OSS/source-available stack for solo founders to build, launch, sell, support, automate, and grow products.
Founder-focused open-source and source-available tools for the whole journey: idea research, design, MVP, auth, database, AI agents, billing, analytics, email, support, marketing, docs, deployment, security, productivity, and starter kits.
Revenue is not guaranteed. This list helps solo founders reduce stack cost, move faster, and pick practical tools.
Pick the job, then pick one tool.
| Founder job | Start here |
|---|---|
| Validate demand | last30days-skill, rdt-cli, twitter-cli |
| Ship a SaaS MVP | Open SaaS, Supabase, Coolify |
| Add auth | Better Auth, Auth.js, Logto |
| Add payments | Polar, Lago |
| Track users | PostHog, Umami, Plausible |
| Send lifecycle emails | Listmonk, Dittofeed, useSend |
| Market the product | Dub, Papermark, Postiz |
| Make launch assets | OpenScreen, Hyperframes, Remotion |
| Edit raw video | vex, VibeFrame, auto-editor |
| Build with agents | Codex, Claude Code, XcodeBuildMCP |
- Starter: Open SaaS
- Backend/database/auth: Supabase
- Billing: Polar
- Analytics: PostHog
- Email: Listmonk
- Deploy: Coolify
- Support: Chatwoot
- Build/release: fastlane
- iOS agent loop: XcodeBuildMCP
- App previews: video-preview-appstore
- Screenshots: App Store Screenshots Generator, Appshot
- Demo video: OpenScreen
- Coding: Codex, Claude Code
- Browser QA: Playwright MCP
- Fresh docs: Context7
- GitHub ops: GitHub MCP Server
- Design-to-code: Figma Context MCP
- Link attribution: Dub
- Deck/proposal analytics: Papermark
- Blog/newsletter: Ghost
- Social publishing: Postiz, Mixpost
- Content video: ViralMint, OpenShorts
Tools should satisfy most of these:
- Public source exists.
- Useful for one-person companies.
- Helps build, launch, sell, support, automate, or grow.
- Maintained recently or has a stable community.
- Can be self-hosted, forked, scripted, API-driven, CLI-driven, MCP-driven, or agent-operated.
- Clear docs or practical examples exist.
- Replaces a real SaaS cost center or a high-friction manual workflow.
Avoid:
- Closed-source-only tools.
- Abandoned repos.
- Generic inspiration links.
- Startup-credit lists.
- Enterprise-only products with unusable community editions.
- Duplicate tools unless they serve clearly different founder jobs.
- Ideation and validation
- Design and UX
- Starter kits
- MVP development
- Auth and identity
- Database and backend
- AI agents and MCP
- Billing and monetization
- Analytics and feedback
- Email and lifecycle messaging
- Support, CRM, and community
- Marketing and growth
- Content and video
- Docs and knowledge base
- Deployment and operations
- Security and legal
- Productivity
- Contributing
Find painful problems, communities, keywords, and trend signals.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| last30days-skill | Recent-topic research across Reddit, X, YouTube, HN, Polymarket, and web |
| lastXdays-skill | Configurable time-range version of last30days research |
| twitter-cli | X/Twitter feed, bookmarks, and timeline research in terminal |
| rdt-cli | Reddit feeds, posts, search, saves, and subscriptions in terminal |
| ig-cli | Instagram trend discovery and content research |
| tkt-cli | TikTok trend discovery for terminal-first research |
| linkedin-cli | Agent-friendly LinkedIn data and account CLI |
| Agent-Reach | Multi-platform search/read CLI for agents |
| MediaCrawler | Crawls Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, Weibo, Tieba, Zhihu |
Playbook: trend-to-content engine
Create landing pages, prototypes, and design-to-code workflows.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Webstudio | Open-source Webflow alternative |
| Plasmic | Visual builder for React apps, sites, and content |
| GrapesJS | Open-source web builder framework |
| Figma Context MCP | Figma layout context for AI coding agents |
| Hyperframes | HTML-to-video motion graphics for launch explainers |
Start with a product-shaped repo instead of a blank folder.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Open SaaS | SaaS starter with auth, jobs, payments, landing page |
| SaaS Boilerplate | Next.js SaaS starter |
| XcodeBuildMCP iOS Template | iOS starter template for agent-assisted builds |
Build the first useful product slice.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Payload | Full-stack Next.js backend, admin panel, and CMS |
| JeecgBoot | AI low-code app builder |
| Budibase | Internal apps, automations, and operations tools |
| ToolJet | App builder and AI workflow foundation |
Add accounts, sessions, teams, and SaaS-ready identity.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Better Auth | TypeScript authentication framework |
| Auth.js | Web authentication library |
| Logto | Auth and authorization infrastructure for SaaS and AI apps |
Store users, content, files, events, and product data.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Postgres, auth, storage, realtime, edge functions |
| PocketBase | SQLite-backed app backend in one binary |
| Appwrite | Backend APIs for auth, database, storage, functions |
| Directus | Headless CMS and data platform over SQL |
Use agents to code, test, browse, inspect design, and run product workflows.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Codex | Terminal coding agent |
| Claude Code | Agentic coding tool in terminal |
| Gemini CLI | Open-source Gemini coding and research agent |
| OpenCode | Open-source multi-model coding agent |
| Qwen Code | Open-source terminal coding agent |
| XcodeBuildMCP | iOS/macOS build, test, simulator, and logs for agents |
| Playwright MCP | Browser automation and QA for agents |
| GitHub MCP Server | GitHub issues, PRs, repos, and code workflow |
| Context7 | Fresh docs for LLMs and code editors |
| MCP Servers | Model Context Protocol server collection |
| MCP Registry | Community registry for MCP servers |
| awesome-mcp-servers | Curated MCP server list |
| UI-TARS Desktop | Open-source multimodal desktop agent stack |
