Open-source software for makerspaces
Keep track of your tools and parts, manage borrowing,
and give everything in your space a place.
Free to use. Self-hosted. Yours to build on.
01 / A little order goes a long way
From breadboards to big machines, keep the things you share organized—and get back to what you came to make.
Catalogue parts and tools. Organize boxes, shelves and rooms.
Follow requests, handovers and returns in one place.
Spend less time finding things and more time making them.
02 / Shared tools. Clear handovers.
A tool can change hands without losing its story. Requests, scans, photos and return notes stay together in one record.
Scan the box. Capture the handover. Keep the receipt.
Example loan recordSigned-in member, public catalogue
Decided at the desk console
“Chuck sticks a little.” Photo and note on file
03 / Your space. Your setup.
Lend tools, run a whole makerspace, host events or take bookings: it’s the same install, and what you leave out simply isn’t there.
$ curl -fsSL \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SpaceWorks-Labs/SpaceWorks/main/install.sh \
| bash
Deployment summary
Areas: inventory,machines,events,membership,reports; edition: makerspace
On a Linux server, as a user with sudo. The installer asks every question first and changes nothing until you confirm. Read install.sh
Personal accounts, backup, notifications and email are always on. Any area can be switched later in settings.
04 / Room for the whole space
Staff console, member area, public pages and a front-desk kiosk, with every module below in the same install. Native iOS and Android apps for members are on the way.
05 / One system, every screen
The same records follow you from the front desk to the staff console to a member’s phone. Every app talks to the server you run, so your data stays yours.
One Docker install runs the API, database, storage and background jobs, for one space or many.
SourceRequests, handovers, stock, machines, events and reports, updating the moment they change.
Browse the catalogue, request a tool, book a room, and see your own loans and fees.
A counter screen for the busy moments: scan the box, take the photo, hand it over.
Native SwiftUI for iPhone, on iOS 17 and later. Point it at your own server.
Follow alongNative Kotlin and Compose for phones and tablets, on Android 8 and later.
Follow alongAlso part of it: the docs, the design system every app draws from, and an open REST API with signed webhooks for your own tools.
06 / The whole platform, or one app
Space Works is free, open-source, self-hosted management software for makerspaces, fab labs, hackerspaces and tool libraries. One install covers inventory and QR tool lending, machines and 3D printing, events, room bookings and memberships, for one space or many. Each standalone app below does one of those jobs on its own install, with its own database.
A stock room and lending desk: catalogue, QR labels, photo-evidence loans, stock counts and transfers between spaces.
Inventory and tool lending software Released3D printers, laser cutters and CNC: job requests with a fair queue, pricing and payments, consumables, repairs and maintenance.
Machine and 3D print job management software ReleasedEvent pages, registration, free or paid tickets, live QR tickets, offline check-in, badges, feedback and certificates.
Event registration and ticketing platform ReleasedRooms, studios, desks and halls: live availability, approvals, check-in, payments and cancellation policies.
Room and space booking software In active developmentMemberships for clubs, associations and alumni bodies: join forms, renewals, UPI and online fees, GST receipts and member cards.
Membership management software ReleasedThe internal tool for the team running the space: projects and kanban, chat, docs, finance, people, governance and secrets.
Team operations and back-office software In developmentNative iPhone, iPad and Android apps for members and staff: equipment, loans, bookings, events and QR check-in.
Makerspace mobile app for iOS and Android07 / The foundations are covered
These come with every install, whichever areas you turn on.
Full-platform backups where each space is sealed to its own keys, the whole archive is signed, and restore checks the signature before it decrypts anything. Offsite copies are verified and re-read every 30 days.
Updates come from GitHub releases. A backup is taken first, and the old version comes back if the new one fails its health check.
Export one makerspace with its records, photos and money, and import it on another server.
Personal data is encrypted per space, integration secrets are encrypted at rest, and the audit log, evidence photos and QR scans can’t be edited.
Series, approvals and waitlists, QR check-in with an offline roster and PIN stations, feedback, attendance certificates, badges and calendar feeds.
Public print requests, printers and spools, filament tracking, slicer estimates and an optional charge at collection.
Queues, loans and check-ins update the moment they change, and every list has search that forgives typos.
Password, Google, Apple, phone and SMS code, or your own identity provider: Keycloak, Authentik, Azure AD, Okta.
Editable roles per space over a fixed set of actions, four ready-made defaults, and a separate control plane for the server owner.
Opt-in profiles with projects and interests, and a member directory that lists only the people who chose to be listed.
Run many makerspaces on one server, each fully separate, and link them under a network, university or chain with one event catalogue.
A single-box mode for one small server, request IDs through every log, and a Prometheus endpoint for queues, deliveries and storage.
08 / Good questions
Still unsure? Ask the community or read the docs.
Space Works is free, open-source, self-hosted software for makerspaces, fab labs, hackerspaces, tool libraries and the communities around them. The main platform covers inventory and tool lending, machines and 3D printing, events, bookings and memberships in one install. Six standalone apps cover one of those jobs each.
Yes. Every Space Works project is open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL-3.0). There is no licence fee. You can use, study, modify and share it, including for commercial work, and you pay only for the server you host it on.
On a Linux server, as a user with sudo, run the one-line installer: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SpaceWorks-Labs/SpaceWorks/main/install.sh | bash. It asks every question first, changes nothing until you confirm, and runs the platform with Docker Compose. The documentation covers manual installs and hosting options.
Start with the main Space Works platform if you run a whole makerspace. If you only need one job done, the standalone apps (Inventory, Machines, Events, Bookings, Organization and Workspace) each install on their own with their own database. Running several apps does not automatically combine their accounts or data; they connect through REST APIs and webhooks where supported.
Yes. One Space Works server can host many makerspaces, each fully separate with its own members, inventory, roles, settings and audit trail. Networks, universities and chains can link spaces under one organisation with a shared event catalogue.
Payments are optional. The main platform supports Stripe or Razorpay checkout; without them, fees and deposits are tracked and settled at the desk. The standalone Events, Bookings, Machines and Organization apps take Razorpay, Stripe or offline payments, and Organization adds UPI and GST receipts for Indian organisations.
Native iOS (SwiftUI, iOS 17 and later) and Android (Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, Android 8 and later) apps are in development. Both connect to your own Space Works server for equipment, requests, loans, bookings, events and QR workflows.
On your own server. Space Works is self-hosted, so member, inventory and payment records stay in your database. Personal data is encrypted per space, integration secrets are encrypted at rest, and backups are encrypted and signed.
Space Works was started by Shaan Shoukath at TinkerSpace Kochi, a community makerspace by TinkerHub in Kerala, India, and is built in the open by the Space Works community on GitHub. It runs at TinkerHub Kochi and TinkerHub Calicut, serving more than 1,000 members.