React Flow, Open Source Libraries for Node-Based Uis with React or Svelte

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

mountainview

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28 comments

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ReactSvelteNode-Based UisOpen Source Libraries

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React

Svelte

Node-Based Uis

Open Source Libraries

The React Flow library for creating node-based UIs has been shared on HN, sparking a discussion about its features, use cases, and community experiences.

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01Story posted
Oct 23, 2025 at 7:33 PM EDT
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Oct 25, 2025 at 1:11 AM EDT
3 months ago
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Discussion (28 comments)

Showing 28 comments

wallzero

3 months ago

1 reply

This is an excellent library! I only wish it had react-native support.

I've worked on a few prototype react directed acyclical diagram libraries. jsplumb-react, react-yad, and recently @lincle.

@lincle is my most recent and first attempt at supporting react-native. I tried leveraging existing interactive libraries. I was also inspired by react-flow's minimap. It is still a prototype and needs documentation but works well. I'm realizing now the demo isn't working but the demo source should hopefully give an example of how to use it.

https://gitlab.com/digested/lincle

tcoff91

3 months ago

With expo DOM components it’s easy to just use this library and expo will wrap it in a webview. Then you can easily integrate it into a RN app.

teunlao

3 months ago

2 replies

Great library. Just memo your custom nodes properly - edge re-renders cascade faster than you'd expect.

gardnr

3 months ago

1 reply

Obligatory Fireship video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl0YWA2K2B0&t=40

Sammi

3 months ago

1 reply

It's quite impressive how many layers of oopsies there are in the React api now.

The curse of being successful as a software project: more people want more from you, but you are not allowed to actually remove cruft, because too many people depend on it.

19: 193 kB -> 60.3 kB (gzip) https://bundlejs.com/?q=react%4019.2.0%2Creact%4019.2.0%2Cre...

18: 142 kB -> 45.6 kB (gzip) https://bundlejs.com/?q=react%4018.3.1%2Creact%4018.3.1%2Cre...

braebo

3 months ago

1 reply

The entire concept of mitigating un-intended re-rendering by wrapping your bad abstractions in more abstractions is not a category of problem for Svelte devs nor is it inherent to the platform like some inevitably of scale.

React is bad because its foundation is a bad abstraction (v-dom) and it’s spent over decade pilling on more leaky abstractions every year, leading to where we are now — clamoring over a mountain of footguns and indirection.

Sammi

3 months ago

Yes. VDOM is immediate mode. DOM is retained mode. Building immediate mode on top of retained mode is cursed.

throwaway290

3 months ago

React.memo(MyFlowNodeComponent) like this?

steve_taylor

3 months ago

1 reply

Does React Flow still advertise itself unless you pay the developers at least $169/month?

aratahikaru5

3 months ago

1 reply

You can programmatically remove the watermark, either via a flag or by changing the source code.

> [1] No, you can do whatever you want with it since it’s MIT

But if you use it in a commercial project, they'll likely shame you if you don't pay - like what happened to OpenAI with Agent Builder:

> [2] Hey @OpenAI :) We just saw that you are using our open source library React Flow We offer startup discount codes :) Let us know if you are interested

Personally, I’d prefer them to use a dual license, but I understand that it would likely create unnecessary hurdles for devs who just want to try out the library.

They explained their reasoning here: https://xyflow.com/blog/asking-for-money-for-open-source

[1] https://x.com/xyflowdev/status/1975660206441820585

[2] https://x.com/xyflowdev/status/1975505810768777360

watty

3 months ago

Agree, if they're going to guilt shame companies publicly and be defensive in replies, just dual license it. Not a great look.

iamcreasy

3 months ago

This is cool. Is there web component library/resources for something equivalent?

CuriouslyC

3 months ago

Hah, this pops up right after I note how it's eating good with all the AI tools that use it. Deservedly so, if you're creating node based interfaces there's no reason to hand roll with D3.

mootoday

3 months ago

I'm a long-time SvelteFlow user and it has never disappointed so far :).

Lots of updates this year to reach parity with React Flow.

anorak27

3 months ago

I made a desktop UI using react flow with resizing and deletion of windows.

https://github.com/Anilturaga/Generative-UI

icemelt8

3 months ago

We use this for our flow builder in https://wetarseel.ai

mediumsmart

3 months ago

I was tempted for a moment but I think it needs JavaScript

taherchhabra

3 months ago

I am building https://www.flickspeed.ai using this library

aurareturn

3 months ago

Just what I was looking for a project.

quintu5

3 months ago

I’ve used this library on a couple of projects with great results. One, a drag-and-drop IaC builder and the other a GitHub Actions-like task execution graph viewer.

danielfalbo

3 months ago

Supabase uses this for the Visual Schema Designer https://supabase.com/features/visual-schema-designer

krebby

3 months ago

I'm working on an open source tool called noodles.gl that uses this library and it's been great. The devs have been good about keeping a cadence of solid changes and keeping the community updated, and overall I'm happy to have bet on this library years ago.

I love the flexibility and the fact that there's a variety of examples for basically anything I want to accomplish with it. Great work to the team.

https://noodles.gl

Orochikaku

3 months ago

I really appreciated that they've made their pro examples available for free for education purposes. I made use of one of those examples for my undergraduate final year project.

NatKarmios

3 months ago

It's a lovely library :) I'm using it in my work on general interfaces for symbolic execution debugging.

sroussey

3 months ago

I use this library for some in browser AI stuff.

https://podley-web.netlify.app/

randomdrake

3 months ago

This is a well-done library that’s fun to work with. I put together a proof of concept org chart generator[0] with it a while back when working on another project. Very easy to use and well-documented.

[0] - https://github.com/randomdrake/react-flow-org-chart

artur_makly

3 months ago

I made https://VisualFlows.io with it - among many other AI powered canvases:

https://www.design2dev.com/work/agentic-ai-canvases/

Contact me for UX consulting if you need it -;) artur at design2dev.com

carltheperson

3 months ago

This is a great library. I especially appreciate that they added a version for Svelte (with specific examples for Svelte 5).

It's very convenient how you create the graph, with nodes just being Svelte components. Adding custom edges isn't very hard either.

If you're curious what you can do with it, I made this demo for myself https://youtu.be/aVY7ySPiSo8 (never launched it). I used Svelte Flow to visualize AI doing research, my first project using LLMs.

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