Your view on "in-DB" automation (not using Make/Zapier/n8n)

Feedback
1

Hello there.

We are currently evaluating multiple nocode db saas platforms for our NPO, and obviously, we could not get around Baserow :slight_smile: I am by far not being an expert, but I have already been able to set up some PoCs with Baserow and I think, I have a grasp of the basic concepts.

Kudos to the Baserow team, since also the Youtube videos/tutorials were a great starting point!

Now, with each new tool one follows the euphoria cycle, where you discover features you have expected (cool) and even those, you haven’t (great). However, same is true for features you see lacking and expected it (good) but then … you know, you learn about features not existing which you did expect. I am in the middle of that phase, I guess. :slight_smile:

On specific feature is what I call ‘in-db automation’. SmartSuite has it, Fibery has it, and the Airy one, too. I have learned that most people here refer to Webhooks, Zapier and friends, but wait: Don’t you miss in-db automation at a very basic level?

I am not writing this to complain :slight_smile: There is probably a good reason, why in-db automation is not (yet?) available or not needed at all?

So how do you fix this in your use case? Take this example: A simple table of ‘members’. You track new, updated and archived ones. These are all date fields. You also have member type. Now, in other SaaS tools I created a pseudo rule like:

if MemberType = 'Alumni', set field "Archived" to today()

Well, you now COULD fire a webhook, let make.com do it’s magic, call the API … you see the point. It’s such a simple, tiny operation that is not really justifying the overhead.

So, please share your thoughts, your experience and where I am taking the wrong turn.

Thanks!
Stephan

2

Hey @star26bsd, thanks for your kind words about Baserow and for sharing your feedback. Automation Builder is another product we plan to introduce in the future. With this tool, our users will be able to build workflows as you mentioned without relying on third-party tools. In the meantime, you can use webhooks, our API, or tools like Zapier to achieve similar results.

3

Hi @olgatrykush :wave:

Now we talk! :slight_smile: That is very interesting for us. Is this something you plan for this or next year? I know, sharing future plans is always a double-edged sword, but since I couldn’t find this on your Roadmap, I dare to ask.

4

Certainly! I think development is scheduled to start next year. However, I’ll double-check with the team to ensure there haven’t been any changes to the plan. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
5

I would just use n8n :wink: Maybe even embed it in Baserow.

1 Like
6

Hi there …

In the meantime, I have also investigated more time in understanding formulas. It wasn’t clear to me at first, that some automation use cases can indeed be covered by formulas quite well. Of course, one needs to configure additional formula fields which increases the number of fields per table, and thus will slow down over time - but for small and mid-size use cases, that might be just fine.

Just documenting this here so others, who might bump into this as well, may have a pointer in that direction.

Cheers
Stephan

1 Like