⚡ Aurel

Visual Workflow Automation Platform
Build, trigger, and run multi-step automations with a drag-and-drop editor — powered by a Next.js frontend and a BullMQ job worker.

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Architecture
• Tech Stack
• Workflow Nodes
• Data Models
• Local Development
• Environment Variables
• Database Migrations
• Deployment (Render)
• Project Structure

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Overview

Aurel is a no-code/low-code workflow automation platform. Users can visually design multi-step workflows using a drag-and-drop canvas (powered by React Flow), wire up nodes, and trigger them via webhooks. Workflows execute asynchronously through a BullMQ job queue backed by Redis, with full per-node execution logs stored in PostgreSQL.

Key capabilities:

• 🖱️ Visual drag-and-drop workflow editor
• 🔗 Webhook triggers per workflow (unique secret per workflow)
• 📧 Send emails via Resend
• 🌐 Make arbitrary HTTP requests
• 🔀 Conditional branching (if node with operators: =, contains, >, <, exists)
• 📝 Set and transform data between nodes
• 📊 Full execution logs with per-node status tracking
• 🔐 OAuth authentication (GitHub & Google) via NextAuth v5

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Architecture

Web requests enter through apps/web, jobs flow through Redis/BullMQ, and apps/worker executes workflows while persisting state in PostgreSQL via Prisma.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend Framework	Next.js 16 (App Router)
UI Library	React 19 + shadcn/ui + Radix UI
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4
Animations	Framer Motion, GSAP, motion
3D / Effects	Three.js, React Three Fiber, OGL
Workflow Canvas	React Flow (@xyflow/react)
State Management	Zustand
Data Fetching	SWR
Authentication	NextAuth v5 (GitHub + Google OAuth)
Job Queue	BullMQ + IORedis
Database ORM	Prisma
Database	PostgreSQL
Email	Resend
HTTP Client	Axios
Package Manager	pnpm (Workspaces)
Language	TypeScript 5

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Workflow Nodes

Each node in a workflow has a type and configurable data. The worker resolves them at execution time.

Node Type	Description
trigger / webhook	Entry point of a workflow. Workflows expose a unique POST /api/webhooks/:id endpoint that queues a job with the request body as triggerData.
email	Sends an HTML email via the Resend API. Supports template interpolation from previous node outputs ({{field.path}}).
http	Makes an arbitrary HTTP request (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) and passes the response body to the next node.
if	Conditional branching. Evaluates a field on the current data payload against a value using operators: =, contains, >, <, exists. Routes to true or false branches.
set	Sets or transforms data fields on the payload before passing it to the next node.

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Data Models

model User {
  id        String     @id @default(cuid())
  email     String     @unique
  name      String?
  image     String?
  workflows Workflow[]
  createdAt DateTime   @default(now())
}

model Workflow {
  id            String      @id @default(cuid())
  name          String
  userId        String
  nodes         Json        // React Flow nodes array
  edges         Json        // React Flow edges array
  active        Boolean     @default(false)
  webhookSecret String      @default(cuid())
  executions    Execution[]
  createdAt     DateTime    @default(now())
  updatedAt     DateTime    @updatedAt
}

model Execution {
  id         String    @id @default(cuid())
  workflowId String
  status     String    // "queued" | "running" | "success" | "failed"
  input      Json      // trigger payload
  logs       Json      // per-node results array
  startedAt  DateTime  @default(now())
  endedAt    DateTime?
}

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Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 20
• pnpm ≥ 10 — npm install -g pnpm
• Docker (for local Postgres + Redis)

1. Clone & Install

git clone https://github.com/your-org/aurel-monorepo.git
cd aurel-monorepo
pnpm install

2. Start Infrastructure

Start local PostgreSQL and Redis using Docker Compose:

docker compose up -d

Stop services:

docker compose down

Stop and remove all data volumes:

docker compose down -v

3. Configure Environment Variables

Copy and fill in the required variables (see Environment Variables):

