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Introduction to Torus

Torus is a general-purpose, enterprise-grade, citizen-scale low-code platform for building web and mobile applications. It delivers an API-first, event-driven, in-memory microservices architecture that runs on-prem, in any cloud, or both.

Architecture

Every Torus application is assembled from the same building blocks:

• API-first. Every capability is exposed and consumed through APIs, generated by the platform with Swagger documentation.
• Event-driven. Applications react to events: an API call, a data change, a user action or a schedule.
• In-memory. Datasets load into memory from many sources so core processing runs fast, in one place.
• Microservices. Each part of the app deploys and scales on its own, across on-prem, cloud-agnostic and hybrid environments.

Core concepts

Fabrics

A fabric is a complete layer of an application. Torus has six: API, Data, UI, Process, Automation & Integration, and Deployment. You can use one on its own or weave all six together.

Events

Events connect the fabrics. An event can start a workflow, refresh a dataset or update a screen, without hard-wiring one layer to another.

Datasets

A dataset is a ready-to-use, in-memory view of data drawn from RDBMS, document databases, streams, APIs and files, created just in time by conditions and rules.

Processes

A process is an event-driven workflow, such as maker/checker approval, made of rules, human steps, automations and custom code.

Build your first app

A typical Torus app moves through the fabrics in this order.

1. Model your data. In Data Fabric, connect your sources and define a dataset with the conditions that decide when it loads.
2. Generate the APIs. In API Fabric, map the dataset to a YAML/JSON structure, or upload a Swagger file, and generate hosted APIs.
3. Design the screens. In UI Fabric, drag components onto the grid for web, and generate the mobile app as Flutter code.
4. Define the workflow. In Process Fabric, add rules, maker/checker steps and actions, then debug with breakpoints.
5. Connect your systems. Add connectors such as SMS, email, Slack, Teams, Snowflake or SAP ERP.
6. Deploy. In Deployment Fabric, draw the pipeline, create environments and promote from Dev to QA to Production.

API Fabric

API Fabric lets you generate APIs to expose and define APIs to consume, so the application is API-first.

• Generate & host APIs by mapping a data source to a YAML/JSON structure.
• Consume APIs for external and internal scenarios, with Swagger documentation generated automatically.
• Upload a Swagger file and get APIs with validations and exception handling.
• Test endpoints in the built-in, Postman-like tester, which fills headers and body parameters for you.

curl -X POST https://your-torus-host/loan-applications \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "applicant": "R. Meenakshi", "amount": 1240000, "tenure_months": 60 }'

Data Fabric

Data Fabric creates ready-to-use datasets from traditional RDBMS, document databases, stream sources, APIs and file systems.

• In-memory datasets combine several sources and load into memory for core processing.
• Processing conditions control exactly when and how data is available in any context, including just-in-time creation.

UI Fabric

UI Fabric builds web and mobile interfaces with a grid layout and a versioned, prebuilt component library.

• Drag-and-drop nodes for responsive web components.
• Cross-platform mobile components that generate Flutter code.
• One business process shared by dedicated web and mobile UIs.
• Event-driven components that are all reusable.

Process Fabric

Process Fabric defines the workflows behind mission-critical applications.

• Event-driven workflows with maker/checker, logical triggers and integration with internal and external systems.
• Debugging with breakpoints, and validation of rules and conditions, in the same environment.
• Automation with security, actions and custom code extensions.

Automation & Integration

Ready-to-use connectors link Torus to the systems you already run, including SMS, email, Slack, Teams, Snowflake and SAP ERP. More connectors are available as add-ons through partner platforms. The integration engine works directly with the process engine and every other fabric.

Deployment Fabric

Create CI/CD pipelines for on-premise and cloud with configuration-based diagrams.

• Create environments in one click with drag-and-drop node properties.
• Add code quality, security scanning and deployment steps to custom flows.
• Promote across different environments, for example Dev on-prem and QA in the cloud.

Deployment targets

The same application can run in three ways, with no rewrite between them:

• On-prem: inside your data centre, behind your firewall.
• Cloud: on the cloud of your choice.
• Hybrid: split across both, promoted between them in one pipeline.

Source code & ownership

Torus has no lock-in. Source code is available, so you own what you build and are never tied to a vendor’s roadmap.

Get help

Call 0462 2350 991, email support@torus.tech, or book a demo with the team.