Kora — Config-Driven Application Engine

Describe your application in YAML. Kora gives you a database, REST API, React admin UI, and background jobs. No code generation.

Quick Start (Docker)

# MySQL
docker run -d --name kora -p 8000:8000 \
  -e KORA_DB_TYPE=mysql \
  -e KORA_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 \
  -e KORA_DB_USER=root \
  -e KORA_DB_PASSWORD=yourpassword \
  -e CONSOLE_EMAIL=admin@kora.local \
  -e CONSOLE_PASSWORD=admin123 \
  smitdockerhub/kora:latest

# LibSQL (remote)
docker run -d --name kora -p 8000:8000 \
  -e KORA_DB_TYPE=libsql \
  -e DB_DSN=http://user:pass@libsql-host:8080 \
  -e CONSOLE_EMAIL=admin@kora.local \
  -e CONSOLE_PASSWORD=admin123 \
  smitdockerhub/kora:latest

Open http://localhost:8000/console → create your first site. All config via env vars, all data in the database. No YAML files to lose.

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/asenawritescode/kora.git && cd kora

# With local MySQL
docker compose up -d mysql
make dev DB_PASS=kora123 ADMIN_PASS=kora123

# Or with env vars directly
make build
KORA_DB_TYPE=mysql KORA_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 KORA_DB_USER=root KORA_DB_PASSWORD=kora123 \
  CONSOLE_EMAIL=admin@kora.local CONSOLE_PASSWORD=kora123 \
  ./kora serve --port 8000

Command	What it does
make build	Build UI (bun) + Go binary
make serve	Build + start server
make test	Run Go tests (311 tests, 19/19 packages)
make lint	Run linters (Go + TypeScript)
make fmt	Format code
make help	Show all commands

Features

• AI Chat Assistant — floating chat widget. Create, find, update records via natural language. OpenAI, DeepSeek, Anthropic. Multi-turn tool execution. Keys configured at /workspace/admin/secrets.
• AI Doctype Generator — describe a form in plain English, AI generates validated YAML saved as Draft.
• Config-Driven Admin — forms, lists, filters, workflows rendered from doctype definitions. No per-doctype code.
• Multi-Site — path-based (/s/:site/workspace) or host-based routing. Sites created from console UI, persisted in DB.
• Multi-Database — MySQL, MariaDB, or remote LibSQL. SQL dialect abstraction handles all differences.
• Console UI — /console for system admin: create/edit sites, view health, manage all sites.
• Self-Service Onboarding — public site creation at /onboard. Users create their own sites with admin accounts. Rate-limited (3/hr/IP).
• Shared AI Keys — superadmins can set global AI provider keys so new sites get AI chat immediately. Toggle with KORA_SHARED_AI_ENABLED.
• Swagger/OpenAPI — auto-generated API docs at /api/swagger-ui.
• Mobile Responsive — tables become stacked cards. No horizontal scroll anywhere.
• Marketing Website — landing page, docs, examples, and blog at kora.mradiafrica.com.
• Extensibility — JS runtime, event hooks, webhook extensions, custom API methods, workflow actions, scheduled scripts, computed fields
• MCP Server — Model Context Protocol server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other AI tool integration
• Go SDK + TypeScript SDK — official SDKs for building custom extensions, integrations, and plugins
• API Versioning — stable /api/v1/ routes with backward compatibility guarantees

Configuration

All config via environment variables. No YAML config files needed.

