LabSynch

Free, open-source lab management for research & university labs. Inventory, scheduling, safety, procurement and maintenance in one portal — instead of a wiki and a dozen spreadsheets.

Built by someone who has run engineering & research laboratories for over a decade.

Try it free: labsynch.com · Self-host: it's a Cloudflare Workers app — clone, set a few secrets, deploy (runs on the free tier) · License: MIT

What's inside — 12 modules

Inventory & assets · Facilities · Experiments · Scheduling · Service requests · Safety · Procurement · Budgets (CAPEX/OPEX) · Vendors · Maintenance · Documents · AI assistant.

Each replaces a spreadsheet, a form, or an email thread — one login, one source of truth.

Tech stack

• Web — Next.js (App Router) on Cloudflare via OpenNext
• API — Hono on Cloudflare Workers
• Database — Cloudflare D1 (SQLite) via Prisma
• Files — Cloudflare R2

Run it locally

npm install
cp api/.dev.vars.example api/.dev.vars      # local secrets (placeholders are fine for dev)
npm run db:generate
npm run db:apply:local
npm run db:seed:local                        # optional sample data
npm run dev                                  # web → http://localhost:3000, api → http://localhost:8787

Dev logins after seeding: admin@example.edu, faculty@example.edu, student@example.edu — password password123.

Deploy your own

Full guide: DEPLOYMENT.md. Short version:

1. Create a Cloudflare D1 database and R2 bucket.
2. Copy api/wrangler.toml.example → api/wrangler.toml and web/wrangler.toml.example → web/wrangler.toml, and fill in your own ids / names / URLs.
3. Set secrets (never commit these): wrangler secret put AUTH_SECRET (plus VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY and an email token if you want push / email).
4. npm run db:apply:remote, then deploy the API and web workers.

Everything runs comfortably inside Cloudflare's free tier.

Testing

See TESTING.md — API integration tests (Vitest) + end-to-end tests (Playwright).

Security

See SECURITY.md. Please don't run security tests against the live labsynch.com instance without permission.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. It's a tool one person built to make lab work easier — if it helps your lab too, great.

Disclaimer

LabSynch is free and provided as-is, with no warranty (see LICENSE). It's a tool one person built and shares to help other labs — expect the occasional rough edge, and please keep your own backups of anything important. If you use the hosted instance at labsynch.com, treat it as a helpful assistant rather than your only system of record — I can't promise uptime, and I may not be able to run it forever. Found a bug or have an idea? Email info@labsynch.com or open an issue — I read every message.

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MIT licensed. Not a company — a free tool, shared.