# Separation of runtime GUI from editor
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764
**Category:** General
**Created:** [22 August 2022 14:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764 "2022-08-22T14:49:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mbenson](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/mbenson)
#### Post date: [22 August 2022 14:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764/1 "2022-08-22T14:49:00Z")
I was just curious to see if there are any plugins or external tools to Node Red that could provide a more user friendly runtime GUI, separate from the flow design editor it already has. First, Node Red is a fantastic tool. I tried writing something similar to this almost 15 years ago. Node Red is far better than anything I could have written. So this is, by far, not a complaint. Just a suggestion.
What I mean is something similar to how the National Instruments LabVIEW interface works. In LabVIEW, your "virtual instrument" always has 2 separate views. One is the design view, that describes how data flows between the LabVIEW equivalent of nodes. This view is strongly designed to define data, data flow, logic, algorithms, etc... The second view looks more like what an instrument panel would look like. Much of the underlying design view has no instrument panel equivalent, so you wouldn't see anything. A node that represents a logical and/or operation might not have an instrument panel equivalent. But the "inject" node, in this case, would have the button on the instrument panel view, not the design view. Some "nodes" are purely for user display or interaction. The "debug" node might have some sort of a console or text graphic on the instrument panel side.
For purely just automation, Node Red is a fantastic product. But if there could also be a view similar to a traditional instrument panel, Node Red could be used more like a general purpose SCADA system. Is there anything already available that is like this? Thoughts?
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### Author:  [@Andrei](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Andrei)
#### Post date: [22 August 2022 15:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764/2 "2022-08-22T15:10:35Z")
> [@mbenson](#):
>
> Is there anything already available that is like this? Thoughts?
You can create a graphical user interface customized for your use case using Node-RED dashboard, uibuilder, FlexDash or other tools. There are many examples in the forum like the one below created for a power supply device.
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### Author:  [@mbenson](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/mbenson)
#### Post date: [22 August 2022 21:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764/3 "2022-08-22T21:33:53Z")
Fantastic. That is awesome. Thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [21 October 2022 21:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/separation-of-runtime-gui-from-editor/66764/4 "2022-10-21T21:34:37Z")
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