NINi55aN·Jul 12, 2023Submission
Rete.js 2 stable is now available
2 points · Open discussionretejs
rete
TypeScript2018–2023
retejs / rete
rete
JavaScript framework for visual programming
4Distinct people
5Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
12.3KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
JavaScript framework for visual programming
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- jagenjo/litegraph.js · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year5 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-10-07 16:10:49 UTC to 2023-07-12 22:39:58 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
What Hacker News says
5 sourcesRete: JavaScript framework for visual programming and creating node editor
294 points · Open discussionIf you are looking for open source alternatives:
https://github.com/retejs/rete
https://github.com/newcat/baklavajs
https://github.com/jagenjo/litegraph.js
In Nodes – JavaScript-based 2D canvas for computational thinkingIn the early days of KloudTrader, we attempted to use Visual Programming too.
https://web.archive.org/web/20171006072839/http://www.kloudt...
The main difficulty was scale and tradeoffs between power vs ease-of-use. We spent a lot of time creating "subroutine blocks" for the most commonly used functions and optimizing for UI/ease of use that we weren't doing much else. Furthermore, pretty much every integration, library etc. had to be converted into its visual equivalents for the language to be of any use and all the linear algebra/candlestick libraries were taking up so much time that the rest of the product was suffering. Stuff that often makes sense to a professional programmer had to be "simplified" so the UX is more optimal. E.g. data structures.
If you look at VPLs in production, there's a reason most of them tend to be "imperative
Read the rest
commands only" i.e. a glue language that mainly strings together other subroutines. The concept of objects, or even structs is completely eliminated in the VPL.
http://www.ni.com/getting-started/labview-basics/data-struct...
There are exceptions to this however, the Unreal Engine's Blueprints is a lot more flexible than most.
If you want to get started building your own version of Google's Blockly, here's a good guide:
http://www.aosabook.org/en/500L/blockcode-a-visual-programmi...
Throw in an immediate-mode UI library like React and you might even scale up indefinitely with plain HTML (most browser VPLs stick with SVG/Canvas).
For prettier node-based types of languages, try these libraries:
https://github.com/retejs/rete
https://github.com/slothking-online/diagram
https://github.com/jagenjo/litegraph.js
Bonus tip for anyone looking to implement any: use code generators. AST -> Visual programming component conversion may save you lots of time (assuming that the language has mature enough tooling and labour is extremely expensive)
Rete – JavaScript framework for node-based visual programming
134 points · Open discussion