Building an Open-Source CRM in Five Months: Lessons from a Solo Developer’s Journey with Laravel and Livewire
After five months of intense development, I successfully launched an open-source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, crafted entirely by a solo developer using Laravel and Livewire. Reflecting on this journey, I’d like to share some valuable insights and key takeaways that might benefit fellow developers pursuing similar projects.
Highlights of the Development Experience
- Exceptional Tools Accelerated Progress
Leveraging the Filament admin panel significantly streamlined my development process. Tasks that could have taken weeks were completed in a fraction of the time, thanks to its robust features and integration.
- Excellent Frameworks for Solo Development
Combining Laravel with Livewire proved to be an ideal setup for independent developers. It enabled me to build a comprehensive backend and frontend without the need for separate APIs or frontend frameworks, simplifying the development workflow.
- Enjoyable Modern PHP Experience
Recent advancements in PHP (with nearly 100% type declarations and PHPStan level 7) transformed my coding experience into something genuinely enjoyable. Writing modern PHP became a seamless and rewarding process.
Challenges Encountered Along the Way
- Handling Extensive Custom Fields
Initially, adding custom fields seemed straightforward. However, records with over 50 custom fields caused page load times to escalate from 250ms to around 2 seconds. This bottleneck was mitigated through improved eager loading strategies and caching mechanisms.
- Defining the Target Audience
Designing for “everyone” often results in serving no one effectively. I refined my focus to small teams, enabling me to tailor features and performance to their specific needs.
- Open Source Is Commitment, Not Free Labor
Maintaining an open-source project isn’t merely about initial development. It demands ongoing effort, bug fixes, documentation updates, and community engagement—an important consideration for sustainability.
Key Decisions That Accelerated Development
- Stick to Laravel Conventions
Adhering to familiar Laravel patterns kept development predictable and fast, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
- Early Integration of PHPStan
Implementing static analysis from the beginning uncovered bugs early, reducing debugging time later in the project lifecycle.
- Utilize Established Packages
Opting for Filament over building an admin interface from scratch saved countless hours and provided a polished, extendable backend.
Realistic Reflections
Completing an MVP in five months is both a remarkable achievement and a reminder of the realities of solo development
