SesameFlow is an open source visual pipeline builder for scholarly data aggregation, filtering, and search. It's built with ReactFlow and Dexie.js, and is currently in active development.
This project aims to create a flexible, web-first, no-code tool for constructing workflows that pull from academic APIs, filter and combine their outputs, and provide persistent and forkable flows in just a few clicks.
🧪 Built under Sesame Science — SesameFlow is a foundational piece of the vision for modular, open infrastructure for academic discovery and analysis.
SesameFlow is still evolving. You might run into broken features, missing components, or placeholder logic. As a result, it is not yet ready for use in production for literature reviews — but it’s a great time give feedback and get involved!
View a hosted toy demo here: https://sesameflow.pages.dev/
- Visual design of scholarly data workflows via ReactFlow
- Nodes that fetch and filter articles through the OpenAlex API
- State persistance for multiple workflows stored in localStorage using zustand and metadata stored in a db schema based on DataCite using Dexie.js (IndexedDB)
Research tools today are often commercial, black-boxed, and inflexible often offering aged UX. SesameFlow aims to offer a more modern :
- 📊 Transparent: Search logic is visual and reproducible
- 🧩 Composable: Nodes act like building blocks
- 🔒 Open: Your queries, your data — no server required
- React + TypeScript
- ReactFlow – for visual workflows
- Dexie.js – for client-side persistence
- Zustand – global state management
git clone https://github.com/sesame-science/sesameflow.git
cd sesameflow
npm install
npm run devIm welcoming contributors with some experience with React and a passion for open source research software! Here’s how to jump in:
- Add a new Node Type (e.g., a data filter or visualizer)
- Improve Node UI with TypeScript types and inputs
- Help wire up search and data aggregation
- Enhance flow saving/loading logic in the lead up towards offering workflow state storage both locally and on server
- Build example flows based on existing literature reviews or for exploratory living views of research landscapes.
src/nodes/– Registry of node types and React componentssrc/store/– Zustand store logic for flows and statesrc/database/– Dexie.js logic for per-node datasrc/components/– UI elements (panel, sidebar, editor)
- Basic search interface with node-wise querying
- Reusable components for use across the app
- Server sync + sharing
- NLP/embedding tools for exploring the landscape of research areas
- Exportable flows for collaboration or publication
If you’re building in this space, interested in embedding SesameFlow in your research process, or just curious — I'd love to hear your thoughts. Open an issue or find me @corranmac.blsky.social