Catalyst was founded in 2025 by Alain Jaques, a visionary entrepreneur passionate about democratizing advanced automation tools for businesses of all sizes. Starting as a solo venture, Alain quickly brought on Ben as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), leveraging Ben's expertise in IT infrastructure and operations to build the foundation of our platform.
What began as a proof-of-concept in a GitHub repository has evolved into a powerful, open-source solution for AI-powered process automation. We recognized a gap in the market: enterprise-grade tools like Camunda were often too expensive or complex for startups and small teams, while lacking seamless AI integrations. Catalyst bridges that gap, making sophisticated workflow automation accessible, affordable, and intelligent.
At Catalyst, our mission is to empower businesses to automate intelligently without the barriers of cost, complexity, or coding expertise. We believe that every organization—from startups to enterprises—should have access to tools that combine robust business process management, seamless integrations, and cutting-edge AI to streamline operations and drive innovation.
By combining open-source powerhouses like Camunda for visual workflow design, n8n for automation and integrations, and AI models from providers like OpenAI and Claude, we enable users to build automated processes that think, adapt, and scale.
Catalyst provides a self-hosted, Docker-based platform that lets you:
Whether you're automating customer onboarding, supply chain management, or creative tasks, Catalyst turns manual processes into efficient, AI-enhanced systems—all running locally on your machine for maximum privacy and control.
We're committed to open-source principles, with our core distribution free forever. For production needs, we offer enterprise support, custom integrations, and advanced features.