Say it. It’s an app. Code when you need it.
Your own apps, your own server, your own computer
DBBasic is eight free desktop apps for macOS and Linux, the object server this site runs on, and Network Computer: a desk in the cloud you open from any phone, tablet or browser. Your files stay plain files, and AI works when you add your own key.
Download the apps Network Computer ★ Star on GitHub Read the docs · How it works
Start here: the track
Fifteen steps on one $7 VM, each needing the one before it. The first four are up; the rest follow weekly. Every step ends the same way: still one VM, still this month’s bill.
- A fresh VM to HTTPS in thirty minutes, and the $7 bill
- Your key, your model, and the cents it costs
- The shell is the first program
- Coding without coding: make an object called site_dice
Then why it is built this way, where code goes when you need it, and the quickstart.
The apps: free for macOS and Linux
Eight apps, one design: they fit a phone, a tablet or a big screen, work by touch as well as by mouse, and anything you can do in them, voice and scripts can do too.
Writer
Documents that save themselves, named after what you write. ✓ fixes spelling and grammar and changes nothing else.
Draw
Pictures and diagrams, and images from a description with AI (about half a cent each).
Cabinet
The paperless office: bring in a scan, it reads it, suggests the details and files it.
Webmaster
Websites with AI that writes and corrects; publish to your object server or export plain HTML.
Shell
A terminal with tabs, a file sidebar and AI; keys and tokens are kept out of what it sends.
All eight: macOS suite (165MB) · Linux suite (84MB) · what’s new · details, installing, requirements → · license
Network Computer: your desk in the cloud
A small Linux computer in the cloud with your desktop on it, opened from an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac or any browser. Touch mode for phones, voice with AI, printing on your own printer, your device's camera as its webcam, and every app above installed. About $24 a month at most, and it can stop itself when you're not using it. Open source (MIT).
The Network Computer site (made in Webmaster, published from the desk itself) · Source on GitHub
DBBasic Object Server — This Site Runs On It
Live, versioned Python application objects on a single small VM. An object is one Python file — a page, API endpoint, worker, or report — and changes are live on the next request. No build step, no deploy step, no framework treadmill.
Source on GitHub | Learn more
What it does:
A schema projects a full app: live tables, kanban boards, forms, filters, comments, file attachments, and record sharing — no per-app code. And when the schema cannot say it, you (or the AI) write a real Python object beside it: same store, same permissions, live on the next request.
A schema, permission rules, and one page object. Ships with projects, notes, tasks, contacts, articles, links, a calendar, files, and a shell you can talk to.
Upgrade a package and your records, customizations, and added schema fields survive. Three-way reconcile instead of silent overwrites.
The same rules enforced across web, API, search, files, and AI agents.
Lists update across open browsers with no reload.
TSV records and JSON schemas you can grep, diff, and back up with cp.
This very site is served by it: pages are records, rendered by two page objects.
Proof: you are reading a page it served. MIT licensed. Python stdlib + uvicorn. A $5–$7 VM is plenty.
DBBasic Scroll — The Native Console
A native macOS app for operating your object server: browse any collection rendered straight from its schema, install and upgrade packages with provenance ("has this been customized?") and a reconcile inbox, run backups with restore preview, and watch it all update live over the same websocket stream the web uses.
Source on GitHub | Learn more
What it does:
Tables, cards, and feeds generated from the same metadata the web renders. New collection, instant native UI.
Package manager, permission policy, ops stream, backups, and the reconcile inbox for upgrade conflicts.
Realtime record updates, notification bell, connection status.
Reskins itself from the server’s design tokens when you switch themes.
Object Server and Scroll are the flagships. The rest of the workshop ships alongside them — each tool with its own animal:
Puppet Stage — A Browser Puppet That Reads Stage Direction
A browser puppet with phoneme-accurate lip-sync driven by local text-to-speech, taking stage direction like an actor reading a teleprompter — walk, wave, emote, look around — live or from a screenplay. Characters are plain SVG + JSON, fully swappable without touching code.
