Luban Full-Stack Low-Code Development Platform: Design, Implementation, and Case Studies

Introduction Luban is a self‑developed full‑stack low‑code platform at 58 Real Estate, launched in early 2023, aiming to enable anyone to become a full‑stack developer by allowing backend engineers to handle simple front‑end tasks and vice‑versa.

Background Traditional development suffers from knowledge isolation, high communication costs, and resource waste, especially for lightweight internal tools; low‑code platforms can address these issues for B‑side and internal scenarios.

Platform Goals Reduce technical barriers, lower communication overhead, accelerate development cycles, and provide easy integration and extensibility.

Key Features Visual drag‑and‑drop page creation with a rich component library. Data visualization with real‑time updates and interactive components. Automatic CRUD API generation from database tables, supporting both HTTP and SCF (internal RPC) imports. Extensible front‑end (JS) and back‑end (Java) code hooks for before/after processing. Role‑based permissions for developers and application users.

Architecture The system consists of a development environment and a runtime environment, organized into four layers: infrastructure, middleware, engine (front‑end and back‑end), and business middle‑platform. It supports multi‑tenant isolation, multi‑environment deployment, and versioned packaging.

Metadata Design Front‑end pages are stored as JSON‑Schema DSL in MongoDB; API request/response templates are also defined as JSON‑Schema, enabling validation, conversion, and UI binding.

Extensibility Supports parameter mapping, interface extension code, local debugging, and SDK integration for internal services such as authentication and RPC calls.

Case Studies "安心交易" reduced development effort from 2 people/24 days to 1.5 people/17 days. Real‑estate SKU management backend cut resources from 2 people/13 days to 1 person/5 days. Internal portal site shortened development from 2 people/21 days to 1.5 people/15 days.

Conclusion & Future Work Luban outperforms existing low‑code solutions by offering strong back‑end capabilities, seamless integration with 58’s internal services, and high extensibility. Future plans include workflow engines, embedded mode, improved UX, modular common services, and AI‑driven features.