Flowise AI Agent Builder

Deploy Flowise on Clore.ai — build and host visual LLM chatbots, AI agents, and RAG pipelines on affordable GPU cloud servers with a drag-and-drop no-code interface and instant API endpoints.

Overview

Flowise is an open-source, drag-and-drop tool for building LLM-powered applications without writing code. With 35K+ GitHub stars and over 5 million Docker Hub pulls, Flowise has become one of the most deployed self-hosted AI tools in the ecosystem. It enables teams to create chatbots, RAG systems, AI agents, and automated workflows through an intuitive visual interface — and deploy them as REST API endpoints in minutes.

Flowise is built on LangChain.js and provides a node-based canvas where you connect components: LLMs, vector databases, document loaders, memory stores, tools, and agents. Every flow automatically generates an embeddable chat widget and API endpoint that you can integrate into any application.

Key capabilities:

• Drag-and-drop flow builder — Visual LLM orchestration with 100+ pre-built nodes

• Chatbot creation — Embeddable chat widgets for websites and apps

• RAG pipelines — Connect document loaders, embedders, and vector stores visually

• Multi-agent support — Build agent hierarchies with tool use and delegation

• Instant API — Every flow generates a /api/v1/prediction/<flowId> endpoint

• LangChain nodes — Full access to the LangChain.js ecosystem

• Credential manager — Centrally manage API keys, database connections

Why Clore.ai for Flowise?

Flowise is a lightweight Node.js server — it handles orchestration, not compute. Pairing it with Clore.ai enables:

• Local model inference — Run Ollama or vLLM on the same GPU server, eliminating API costs

• Private document processing — RAG pipelines that never send data to external services

• Persistent deployment — Always-on chatbot and API hosting at GPU server prices

• Cost-effective at scale — Build multi-tenant chatbot platforms without per-call API fees

• Full-stack AI hosting — Flowise + Ollama + Qdrant/Chroma all on one affordable server

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Requirements

Flowise itself is a Node.js application with minimal resource requirements. GPU is only needed if you add a local LLM backend.

Configuration	GPU	VRAM	RAM	Storage	Est. Price
Flowise only (external APIs)	None	—	2–4 GB	10 GB	~$0.03–0.08/hr
+ Ollama (Llama 3.1 8B)	RTX 3090	24 GB	16 GB	40 GB	$0.07–0.21/hr
+ Ollama (Mistral 7B + embeddings)	RTX 3090	24 GB	16 GB	30 GB	$0.07–0.21/hr
+ Ollama (Qwen2.5 32B)	RTX 4090	24 GB	32 GB	60 GB	$0.14–0.42/hr
+ vLLM (production)	A100 80GB	80 GB	64 GB	100 GB	bare metal

Note: Flowise runs comfortably on any Clore.ai server. GPU is needed only if you want free local inference. See the GPU Comparison Guide.

Clore.ai server requirements:

• Docker Engine (pre-installed on all Clore.ai images)

• NVIDIA Container Toolkit (for GPU/Ollama only)

• Port 3000 accessible (or mapped in Clore.ai dashboard)

• Minimum 2 GB free RAM, 10 GB disk space

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Quick Start

Step 1: Book a Server on Clore.ai

In the Clore.ai marketplace:

• For API-only usage: Any server, filter by RAM ≥ 4 GB

• For local LLM: Filter GPU ≥ 24 GB VRAM

• Ensure Docker is enabled in the template

Connect via SSH:

ssh root@<server-ip> -p <ssh-port>

Step 2: Run Flowise (Single Command)

docker run -d \
  --name flowise \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  flowiseai/flowise

That's it. Flowise will be available at http://<server-ip>:3000 within 20–30 seconds.

Step 3: Verify It's Running

# Check container status
docker ps | grep flowise

# Check logs
docker logs flowise --tail 20

# Test the API
curl http://localhost:3000/api/v1/chatflows

Step 4: Open the UI

Navigate to http://<server-ip>:3000 in your browser.

Clore.ai Port Mapping: Ensure port 3000 is forwarded in your Clore.ai server configuration. Go to your server details → Ports → confirm 3000:3000 is mapped. Some templates only expose SSH by default.

---

Configuration

Persistent Storage

Mount volumes so your flows, credentials, and uploads survive container restarts:

mkdir -p /opt/flowise/{data,uploads,logs}

docker run -d \
  --name flowise \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v /opt/flowise/data:/root/.flowise \
  -v /opt/flowise/uploads:/app/uploads \
  -e DATABASE_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e APIKEY_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e SECRETKEY_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e LOG_PATH=/root/.flowise/logs \
  flowiseai/flowise

Authentication

Protect your Flowise instance with username/password:

docker run -d \
  --name flowise \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v /opt/flowise/data:/root/.flowise \
  -e FLOWISE_USERNAME=admin \
  -e FLOWISE_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 16) \
  -e FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
  flowiseai/flowise

Security note: Always set credentials when exposing Flowise publicly on Clore.ai. Without authentication, anyone with your server IP can access your flows and API keys.

