I fail to see how using this GUI mixed with raw code approach would make my development workflow any faster.
For example, I've posted below a Node.js implementation of what you created in the YouTube demo linked in the OP, and it took me less time to write than it did for you to create the same "workflow" using the GUI in the video demo.
And the best part is I can run this JS code on my own server, or as a cloud function on AWS Lambda, etc. I retain complete control and avoid vendor lock in.
And there is no way you and your team can compete with AWS on cloud function pricing. So where is the value for developers in your offer?
It seems like you are offering a managed compute service at a much higher price point than AWS, and then trying to justify that price point by tacking a GUI onto it.
At best the GUI will be able to abstract away a little bit of boilerplate code, but inevitably the interface it exposes will not be as flexible, fully-featured, expressive, or IMO, as easy to reason about, as the interface exposed by any modern programming language.
Writing the code yourself is always going to give you the most flexibility. This comes at the cost of complexity and domain expertise.
If you wanted to run something like this on a schedule, monitor execution results step by step, ensure your credentials are stored securely, etc, the barrier to entry to building this in terms of time and expertise suddenly jumps significantly, as well as the services / infrastructure required. We provide all of this out of the box with Paragon.
However, if you have all the domain expertise of the variety of languages, services, etc and prefer to spend the time writing the code yourself and managing the infra, that's okay. If you prefer to code, no code's just not for you and it doesn't have to be ^__^
Good point - many experienced engineers like yourself can build things like this quickly without Paragon. However, many of our users are frontend engineers or semi-technical product managers who may not be as comfortable spinning up their own service as you are. For backend engineers who do use Paragon, they can handoff workflows to other, less technical team members who then don't have to rely on engineering every time they need to make a small change. We've gotten feedback from customers who've told us this is well worth the $30/mo we charge for Paragon.
I fail to see how using this GUI mixed with raw code approach would make my development workflow any faster.
For example, I've posted below a Node.js implementation of what you created in the YouTube demo linked in the OP, and it took me less time to write than it did for you to create the same "workflow" using the GUI in the video demo.
And the best part is I can run this JS code on my own server, or as a cloud function on AWS Lambda, etc. I retain complete control and avoid vendor lock in. And there is no way you and your team can compete with AWS on cloud function pricing. So where is the value for developers in your offer?
It seems like you are offering a managed compute service at a much higher price point than AWS, and then trying to justify that price point by tacking a GUI onto it. At best the GUI will be able to abstract away a little bit of boilerplate code, but inevitably the interface it exposes will not be as flexible, fully-featured, expressive, or IMO, as easy to reason about, as the interface exposed by any modern programming language.
const { Pool } = require('pg'); const pool = new Pool(); await pool.connect(); const accountSid = 'ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'; const authToken = 'your_auth_token'; const twilioclient = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken); const sgMail = require('@sendgrid/mail'); sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY);
const res = await pool.query(`SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE "lastSeen" < (now() - INTERVAL '4 weeks')`) res.rows.forEach(row => { let message = `Hi ${row.name}, we haven't seen you in a while`; if (row.phone) { twilioclient.messages.create({ body: message, from: '+15017122661', to: row.phone }) .then(message => console.log(message.sid)); } else { const msg = { to: row.email, from: 'test@example.com', subject: 'Come back', text: message, }; sgMail.send(msg) .then(() => {}, error => { console.error(error);
}) await pool.end()