# For the web app
cp apps/web/.env.local.example apps/web/.env.local

# For the worker
cp apps/worker/.env.example apps/worker/.env

# For the database package
cp packages/db/.env.example packages/db/.env

4. Run Migrations & Generate Prisma Client

pnpm db:migrate:deploy
pnpm db:generate

5. Start Dev Servers

Run the web app and worker in separate terminals:

# Terminal 1 — Next.js web app
pnpm dev:web

# Terminal 2 — BullMQ background worker
pnpm dev:worker

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Environment Variables

apps/web — Web App

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string
REDIS_URL	Redis connection string (e.g. redis://localhost:6379)
REDIS_HOST	Redis host (alternative to REDIS_URL)
REDIS_PORT	Redis port (default: 6379)
REDIS_PASSWORD	Redis password (optional)
NEXTAUTH_SECRET	Secret for signing NextAuth session tokens
NEXTAUTH_URL	Canonical URL of the app (e.g. http://localhost:3000)
GITHUB_ID	GitHub OAuth App Client ID
GITHUB_SECRET	GitHub OAuth App Client Secret
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth 2.0 Client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth 2.0 Client Secret

apps/worker — Background Worker

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string
REDIS_URL	Redis connection string
REDIS_HOST	Redis host (alternative to REDIS_URL)
REDIS_PORT	Redis port
REDIS_PASSWORD	Redis password (optional)
RESEND_API_KEY	Resend API key for sending emails
RESEND_FROM_EMAIL	Default sender address (e.g. noreply@yourdomain.com)

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Database Migrations

Run Prisma migrations against the configured DATABASE_URL:

# Apply pending migrations
pnpm db:migrate:deploy

# Regenerate Prisma client after schema changes
pnpm db:generate

When making schema changes, create a new migration:

pnpm --filter @aurel/db exec prisma migrate dev --name <migration-name>

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Deployment (Render)

Deploy two separate services from this monorepo on Render.

Managed Dependencies (create first)

1. Render PostgreSQL — copy the internal connection string as DATABASE_URL
2. Render Redis — copy the internal REDIS_URL

Service 1 — Web App

Setting	Value
Type	Web Service
Root Directory	(repo root)
Build Command	pnpm install --frozen-lockfile && pnpm run db:generate && pnpm --filter web build
Start Command	pnpm --filter web start
Environment Variables	See Web App env vars

Service 2 — Background Worker

Setting	Value
Type	Background Worker
Root Directory	(repo root)
Build Command	pnpm install --frozen-lockfile && pnpm run db:generate
Start Command	pnpm --filter worker start
Environment Variables	See Worker env vars

Pre-deploy: Run Migrations

Add a pre-deploy job or run once manually:

pnpm --filter @aurel/db exec prisma migrate deploy

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Project Structure

aurel-monorepo/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/                     # Next.js 16 App Router frontend
│   │   ├── app/
│   │   │   ├── api/             # API routes (workflows, executions, webhooks, emails)
│   │   │   ├── dashboard/       # Dashboard page
│   │   │   ├── editor/          # Visual workflow editor (React Flow)
│   │   │   ├── executions/      # Execution history & logs viewer
│   │   │   └── docs/            # Documentation pages
│   │   ├── components/          # Shared UI components (shadcn/ui)
│   │   ├── store/               # Zustand stores
│   │   └── lib/                 # Utility functions
│   │
│   └── worker/                  # BullMQ background worker
│       ├── engine/              # Core workflow execution engine
│       ├── executors/           # Node executors (email, http, if, set, webhook)
│       ├── utils/               # Helpers (e.g. template resolution)
│       └── index.ts             # Worker entry point
│
└── packages/
    └── db/                      # Shared Prisma DB package (@aurel/db)
        └── prisma/
            └── schema.prisma    # Database schema (User, Workflow, Execution)

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Built with ❤️ using Next.js, BullMQ, Prisma, and React Flow.