We did not set out to be open source maintainers. Like most things that matter, it happened gradually, one project at a time, one contribution at a time, until it became part of who we are.
How It Started
It started with a problem. Years ago, we were building a scheduling system for a client and could not find an existing self-hosted solution that did exactly what was needed. The options were either too complex, too expensive, or simply no longer maintained. So we built one ourselves.
That project became Easy!Appointments, an open source, self-hosted appointment scheduling system that businesses around the world now use to manage bookings, staff, and customer appointments. We did not plan for it to grow the way it did. But it did, and that changed how we think about software permanently.
What We Maintain Today
Since Easy!Appointments, the portfolio has grown considerably. Today we actively maintain a range of open source projects across different domains:
- Easy!Appointments: Self-hosted appointment scheduling with a full booking flow, staff management, and REST API.
- Clientverse: A self-hosted CRM for managing contacts, deals, and customer relationships on your own infrastructure.
- Plainpad: A simple, stable, self-hosted note-taking application built for people who value data ownership.
- Logogrind: An AI-powered logo generation wizard for fast, flexible brand identities.
- Questionful: A web-based form and survey platform for managing customer data collection.
- Timecrack: Time-tracking and productivity insights for individuals and teams.
- Apphold: A licensing and telemetry platform for publicly distributed applications.
- Bookmarx: Self-hosted bookmark management for individuals and teams.
Several more are in active development: Flamecart, Filegun, Primelist, and Integravy.
What We Get Out of It
The honest answer is: a lot.
Open source forces a level of quality that private codebases rarely demand. When your code is public, you think more carefully about naming, structure, documentation, and edge cases. You cannot rely on tribal knowledge. Everything has to stand on its own.
The feedback is invaluable too. When thousands of people use something you built, you learn things about your own software that you would never discover working alone. Bug reports, feature requests, pull requests: all of it makes the software better, and makes us better developers.
And the community. Meeting people who use something you built, who adapted it for a use case you never imagined, who translated it into a language you do not speak. That is genuinely motivating. It is a constant reminder that software reaches further than we can see from where we sit and build it.
Open Source in Client Work
We carry this philosophy into our client work as well. We default to open source tools and libraries wherever it makes sense. We recommend open source infrastructure. When a client’s business model allows for it, we encourage them to consider opening their own work.
Not because open source is always the right answer (it is not), but because the transparency, community trust, and long-term sustainability it brings often outweigh the costs by a wide margin.
An Ongoing Commitment
We are not going to stop. Every new product we launch will have an open source component by default. Every internal tool worth sharing will eventually find its way to GitHub.
If you use any of our projects, thank you. If you have ever reported a bug, submitted a pull request, or simply starred a repository, thank you. It matters more than you might think.
If you want to get involved, explore our work on GitHub. Issues, pull requests, and thoughtful feedback are always welcome.