Evidence
Code-based BI framework that combines SQL queries with Markdown to generate static data reports and dashboards, version-controlled alongside code and deployable as static sites.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Database credentials stored in connection.yaml must be secured by the deployment environment. Static output has no server-side auth — rely on CDN-level access controls for sensitive reports.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
Generating version-controlled, code-reviewed data reports where agents write SQL + Markdown templates that build to shareable static sites.
Avoid When
You need a fully interactive BI tool with drill-down, filters, and real-time data — Evidence's static output model does not support dynamic server-side queries after build.
Use Cases
- • Generate automated weekly data reports as static HTML sites from agent-authored SQL + Markdown templates committed to git
- • Embed live query results in agent-produced documentation by writing Evidence .md files with inline SQL blocks
- • Build data quality monitoring dashboards that agents update by committing new SQL queries to the Evidence source directory
- • Create self-contained data applications that agents can deploy to Netlify or Vercel without a running backend server
- • Parameterize report templates with URL query params so agents can generate customer-specific report views from a single template
Not For
- • Interactive dashboards requiring real-time user-driven filtering beyond URL parameters — Evidence generates static outputs
- • Non-technical stakeholders who need a drag-and-drop interface — Evidence requires writing SQL and Markdown to define reports
- • Embedding in existing web applications requiring a headless BI API — Evidence produces complete static sites, not embeddable API endpoints
Interface
Authentication
Evidence itself has no auth model — it is a static site generator. Access control is handled at the deployment layer (Netlify, Vercel, CDN password protection). Evidence Cloud has user auth for deployment management.
Pricing
MIT-licensed open source. Evidence Cloud is the optional managed hosting with auth and team features.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Evidence requires a Node.js build step — agents cannot generate report pages dynamically at request time; all SQL runs at build time against the connected warehouse
- ⚠ SQL query results are baked into the static build — data is only as fresh as the last build; agents must trigger a rebuild to show updated data
- ⚠ Database connections are configured in connection.yaml — agents that need to query multiple warehouses must configure all connections before the build, not at runtime
- ⚠ Component props are not type-checked at author time — agents generating Evidence Markdown with wrong prop types will only see errors during npm run build
- ⚠ Large query result sets embedded in static pages inflate bundle size significantly — agents should aggregate data in SQL rather than embedding raw row-level data
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.