AppServer for installing multiple NiceGUI apps

[ajaykidave]

I have been building Clace, an appserver for deploying containerized apps. Docs are at https://clace.io/.

There are many deployment tools focussed on simplifying containerized apps deployment. Most of them are built as wrappers on top of other web server. Clace is a single binary which implements a web server and an app server. This allows Clace to implement features like OAuth authentication and atomic updates which are not possible for other solutions. Clace makes it easy for teams to deploy multiple NiceGUI apps with GitOps on one machine with no additional config required. Just use --spec python-nicegui on the app create CLI command. For example

clace app create --spec python-nicegui --approve github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/fullcalendar /nicegui

will create a calendar app (make sure Clace server and Docker/podman are running).

Do let me know any feedback.

[ajaykidave]

I added a sample config file to create NiceGUI apps. The config contains:

ng_args = {"container_opts": {"cpus": "2", "memory": "512m"}, "spec": "python-nicegui"}
app("/nicegui/3d_scene", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/3d_scene", **ng_args)
app("/nicegui/chat_app", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/chat_app", **ng_args)
app("/nicegui/fullcalendar", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/fullcalendar", **ng_args)
app("/nicegui/infinite_scroll", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/infinite_scroll", **ng_args)
app("/nicegui/lightbox", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/lightbox", **ng_args)
app("/nicegui/todo_list", "https://github.com/zauberzeug/nicegui/examples/todo_list", **ng_args)

Running clace apply --approve --promote github.com/claceio/clace/examples/nicegui.star creates the six sample apps. Running clace sync schedule --approve --promote github.com/claceio/clace/examples/nicegui.star starts a GitOps sync in the background which looks for any changes (new apps or updated apps) and applies them automatically.

A demo of the apps is at https://apps.demo.clace.io/?path=%2fnicegui%2f%2a%2a.

[evnchn]

I just looked at it more

Seems like it'll make deploying NiceGUI apps much easier.

My current approach: get LLM to write a simple dockerfile and simple docker compose.

It's the same thing over and over, and so by the DRY principle I'm already doing it wrong.

Now, if I am not mistaken, it gets condensed into a single command, which does it all for me. 😎

[ajaykidave]

Yes, a single command is what it takes to enable full GitOps. For one app, using Docker directly works. When you have multiple apps, that is when it gets difficult to manage the webserver rules and get an automated deployment solution. With Clace, you just start Docker/Podman and Clace and setup a sync from Git. After that, you do not need to do any manual setup again. You can manage everything by just checking in code into git. Any new app you add to the config is automatically created, any updates to existing apps (config or code) are also automatically applied with zero downtime. Clace also gives you OAuth based access control (without having to update the app code), secrets management, staged deployment etc.

[evnchn]

In all honesty "AppServer for installing multiple NiceGUI apps" totally undersold Clace and its functionalities.

Let's ask LLMs for a better pitch, and perhaps you can wrap this into an example to be included in https://nicegui.io/#examples

[ajaykidave]

Yes, need to figure out a better way to describe Clace. I could add a writeup in the installation docs if that helps.

[ajaykidave]

Yes, need to figure out a better way to describe Clace. I could add a writeup in the installation docs if that helps.

I have renamed the project to OpenRun. https://github.com/openrundev/openrun is the repo and https://openrun.dev is the home page. "Open source alternative to Google Cloud Run and AWS App Runner" is the new tag line.