AgentTested hands-on review
tool: Flowise
slug: flowise
date: 2026-10-21
score: 5/10

Coverage: Self-hosted Tool Agent template: 2 maths questions and a 2-turn memory question, local and hosted.
What we tested: Install and run Flowise locally, then build its 'Tool Agent' template (calculator tool plus chat memory) and ask 2 maths questions and a 2-turn memory question. Run with local Gemma 4 and a free hosted model.
Method: npm install flowise 3.1.4 (Node 20) into a local folder; flowise start on port 3311. Flows created and run through the REST API from the marketplace template, swapping the model node to ChatOllama (gemma4-e2b) or ChatOpenAI with OpenRouter's base URL (nemotron-3.5-super-vl:free).

Notes:
- CPU-only box: 8 cores, 15 GB RAM (about 4-10 GB free during tests), no GPU.
- API-driven, not the visual editor
- 4 prompts per backend

Prompts:
- What is 1234 * 5678? Use the calculator tool.
- What is (17.5 * 4) + 12.25? Use the calculator tool.
- My name is Dana. Please remember it.
- What is my name?

Results:
install_attempt1: Hung for 20 min in puppeteer's Chrome download (blocked on this box); killed by our timeout
install_attempt2: 136 s with PUPPETEER_SKIP_DOWNLOAD=1, 3.2 GB of node_modules
startup_s: 18
first_run_friction: Every API call returned 401 until we created a local admin user (stored only in the box's SQLite); the default SSRF policy refused the local Ollama ('Access to this host is denied by policy') until we set HTTP_SECURITY_CHECK=false; telemetry is on by default (we turned it off on restart)
local.multiply: Agent stopped due to max iterations. 15.5 s, failed
local.add: Agent stopped due to max iterations. 19.0 s, failed
local.remember: Hello Dana! I have remembered your name. How can I help you today? 1.0 s, not scored
local.name: Your name is Dana. 0.4 s, passed
local.note: The calculator returned 7006652 correctly each time, but the agent kept calling it 15 times and stopped at max iterations
openrouter.multiply: The product of 1234 and 5678 is **7,006,652**. calculator, 1.4 s, passed
openrouter.add: The result of \((17.5 \times 4) + 12.25\) is **82.25**. calculator, 12.2 s, passed
openrouter.remember: Got it, Dana! I’ll remember your name. How can I help you today? 0.6 s, not scored
openrouter.name: Your name is Dana. 0.6 s, passed

Pros:
- With a hosted free model the template agent got 3/3 in 0.6-12 s
- Chat memory worked with both models
- Large catalog of ready templates and nodes

Cons:
- Heavy install (3.2 GB) that hung on its first try
- Local model setup needed a security override
- With local Gemma 4 the agent looped on its tool and gave no answer, though the same model worked in AutoGen
- The GitHub repo is archived (Aug 2026)

Verdict: Flowise ran on our box and its template agent worked well with a free hosted model, using the calculator and remembering a name. Getting there was rough. The first install hung for 20 minutes, we had to create a local admin login, and we had to switch off a security check before it would talk to a local model. Even then, local Gemma 4 got stuck calling the calculator in a loop. The project has also been archived on GitHub.

Score line: Works with a hosted model, but heavy setup, a local tool loop, and an archived repo.