What is Hetu used for?

Hetu is a Chinese low-code platform from Lianjia (Beike) that generates admin pages through a visual editor built on React, TypeScript and Node.js. It is a good fit for rapidly building internal admin pages and standardizing back-office UI across teams.

Yes. Hetu is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at LianjiaTech/hetu and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Hetu is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Hetu?

Yes. Hetu can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Hetu an alternative to?

Hetu is an open-source alternative to Retool and Forest Admin. Other open-source alternatives to Retool include DashPress, Lowdefy and Erupt.

Is Hetu actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Hetu was on 28 June 2023, and the latest release is 1.0.0, published on 28 September 2020. The project has 797 stars on GitHub.

Hetu: open-source alternative to Retool, Forest Admin

About Hetu

Hetu is a low-code platform that generates back-office pages through a visual interface, cutting development effort for admin systems. It was incubated inside Beike (Lianjia) and, according to its README, has been used in most of that company's business lines.

The README highlights a visual editor that is simple to operate, high-quality admin system templates that work out of the box, and a development flow moved fully online to reduce communication, debugging and operations costs. It reports 200+ projects and 1,500+ pages delivered internally. The stack is React, TypeScript, Node.js and Express, and it supports modern browsers and IE11 or later.

To run it yourself you need an email account with SMTP enabled to send verification codes, a MySQL 5.7 database initialized from the supplied SQL file, a config file and Yarn. A component library service is started first, then client and server, after which you can register with any email. The project is MIT licensed, with documentation mainly in Chinese.

Key features

Visual editor for generating admin pages
Ready-made admin system templates
Fully online development workflow
React, TypeScript and Express stack
MySQL-backed self-hosted deployment
Dynamic component library loading

Good fit for

→Rapidly building internal admin pages
→Standardizing back-office UI across teams

Built with: TypeScript; React; Node.js
Tags: low-code; visual-editor; admin-panel; react; typescript; nodejs; code-generator; mysql

Hetu: questions and answers

What is Hetu used for?: Hetu is a Chinese low-code platform from Lianjia (Beike) that generates admin pages through a visual editor built on React, TypeScript and Node.js. It is a good fit for rapidly building internal admin pages and standardizing back-office UI across teams.
Is Hetu open source?: Yes. Hetu is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at LianjiaTech/hetu and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Hetu free?: Yes. Hetu is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Hetu?: Yes. Hetu can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Hetu an alternative to?: Hetu is an open-source alternative to Retool and Forest Admin. Other open-source alternatives to Retool include DashPress, Lowdefy and Erupt.
Is Hetu actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Hetu was on 28 June 2023, and the latest release is 1.0.0, published on 28 September 2020. The project has 797 stars on GitHub.