Building an Open-Source CRM as a Solo Developer: Lessons From Five Months of Development
Embarking on the journey to create an open-source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is both exciting and challenging. Over the past five months, I dedicated myself to building a comprehensive CRM platform using Laravel and Livewire, and I’d like to share some insights and lessons learned along the way.
Highlights and Successes
One of the standout tools that accelerated my development process was Filament. Its capabilities transformed what could have been weeks of work into mere days. For solo developers, Laravel paired with Livewire proved to be an ideal combination—eliminating the need for separate API and frontend layers, streamlining development, and simplifying the architecture.
Modern PHP has also proven to be surprisingly enjoyable, especially with high typing standards and static analysis tools. Incorporating PHPStan at level 7 and maintaining a 99.6% type coverage ensured code quality and reduced bugs.
Challenges and Solutions
As the project scaled, certain hurdles arose. Implementing custom fields initially seemed straightforward, but once the number of custom fields per record exceeded fifty, page load times soared from around 250 milliseconds to over two seconds. Addressing this required optimizing database queries through eager loading techniques and effective caching strategies.
Designing the platform for an “average user” was a mistake; it became clear that targeting small teams allowed for more focused and usable features. Additionally, managing an open-source project demands ongoing effort—release cycles, support, and maintenance are commitments that rival core development.
Key Technical Strategies
My approach to the technology stack contributed significantly to the project’s success:
- Adhering to Laravel’s conventions kept the codebase maintainable and efficient
- Implementing PHPStan from day one caught numerous bugs early
- Choosing Filament for admin panel creation avoided reinventing the wheel and saved considerable development time
Reflections on Timeline
In retrospect, five months to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is both swift and measured. It’s fast because the platform is ready for production use, but also slower than it might appear because delivering quality features requires triple the effort—doing it right is time-consuming.
If you’re interested in the technical details or the implementation specifics, I welcome you to visit relaticle.com.
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Have you undertaken solo SaaS projects? How long did it take you to reach an MVP? Share your