Source on GitHub
What it does:
say/espeak) → Rhubarb Lip Sync → mouth shapes scheduled on the audio clock.[bracketed] lines are stage directions, (parenthesised) prefixes act while speaking. A teleprompter overlay follows along.Puppetry is the oldest performing art — five thousand years old, give or take. This just wires it to the newest.
DBBasic Framework
DBBasic is a radically simple Python web framework that proves modern web development doesn't need 300,000 lines of code—it delivers file-based routing, TSV database storage with ACID transactions, stateless authentication, async job queues, video processing, and deployment tools in about 15,000 lines across sixteen core modules, twelve of them under 1,000 lines each, by rejecting ORM complexity, embracing plain-text data that you can grep and version with git, and treating Unix philosophy as a feature not a limitation, achieving 5,000+ requests/second on $5 VPS hardware while Django struggles at 50 req/s because sometimes the best way forward is remembering what CGI-bin got right: one file per endpoint, transparent data, three-second deployments via rsync, and the radical idea that you should be able to cat your database and actually understand what you're looking at.
A collection of lightweight Python web framework components. Most modules are under 1,000 lines; the largest, dbbasic-tsv, is about 3,400. All use TSV files for storage.
Show the modules: 50 packages, from the core to the roadmap
Core Foundation
dbbasic-sessions ✅
User session management for authentication - PyPI | Source - Signed cookies, no storage - Stateless authentication - Full Specification
dbbasic-queue ✅
TSV-based job queue for async tasks - PyPI | Source - Retry logic with exponential backoff - Cron-based workers - Full Specification
dbbasic-logs ✅
Structured logging with rotation - PyPI | Source - TSV format, auto-compression - Searchable with grep/Python API - Full Specification
dbbasic-accounts ✅
Unix-style user management for web apps - PyPI | Source - Mirrors /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group - Dual API (Unix + web-friendly) - Full Specification
dbbasic-email ✅
Unix mail + SMTP delivery - PyPI | Source - Local mail (mbox format) - SMTP queue integration - Full Specification
dbbasic-admin ✅
Auto-discovery admin interface - PyPI | Source - Zero-config module discovery - Auto-generated CRUD for TSV tables - Full Specification
dbbasic-forms ✅
Git-native form builder with TSV storage - PyPI | Source - Visual drag-drop form builder - TSV storage for forms and responses - Auto-discovered admin interface - CSV export and analytics - Full Specification
Tools & CLI
dbbasic-cli ✅
Command-line tool for creating and managing apps - PyPI | Source - Standard directory structure - Module command auto-discovery - Full Specification
dbbasic-manx
BBS/ANSI-style manual page viewer - Source - Zero dependencies (Python stdlib only) - 256-color ANSI output with syntax highlighting - Works with less/pager for keyboard navigation - Full Specification
Desktop Tools
Phase 1: Production Essentials
dbbasic-ratings
User and project reputation system - ~100 lines - Bidirectional ratings tied to projects - Immune to volume/value manipulation - Categorical scoring (quality, communication, timeliness) - Full Specification
dbbasic-jobs
Job board with applications and bidding - ~200 lines - Post jobs, receive applications, award contracts - Simple 4-state workflow (open, in_progress, completed, cancelled) - Budget ranges, skill matching, application proposals - Full Specification
dbbasic-groups
Community organization and access control - ~250 lines - Public, private, and secret groups - Membership management (join, approve, ban) - Owner, admin, member roles - Integrates with forum, jobs, follows - Full Specification
dbbasic-events
Event sourcing and event bus - ~80 lines - Append-only event log, replay state - Full Specification
dbbasic-forum
Discussion boards with flat threading - ~200 lines - Categories, threads, flat posts (Stack Overflow style) - Pinned/locked/solved threads, view counting - AI summaries, solution marking - Grep-able TSV storage - Full Specification
Phase 2: Common Features
dbbasic-api
