Shrijal AcharyaTL;DR
This article lists five great projects that are not very popular that you should give a shot. 🔥
These tools are aimed at improving data processing, API development, backend testing, authentication, and secure tunneling.
Open-source projects such as these rely on community support 🙏, so consider exploring and starring these repositories to contribute to their growth.
1. esProc - Data Processing
💡 esProc is a scripting language for data processing with rich library functions and powerful syntax.
esProc is a computing and processing engine for structured and semi-structured data. esProc is neither an SQL system nor NoSQL technology (such as MongoDB), and instead, it adopts self-created SPL (Structured Process Language) syntax, which is simpler in coding and creating highly efficient programs with existing data processing technologies.
esProc is a pure Java written that makes it easy to add powerful data processing capabilities to your Java 🍵 applications but non-Java applications can invoke esProc through RESTful APIs.
Popular FAQs 🤔
⬇️ What platforms can esProc run?
As it is built purely in Java, it can run smoothly in any OS equipped with JVM (Java Virtual Machine), cloud servers, or even containers. 😎
⬇️ Can esProc run based on the existing database?
Yes, of course! esProc supports dozens of data sources, including databases, text, excel, json/xml, web service, etc.
⬇️ Why ditch SQL for esProc?
Simplified stepwise code, easy to write and debug. Reduce the development, hardware, operation, and maintenance costs compared to SQL by N times.
🟢 I have recently written an article on this tool, highlighting its powerful features. Check it out 👇.
If you want to dive deeper into the potential of this tool, jbx1279 shares some insightful articles on esProc and SPL itself. Make sure to check them out too.
2. Firecamp - Postman alternative
💡 API development platform that helps developers design, develop, test, and document their APIs effortlessly.
Firecamp is open open-source Postman alternative with VScode DX, an API development platform prioritizing developer experience, and offering a seamless environment for designing, testing, and documenting APIs. 🎯
With Firecamp, collaborate on API collections across the workspace and team and build APIs faster without switching between tools and apps. Documentation, CLI, CI/CD under one roof.
⬇️ Is it challenging for me to switch from Postman to Firecamp?
You can seamlessly transfer your Postman scripts and data like API Collection, and environment variables to Firecamp with no issues at all.
3. Keploy - Backend Testing
💡 Generates tests and stubs for your application that actually work!
Keploy is your open-source, developer-centric backend testing tool. It makes backend testing easy and productive for engineering teams. With Keploy we don't have to write manual test cases.
It records API interactions and expected responses and generates test cases and data mocks to make our work easy and efficient significantly speeding up releases and enhancing reliability. 📈
⬇️ Is it a unit testing framework? or does it replace unit tests entirely?
Keploy goes well with unit testing frameworks like go-test, Pytest, or Jest, smoothing the testing processes and saving up to 80% effort. While it covers most cases, you may still choose to write tests for non-API-invokable methods.
⬇️ Do I need to do code changes to integrate Keploy in my application?
No. Keploy plays nice with your existing codebase, requiring no code changes.
4. Hanko - Passkeys Authentication
💡 Passwordless authentication server supporting FIDO2 and WebAuthn standards.
Hanko is a lightweight, open-source user authentication solution that takes you on the journey beyond passwords. It supports FIDO2 and WebAuthn standards, providing a secure and seamless user authentication experience.
⬇️ How does Hanko work?
Hanko works by registering and authenticating users with their own devices, such as smartphones, laptops, or security keys. These devices act as cryptographic tokens that prove the user’s identity without requiring passwords or other credentials. Hanko also supports various authentication methods, such as biometrics in mobile app or OAuth login.
⬇️ How do I get started with Hanko?
You can get started with Hanko by signing up for a free account and following the documentation and tutorials. For production use, go for Hanko Cloud.
🟢 I have recently built a project using Hanko Passkeys authentication. Check it out here.
5. Zrok - Ngrok on Steroids
💡 Alternative to Ngrok, offering enhanced features and a free SaaS model.
Zrok is a tool that is built on top of OpenZiti and helps share a running service, like a web server or a network socket, or to share a directory of static files to the internet securely. It is an alternative to Ngrok but with some enhanced features and a free SaaS model.
With Zrok, you get the ability to create secure tunnels for your applications, making it easier to share and collaborate on your projects.
⬇️ What are the benefits of using Zrok over Ngrok?
Zrok has a built-in authentication system, a web dashboard to manage tunnels, and a free SaaS model. It is also completely self-hostable.
⬇️ How do I get started with Zrok?
To get started with Zrok, Download the Zrok client for your platform or use the web interface to create a tunnel. You can also use the Zrok CLI to create and manage your tunnels from the command line.
If you think of any other handy projects you use that are not as popular as they should be, please share them in the comments section below. 👇
Thank you so much for reading! 🎉🫡
