Retool

Why deploy Retool on Render?

Retool is a low-code platform for building internal tools and business applications. It provides pre-built UI components and integrations with databases and APIs, allowing developers to quickly create admin panels, dashboards, and CRUD apps without building interfaces from scratch.

This template deploys Retool with its required PostgreSQL database already connected and configured, saving you from manually setting up the database schema, environment variables, and service networking that Retool needs to function. Instead of following Retool's multi-step self-hosting guide and debugging connection strings, you get a working instance with one click. Render's managed Postgres handles backups and maintenance automatically, so you can focus on building internal tools rather than managing infrastructure.

Architecture

What you can build

After deploying, you'll have a self-hosted Retool instance running on Render where you can build internal tools like admin panels, dashboards, and CRUD apps by connecting to your databases and APIs. You own your data and infrastructure instead of using Retool's managed cloud, which matters if you have compliance requirements or want to keep database credentials on your own servers.

Key features

• One-Click Deployment: Deploy Retool to Render infrastructure instantly using the Deploy to Render button without manual configuration.
• Retool Integration: Provides a pre-configured template for running the Retool low-code platform for building internal tools and dashboards.
• Render Hosting: Leverages Render's managed infrastructure for hosting the Retool application with automated provisioning.
• Self-Hosted Retool: Enables running your own Retool instance for data privacy and control rather than using Retool's cloud offering.

Use cases

• Ops manager builds internal dashboard to track order fulfillment status
• Support lead creates customer lookup tool for faster ticket resolution
• Developer builds admin panel to manage user accounts and permissions
• Finance team creates approval workflow for expense reimbursement requests

What's included

Next steps

1. Open the Retool web service URL and create your admin account — You should see the Retool setup wizard prompting you to enter your email, password, and organization name
2. Configure your first data source by clicking Resources > Create New and connecting to a database or API — You should see a successful connection confirmation with a green checkmark after testing
3. Build a test app by clicking Create New > App and dragging a Table component onto the canvas — You should see the component appear on the canvas and be able to connect it to your data source

Resources

• Retool official site