Frequently asked questions

Donut Maker and Donut Server can run on any Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later). Databases hosted on the Donut Server can be accessed on any device that can run a browser, regardless of platform.

You, and only you. We will never sell your data or separate you from it. The only people who can access it are the people you choose to share it with.

Unlike spreadsheet-based data management systems, which store data in flat, loosely-connected grids, Donut Maker applies real relational-database principles, enforced schemas, and referential integrity with an interface that allows for visual and structural depth that can’t be matched by a spreadsheet.

Compared with other no-code software, Donut Maker is unique in that it combines ease of use with unlimited scalability, and it prioritizes data ownership. With other software, which often forces its users to shape their data to its system, you are simply renting their system. With Donut Maker, you shape it and own it. Renting can be convenient, but the landlord can always change the key or sell the property. No matter how much time and money you invest, you don’t own a thing in the end.

If you were to plot a graph with scalability on one axis and ease of use on the other, most data platforms would favor one axis or the other. Many are easy to use but inflexible as your needs grow, while others are powerful but require resources and expertise, even for simple modifications. Donut Maker’s visual interface and powerful architecture let you map your data in a way that’s easy to understand and scales without limits, uniquely positioning it among its peers.

Vibe coding is fast and can be helpful for prototyping, but it’s not robust enough to support most business uses. The further you push past the prototyping phase, the more things start to fall apart. AI models have too much choice in architecture and language, making outputs buggy, opaque, hard to change, and full of security holes.

Donut Maker’s AI builder is constrained to using the tools within the program, so it doesn’t actually write any code. Instead, our AI builder uses Donut Maker’s self-contained units of code and simply assembles them like interlocking blocks (whereas vibe coding is more like…dough). These building blocks are presented in a human-friendly format, making it easier for users to review and revise the AI’s work.

A no-code platform lets you build working software without writing or knowing code. Instead of typing instructions in a programming language, you use a visual interface to assemble and connect blocks that already contain code within them. The code is still there, just behind the scenes.

Once you’re ready to share your creation, you can serve it to your team through Donut Server, and they can access it via a web browser. Donut Server can be hosted locally (e.g., a Mac mini on premises) or remotely (e.g., a service like MacStadium). Feel free to contact our team with questions.

Donut Maker excels at data management. Unlike many relational database tools, which confine data to tables, Donut Maker lets users format their data as they see fit. What you create can be shaped to your unique business.

Create a CRM with detailed customer profiles and communications, an inventory management system to track parts and their specs, or an employee portal where your team only sees what you give them access to. Or, create all three and link them together, so everything you need is in one place!

No. Donut Maker is a single-user program, which means you can access whatever you build through it directly. Donut Server turns what you build into a multi-user system, so you’ll only need it if you plan on sharing what you’ve created in Donut Maker with others.

When you host a .donut system on Donut Server, users access it through a web browser, so it appears to them as a standalone, web-based application. In Donut Maker, the owner of the system controls each user’s access levels and what they can input into the system. No outside user can change the structure of your system, since all structural changes must be made in Donut Maker.

Yes and no. Using AI in Donut Maker is optional. Your data and your business logic live on hardware you control, and they stay there. The AI that assists with building currently runs on an external model of your choosing, so that layer isn't self-contained yet. Local AI is on our roadmap, and we aim to enable sovereign AI use in future updates.

A governable platform is one where your rules live in the system itself rather than in someone's head or a policy document. Three things make that possible: a defined data structure, permissions tied to real identities, and a record of what happened. Donut Maker ships with the first two, and audit trails are planned for a later release. Governance can't be added on later; it must be built into the foundation.

Agent capability is planned for the near future but is not yet implemented in Donut Maker and Donut Server.

Absolutely! You can run and serve your system on any Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later).

Audit-trail capability is a feature planned for the near future, but it’s not yet a capability in Donut Maker and Donut Server.

Whatever you build on Donut Maker can be stored locally. If anything happens to Big Giant Donut, both Donut Maker and Donut Server will become open source and, therefore, a community endeavor. We don’t expect that to happen, of course, but these are things we think about when considering data autonomy and software lifecycles.

The basic version of Donut Maker is free. If you need access to more powerful features like our API and plugins, you can upgrade to Donut Maker Pro, which is paid (price TBA). Anything you build in Donut Maker will be readable in the free version, with the exception of API- and plugin-dependent features. There’s no limit to the number of systems you can build, and anything you build belongs to you, forever.

Donut Server uses a per-seat payment system, meaning you only have to pay for the number of concurrent users you need, and you can add or remove seats as you see fit. If you don’t need to share your creation(s) with other people, you can simply use Donut Maker.

Helix RADE and Helix Server are the direct antecedents of Donut Maker and Donut Server. Big Giant Donut acquired Helix from QSA Toolworks in 2022. Since then, in collaboration with its inventors, we’ve reimagined and rebuilt Helix as Donut for a thoroughly current software ecosystem.

Yes, but because of architecture differences between the two products, we recommend discussing your Collection with one of our technical advisors first. Contact our customer service team for more information.

Big Giant Donut is a nod to the torus, one of the most fascinating geometrical forms (to us, anyway). In addition to being one of the proposed topologies for the shape of the universe, the torus turns up wherever energy circulates back into itself: Earth's magnetic field, fusion reactors, smoke rings, whirlpools, etc. It holds its shape by continuously feeding itself, which is a decent description of a well-built data system and an excellent description of a donut.