| CowAgent | AI assistant and agent harness |
| CodeWhale | DeepSeek-first agentic coding terminal |
Playbook: agent-assisted product build sprint
Charge customers, meter usage, and handle subscriptions.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Polar | Developer-product payments, subscriptions, digital products |
| Lago | Usage-based billing and metering |
| Kill Bill | Subscription billing platform |
Learn what users do and what they need.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| PostHog | Product analytics, replay, flags, surveys |
| Plausible | Privacy-friendly web analytics |
| Umami | Simple self-hosted web analytics |
| GrowthBook | Feature flags, experiments, product analytics |
| Formbricks | User research and surveys |
| Fider | Feature requests and feedback voting |
Send newsletters, onboarding, transactional mail, and lifecycle nudges.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Listmonk | Newsletter and mailing lists |
| Mautic | Marketing automation |
| Dittofeed | Customer engagement across email, SMS, push, WhatsApp, Slack |
| useSend | Open-source transactional email platform |
| Ghost | Publishing, newsletters, memberships, subscriptions |
Talk to users, close deals, and build community loops.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Twenty | Modern CRM |
| EspoCRM | CRM |
| Chatwoot | Support inbox and live chat |
| Frappe Helpdesk | Helpdesk |
| Typebot | Chatbot and funnel builder |
| Cal.com | Scheduling for demos, sales calls, onboarding |
| Discourse | Community forum |
| Forem | Community publishing platform |
Create demand, track campaigns, publish content, and convert leads.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Dub | Link attribution, short links, QR codes, campaign tracking |
| Papermark | DocSend alternative for pitch decks, proposals, document analytics |
| Postiz | Agentic social media scheduling |
| Mixpost | Self-hosted social media management |
| OpenPost | Self-hosted social publishing with API, CLI, and MCP access |
| TryPost | Social scheduling and content calendar |
| LateWiz | Multi-platform social scheduler |
| LinkStack | Self-hosted link-in-bio/profile page |
| seotoolsuite | SEO tooling |
| RespectASO | App Store Optimization keyword research |
| TinyTools | OG image generator, SEO meta tag generator, favicon generator, AI background remover, color palette, AI robots.txt generator — all browser-based, no backend |
Create launch demos, shorts, UGC, raw-video edits, and programmatic video assets.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| ViralMint | Trend scouting, competitor analysis, AI video generation, auto-publishing |
| OpenShorts | AI UGC video platform and clip generator |
| MoneyPrinterTurbo | One-click AI short-video generation |
| ai-trend-publish | Trend scraping, AI content generation, scheduled publishing |
| short-video-maker | MCP/REST short-video generation |
| ClippedAI | Open-source OpusClip-style shorts generator |
| ViralCutter | Cut long YouTube videos into short clips |
| vex | Terminal AI video editing agent |
| VibeFrame | CLI-first, MCP-ready AI-native video editor |
| OpenMontage | Agentic video production system |
| OpenReelio | Prompt-driven AI video editor |
| auto-editor | Auto-cuts silence and dead space from raw footage |
| LosslessCut | Lossless video/audio trimming and splitting |
| OpenScreen | Product demo videos |
| Remotion | Programmatic video generation with React |
| MoviePy | Python video editing library |
| OpenTimelineIO | Open timeline interchange API |
| Kdenlive | Full open-source video editor |
| Shotcut | Cross-platform open-source video editor |
Write docs, help centers, internal notes, and launch knowledge.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Docusaurus | Documentation website |
| Docmost | Collaborative wiki and docs |
| AppFlowy | Open-source Notion alternative |
| Logseq | Local-first knowledge management |
| Joplin | Privacy-focused notes with sync |
| MinerU | Converts PDFs and Office docs into LLM-ready markdown/JSON |
Deploy apps, run infrastructure, ship mobile releases, and monitor uptime.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Coolify | Self-hosted deployment platform |
| Dokploy | Open-source Vercel/Netlify/Heroku alternative |
| CapRover | Docker-powered app deployment platform |
| Dokku | Lightweight Heroku-style PaaS |
| OpenStatus | Uptime monitoring and status pages |
| fastlane | iOS/Android beta deploys, screenshots, metadata, releases |
| video-preview-appstore | App Store preview-compatible MP4 conversion |
| App Store Screenshots Generator | App Store screenshot generator |
| Appshot | CLI for App Store screenshots |
| Storeshots | App Store and Google Play screenshot generator |
Reduce launch risk before users, money, and customer data arrive.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Bitwarden Clients | Password manager clients and CLI |
| Trail of Bits skills | Claude Code security research and audit skills |
| Documenso | Open-source DocuSign alternative |
Local tools for faster solo-operator workflows.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Maccy | Lightweight macOS clipboard manager |
| Rectangle | macOS window management |
| Espanso | Cross-platform text expander |
| ActivityWatch | Privacy-first automated time tracker |
| Ice | macOS menu bar manager |
| LocalSend | Local cross-platform file sharing |
| Syncthing | Continuous private file sync |
| Zoxide | Smarter terminal directory jumping |
| devrunner | Rust-powered terminal task runner with zero configuration |
Structured tool data lives in data/tools.yml.
Pull requests welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Quick rule: add tools only when they help a solo founder build, launch, sell, support, automate, or grow a real product.
Suggested GitHub topics:
awesome-list, solo-founder, open-source, source-available, indie-hackers, saas, mvp, ai-agents, mcp, marketing, product-growth, startup-tools, developer-tools
This repository is licensed under the MIT License.