Ask HN: Does anyone find tools like Retool useful?

by swmanon 3/2/2024, 2:30 AMwith 9 comments

Hey folks, I must be the wrong audience for a tool like Retool but after showing it to my friend who isn't technical, I still don't understand who this tool is for.

My friend didn't have a clue looking at the UI what to do.

Looking at them work, it was clear they had to know a little beyond the basics of databases, javascript, and html/css to even make sense what they were looking at.

As for me, I knew what was going on but then I was thinking why would I ever use this as someone that is experienced full stack SWE.

Personally it reminds me a lot of Notion. It is pretty approachable for nerds like me but I have never seen anyone else use any of the power features like databases or all the cool pivot type views that are possible. I have a handful of friends who use it and they say they just use it for notes, which is fine but that's like 10% of its usecases.

So... is anyone actually using Retool or similar tools for something meaningful? And what are you doing with it if I may ask?

by kinj28on 3/2/2024, 3:14 AM

So as a full stack engineer - don’t you find time saving as a good enough reason to use tools like retool to put a decent frontend across with very less efforts?

FWIW- I run growth at DronaHQ ( retool like tool )

by neximo64on 3/2/2024, 2:37 AM

I know alot of people using Retool and it is almost invaluable.

It's meant for technical people who don't know how to code.

by KomoDon 3/2/2024, 4:10 AM

Yep, I use it for simple internal tools, don't wanna make a bunch of frontend stuff myself