Chartbrew is an open-source reporting platform that connects directly to databases and APIs to create interactive charts and dashboards. With over 3,600 GitHub stars and active development, it provides a self-hosted alternative to tools like Metabase and Redash with a focus on API-first data visualization and embeddable chart components.

Data Source Integrations

Chartbrew connects to a wide range of data sources out of the box:

• SQL databases — MySQL, PostgreSQL with direct query support
• NoSQL databases — MongoDB, Firebase Firestore, Firebase Realtime Database
• REST APIs — Any HTTP API with configurable authentication, headers, and pagination
• Google Analytics — Direct integration for web analytics data

Key Features

The platform includes a visual chart builder that supports line charts, bar charts, pie charts, tables, and custom visualizations powered by Chart.js. Users create datasets by configuring API requests or database queries, then map the response data to chart axes and series.

Chartbrew includes an AI assistant that helps users write queries and configure data transformations. Dashboards can be shared publicly or embedded in other applications using iframe or direct chart embedding. Reports can be scheduled for automatic refresh and email delivery.

Architecture and Deployment

Chartbrew runs as a Node.js application with a React frontend and Express backend. It requires MySQL or PostgreSQL for its own data storage, plus Redis for job scheduling. Deployment options include:

• Docker containers via the official razvanilin/chartbrew image
• DigitalOcean 1-click marketplace droplet
• Manual deployment with git clone and npm run setup

Agent Integration

For AI agents and automation, Chartbrew provides a REST API for managing charts, dashboards, and data connections programmatically. Agents can create new data connections, build chart configurations, trigger data refreshes, and export chart images or data. The API-first design makes it straightforward to automate dashboard creation and reporting workflows.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/chartbrew/chartbrew.git
cd chartbrew && npm run setup

Or with Docker:

docker pull razvanilin/chartbrew
docker run -p 4019:4019 -p 4018:4018 razvanilin/chartbrew

Use Cases

Chartbrew is used for internal analytics dashboards, client reporting portals, KPI tracking, API monitoring dashboards, and any scenario where teams need to visualize data from multiple sources in a single, self-hosted platform. The embeddable charts feature makes it particularly useful for SaaS products that need to provide analytics to their own users.