Building an Open-Source CRM with Laravel and Livewire: Insights from Five Months of Development

Over the past five months, I dedicated myself to creating an open-source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, working solo to bring it to life. Reflecting on this journey, I want to share some valuable lessons learned, technical decisions that made a difference, and honest insights into the development process.

What Worked Well

Exceptional Tools Amplify Productivity
Integrating Filament into my project was a game-changer. Tasks that I initially estimated would take weeks were accomplished in days, thanks to its powerful and intuitive interface. It significantly accelerated my backend Administration development.

Laravel and Livewire: A Perfect Pair for Solo Developers
Combining Laravel with Livewire allowed me to streamline my workflow — no need to juggle separate APIs or frontend frameworks. This mono-architecture approach simplified data binding and UI updates, enabling faster iteration.

Enjoyable Modern PHP Development
Embracing PHP at a high level of rigor (about 99.6% typed, with PHPStan at level 7) transformed my experience. Writing modern PHP felt surprisingly enjoyable, boosting confidence in code quality and maintainability.

Challenges Encountered

Scaling Custom Fields
Adding custom fields initially seemed straightforward but revealed performance issues when exceeding 50+ per record. Page load times surged from under 250 milliseconds to over two seconds. I mitigated this by optimizing eager loading strategies and implementing caching mechanisms.

Target Audience Focus
Designing for a broad user base often meant diluting focus. I found it more effective to tailor features for small teams rather than trying to serve everyone, which allowed for more meaningful user experiences.

Open Source Is a Commitment
While open source projects are valuable, they require ongoing maintenance and engagement. It’s not just about releasing code; it’s about continually supporting and improving it.

Key Technical Strategies

• Following Laravel Conventions: Adhering to established patterns sped up development and eased future maintenance, even if it felt less innovative.
• Early Adoption of PHPStan: Integrating static analysis from the start helped identify bugs early, reducing debugging time later.
• Leveraging Filament for Admin Interfaces: Instead of building admin panels from scratch, using Filament saved massive development time and provided a polished interface.

Final Reflection

Completing an MVP in five months is a balanced accomplishment — it’s fast enough to validate the idea and produce