Full Environment Variables Reference

docker run -d \
  --name flowise \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v /opt/flowise/data:/root/.flowise \
  -e PORT=3000 \
  -e FLOWISE_USERNAME=admin \
  -e FLOWISE_PASSWORD=your-secure-password \
  -e FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE=your-secret-key \
  -e DATABASE_TYPE=sqlite \
  -e DATABASE_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e APIKEY_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e SECRETKEY_PATH=/root/.flowise \
  -e LOG_PATH=/root/.flowise/logs \
  -e LOG_LEVEL=info \
  -e TOOL_FUNCTION_BUILTIN_DEP=crypto,fs \
  -e TOOL_FUNCTION_EXTERNAL_DEP=moment,lodash \
  -e CORS_ORIGINS=* \
  -e IFRAME_ORIGINS=* \
  flowiseai/flowise

Variable	Description	Default
PORT	Web server port	3000
FLOWISE_USERNAME	Admin username (enables auth)	— (no auth)
FLOWISE_PASSWORD	Admin password	—
FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE	Encryption key for credentials	Auto-generated
DATABASE_TYPE	sqlite or mysql or postgres	sqlite
DATABASE_PATH	SQLite storage path	/root/.flowise
LOG_LEVEL	error, warn, info, debug	info
TOOL_FUNCTION_BUILTIN_DEP	Allowed Node.js builtins in code nodes	—
TOOL_FUNCTION_EXTERNAL_DEP	Allowed npm packages in code nodes	—
CORS_ORIGINS	Allowed CORS origins for API	*
IFRAME_ORIGINS	Allowed iframe embedding origins	*

Docker Compose (Recommended)

The official Flowise repo includes a Docker Compose configuration. This is the recommended approach for Clore.ai:

# Download the official docker-compose.yml
curl -o /opt/flowise/docker-compose.yml \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlowiseAI/Flowise/main/docker/docker-compose.yml

cd /opt/flowise

Or create your own with PostgreSQL:

# /opt/flowise/docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"

services:
  flowise:
    image: flowiseai/flowise:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - PORT=3000
      - FLOWISE_USERNAME=${FLOWISE_USERNAME:-admin}
      - FLOWISE_PASSWORD=${FLOWISE_PASSWORD:-changeme}
      - FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE=${SECRET_KEY}
      - DATABASE_TYPE=postgres
      - DATABASE_HOST=db
      - DATABASE_PORT=5432
      - DATABASE_USER=flowise
      - DATABASE_PASSWORD=flowise-secret
      - DATABASE_NAME=flowise
    volumes:
      - flowise-data:/root/.flowise
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=flowise
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=flowise-secret
      - POSTGRES_DB=flowise
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U flowise"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  flowise-data:
  pgdata:

SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
FLOWISE_PASSWORD=yourpassword \
docker compose -f /opt/flowise/docker-compose.yml up -d

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GPU Acceleration (Local LLM Integration)

Flowise orchestrates — the GPU does the heavy lifting in connected services.

Flowise + Ollama (Recommended)

Run Ollama on the same Clore.ai server and connect Flowise to it:

# Step 1: Start Ollama with GPU access
docker run -d \
  --name ollama \
  --gpus all \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 11434:11434 \
  -v ollama-models:/root/.ollama \
  ollama/ollama:latest

# Step 2: Pull models
docker exec ollama ollama pull llama3.1:8b          # Chat/agent model
docker exec ollama ollama pull nomic-embed-text     # Embeddings for RAG
docker exec ollama ollama pull mistral:7b           # Alternative chat model

# Step 3: Start Flowise with host network access
docker run -d \
  --name flowise \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v /opt/flowise/data:/root/.flowise \
  --add-host host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
  -e FLOWISE_USERNAME=admin \
  -e FLOWISE_PASSWORD=changeme \
  flowiseai/flowise

In the Flowise UI:

1. Create a new Chatflow

2. Add Ollama node (under Chat Models)

   • Base URL: http://host.docker.internal:11434

   • Model Name: llama3.1:8b

3. Add OllamaEmbeddings node (for RAG)

   • Base URL: http://host.docker.internal:11434

   • Model Name: nomic-embed-text

4. Connect to your Vector Store (Chroma, FAISS, Qdrant)

See the complete Ollama guide for model download and GPU setup.

