Corteza FAQs

Some frequently asked questions and answers about Corteza.

Corteza

Corteza is a 100% open-source low-code application development, business process management and integration platform developed and maintained by Planet Crust.

Every single part of Corteza is 100% open-source and comes with an Apache 2.0 License. That means you have full and complete ownership rights over your Corteza to do what you want with it, including:

– Use Corteza or any part of it in your commercial products for free.
– Use, modify, distribute or sell Corteza or any part of it as you like.
– Release your modified version of Corteza under any license of your choice.
– Claim copyright over your configuration files and issue binaries as proprietary software.

All Corteza software code is published and can be reviewed at https://github.com/cortezaproject.

The Corteza code is protected under the auspices of the independent Commons Conservancy Software Foundation.

For more information, please visit https://cortezaproject.org/.

Yes, you are free to modify the Corteza code as you like with no obligation to publish your modified code.

By contrast, most open-source low-code software comes with the restrictive General Public License (GPL) or Affero General Public License (AGPL), which require you to publish any new code you add, which is known as “copyleft” restrictions.

No, you have no obligation to publish any modifications you make to the Corteza code.

Yes! Corteza is and will always be 100% open-source.

You do. Everything you build on Corteza belongs to you to do with what you want.

Yes! What you build on Coreza belongs to you to sell under your own brand and license if you like.

As 100% open-source software, Corteza is free to download, install, use and distribute at no cost.

Support

With an Assurance and Support subscription, you’ll be able to quickly resolve any issues that come up with your Corteza. We’ll be there to guide your team in Corteza best practices, help you resolve complex production problems and prioritize your bug fixes. In addition, our detailed onboarding process will document all your goals and requirements so we can guide you through the app-building cycle and help you maintain your apps. You’ll also have access to personalized training and our Production Services

A support subscription will also reduce your overall operational risk since we’re the ones who handle every aspect of maintaining the code and improving and iterating the platform. By getting an Assurance and Support subscription, you’ll help future-proof Corteza by making it possible for us to maintain and develop the platform long into the future. Plus, you’ll get an integral say in determining our roadmap and where Corteza will go over time so it matches your needs. And if there’s a feature you want, simply request to put it on our roadmap.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

With an Assurance and Support contract, we’ll help you resolve any technical issues you may experience with Corteza and ensure that all your apps work as you intended them to.

You’ll have access to our online support desk, so you can submit support requests and get relevant feedback and assistance.

We'll help you with set-up as well as configuration issues. And if you discover a software malfunction in the Corteza platform, we’ll prioritize it and fix it so you experience minimum delays with application builds.

Advanced or Premium subscriptions cover the entirety of the Corteza platform and all its features. Standard subscriptions are limited to Corteza’s “no-code” features.

With an Advanced or Premium subscription, you’ll also receive personalized training and get access to our Production Services (which are billed separately).

A Premium subscription will also provide you with additional services such as access to our core team, business analysis, roadmap development and co-development.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

Yes. Corteza is 100% open-source. The entire platform and all of its features are available you to use. An Assurance and Support contract merely dictates which features we’ll help you with. Choose an Advanced Assurance and Support contract to make sure all of Corteza’s features are covered.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

Yes, of course. Since Corteza is 100% open-source, you’re free to use it for as long as you like without an Assurance and Support contract in place.

That being said, Corteza is both extremely flexible and extremely complex under the hood. If you’re serious about using Corteza for your business, we highly recommend taking out an Assurance and Support contract as soon as possible to ensure that you get exactly what you want out of Corteza without any hiccups.

Yes, Advanced and Premium Assurance and Support subscribers have access to personalized, individual or group video training in how to use Corteza, Corteza best practices and how to property maintain your apps and workflows. Training is included in the cost of the subscription.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

Yes, Advanced and Premium Assurance and Support subscribers have access to our Production Services, which include custom low-code application development, workflow and integration services.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

Yes, Advanced and Premium Assurance and Support subscribers have access to our Production Services, which include custom low-code application development, workflow and integration services. We don't provide Production Services to Corteza users who don't have either an Advanced or Premium support subscription with us.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

No. Production Services are billed separately from your Assurance and Support Subscription.

For more information about the cost of production services, contact us.

