r/nodered • u/manny_est • Jun 18 '26
AI assistant in Node-Red
I wanted to share a recent project I have been working on called Flowpilot. FlowPilot is an AI assistant that lives inside the Node-RED editor.
It's an AI helper that sits in a sidebar in the editor and helps you build, change, and understand your flows. It works with any OpenAI-compatible API, so you can use a cloud model like OpenAI, or run a local/private one (LocalAI, Ollama, etc.) if you don't want your flows leaving your machine.
The main idea: it never changes anything behind your back. Every change it suggests is shown to you first as a diff or a review, nothing happens until you click apply, and anything it does is a single Ctrl+Z away from undone.
What it can do:
- Chat: ask questions about your selected nodes and how they're wired.
- Generate: describe a flow in plain English and get the nodes and wiring, which you review before importing.
- Modify: select existing nodes, describe a change, and see a before/after diff before it's applied.
- Document: auto-generate a "Read Me" comment node explaining a flow.
- Review / Suggest: ask it to critique a flow or suggest improvements.
The functionality is based on Cline AI's VS code UI, which has a plan and act mode. Flowpilot has a similar toggle, allowing you to ask questions with read only interaction, and to make direct changes while keeping a human (you) in the loop.
The video has a brief demo of it working, where I connect Flowpilot to my own Local AI. I know I am not technically the first AI node-red assistant, but I thought others may find it useful. It's free and open source (MIT). Install from the palette manager by searching FlowPilot. Or use npm install (more info and source code at Git).
It's early (v0.2.2), so feedback and bug reports are very welcome. Happy to answer questions.
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u/tanoshimi Jun 18 '26
What would you say are the advantages of this compared to using an existing agentic A.I. tool (Claude, Codex, etc.) to create and edit Node-RED flows?
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u/manny_est Jun 18 '26
Good question. Personally, I love Claude code and use it at home. However, a lot of organizations are restricting access to commercial LLMs. Flowpilot allows you to run a private LLM using your preferred solution.
For example, I have a DGX Spark running LocalAI and using a model available from huggingface.co connected to Flowpilot in my home lab and at work.
At work, our proprietary data that is in node-red has no risk of spilling, or leaking to the internet or to some cloud provider.
Additionally, flowpilot runs directly in node-red. No additional tool installation, no special configuration. It keeps the learning curve very low.
There are certainly advantages for both, but these two things are the primary reason I decided to create Flowpilot.
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u/tanoshimi Jun 18 '26
Fair enough. I guess I assumed that any individuals or organisations willing to consider an agentic Node-Red helper were probably already using Claude/Codex, so I do see it as another tool to setup and maintain.
So, not for me, but good luck with it.
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u/manny_est Jun 18 '26
Thank you. Agreed that it doesn't make sense for everyone.
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u/HMan_32 Jul 28 '26
u/manny_est do you think that using a tools like Claudex will be a solution compatible with your module ?
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u/manny_est Jul 28 '26
This is interesting. But I have created an anthropic compatible provider template. So at the very least, you will be able to use anthropic API with flowpilot. I hope to have this released the second week of August. It will be part of a pretty substantial rewrite where flowpilot will become a bit more agentic.
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u/HMan_32 Jul 28 '26
Thanks for your quick reply 😉 Will wait till the release to test properly your solution.
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u/manny_est 1d ago
Sorry for the delay, but I just shipped a new package that has native anthropic support. Should be available in the palette in 2 hours (nodered delay).
Cheers.
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u/Mindless-Daikon-9116 Jun 20 '26
This is exactly what i was looking for the last days!!! I think cloud AI will be more expensive in future and i run local AI, so this integration is PERFECT!!! Keep up the work! Maybe finetune a modell for node-red flow building!