Introducing WidgetForge: Build Mendix Widgets with AI

Building custom Mendix pluggable widgets gives you a lot of flexibility — but let’s be honest, the process isn’t always fun.

Between XML configurations, React/TypeScript setup, and packaging into an MPK, a simple idea can quickly turn into a time-consuming task. After spending hours tweaking XML and fixing small issues, I thought:

“What if this entire process could be automated?”

That’s how WidgetForge was born.

What is WidgetForge?

WidgetForge is an AI-powered platform that helps you generate Mendix pluggable widgets using plain English.

Instead of manually writing XML, TSX, and handling packaging, you can simply describe the widget you want — and the tool generates everything for you, including a ready-to-deploy package.

Key Features

• AI-Powered Generation
  
• Supports multiple providers including OpenAI, Gemini, and Anthropic.
• Automated Code Creation
  
• Generates Mendix XML and React (TSX) code aligned with platform standards.
• Live Build Pipeline
  
• View real-time build logs directly in the UI.
• Manual Build Support
  
• Gives developers the option to tweak and control the build process.
• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)
  
• Securely configure your own AI API keys.

Why I Built This

If you’ve worked on custom widgets, you probably know:

• XML configurations can be repetitive
• Small mistakes can break the widget
• Packaging adds extra overhead

Mendix documentation itself highlights the structure and steps required for widget development:

https://docs.mendix.com/howto8/extensibility/create-a-pluggable-widget-one/

WidgetForge aims to simplify this workflow and improve developer productivity by reducing manual effort.

Try It Out

• GitHub Repository
  
• https://github.com/Jebershon/widgetforge-frontend
• Live Demo
  
• https://widgetforge-frontend.vercel.app/
• Detailed Blog (Medium)
  
• https://medium.com/@jebershon100/introducing-widgetforge-building-custom-mendix-widgets-with-ai-c3f0d1c92dbd

Deployment Note

The application is currently hosted on:

• Vercel (Frontend)
• Railway (Backend)

This is a trial deployment and may expire in approximately 15 days, so feel free to explore and test it while it’s available.

Feedback & Thoughts

I’d really appreciate honest feedback from the Mendix community:

• Is this something you would use in your workflow?
• Does it genuinely save time?
• Or would you prefer using general AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT directly?

Even critical feedback is welcome — it will help improve the tool and make it more useful for real-world development.

Closing Thoughts

WidgetForge is an experimental step toward making Mendix widget development faster and more accessible.

If it saves even a few hours of effort for developers, I’d consider that a success.

Looking forward to your thoughts, ideas, and contributions!

#Mendix #AI #ReactJS #TypeScript #OpenSource #BuildInPublic