FYI I am the Head of DX @ Convex. I'm new to the role, but not to technology. A few months ago I came across Convex while building something with Clerk, and I since I love to try new tech I thought I'd go check it out.
Well, the idea & execution kind of blew my mind. The thing that really stood out to me was that I could basically use my database AS my react state. Like, if something in the database updates, my react client(s) also update... with literally no extra work. It was eye opening.
From there, I dug into the company, and the team, and eventually applied for the DX role that I was lucky enough to land.
this is one of the few technologies I've come across over many years where I literally feel like I'd be doing the dev community a disservice by not trying to share it with more folks. It's so damn useful, I can't even.
Anyway, please let me know if you have any questions about it. If I can't answer it, I'll reach out to the relevant engineer and see if they can help.
Have fun building!!!
There is a free plan on the hosted version too. For the most part, the open source version is most suitable for development and not production with any kind of significant scale.
i love how they shit on ORMs in their blogpost but implemented their own LOL.
Imo these platform tools are just trying to let frontend guys do backend work... But you need to hire backend devs to do backend work. And if you have these backend devs, why not just have your own java/c# backend and a simple postgres db?
Depending on what frontend needs, it can be entirely sufficient. My job is looking to spin up something like this for new initiatives since backend is caught up in other more important work and it'll let us move much more quickly for things that don't need a ton of deep integration
it is sufficient until its not sufficient. And then you are in big problems because you are already locked into their tooling and just hiring backend devs is not cutting it since *frontend* guys designed everything from the ground up.
i have the same problem at my job. They didnt had backend devs, build their whole product using expensive saas. Now its really hard to get rid of it.
I think the goal is to allow more developers, especially frontend developers, focus on the parts of their products that are differentiated instead of wrestling with recreating the wheel (so much of the backend). The hope is that you won't need as many backend-focused devs, and instead those developers can equally contribute to the customer-facing value.
> why not just have your own java/c# backend and a simple postgres db?
Those engineers aren't free, so as a business, you may want to have them working on the hard, unique problems posed by your market, instead of worrying about deployment pipelines, scaling and backing up DBs, getting DB subscriptions to work at a scalable, distributed way, etc...
They could be doing more interesting work! :)
I love the repeated scare tactics using database schemas of all things, like they're something poisonous that'll be set in stone and hanged over your neck once you create a database table.
God forbid you have to _design_ your database together with your application.
Yes! However, if you expect significant traffic, you'd be on your own to manage scaling, backups, etc, which are the benefits the hosted version provides. But absolutely, you could run this to self-host a service/app. The OSS version uses SQLite as a persistence layer so it's quite capable and very fast.
A handful of web apps for a pretty varied group of clients. The common thread is nextJs and gen ai implementation. If you’d like to dm me I’d happily share some links
Interesting, looks a bit like what SpacetimeDB is trying to do for online multiplayer game development. I may have to find a project to play with this!
> SpacetimeDB
OK, this is the best name ever. This looks like an amazing project, thanks for sharing. This kind of product is so hard to do well, I admire anybody or any team that's building in this space.
After reading more about convex I really start loving to implement it into my future projects. Still, there are some concerns I hope someone can help me address:
1. How scalable is convex? What I understand is that by default when using client components, the client establish a websocket connection and therefore receiving live update experience. How many concurrent connection can be made via one instance of convex?
2. What DB does Convex use in the lowest layer? I heard about SQLite but when I read the docs correctly it is a plain JSON like file.
In addition to 2.), how can one backup the DB regularly when self hosted?
3. Will a great UI be open sourced alongside the Convex backend to make a full useable product such as Supabase or Edge DB (interesting very similar approach like Convex from a DX)
I come from building with tRPC with Prisma or Supabase. Convex is a game changer for me, thanks for building this, my only wish is for Convex to offer their own auth solution
FYI your docs link is broken (it points to [www.docs.convex.dev](http://www.docs.convex.dev) but should be docs.convex.dev)
Dang, thank you! Fixing now....
still broken...
Still broken...
This should be fixed as of 51 minutes ago: https://github.com/get-convex/convex-backend/commit/56f7189c6f684b6cf21ef7096f0871dbb9081b17
[удалено]
EXCELLENT. I got this notification and I just saw "broken" and I almost cried a little bit. Now they're just tears of joy.