Flowise + vLLM (Production Scale)

For OpenAI-compatible high-throughput serving:

# Start vLLM
docker run -d \
  --name vllm \
  --gpus all \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  --ipc=host \
  vllm/vllm-openai:latest \
  --model mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3 \
  --gpu-memory-utilization 0.85

# In Flowise, use the ChatOpenAI node with custom base URL:
# Base URL: http://host.docker.internal:8000/v1
# OpenAI API Key: (any value)
# Model Name: mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3

See the vLLM guide for quantization and multi-GPU configurations.

Building a Local-Only RAG Chatbot

Complete Flowise flow with zero external API calls on Clore.ai:

Node	Component	Settings
1	PDF File Loader	Upload document
2	Recursive Text Splitter	Chunk: 1000, Overlap: 200
3	Ollama Embeddings	Model: nomic-embed-text
4	In-Memory Vector Store	(or Chroma for persistence)
5	Ollama Chat	Model: llama3.1:8b
6	Conversational Retrieval QA	Chain type: Stuff
7	Buffer Memory	Session-based memory

Export this as an API and embed the chat widget on any website.

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Tips & Best Practices

1. Export Flows Regularly

Before stopping or switching Clore.ai servers:

# Export all flows via API
curl http://localhost:3000/api/v1/chatflows \
  -H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n admin:password | base64)" \
  > /opt/flowise/backup-flows.json

# Or use the UI: Chatflows → Export All

2. Use the Embed Widget

Every Flowise chatflow generates a production-ready chat widget:

1. Open your chatflow → Click </> (Embed) button

2. Copy the script snippet

3. Paste into any HTML page — instant customer support bot

3. Manage API Keys Securely

Store all LLM API keys in Flowise's Credentials panel (not hardcoded in flows):

• Menu → Credentials → Add Credential

• Keys are encrypted with FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE

4. Rate Limiting

For public-facing deployments, add rate limiting via Nginx or Caddy in front of Flowise:

# Simple nginx reverse proxy config
docker run -d \
  --name nginx \
  -p 80:80 \
  -v /opt/flowise/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro \
  --link flowise:flowise \
  nginx:alpine

5. Monitor Performance

# Real-time resource monitoring
watch -n 3 'docker stats flowise ollama --no-stream'

# Check Flowise logs for errors
docker logs flowise --tail 50 -f

# Check if flows are being called
docker logs flowise 2>&1 | grep "Prediction"

6. Back Up the SQLite Database

# Create a timestamped backup
cp /opt/flowise/data/database.sqlite \
   /opt/flowise/backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).sqlite

# Or automate with cron
echo "0 */6 * * * cp /opt/flowise/data/database.sqlite /opt/flowise/backup-\$(date +\%Y\%m\%d-\%H\%M\%S).sqlite" | crontab -

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Troubleshooting

Container Exits Immediately

# Check exit reason
docker logs flowise

# Common causes:
# 1. Port 3000 already in use
lsof -i :3000
# Fix: use a different port
docker run ... -p 3001:3000 ...

# 2. Volume permission error
ls -la /opt/flowise/
chown -R 1000:1000 /opt/flowise/data

UI Shows "Connection Failed"

# Verify Flowise is actually running
docker ps -a | grep flowise
docker stats flowise --no-stream

# Check it's binding to all interfaces
docker logs flowise | grep "listening"
# Should show: Server is listening at port 3000

# Test locally first
curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/chatflows | head -20

Flows Fail with LLM Errors

# Test Ollama connectivity from Flowise container
docker exec flowise wget -qO- http://host.docker.internal:11434/api/tags

# If that fails, verify --add-host was included:
docker inspect flowise | grep -A5 ExtraHosts

# Test Ollama is running
curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

Database Migration Errors on Update

# When upgrading Flowise version, back up first
cp -r /opt/flowise/data /opt/flowise/data-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Pull new image
docker pull flowiseai/flowise:latest

# Restart with same volume (migrations run automatically)
docker stop flowise && docker rm flowise
docker run -d --name flowise ... flowiseai/flowise:latest
docker logs flowise -f  # Watch migration output

Credential Decryption Errors After Restart

# If you didn't set FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE, a new key is generated on restart
# Always set it explicitly:
-e FLOWISE_SECRETKEY_OVERWRITE=your-stable-32-char-secret

# To recover: re-enter credentials in the UI after setting a stable key

Chat Widget CORS Errors

# Allow specific origins (replace * with your domain for production)
-e CORS_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com,http://localhost:3000
-e IFRAME_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com

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Further Reading

• Flowise GitHub Repository — Source code, releases, official docker-compose

• Flowise Documentation — Node reference, API docs, deployment guides

• Flowise Discord — Community templates, flow sharing, support

• Docker Hub: flowiseai/flowise — 5M+ pulls, available tags

• Ollama on Clore.ai — Run local LLMs for free Flowise inference

• vLLM on Clore.ai — Production-scale LLM serving for Flowise

• GPU Comparison Guide — Select the right GPU for your stack

• LangChain.js Documentation — Underlying framework reference