Variable	Default	Description
KORA_DB_TYPE	mysql	mysql or libsql
KORA_DB_HOST	127.0.0.1	DB host (or HTTP URL for LibSQL)
KORA_DB_USER	—	DB user
KORA_DB_PASSWORD	—	DB password
DB_DSN	—	Full connection string (overrides host/user/password)
KORA_HTTP_PORT	8000	Server port
CONSOLE_EMAIL	admin@kora.local	Console admin email
CONSOLE_PASSWORD	kora123	Console admin password
KORA_LOG_LEVEL	info	debug, info, warn, error
KORA_SESSION_HOURS	72	Session lifetime in hours
KORA_HOST	—	Public app hostname (e.g., app.kora.mradiafrica.com)
KORA_SHARED_AI_ENABLED	false	Enable shared AI provider keys for all sites
KORA_SHARED_OPENAI_API_KEY	—	Shared OpenAI key (fallback when site has none)
KORA_SHARED_DEEPSEEK_API_KEY	—	Shared DeepSeek key
KORA_SHARED_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	—	Shared Anthropic key
KORA_SCRIPTS_ENABLED	false	Enable JS script engine for extensions
KORA_SCRIPTS_MAX_RAM	64	Max RAM per script (MB)
KORA_ANALYTICS	false	Enable analytics event bus and rollup tables
KORA_DB_PORT	3306	Database port (MySQL)
KORA_LOG_FORMAT	text	Log format: text or json
KORA_CSRF_SECURE	true	Set secure flag on CSRF cookies
KORA_RATE_LIMIT	100	Max requests per minute per IP
KORA_RATE_BURST	200	Rate limiter burst allowance

SDK Quick Start

Add Kora to your Go project:

import "github.com/asenawritescode/kora/sdk"

func main() {
    client := sdk.NewClient(sdk.Config{
        BaseURL: "http://localhost:8000/api/v1",
        APIKey: "your-api-key",
    })
    // List documents
    docs, err := client.GetList("Customer", map[string]string{})
    // Get single document
    doc, err := client.GetDoc("Customer", "CUST-0001")
    // Create document
    err := client.Insert("Customer", map[string]any{"name": "Acme Corp"})
}

Or in TypeScript:

import { KoraClient } from "@kora/sdk"

const client = new KoraClient({
  baseURL: "/api/v1",
  csrfToken: await getCSRFToken(),
})
// List documents
const customers = await client.getList("Customer", {})
// Get single document
const customer = await client.getDoc("Customer", "CUST-0001")
// Create document
await client.insert("Customer", { name: "Acme Corp" })

Multi-Site

http://host/s/airtime/workspace     → Airtime workspace (path-based, no DNS needed)
http://host/s/fieldwork/workspace   → Fieldwork workspace
http://host/console                 → System console

Sites created via console are persisted in _kora_config_version — they survive container redeploys.

Administrator Panel

Nine admin views — all config-driven, all mobile-responsive:

• DocTypes — visual form builder + live YAML preview
• Permissions — role × doctype matrix, inline editing
• Workflows — state machine editor
• Versions — config version history, diff, rollback
• Scripts — JS script editor, test runner, console logs
• Extensions — webhook endpoints, custom API methods, event hooks
• Users — CRUD, roles, enable/disable, password reset
• Secrets — AI provider keys (encrypted at rest, AES-256-GCM)
• API Docs — Swagger UI at /api/swagger-ui

Documentation

Document	What it covers
SETUP.md	Prerequisites, Docker/Dev setup, env vars, multi-site, production
ARCHITECTURE.md	System design, request flow, middleware, multi-tenancy, SQL dialect
CONFIG.md	DocType/field reference, constraints, workflows, permissions
API.md	REST API reference, auth, CRUD, system endpoints
DECISIONS.md	Architecture Decision Records
NETWORKING.md	TLS, autocert, rate limiting, security headers, CORS
Plugin Architecture	Extension & webhook system design (draft)
Extensibility Plan	Script engine, event hooks, custom API methods, and webhook extensions
Process Isolation	Script sandboxing, security isolation, and resource limits
Security Audit	Security review and threat model of the extensibility system
Cloud Architecture	Kora Cloud deployment, multi-tenant SaaS, and scaling architecture

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Go 1.25
HTTP	Gin, net/http
Database	MySQL 8.0, MariaDB, LibSQL (remote HTTP)
AI / LLM	OpenAI, DeepSeek V4, Anthropic Claude
Frontend	React 19, TanStack Router/Query/Table/Form, shadcn/ui, Tailwind CSS v4
State	Zustand, TanStack Query
Delivery	Single binary — everything via go:embed, ~30MB, pure Go, no CGO

Docker

docker pull smitdockerhub/kora:latest

Pure Go, no CGO, ~30MB. Supports MySQL + LibSQL. Version injected at build time — check with curl /api/v1/ping.