REST API helpers - ~100 lines - Pagination, filtering, sorting - DRY conveniences
dbbasic-upload
File upload handling - ~200 lines - Storage management - Upload validation
Phase 3: Advanced Features
dbbasic-ai
AI integration (Claude, OpenAI) - ~300 lines - Summarization, moderation - Response caching
dbbasic-channels
WebSocket and SSE support - ~300 lines - Real-time updates - Broadcasting
dbbasic-background
Job orchestration and scheduling - ~200 lines - Scheduled tasks - Retry logic
dbbasic-workflow
State machine workflows - ~400 lines - Multi-step processes - State transitions
Utility Modules
dbbasic-exports
Data export functionality - ~100 lines - CSV, JSON, XML export - Bulk downloads
dbbasic-imports
Data import and ETL - ~150 lines - CSV, JSON parsing - Data validation
dbbasic-backups
Automated backups - ~100 lines - Scheduled backups - Restore functionality
dbbasic-stats
Analytics and metrics - ~100 lines - Usage tracking - Reports
dbbasic-filters
Query helpers and filters - ~50 lines - Common query patterns - SQL shortcuts
Enterprise Features
dbbasic-enterprise
SSO and compliance - Authentication integrations - Audit logging - GDPR tools
dbbasic-subdomains
Multi-tenant support - Subdomain routing - Tenant isolation - Data partitioning
dbbasic-accounting
Financial ledger - Double-entry bookkeeping - Transaction tracking - Reports
Specialized Modules
dbbasic-video
Video processing - Upload and encoding - Streaming support - Thumbnail generation
dbbasic-editor
Rich text editing - WYSIWYG interface - Markdown support - Media embedding
dbbasic-apps
Plugin system - Extension architecture - Plugin management - Hooks and filters
dbbasic-reports
Report generation - Scheduled reports - PDF/Excel output - Dashboards
dbbasic-notifications
Multi-channel notifications - Email, SMS, push - Notification queue - User preferences
dbbasic-personalization
User customization - Themes and preferences - A/B testing - Feature flags
dbbasic-streams
Stream processing - Real-time data streams - Event processing - Aggregations
dbbasic-actors
Actor model concurrency - Message passing - Isolated state - Supervision
dbbasic-scaling
Load balancing and scaling - Request distribution - Session affinity - Auto-scaling
dbbasic-schema_ui
Database schema browser - Visual schema explorer - Relationship viewer - Query builder
dbbasic-public
Static site generation - Markdown to HTML - Asset pipeline - Fast static sites
Design Philosophy
Tiny: Each module under 500 lines Simple: TSV files, no complex dependencies Composable: Mix and match what you need Readable: Code you can understand and modify
Total Framework Size: ~8,000 lines (compare to Django: 300K, Rails: 200K)
Status
Currently in active development. Core modules (tsv, pipe, web) are complete.
Building in order of real-world need, not feature completeness.
Installation
pip install dbbasic_tsv
pip install dbbasic_web
# ... add modules as needed
Or install a bundle:
pip install dbbasic # Core essentials
pip install dbbasic[full] # Everything
Contributing
Each module is independently versioned and maintained.
Looking for contributors who value simplicity over features.
Related Projects
dbbasic-examples
Example applications built with DBBasic - GitHub - Blog, microblog, API examples - Module template for new projects - Real-world usage patterns
dbbasic-sound
Synthesized sound effect generator - GitHub - 48+ royalty-free sound effects - Bells, buzzers, notifications, UI sounds - Pure Python, NumPy only
dbbasic-web-native
100+ production-ready UI components in pure HTML/CSS - GitHub - Zero dependencies, no JavaScript required - Copy-paste ready components - Built in 2 days with AI - Replaces Bootstrap (300KB → plain HTML/CSS)
PyStructUI
Transform data structures into beautiful UIs for any Python web framework - GitHub - Data-driven UI rendering - Works with Flask, Django, FastAPI - Separates logic from presentation
AskRobots CommitGen
AI-powered git commit message generation - GitHub - Analyzes git diffs with GPT - Auto-commit with generated messages - AI-powered file modifications
AskRobots Discord
Scalable AI-powered Discord bot - GitHub - GPT-3.5-Turbo and GPT-4 integration - Plugin-oriented architecture - Docker deployment support
Last Updated: April 2026