Yes. For free help with Corteza, please read our documentation, watch our tutorials or request community support on our open forum.

Application Development

That probably depends on who you ask. As a low-code platform, Corteza most definitely facilitates rapid application development by speeding up the development process without sacrificing quality. Additionally, Corteza is designed to handle complex business logic and other requirements, and comes with robust, ready-made frameworks, scalable architecture, built-in and reusable components, strong reporting tools that let you test as you iterate, flexible data models and powerful API integration functionality. Corteza also gives you the flexibility to customize your code by letting you export it as a YAML file. You can even work at the Corteza source code level to customize UIs.

On the other hand, Corteza is a low-code platform, not a coding platform and in that sense isn’t a hard-core RAD platform where you can see the code as you build your app.

You can build any type of record-based web application on Corteza, e.g. CRMs, customer service platforms, supply chain management systems, logistics solutions, BMP solutions, urban data platforms, patient management systems, call center software, agency management systems, event management software, donor/beneficiary management systems, and more. If it’s record-based, you can build it!

As many as you want. However, how many apps we’ll provide support for depends on your Assurance and Support subscription.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

How many apps we provide support for depends on your Assurance and Support subscription.

Find out more here: Assurance and Support.

Yes, Corteza comes with a pre-built CRM that you can customize and build on top of as you like. It also comes with a Service solution. More pre-built apps are in the works.

Yes. Corteza comes with a pre-built CRM that you can customize and build on top of as you like. Or you can build your own CRM.

Yes. You can export all your apps as YAML files and inspect and edit the code. However, Corteza isn’t set up for you to inspect or edit the code within the platform itself.

Not at the moment. This is something we’re working on for the future.

Workflows

Yes. Corteza is BPMN 2.0 compliant and comes with a visual workflow builder, javascript scripting engine, flexible processes models, bi-directional API integration, messaging queues, a chart and page builder, advanced reporting and more.

Yes. Corteza is standardized according to BPMN 2.0.

Integrations

Yes. Corteza comes with a REST API and Integration Gateway and supports integrations flows, app-to-app integration, microservice integration, data integration, cloud and local integrations, endpoint connectors, and custom connectors. Additionally, Corteza comes with a centralized console, developer tools, integration monitoring, real-time processing and role- and resource-based access controls.

Corteza’s Integration Gateway connects with any third-party source, whether it supports a REST API or not, and lets you pre-filter data payloads it receives from third-party systems. You can also use it to call on Corteza Workflow to process data or perform further actions on it, including post-filtering and sending it to a third-party system.

Corteza can integrate with any record-based, machine-readable data system.

Not at the moment. This is something we are working on and will release in the near future.

Data

Corteza supports MySQL and PostgreSQL databases with others to be added, along with support for multiple, simultaneous database sources.

You can import your data records as either JSON or CSV files. You can import app and workflow configurations as YAML files.

Yes. You can export all your records as either JSON or CSV files and all your app and workflow configurations as YAML files.

Yes, you can export all your app and workflow configurations as YAML files.

User Interface

Yes. You generally have four options for customizing the UI. At the most basic level, you can use the built-in settings to customize Corteza to reflect your brand. This includes adding your logo, customizing the login screen, removing any obvious mentions of the name Corteza and so on. This is straightforward.

But if you want to change how the UI looks, you’ll have to add new CSS and graphical elements to the web interface. This will also let you create custom color schemes that match your brand. This will take developer work.

Beyond that, if you’re serious about customizing the UI, you can fork it to add new block types to use with your data models or customize the detail to match your brand while still staying in sync with new Corteza releases.

Finally, you can even use your own or a third-party UI or web portal that connects directly to and takes advantage of all the power of the Corteza backend server without using the Corteza interface at all.

Yes. You can connect the Corteza backend server to any other UI to and still stay in sync with all new Corteza releases.

Corteza itself is not set up as a customer portal or CMS, but you can connect the Corteza backend server to any customer portal or CMS such as ZenDesk, WordPress, Drupal and others and still stay in sync with all new Corteza releases.

The Corteza user interface is in English. However, Corteza is internationalized according to i18n, which means that Corteza can be localized into any of the planet’s 7,000+ languages.