At a Glance:
Bubble Lab provides an open-core workflow engine designed for teams to run, host, and extend Slack-native AI operator automation independently, with a local workflow studio, CLI tooling, and agent primitives called "Bubbles."
Overview:
Bubble Lab is an open-core workflow engine that powers a Slack-native AI operator platform. It allows teams to automate operational work by executing workflows that access systems and perform tasks. This repository contains the same execution runtime used by the Bubble Lab platform, and it is fully runnable, hostable, and extensible on its own. Developers and organizations can use it to build and execute workflows locally, host the engine in their own infrastructure, create custom agents and integrations, or embed workflows into their own products. It is suitable for those who want direct control over workflow execution without relying on the fully managed platform.
Key Decision Points:
Deployment model: The engine can be run locally or self-hosted in your own infrastructure, independent of the managed Bubble Lab Platform.
Primary interface: Workflows are built and executed through a local web-based studio, a CLI tool, and a programmatic TypeScript SDK, not a chat interface.
Execution scope: It provides the core execution runtime, agent primitives ("Bubbles"), and integration tooling, but the Slack-native AI assistant "Pearl" is exclusive to the managed platform.
Project scaffolding: A CLI tool can scaffold a new project with a pre-configured TypeScript setup, dependencies, and ready-to-run example workflows like a Reddit scraper.
Observability: The engine includes built-in execution tracing, logging, and detailed performance metrics for each workflow run.
Core Features:
Workflow execution runtime: A runtime for executing workflows built from chained nodes.
Agent and integration primitives ("Bubbles"): Programmable building blocks, such as
AIAgentBubbleandRedditScrapeTool, that can be composed to form workflows.Local workflow studio: A locally hosted web interface for building, editing, and running workflows.
TypeScript-native workflow definitions: Workflows are defined in clean TypeScript, offering type-safe development with proper interfaces.
Built-in observability: Detailed logging, step-by-step execution tracing, and performance statistics including token usage.
CLI project tooling: A command-line interface for scaffolding new projects with templates and for managing the local development environment.
Use Cases:
Developers needing full control over workflow execution can host the engine in their own infrastructure and extend its runtime.
Engineers building custom agents can use the "Bubble" primitives and TypeScript SDK to create and integrate new automation logic.
Teams that want to prototype or run automations locally before potentially using the managed platform.
Product builders who need to embed a workflow execution engine inside their own applications.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
This open-core engine provides the same execution layer that powers the Bubble Lab platform, making it valuable for teams and developers who require self-hosted automation infrastructure. Its value lies in the ability to run, inspect, and extend the workflow engine independently, offering a TypeScript-native SDK for building custom integrations and agents. Users can scaffold a project with a single CLI command and immediately work with concrete, observable workflows defined in code, without depending on a cloud-based platform for the core execution logic.
