nuBuilder

**nuBuilder**
Developer(s)	nuSoftware
Initial release	June 10, 2009 (09.06.10)
Stable release	4.5 (as nuBuilderForte) (September 19, 2023; 13 months ago) [±]
Preview release	None [±]
Written in	PHP
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Software development
License(s)	GNU General Public License v3.0
Website	nuBuilder.net

nuBuilder is a free web-based open-source web application builder.

Product history

nuBuilder started out as a closed-source, proprietary application created by nuSoftware in 2003.^[2] The company decided to make the software freely available under the open-source model in 2009, starting a new SourceForge project in June of that year. The first open-source release followed on June 10 as version 09.06.10.^[1] This date-based versioning continued until the February 15, 2012 release as version 2.5.0.^[3]^[4]

On February 20, 2014, the developers announced a complete rebuild of nuBuilder as nuBuilder Pro, technically a 3.0 version.^[5] The initial nuBuilder code had been put on GitHub on January 5^[6], with a few updates arriving afterwards. Unlike its predecessor, nuBuilderPro does not seem to receive versioned updates. Updates appear to be made to the software, but a version number is not incremented. The software can be self-hosted, or nuSoftware can host it for you for a fee.^[7]

In December 2017, the software morphed again into nuBuilder Forte, the fourth iteration of the software, stating that "its application development tool is now a low-code, open-source alternative for citizen developers." They defined a citizen developer as "a person not employed as a programmer, that builds software applications to help manage processes inside a business," and the low-code nature gives such developers the ability "to own what they create and host it wherever they want."^[8] Like its predecessor nuBuilderPro, the software doesn't receive versioned updates, with increments in version number. The former GitHub repository disappeared, and the code now appears to be hosted on SourceForge.

Features

Features of nuBuilder include^[9]:

query support
data validation
user-based security
dynamic data display
extensibility

Hardware/software requirements

The Windows installer comes packaged with the necessary components to run nuBuilder.

For Linux installations, you'll need:

Apache
PHP (MySQL extension required)
MySQL
Postfix (optional)

More information for Linux installations can be found here.

Videos, screenshots, and other media

Videos for nuBuilder can be found on YouTube.
Screenshots of nuBuilder are available on the site.
A live demo if nuBuilder is also available.

Entities using nuBuilder

External links

nuBuilder Forte can also be found on SourceForge. However, use caution when downloading and installing from there; the install package may contain undesirable add-on software.