Introducing Slicknode - The Cloud Native GraphQL CMS + Application Framework

I am super excited to announce the immediate availability of the beta version of Slicknode, the Cloud Native Application Framework and CMS that lets you create enterprise grade applications in minutes instead of months.

Slicknode fundamentally changes the way you can develop new or extend existing applications by automating all the repetitive grunt work and leveraging the latest innovations in cutting edge cloud technology.

Check out the 2 simple steps that are needed to launch a scalable, production ready GraphQL API with Slicknode:

1. Model your data using GraphQL:

   type Blog_Post implements Node {
     id: ID!
     title: String!
     slug: String! @unique
     text: String! @input(type: MARKDOWN)
     author: User
     image: Image
     publishedAt: DateTime
     comments: [Blog_Comment!]! @relation(
       path: "Blog_Post=post.Blog_Comment"
     )
   }
   

2. Deploy your local changes to the cloud:

   slicknode deploy --env prod
   

   That’s it! Your GraphQL API is ready for action! Slicknode automatically compares your local code to the application state in the cloud and performs all necessary migrations.

3. Scale: When you are ready to scale, you can simply add more containers or change your database instance type:

   slicknode scale --api 5
   

   Slicknode provisions the cloud resources and adds them to your API in a state of the art cloud infrastructure.

Check out the quickstart and try it for yourself!

What do I get?

Slicknode provides a scalable, high performance GraphQL backend hosted by the major cloud providers that is ready for production immediately. On top, Slicknode provides a rich admin interface for your data model that serves as your CMS and back-office application.

Using the generated GraphQL API you can build your frontend or other applications on top with your favorite tools and frameworks like React, Angular, VueJS, iOS etc.

Here are just a few of the Slicknode highlights:

• Enterprise level authorization made easy: Declaratively define permission filters that span multiple tables
• Modular architecture: Build once, use everywhere
• Automatic Sync: All the configuration lives in your codebase - change, merge, copy & paste on your local machine using your favorite tools (Git, IDEs). Afterwards just deploy the changes to the cloud.
• Extensions: Add custom business logic, embed external APIs and 3rd party providers into your graph with simple javascript functions (or TypeScript, Flow etc.)
• Event Listeners: Stream data to external systems (ElasticSearch, PubSub, Trigger CI Build, Kafka etc.) or intercept write operations for advanced validation, authorization or fraud protection.
• Multiple Stages: Clone entire applications with a single command, no complex cloud setup necessary.
• Image & File Storage: Automatic image resizing & cropping. File storage that is secured by the authorization system.
• and many more…

Check out the feature list and documentation for a more comprehensive overview of what you can do with Slicknode.

Why Slicknode?

Slicknode fundamentally changes the economics for developing complex custom applications. The work that you would usually have to put into creating the backend is almost entirely automated. The only part that still requires development resources is the creative aspect of designing your application and data model. Depending on the complexity of your project, this can oftentimes be done in a few minutes. Afterwards you can get to work on your frontend right away with real data that you can edit via a fully featured CMS.

When you have special requirements that are not covered by Slicknode (yet), you can simply extend your API by writing custom resolvers or extending the API with the builtin event system. You can also connect your existing IT systems or software from 3rd party providers. This dramatically reduces the risk of being blocked by a missing feature which is common with other providers.

Thanks to GraphQL, everything is based on a widely adopted open source standard and works seamlessly with all the tools of the quickly growing GraphQL ecosystem.

Furthermore, whenever we release a new feature or module, it will automatically be available in your own project. Your project will constantly improve and get new features without you having to invest development resources in the foundation. Let us do the hard parts so you can focus on your customers and build better software in less time!

Do you eat your own dogfood?

As they say in the startup community, you should “eat your own dogfood”. This is why we built the platform that manages all Slicknode projects and the underlying cloud infrastructure with Slicknode itself. It uses the same GraphQL engine that is available to clients. That way we were able to test the platform extensively and make sure that we have stable APIs that can be extended with all the functionality to come.

For future developments we can add new features in our own environment first, test and optimize it until it meets our high quality standards and then release it to the client projects. As a result, all the development resources that we put into our own software have a direct impact on all projects that are built with Slicknode.

What’s Next?

We have a product now that can already provide a significant amount of value to software developers, startups and content creators, but we are just getting started! We want to be become the goto choice when you need a GraphQL backend with CMS. Therefore our goal is to add more and more building blocks to the Slicknode Application Framework and automate as much of the development process as possible.

We want to enable everyone to focus on building amazing features, dramatically improve the bottom line of software development agencies and allow you to launch that startup that you have been putting off due to a lack of time or money! We also plan to open source more and more parts of our stack so that you can eventually self host a Slicknode project.

If you are a software agency or developer that is evaluating Slicknode or wants to work together, we would love to hear from you!

Join us in our Slack Channel, star Slicknode on Github and try it for yourself!. We can’t wait to see what you’ll build with it!

Ivo Meißner

Founder, CEO
Slicknode LLC

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