Building Nod With Vercel And Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

Nod is an approval API for AI agents, scripts, and workflows.

The idea is simple:

• Your app wants to do something risky.
• Nod asks a human for approval.
• The human approves in Slack or web.
• Nod sends a signed callback.
• Your app continues safely.

We built the web app on Vercel. The dashboard lets teams manage:

• Workspaces
• Members and roles
• Approval policies
• Slack channels
• API keys
• Callback endpoints
• Approval history

For the database, we used Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. Nod needs a strong relational database because approval data must be correct. An approval is not just a UI card. It has a lifecycle.

pending -> approved
pending -> rejected
pending -> expired
pending -> canceled

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Aurora stores the source of truth:

• Approval requests
• Human decisions
• Policy versions
• Webhook events
• Delivery attempts
• Audit logs

The backend runs on AWS with Lambda workers. One worker sends Slack notifications. Another sends signed callbacks. Another expires old approvals.

A typical flow looks like this:

App or agent
  -> Nod API
  -> Aurora PostgreSQL
  -> Slack or web approval
  -> Signed callback
  -> App continues

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Vercel helped us move fast on the user experience. Aurora gave us the reliable data layer needed for real approvals. Together, they helped us build Nod as infrastructure, not just a demo.