Meerkat CRM - a simple CRM for the personal life

You can find the detailed documentation here: meerkatcrm.github.io/meerkat-crm/

[!TIP]

Click here to try the Demo! (user: demo, password: test_12345)

> Demo instance will be started on demand, expect some seconds delay. Demo data is reset periodically. Photo upload is disabled.

Features

• Contact management

• Notes and activities

• Reminders

• Integrations

• Usability

Installation

Docker (Recommended)

Meerkat CRM ships as a single all-in-one image (ghcr.io/meerkatcrm/meerkat-crm) that bundles the frontend and backend into one container. The easiest way to run it is with Docker Compose:

1. Download the Docker Compose file:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/meerkatcrm/meerkat-crm/main/docker-compose.yml
    curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/meerkatcrm/meerkat-crm/main/.env.example

1. Configure environment:

# Copy the environment template
    cp .env.example .env
# Edit with your settings
    nano .env

1. Start the container:

docker compose up -d

1. Access the application:

Prefer to skip Compose? You can run the image directly.

docker run -d --name meerkat --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 7300:8080 \
  -e JWT_SECRET_KEY='<paste a secret here, changing it will invalidate logins>' \
  -v "$(pwd)/data:/app/data" \
  -v "$(pwd)/photos:/app/static/photos" \
  ghcr.io/meerkatcrm/meerkat-crm:latest

All other settings are optional, see .env.example for e-mail notifications, CardDAV, and SSO. Pass them with additional -e flags, or use --env-file .env.

Contributing

Bugs and feature requests

You can also participate and open up a pull request.

AI assistants are welcome — this repository uses Claude Code itself, and some pull requests here are opened by maintainer-run automation. The standard is the same either way: you are responsible for the quality of what you submit, and you should understand it well enough to explain it in review. Please don't open hands-off "vibe-coded" pull requests you haven't read and tested — in those cases a feature request is far more useful than a patch nobody can vouch for.

Development

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/meerkatcrm/meerkat-crm.git
    cd meerkat-crm

1. Run the backend:

cd backend
    # Copy the example environment file and configure it with your settings
    cp .env.example .env
    
    # Install dependencies and run
    go mod tidy
    source .env
    go run main.go

1. Run the frontend (in a second terminal):

cd frontend
yarn install
   yarn start

You can find a more comprehensive overview for developers in the developer README.

Alternative software

• MonicaHQ (Open Source, development seems to have stalled; the new version chandler is available at beta.monicahq.com)
• Dex (paid offering with social media integration)
• Clay (paid offering with focus on automation)

• Twenty (Open Source "classic" CRM system)