Napkin.io Puts the Simplicity Back in Cloud Functions
After taking an initial look at Pipedream, which is a modern and advanced take on what Yahoo Pipes was, the contrast with Napkin.io is striking. Pipedream is closer to Zapier, except you can write code to build cloud functions triggered by everything from RSS feeds to HTTP requests to Slack messages. It doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated, but it does embrace complexity, with plenty of inputs, processing possibilities, and outputs.
Napkin.io, which is brand new, seems to push away that complexity. It resembles a cleaner version of how Webtask worked — you write a function and that’s it, available at a URL you can hit. Each function includes environment variables, so you can store API keys for proxying or auth if needed, logs for debugging, and support for writing in Node or Python.
That’s a healthy amount of features, with more on the way, but it truly feels like embracing simplicity rather than complexity. The project’s philosophy argues computing tools should allow people to be more creative, more free, and more inspired, and that everyone should have access to computing’s full potential.
We’re making Napkin to change the status quo, to build a new kind of tool – a tool that gets out of your way, that lets you code, and that’s a joy to use.
