OpenLeads is a small, self-hosted suite for people who sell websites, Hosting & Pflege, and local online marketing to small businesses. It covers the path from “this shop still has a 2016 WordPress site” to a proper ZUGFeRD / Factur-X invoice — and the AI can actually drive the product, not just sit in a chat box on the side.
It runs on open models you host yourself (local Ollama by default). Customer data does not need to leave your machine.
- Übersicht — live KPIs: open and overdue amounts, paid totals, a 12-month revenue chart, pipeline by stage, active contracts, and a reminder list for contracts ending within 60 days
- Chat (KI) — a copilot that uses the same audited tools as the UI: qualify leads, move stages, draft outreach, build invoices, manage catalog and customers, draft contracts. Point it at a URL and it can create a qualified lead
- Leads — CRM pipeline (kanban + table), stages, tags, notes; website-state fields (mobile-friendly?, tech, staleness, score). Import via
.xlsx, manual entry, or Chat. Dedupe by domain - Kunden — central client registry; prefills recipient data into invoices, contracts, and series
- Rechnungen — Angebote and Rechnungen with line items and print-ready PDF. Finalised invoices are ZUGFeRD / Factur-X (PDF/A-3 + EN 16931 XML), §19 UStG aware, gapless numbering. Payments (partial OK), Stornorechnung for corrections. Issued documents are immutable (GoBD)
- Serienrechnungen — recurring drafts for Hosting-/Wartungsverträge (monthly / quarterly / yearly). Nothing auto-sends
- Verträge — Dienst-, Werk-, Wartungsvertrag, Auftragsbestätigung, Rahmenvertrag, AVV… AGB frozen at finalise. Or skip the builder and PDF ablegen for existing contracts
- Ausgaben — receipts with SKR03 categories, net + Vorsteuer split, DATEV export, plus your own SaaS/hosting Abos with renewal reminders
- Einstellungen — business profile, numbering, AGB, Leistungskatalog (prefilled for a web agency), users, AI + SMTP, Steuerberater exports, backup, DSGVO toolkit
Cross-module jumps leave a „Zurück zu …“ trail (browser back works too). Strg/Cmd+K opens global search. The UI is German; the app is installable as a PWA.
Note: The AI never sends mail on its own. A human approves every outgoing message.
Deliberately light: Node’s built-in SQLite, a small Hono API, Vite/React, pure-JS PDFs.
| Part | Tech |
|---|---|
api/ |
Hono + Node node:sqlite |
web/ |
React 19 + Vite (vanilla CSS, “Kanzlei” theme) |
cli/ |
openleads command line + MCP server (zero runtime deps) |
| AI | OpenAI-compatible fetch → Ollama / vLLM, open models |
pdfkit → PDF/A-3 + Factur-X |
|
| Auth | scrypt + server-side DB sessions |
api/src/
index.ts # composition root
routes/ # one HTTP module per domain
ai/ # provider, agent loop, tools, prompts
<domain>.ts # domain logic + SQL
<domain>.test.ts
Needs Node 22.5+ (for node:sqlite); Node 24 recommended.
# 1) API → http://127.0.0.1:8787
cd api
npm install
cp .env.example .env # set SETTINGS_KEY (see below)
npm run seed -- <user> <pw> # create the login (no public signup)
npm run dev
# 2) Web → http://localhost:5173 (proxies /api to the API)
cd ../web
npm install
npm run devOpen http://localhost:5173 and sign in. A fresh database already has a starter Leistungskatalog (Website-Pakete, Relaunch, Hosting & Pflege, SEO, …).
node:sqlite prints an ExperimentalWarning on boot — expected, ignore it.
If you use Claude Code, ask it to “set up OpenLeads” (skill setup-openleads) — same steps, driven for you.
| Variable | Where | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
SETTINGS_KEY |
api | Encrypts credentials saved in Settings (required in production) |
DB_PATH |
api | SQLite path (default ./data/leads.db) |
WEB_ORIGIN |
api | Allowed browser origin (CORS + CSRF) |
TRUST_PROXY |
api | Set 1 only behind your reverse proxy |
AI_* |
api / UI | AI endpoint (default: local Ollama) |
SMTP_* |
api / UI | Outgoing mail (optional) |
Generate a key:
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"There is no session secret: sessions live in the database, so logout and password resets revoke them for real.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| docs/SETUP.md | Dev setup, AI, common pitfalls |
| docs/MODULES.md | Tour of every module (with screenshots) |
| docs/USAGE.md | Day-to-day workflow, shortcuts, imports |
| docs/AI.md | Copilot, tools, human-in-the-loop |
| docs/CLI.md | openleads command line, API tokens, MCP server |
| docs/COMPLIANCE.md | ZUGFeRD, GoBD, DSGVO notes |
| docs/templates/ | Lead import spreadsheet templates |
| deploy/DEPLOY.md | Docker Compose + nginx production |
Everything the UI does is also a command, and the same binary doubles as an MCP server so an agent host can drive OpenLeads alongside your other tools.
cd cli && npm install && npm link
openleads login --token ol_… # token from Einstellungen → API-Tokens
openleads docs list --overdue --json # JSON automatically when piped
openleads backup -o ./sicherungen/
openleads mcp # stdio MCP serverAPI tokens are named, revocable and can be read-only. The MCP server exposes
reads and reversible writes by default; issuing an invoice, sending mail and
correcting with a Stornorechnung stay off unless you pass
--allow-irreversible. Full guide: docs/CLI.md.
One Docker image holds the built web app and the API. The SQLite DB sits in a named volume so it survives image updates. Walkthrough: deploy/DEPLOY.md.
A finalised Rechnung embeds EN 16931 Cross Industry Invoice XML (factur-x.xml) into a PDF/A-3, so lexoffice / sevDesk / DATEV can pick up line items on their own. Kleinunternehmer invoices use tax category E (§19); otherwise category S at your configured rate.
Validate output with the official ZUGFeRD validator / Mustang / veraPDF before relying on it for tax purposes. Target profile: EN 16931.
MIT — © 2026 Lucas Reimers.
OpenLeads is provided as-is. It is not tax or legal advice — check invoice output and your bookkeeping obligations with your Steuerberater.