-10-22.

Repository

appsmithorg/appsmith

GitHub stats

Stars: 41,102
Forks: 4,815
Open issues and pull requests: 4,513
Last push: 2026-10-22
Latest release: v2.5.1
Released: 2026-10-21

From the GitHub API on 2026-10-22. These numbers are a snapshot, not live. GitHub detected the license as Apache-2.0.

Compose file

Config check passed docker compose config exited 0 on this exact file on 2026-10-22.

docker-compose.yml Version 1

# Use for running an Appsmith, during development.

version: "3"

services:
  appsmith:
    image: index.docker.io/appsmith/appsmith-ce:release
    container_name: appsmith
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      APPSMITH_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD: abcd
      APPSMITH_ENCRYPTION_SALT: abcd
    volumes:
      - ./stacks:/appsmith-stacks

From the app's own repository: github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml.

Compose file from the app repository.

Install

Docker with the Compose plugin (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml)
A host with Docker and the Docker Compose plugin. This entry runs from a compose file.
Save the compose file as docker-compose.yml (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml)
Use the compose file shown above.
Start it (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml)
```
docker compose up -d
```
Open the app (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml)
Open http://localhost:8080. The compose file publishes host port 8080 for the appsmith service.

Compose file check: config_ok on 2026-10-22.

Gotchas and maintenance

Gotchas

The compose file publishes host ports. Host ports: 8080 (appsmith). A port without a host address listens on all host network interfaces. (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml, checked 2026-10-22)
The compose file mounts host folders. Host paths mounted into containers: ./stacks at /appsmith-stacks (appsmith). (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/987d435/deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml, checked 2026-10-22)

Signals

Open issues and pull requests: 4513
Last push: 2026-10-22 (0 days before this page was built)
Latest release: v2.5.1 on 2026-10-21 (0 days before this page was built)