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Find answers to commonly asked questions about Flowise. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, visit our Community channels or GitHub Discussions.

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General Questions

Flowise is an open-source visual tool for building AI agents and LLM (Large Language Model) applications. It provides a drag-and-drop interface to create complex AI workflows without extensive coding.Key features include:
  • Visual chatflow builder
  • Pre-built components and integrations
  • Support for multiple LLM providers
  • Agent and chain configurations
  • Self-hosting capabilities
Yes! Flowise is open-source and free to use under the Apache License Version 2.0. You can:
  • Self-host on your own infrastructure
  • Modify the source code
  • Use it for commercial purposes
We also offer Flowise Cloud for managed hosting with additional enterprise features.
Flowise (Open Source):
  • Self-hosted on your infrastructure
  • Full control over data and deployment
  • Requires setup and maintenance
  • Free and open-source
Flowise Cloud:
  • Managed hosting
  • No infrastructure setup required
  • Enterprise features and support
  • Automatic updates
  • Pay-as-you-go pricing
Flowise supports numerous LLM providers including:
  • OpenAI (GPT-3.5, GPT-4, etc.)
  • Azure OpenAI
  • Anthropic Claude
  • Google PaLM/Gemini
  • Hugging Face models
  • AWS Bedrock
  • Cohere
  • Local models via Ollama
  • And many more through the components library

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Installation & Setup

Minimum Requirements:
  • Node.js >= 18.15.0 (< 19.0.0 or ^20)
  • PNPM v10.26.0 (for development)
  • 2GB RAM minimum
  • Modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
Recommended:
  • 4GB+ RAM for better performance
  • SSD storage
  • Stable internet connection for LLM API calls
Quick Start (NPM):
npm install -g flowise
npx flowise start
Docker:
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 flowiseai/flowise
From Source:
git clone https://github.com/FlowiseAI/Flowise.git
cd Flowise
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm start
See Quickstart for detailed instructions.
Flowise supports multiple databases:
  • SQLite (default) - No setup required, ideal for development
  • PostgreSQL - Recommended for production
  • MySQL - Alternative for production
Configure via the DATABASE_TYPE environment variable. See Environment Variables for details.
Yes! Flowise works well behind reverse proxies like Nginx, Apache, or Caddy. Make sure to:
  1. Configure CORS_ORIGINS environment variable
  2. Set TRUST_PROXY appropriately
  3. Forward WebSocket connections for real-time features
See Deployment guides for proxy configuration examples.

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Development & Customization

Custom components are created in the packages/components directory:
  1. Create a new TypeScript file for your component
  2. Implement the component interface
  3. Define inputs, outputs, and logic
  4. Rebuild the project: pnpm build
  5. Restart Flowise to see your component
See the existing components for examples and patterns.
Yes, configure these environment variables:
  • TOOL_FUNCTION_BUILTIN_DEP - Node.js built-in modules
  • TOOL_FUNCTION_EXTERNAL_DEP - External npm packages
  • ALLOW_BUILTIN_DEP - Allow project dependencies
Example:
TOOL_FUNCTION_EXTERNAL_DEP=axios,lodash
Set the DEBUG environment variable:
DEBUG=true npx flowise start
Or in your .env file:
DEBUG=true
LOG_LEVEL=debug
This will print detailed logs from components and help troubleshoot issues.
Yes, use the DISABLED_NODES environment variable:
DISABLED_NODES=node1,node2,node3
This is useful for enterprise deployments where you want to limit available components.

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Deployment & Production

Flowise can be deployed on various platforms:
  • Cloud Providers: AWS, Azure, GCP, Digital Ocean, Alibaba Cloud
  • Platform Services: Railway, Render, Northflank, HuggingFace Spaces
  • Containers: Docker, Kubernetes
  • VPS: Any Linux server with Node.js
See Deployment Guides for platform-specific instructions.
Security best practices:
  1. Use HTTPS: Deploy behind SSL/TLS
  2. Environment Variables: Store sensitive data in env vars, not code
  3. CORS Configuration: Set CORS_ORIGINS to restrict access
  4. Database Security: Use strong passwords, restrict network access
  5. Regular Updates: Keep Flowise and dependencies updated
  6. Firewall: Restrict access to necessary ports only
For security issues, see our Security Policy.
Chatflows are stored in your database. To backup:SQLite:
# Copy the database file
cp ~/.flowise/database.sqlite ~/backups/
PostgreSQL/MySQL: Use standard database backup tools (pg_dump, mysqldump)Manual Export: Export individual chatflows as JSON from the UI and store them in version control.
Scaling strategies:
  1. Database: Use PostgreSQL instead of SQLite
  2. Storage: Use S3 or GCS for file uploads (STORAGE_TYPE)
  3. Load Balancing: Deploy multiple instances behind a load balancer
  4. Caching: Implement caching for frequently accessed data
  5. Monitoring: Set up logging and monitoring (CloudWatch, Datadog, etc.)
Consider Flowise Cloud for managed scaling.

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Troubleshooting

The default port (3000) is occupied. Solutions:
  1. Change the port:
PORT=3001 npx flowise start
  1. Kill the process using port 3000:
# Linux/Mac
lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9

# Windows
netstat -ano | findstr :3000
taskkill /PID <PID> /F
Increase Node.js memory limit:
# macOS / Linux / Git Bash
export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096"

# Windows PowerShell
$env:NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096"

# Windows CMD
set NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=4096
Then rebuild:
pnpm build
If community nodes or custom components aren’t appearing:
  1. Enable community nodes:
SHOW_COMMUNITY_NODES=true
  1. Rebuild the project:
pnpm build
  1. Clear cache and restart:
pnpm clean
pnpm build
pnpm start
This usually indicates an issue with the encryption key:
  1. Check that SECRETKEY_PATH is writable
  2. Verify the encryption key file exists
  3. If using FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE, ensure it’s consistent across restarts
  4. Check file permissions on the database

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