Slab
Internal knowledge base with search, integrations, and verification
The visible team knowledge base loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Slab earns its keep through collaboration, integrations, polish, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- large integration catalog
- mobile capture and notifications
- real-time multiplayer
- enterprise permissions
Why people still pay
Slab: Teams pay because shared state, notifications, permissions, and migrations are harder than the visible board or list.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with workspace membership enforced on the server.
- Before starting: A PostgreSQL database, session authentication, two isolated example workspaces and private attachment storage.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store Topic, Article, Revision, Owner and ReviewDueDate; published content is distinct from drafts and a review approval belongs to a specific revision.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Correct the prior task-manager scope: focus on knowledge maintenance and search. Real-time editing, broad integrations and guaranteed organizational truth are deferred.
Project rule — acceptance: Update a reviewed runbook and search as a restricted member; mark the new revision unreviewed and exclude inaccessible articles from snippets/results.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — review this PostgreSQL domain schema, uniqueness constraints, transaction boundaries and access-scoped queries; Supabase hosting is not required. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: web-design-guidelines — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Maintain an internal knowledge base with topic hierarchy, article owners, reviewed revisions and a visible stale-content queue. Confirm setup: A PostgreSQL database, session authentication, two isolated example workspaces and private attachment storage.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store Topic, Article, Revision, Owner and ReviewDueDate; published content is distinct from drafts and a review approval belongs to a specific revision.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Check membership on reads, mutations, attachments and exports. Keep activity history separate from editable current state; do not make private records public through search.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Correct the prior task-manager scope: focus on knowledge maintenance and search. Real-time editing, broad integrations and guaranteed organizational truth are deferred.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Update a reviewed runbook and search as a restricted member; mark the new revision unreviewed and exclude inaccessible articles from snippets/results. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Slab. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service. WORKING SLICE Maintain an internal knowledge base with topic hierarchy, article owners, reviewed revisions and a visible stale-content queue. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with workspace membership enforced on the server. Prerequisites: A PostgreSQL database, session authentication, two isolated example workspaces and private attachment storage. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store Topic, Article, Revision, Owner and ReviewDueDate; published content is distinct from drafts and a review approval belongs to a specific revision. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Check membership on reads, mutations, attachments and exports. Keep activity history separate from editable current state; do not make private records public through search. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Correct the prior task-manager scope: focus on knowledge maintenance and search. Real-time editing, broad integrations and guaranteed organizational truth are deferred. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO Update a reviewed runbook and search as a restricted member; mark the new revision unreviewed and exclude inaccessible articles from snippets/results. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md · generated from this app's build plan
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Slab pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | Up to 10 users; 10 MB attachment limit; 90-day version history; 30-day analytics; 10 integrations. |
| startup | — | $6.67/user | Unlimited users; 3 guests/user; 25 MB attachments; 365-day history; 90-day analytics.Monthly amount is offered but was not exposed by the live static page. |
| business | — | $12.50/user | 5 guests/user; 100 MB attachments; unlimited history; 365-day analytics; 3 premium integrations.Monthly amount is offered but was not exposed by the live static page. |
| enterprise | — | — | Minimum 100 users; unlimited guests; custom security, support, and terms.Custom quote. |
free tierUp to 10 users; 10 MB attachment limit; 90-day version history; 30-day analytics; 10 integrations.
billingmonthly + annual; exact monthly prices were not exposed by the live static page; Enterprise custom
hidden costsEvery user who can log in is billable, there is no free read-only seat; Enterprise has a 100-user minimum.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Slab
Can you build your own Slab with AI?
Partly. The visible team knowledge base loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Slab earns its keep through collaboration, integrations, polish, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope.
What does the Slab build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Maintain an internal knowledge base with topic hierarchy, article owners, reviewed revisions and a visible stale-content queue. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: large integration catalog; mobile capture and notifications; real-time multiplayer. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Slab prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Slab project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Slab?
large integration catalog; mobile capture and notifications; real-time multiplayer; enterprise permissions. Slab: Teams pay because shared state, notifications, permissions, and migrations are harder than the visible board or list.
What can I use instead of building Slab?
The prior-art section lists Vikunja, Plane as starting points. Review their current scope, license and maintenance before adopting one.