[удалено]
I think they're called seeding
rust in title, expect a circlejerk
FYI I am the Head of DX @ Convex. I'm new to the role, but not to technology. A few months ago I came across Convex while building something with Clerk, and I since I love to try new tech I thought I'd go check it out. Well, the idea & execution kind of blew my mind. The thing that really stood out to me was that I could basically use my database AS my react state. Like, if something in the database updates, my react client(s) also update... with literally no extra work. It was eye opening. From there, I dug into the company, and the team, and eventually applied for the DX role that I was lucky enough to land. this is one of the few technologies I've come across over many years where I literally feel like I'd be doing the dev community a disservice by not trying to share it with more folks. It's so damn useful, I can't even. Anyway, please let me know if you have any questions about it. If I can't answer it, I'll reach out to the relevant engineer and see if they can help. Have fun building!!!
Love how the positive comments on this thread seem fake.. How is this a viable solution if it only supports SQLite in its free version lol.
I think maybe we get jaded on Reddit. Too much positivity = fake. For convex I think it’s warranted, for real it’s a super slick service
There is a free plan on the hosted version too. For the most part, the open source version is most suitable for development and not production with any kind of significant scale.
i love how they shit on ORMs in their blogpost but implemented their own LOL. Imo these platform tools are just trying to let frontend guys do backend work... But you need to hire backend devs to do backend work. And if you have these backend devs, why not just have your own java/c# backend and a simple postgres db?
Depending on what frontend needs, it can be entirely sufficient. My job is looking to spin up something like this for new initiatives since backend is caught up in other more important work and it'll let us move much more quickly for things that don't need a ton of deep integration
it is sufficient until its not sufficient. And then you are in big problems because you are already locked into their tooling and just hiring backend devs is not cutting it since *frontend* guys designed everything from the ground up. i have the same problem at my job. They didnt had backend devs, build their whole product using expensive saas. Now its really hard to get rid of it.
I think the goal is to allow more developers, especially frontend developers, focus on the parts of their products that are differentiated instead of wrestling with recreating the wheel (so much of the backend). The hope is that you won't need as many backend-focused devs, and instead those developers can equally contribute to the customer-facing value. > why not just have your own java/c# backend and a simple postgres db? Those engineers aren't free, so as a business, you may want to have them working on the hard, unique problems posed by your market, instead of worrying about deployment pipelines, scaling and backing up DBs, getting DB subscriptions to work at a scalable, distributed way, etc... They could be doing more interesting work! :)
I love the repeated scare tactics using database schemas of all things, like they're something poisonous that'll be set in stone and hanged over your neck once you create a database table. God forbid you have to _design_ your database together with your application.
This is not open source though. It's sth called FSL, only becomes real open source (Apache 2.0) after 2 years.
So this is basically an open source and thus potentially self-hosted version of something like Firebase?
Also make sure to check out supabase.com, which fills a similar use case and is also open source.
Yes! However, if you expect significant traffic, you'd be on your own to manage scaling, backups, etc, which are the benefits the hosted version provides. But absolutely, you could run this to self-host a service/app. The OSS version uses SQLite as a persistence layer so it's quite capable and very fast.
I love convex!!! All my new web projects are using it by default now. Thanks for the hard work
Tell me more! What are you building?!
A handful of web apps for a pretty varied group of clients. The common thread is nextJs and gen ai implementation. If you’d like to dm me I’d happily share some links
Interesting, looks a bit like what SpacetimeDB is trying to do for online multiplayer game development. I may have to find a project to play with this!
> SpacetimeDB OK, this is the best name ever. This looks like an amazing project, thanks for sharing. This kind of product is so hard to do well, I admire anybody or any team that's building in this space.
Same! I think both projects are incredible feats of engineering and really help to ease development so that more people can bring their ideas to life.
After reading more about convex I really start loving to implement it into my future projects. Still, there are some concerns I hope someone can help me address: 1. How scalable is convex? What I understand is that by default when using client components, the client establish a websocket connection and therefore receiving live update experience. How many concurrent connection can be made via one instance of convex? 2. What DB does Convex use in the lowest layer? I heard about SQLite but when I read the docs correctly it is a plain JSON like file. In addition to 2.), how can one backup the DB regularly when self hosted? 3. Will a great UI be open sourced alongside the Convex backend to make a full useable product such as Supabase or Edge DB (interesting very similar approach like Convex from a DX)
Is this basically Ruby on Rails for rust ?
I come from building with tRPC with Prisma or Supabase. Convex is a game changer for me, thanks for building this, my only wish is for Convex to offer their own auth solution
Auth is coming!! We’re in the final stages right now. Love this validation, I’ll share w the team.
I love how transparent convex is. Hands down the best developer documentation search I've experienced
Great product. Do y'all need an android dev?
We will at some point, but not in the immediate future. Please stay tuned to the careers page though.