Convex: Open-Source Reactive Database for Apps

Unleash Your App Development with Convex: The Open-Source Reactive Database

Convex is emerging as a powerful force in the world of web application development, offering an innovative open-source reactive database designed to streamline the process for developers, including those working with Large Language Models (LLMs).

What is Convex?

At its core, Convex provides a unified solution encompassing a robust database, a dedicated environment for writing server functions, and intuitive client libraries. This integrated approach allows developers to fetch data and implement complex business logic with unwavering strong consistency, all through the elegance of pure TypeScript. The primary goal of Convex is to simplify the creation and scaling of dynamic, live-updating applications.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Reactive Architecture: Convex's reactive nature means your application's state updates automatically and efficiently, ensuring a seamless live-updating user experience.
• Strong Consistency: Write your data operations and business logic in TypeScript with confidence, knowing that Convex ensures strong consistency across your application.
• Unified Backend: Consolidate your database and server logic within a single, coherent system, reducing complexity and potential points of failure.
• Developer-Friendly: Built with TypeScript at its heart, Convex offers a familiar and productive environment for modern web developers.
• Scalability: Designed to handle growth, Convex makes it easier to scale your applications as your user base and data needs expand.

Getting Started with Convex

Convex offers flexible paths to get started:

• Cloud Platform: The easiest way to begin is by leveraging Convex's cloud platform. It features a generous free tier, allowing you to focus on building your application without the overhead of managing infrastructure. Many smaller projects and side projects can operate entirely cost-free and maintenance-free on this tier.
• Self-Hosting: For those who require more control or wish to integrate Convex with their existing infrastructure, the self-hosted product is an excellent option. It mirrors most features of the cloud product, including the dashboard and CLI. Convex is designed to integrate smoothly with various hosting and database solutions like Neon, Fly.io, Vercel, Netlify, RDS, Sqlite, and Postgres.

Self-hosting can be achieved using Docker (recommended) or pre-built binaries. Detailed instructions are available in the official self-hosting guide.

Community and Support

Convex fosters a vibrant community eager to help.

• Discord: Join the official Discord server for real-time assistance, discussions, and to connect with other Convex users.
• GitHub Issues: Report any bugs encountered while using or building the open-source Convex backend directly through GitHub Issues.

Important Disclaimer for Self-Hosters: If you choose to self-host, it's highly recommended to follow the official guide. If building from source, remember to change the default instance secret and admin key to secure your deployment. While Convex is most thoroughly tested on Linux and Mac, community support for issues on Windows is available via the Discord channel.

Contributing to Convex

Development of the Convex backend is spearheaded by the Convex team, but they actively welcome contributions. Bug fixes and feedback are greatly appreciated. The public repository is kept in sync with internal development efforts with minimal delay.

Convex represents a significant advancement in database technology for modern application development, offering a compelling blend of power, flexibility, and ease of use for developers.

Repository Highlights:

• Languages: Primarily Rust (54.0%) and TypeScript (37.5%)
• Stars: 5.8k
• Forks: 303
• Contributors: 55+
• Releases: 358+ available releases