Build and deploy AI agent workflows in minutes.
Build Workflows with Ease
Design agent workflows visually on a canvas—connect agents, tools, and blocks, then run them instantly.
Supercharge with Copilot
Leverage Copilot to generate nodes, fix errors, and iterate on flows directly from natural language.
Integrate Vector Databases
Upload documents to a vector store and let agents answer questions grounded in your specific content.
Quickstart
Cloud-hosted: sim.ai
Self-hosted: NPM Package
npx simstudio
Note
Docker must be installed and running on your machine.
Options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
-p, --port <port> |
Port to run Sim on (default 3000) |
--no-pull |
Skip pulling latest Docker images |
Self-hosted: Docker Compose
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/simstudioai/sim.git
# Navigate to the project directory
cd sim
# Start Sim
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
Access the application at http://localhost:3000/
Using Local Models with Ollama
Run Sim with local AI models using Ollama - no external APIs required:
# Start with GPU support (automatically downloads gemma3:4b model)
docker compose -f docker-compose.ollama.yml --profile setup up -d
# For CPU-only systems:
docker compose -f docker-compose.ollama.yml --profile cpu --profile setup up -d
Wait for the model to download, then visit http://localhost:3000. Add more models with:
docker compose -f docker-compose.ollama.yml exec ollama ollama pull llama3.1:8b
Self-hosted: Dev Containers
- Open VS Code with the Remote - Containers extension
- Open the project and click "Reopen in Container" when prompted
- Run
bun run dev:fullin the terminal or use thesim-startalias- This starts both the main application and the realtime socket server
Self-hosted: Manual Setup
Requirements:
- Bun runtime
- PostgreSQL 12+ with pgvector extension (required for AI embeddings)
Note: Sim uses vector embeddings for AI features like knowledge bases and semantic search, which requires the pgvector PostgreSQL extension.
- Clone and install dependencies:
git clone https://github.com/simstudioai/sim.git
cd sim
bun install
- Set up PostgreSQL with pgvector:
You need PostgreSQL with the vector extension for embedding support. Choose one option:
Option A: Using Docker (Recommended)
# Start PostgreSQL with pgvector extension
docker run --name simstudio-db \
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_password \
-e POSTGRES_DB=simstudio \
-p 5432:5432 -d \
pgvector/pgvector:pg17
Option B: Manual Installation
- Install PostgreSQL 12+ and the pgvector extension
- See pgvector installation guide
- Set up environment:
cd apps/sim
cp .env.example .env # Configure with required variables (DATABASE_URL, BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, BETTER_AUTH_URL)
Update your .env file with the database URL:
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:your_password@localhost:5432/simstudio"
- Set up the database:
First, configure the database package environment:
cd packages/db
cp .env.example .env
Update your packages/db/.env file with the database URL:
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:your_password@localhost:5432/simstudio"
Then run the migrations:
bunx drizzle-kit migrate --config=./drizzle.config.ts
- Start the development servers:
Recommended approach - run both servers together (from project root):
bun run dev:full
This starts both the main Next.js application and the realtime socket server required for full functionality.
Alternative - run servers separately:
Next.js app (from project root):
bun run dev
Realtime socket server (from apps/sim directory in a separate terminal):
cd apps/sim
bun run dev:sockets
Copilot API Keys
Copilot is a Sim-managed service. To use Copilot on a self-hosted instance:
- Go to https://sim.ai → Settings → Copilot and generate a Copilot API key
- Set
COPILOT_API_KEYenvironment variable in your self-hosted apps/sim/.env file to that value
Tech Stack
- Framework: Next.js (App Router)
- Runtime: Bun
- Database: PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM
- Authentication: Better Auth
- UI: Shadcn, Tailwind CSS
- State Management: Zustand
- Flow Editor: ReactFlow
- Docs: Fumadocs
- Monorepo: Turborepo
- Realtime: Socket.io
- Background Jobs: Trigger.dev
- Remote Code Execution: E2B
Contributing
We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.
License
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.
Made with ❤️ by the Sim Team


