Activepieces

What is Activepieces?

Activepieces is an open-source alternative to Zapier, designed for AI automation and workflow execution. It uses a type-safe framework built in TypeScript, offering a developer-friendly experience with features like hot reloading for local piece development. With over 280 integrations (called "pieces"), you can connect popular platforms such as Google Sheets, OpenAI, and Discord to create complex, multi-step automated workflows.

A notable feature of Activepieces is that any piece contributed to the platform automatically becomes available as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. This means that if you build a custom integration for Activepieces, you can seamlessly use those pieces with Large Language Models across conversational and code assistant tools like Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf. As an open ecosystem, the community contributes roughly 60% of these pieces, which are available directly on npmjs.com.

Core Features and Use Cases

Activepieces is built to cater to both developers and non-technical operators.

• Visual No-Code Builder: Non-technical users can drag and drop pieces onto a canvas to construct a flow. The builder includes native support for logic paths such as loops, branches, and auto-retries, allowing for complex decision-making without writing any code.
• Developer Extensibility: If a pre-built piece does not exist, developers can write their own pieces in TypeScript using the provided framework.
• AI-First capabilities: Native AI pieces allow users to swap between various AI providers for different tasks. Furthermore, the builder includes an ASK AI in Code Piece feature which enables non-technical users to parse, clean, or format incoming data using a natural language prompt without knowing how to write JavaScript or Python.
• Human in the Loop (HITL): Workflows do not have to be entirely autonomous. Activepieces allows you to delay a flow's execution for a specific period of time or pause it entirely until it receives explicit human approval.
• Human Input Interfaces: The platform provides built-in support for capturing user input mid-flow, utilizing tools such as a Chat Interface or a Form Interface.

Activepieces is also highly suited for corporate environments. Because it is self-hosted and network-gapped, it maximizes data security and control. Developers can configure the core deployment and integrations, while the wider organization can self-serve and manage automations using the provided no-code interface, complete with options for custom branding.

Deployment with Docker Compose

For personal exploration or a quick local test, the project offers a standalone Docker image backed by PGLite. However, for production or multi-instance environments, Activepieces explicitly advises using Docker Compose paired with a full PostgreSQL and Redis stack.

To get started with a local Compose environment, you will first need to retrieve the official repository containing the necessary configuration files.

Next, navigate into the freshly cloned repository directory:

Before you can spin up the containers, you need to configure the environment variables (such as database credentials and encryption keys). Activepieces provides a handy setup script to automate this initialization step:

Once your .env file is generated, you can launch the application and its dependencies (Postgres and Redis). The following command starts the containers in the foreground, allowing you to observe the startup logs:

By default, Activepieces will attempt to use your public IP address for webhooks. If you are self-hosting on a personal machine without a static public IP, you must configure the frontend URL using a tunneling service so that external platforms can successfully deliver webhook events to your instance.