sprout-platform

Platform Build

Sprout Core

Sprout Spring Boot Starter

Sprout Server

This software uses an Open Source Initiative approved license.

What is Sprout?

Sprout is a web application framework, different than the dozens that already exist.
Similar to Ruby on Rails, Laravel, Django, and others - it facilitates rapid development of a web application.

• Provides default configurations
• Uses conventions and standards to develop and debug faster

Similar to WordPress.

• You can use the Sprout Server Docker image as a "no code" solution
• Custom css or third party plugins/modules can be added without recompiling the server.

Similar to other headless CMS.

• It's 'head optional'.
  The provided UI is a stand-alone ReactJS application, but there's no requirement to use it.

Sprout is different than other frameworks -

• You can use it as an application dependency
  Adding Sprout Starter to your Spring project allows customization, replacing default components, extend provided functionality, or turn off capabilities.
• Non-Intrusive
  Sprout can be replaced or removed with less effort than other frameworks due to abstractions.
  You can use Sprout to standup a project, then replace implementations until it is no longer required.

Why not code generation?

Code generation has applicable use cases, but applications built on generated code can be difficult to update especially with customizations.
With Sprout as a dependency, customizations and modules are abstracted from the core application code, so you can update it like any other application dependency.

Use Cases

The Sprout Platform provides an extensible and modular application platform, so it's suitable for custom CMS, line-of-business, application portals, or other types of apps.
The modular design allows closed-source customizations to be applied for each unique case.

The development is currently sponsored by a rapidly growing restaurant franchise, using it as a "Enterprise Portal", where they can bring together disparate systems.
It's also being used as a line-of-business application to manage entities and data attributes, such as franchise location information, QA, and BI administration.

Please contact [email protected] if you are interested more in this use case.

Documentation

Go here for full documentation

The front-end UI uses a plugin system to add or modify functionality.
Read more about the front-end

The back-end server uses a module system to add or modify functionality. A module may also provide plugins to the UI.
Read more about the back-end

You may notice, inspiration [and some code] for the user-interface came from Grafana - an excellent dashboard application.

If there is a specific feature you'd like, or if you experience a bug, please open an issue here

If you're a develper, PRs are welcome!
If not, you can support this project by becoming a GitHub Project Sponsor, or through Patreon, or PayPal

Quick Start

Use the docker images to start an example server + web app.
docker-compose up

The example server creates a user -
username: admin
password: changeme!

Development

Required Software

• node js
• rush js
• JDK 8+

If developing on Windows, it's recommended to use WSL2 with Docker Desktop
Install Docker Desktop and WSL2 Be sure to read the section about using vscode from inside linux

Frontend Development

If this is the first time you're running sprout, run the following commands:

rush update
rush build

Remote backend

If running the backend remotely, you may set the environment variable SERVER_API_URL to the sprout api host. Example using the demo server -

# *nix
export SERVER_API_URL=https://sprout-server.herokuapp.com/
# windows
SET SERVER_API_URL=https://sprout-server.herokuapp.com/

Local backend

You can also run the backend locally From the root of the project -
Start the DB and Sprout Server using Docker Compose

docker compose -f docker/frontend-dev.yml up

Start frontend dev server

In another terminal start the web app -

rush start:web

Open the browser to http://localhost:3000 to access the web application.
Use the login admin with password changeme!

Changes to the React app source code will reload the browser automatically.

The web app source code is located here - ./frontend/apps/webapp

Full Stack Development

From the root of the project -
Start the DB using Docker Compose

docker compose -f backend/server/docker-compose.yml up 

Optionally, in another terminal, run continuous compilation for the sprout-spring-boot-starter Java project -

rush start:dev-watch

In another terminal, start Sprout in dev mode -

rush start:dev

If this is the first time you're running sprout, run the following commands:

rush update
rush build

In another terminal start the web app -

rush start:web

Examples

Live Server Demo

• username: admin
• password: changeme!

https://sprout-server.herokuapp.com/

Live Client Demo

• username: admin
• password: changeme!

https://sprout-web.herokuapp.com/

Screenshots

Default Website Landing Page

Editing a Panel

Panel Editor

File/Document Management

Build/Release

See the ./scripts/