Open-source ai app builders
Tools that turn a description into a working web app: some run on your own computer, some in a browser, and one generates a database and sign-in along with the interface. All of them let you keep the code.
An Apache-2.0 visual-first code editor for building Next.js and Tailwind sites and prototypes with AI, editing the page directly in the browser with a Figma-like interface while the code stays in sync.
A local, open-source AI app builder for Mac and Windows that its README compares to Lovable, v0 and Bolt running on your own machine, with your own API keys and no sign-up, under Apache-2.0 apart from a fair-source pro directory.
An MIT open-source take on Claude Artifacts that generates small apps from one prompt with Llama 3.1 405B on Together AI and previews them in a sandboxed in-browser renderer.
Questions people ask
What is the best open-source alternative to Lovable?
Dyad (Apache-2.0 core) if you want the prompt-to-app loop on your own computer with your own API keys. Onlook (Apache-2.0) if you want to edit the result visually in the browser. Chef (Apache-2.0) if you want a database and sign-in generated with the app. Llama Coder (MIT) for small single-prompt apps.
Can an open-source app builder generate a backend?
Chef does: its README says it builds full-stack apps with a built-in database, zero-configuration authentication, file uploads, real-time interfaces and background workflows, all on Convex. The others generate front-end code, with Onlook targeting Next.js and Tailwind.
Do these run on my own machine?
Dyad is a desktop app for Mac and Windows and runs locally with your own keys. Onlook and Chef can be self-hosted or used through their makers' hosted versions. Llama Coder is a Next.js app you run yourself with a Together AI key.
Which licence should I check first?
Dyad's: everything outside its src/pro directory is Apache-2.0, while src/pro is under the Functional Source License, which forbids competing commercial use until each version turns Apache-2.0 two years after release. Onlook, Chef and Llama Coder are Apache-2.0 or MIT throughout.
Running one of these inside your own environment, with your own data and your own security rules, is the kind of work Reveneau does. Read how a forward deployed engagement works.