// the find
kottster/kottster
Instant Node.js admin panel. Secure, self-hosted, and easy to set up
Kottster is a self-hosted Node.js admin panel generator that scaffolds CRUD pages from your existing database schema via a CLI. It targets small teams who need an internal tool without writing one from scratch. Supports Postgres, MySQL, SQLite, and MSSQL through Knex adapters.
The Knex-based adapter layer is a solid choice — it avoids ORM lock-in and means raw SQL queries work first-class, not as an escape hatch. The separation between the `@kottster/server` package and the CLI is clean; you scaffold once, then own the generated code. Roles and permissions are built in, not bolted on, which matters for real internal tools. Docker support is present from the start, not a post-hoc afterthought.
Account registration requires a call to kottster.app — the CLI reaches out to `kottsterApi.service.ts` to initialize a project, which means a third-party dependency in something marketed as fully self-hosted. Last push is January 2026 on a 1k-star repo with 75 forks, which is a slow activity signal for a tool competing against Retool and Appsmith. There is no offline or air-gapped setup path documented. The 'custom pages' story is thin — it's React components wired to a backend procedure, so anything beyond CRUD tables requires you to write real frontend code, erasing most of the value proposition.