corsair

Product Introduction

1. Definition: Corsair is an open-source, AI-first integration platform as a service (iPaaS) and developer toolkit. Technically, it is a TypeScript SDK and self-hostable backend that provides multi-tenant OAuth management, credential security, and a unified API for connecting to third-party applications.
2. Core Value Proposition: It exists to eliminate the infrastructure burden of building and maintaining reliable, secure integrations with services like Gmail, Slack, and Stripe. Its primary value is enabling developers to add any third-party app integration to their product in minutes without managing underlying connections, webhooks, or credential security.

Main Features

1. Managed Permissions & Auth Flows: Corsair provides a secure, isolated credential vault and handles the complete OAuth 2.0 authorization flow for each connected service. It enforces permission modes (like requiring explicit user approval for destructive actions) and serves customizable consent screens, ensuring credentials are never exposed to the frontend or AI agent logic.
2. Self-Hostable, Open-Source SDK: The core platform is Apache 2.0 licensed TypeScript code that can be forked and deployed on your own infrastructure. This feature allows for unlimited connections and API calls with zero per-seat vendor markup, full data control, and the ability to audit or modify the integration logic.
3. Unified Tool Calling & Caching Layer: Corsair abstracts disparate third-party APIs into a consistent, typed interface for both AI agents and traditional application code. It includes an intelligent caching system that stores and refreshes data via webhooks and polling, reducing rate limit hits and improving performance for repeated queries.
4. Pluggable Integration Architecture: Developers can add pre-built plugins (e.g., for Notion, Gmail, Slack) or scaffold new ones using a provided command. The open-source model means the community can contribute integrations via pull requests, preventing roadmap lock-in.

Problems Solved

1. Pain Point: The exponential maintenance burden of integration code. This includes handling OAuth token refresh cycles, webhook signature verification, API version deprecations, inconsistent error handling, and rate limiting across dozens of different providers.
2. Target Audience: The primary user persona is a developer or engineering team at a B2B SaaS company, startup, or scale-up that needs to offer integrated app experiences within their product. Secondary users include product managers and founders who want to ship integration features faster without accruing technical debt.
3. Use Cases: Enabling AI agents to perform secure, permission-gated actions across user-connected apps (e.g., "Send a Gmail calendar invite"); adding embedded, user-facing workflow buttons (e.g., "Sync from Airtable"); setting up reliable cross-platform triggers (e.g., "Post to Slack when a HubSpot deal is won").

Unique Advantages

1. Differentiation: Unlike closed-source iPaaS vendors (like Zapier or Workato) where you are limited to their supported integrations and data flows through their cloud, Corsair is open-source and self-hostable. This contrasts with building in-house, where you bear the full cost and burden of maintaining the integration infrastructure.
2. Key Innovation: Its security model where the hosted "Corsair Hub" acts only as a credential-less relay. User credentials and sensitive data are never stored on Corsair's servers; they reside in the customer's own database. This fundamentally reduces the attack surface and vendor lock-in risk.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How is Corsair different from Zapier or Make? Corsair is an open-source, developer-centric SDK designed to be embedded directly into your product's codebase, giving you full control and customization. Zapier and Make are closed-source, cloud-only automation platforms aimed at end-users and business operations, with limited ability to build deeply integrated, user-facing features.
2. Is Corsair secure for handling sensitive user OAuth tokens? Yes. Corsair is architected for security. In self-hosted mode, all credentials stay within your infrastructure. When using the managed relay service (Corsair Hub), your application's API keys and user OAuth tokens are never stored by Corsair; they are encrypted in your database and the Hub acts as a stateless proxy, making a breach of Corsair's systems non-impactful for your data.
3. Can I use Corsair without an AI agent or LLM? Absolutely. Corsair's unified API can be called directly like any standard TypeScript library. It is ideal for building traditional application features such as "Connect your Google Calendar" buttons, Slack notification triggers, or data sync actions from a UI.
4. What happens if I need an integration that Corsair doesn't support? You are not blocked. You can fork the open-source repository and build the plugin yourself using the provided scaffolding tools, or submit a Pull Request to the main repository for the community to review and merge. This is a core advantage over closed-source platforms.
5. How does Corsair's pricing model work for the hosted option? Corsair offers a free Hobby tier and a flat-rate Pro tier ($200/month) for its managed relay and dashboard service. Crucially, because the core execution engine is self-hosted, you avoid per-connection, per-seat, or per-API-call pricing, which can lead to unpredictable costs at scale.