Show HN: SparQ Pulse – Self-hosted, GitHub-native project management

SparQ Soft released SparQ Pulse, the first fully open-source Developer Experience suite for GitHub-native teams, offering self-hosted project management, async standups, and team presence features. The tool runs on SQLite with zero external dependencies and includes optional AI-powered capabilities via OpenAI or Anthropic. SparQ Pulse is available immediately, with Metrics and Knowledge products coming soon.

The first fully open-source Developer Experience suite for GitHub-native teams Changelog /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md · Contributing /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md · Security /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/SECURITY.md /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/.github/assets/screenshot.png Dashboard: team pulse, blockers, and activity at a glance sparQ is the first fully open-source Developer Experience suite for GitHub-native teams. It's a set of focused products that share one self-hosted home. Start with Pulse today, with Metrics and Knowledge on the way. | Product | Description | Status | |---|---|---| Pulse | GitHub-native project management, async standups, team presence, and delivery visibility | Available | Metrics | DORA metrics and engineering analytics | Coming soon | Knowledge | LLM-powered knowledge base from your codebase | Coming soon | GitHub-native project management, async standups, team presence, and delivery visibility for teams living in GitHub. Self-hosting is always free. Forever. Runs on SQLite out of the box. Zero external dependencies. GitHub Sync — Projects, tasks, and status derived from PRs, issues, and commits Async Standups — Template-driven daily check-ins with audio recording and transcription Blockers Board — Track blockers with owners, urgency tiers, and automatic nudges Presence — See who's available, focused, blocked, or out across the team Action Items — Three-tier urgency system Now / Later / Whenever , weekly plans Chat & DMs — Real-time messaging with channels, direct messages, and reactions Documents — Notes, e-signatures with audit trail, knowledge base People — Directory, onboarding, 1-on-1s, hiring pipeline Time & Attendance — Clock in/out, PTO requests, schedules, punch corrections AI Assistant — Optional LLM-powered features OpenAI or Anthropic Mobile API — Full REST API with JWT auth Multi-language — Built-in i18n with installable language packs git clone https://github.com/sparqsoft/sparq.git cd sparq docker compose up Open http://localhost:8000 http://localhost:8000 to get started. Requires Python 3.13+ and uv https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ . git clone https://github.com/sparqsoft/sparq.git cd sparq/pulse make venv source venv/bin/activate make run Open http://localhost:8000 http://localhost:8000 . By default sparQ uses SQLite zero-config . To use PostgreSQL, set DATABASE URL in your .env : DATABASE URL=postgresql://sparq:sparq@localhost:5432/sparq Then start a Postgres container and run: cd pulse make db-start make run Copy .env.example to .env in the pulse/ directory. The app auto-generates one on first run if missing. Key settings: | Variable | Default | Description | |---|---|---| SECRET KEY | Auto-generated | Flask session secret | DATABASE URL | SQLite data/sparq.db | Database connection string | FLASK DEBUG | false | Enable debug mode | LLM PROVIDER | openai | AI provider openai or anthropic | OPENAI API KEY | -- | Required for AI features | MSA USER | -- | Admin panel username disabled if unset | MSA PASS | -- | Admin panel password disabled if unset | See pulse/.env.example /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/pulse/.env.example for the full list. sparQ includes a built-in admin console at /msa for managing organizations, workspaces, and users. It is disabled by default . Set both MSA USER and MSA PASS in your .env to enable it. sparQ sends transactional emails for signups, password resets, and magic link logins. Configure email from the admin panel or via environment variables. Option 1: Admin Panel recommended - Enable the MSA admin panel set MSA USER and MSA PASS - Navigate to /msa/email - Select a provider Gmail, Microsoft 365, SendGrid, Mailgun, AWS SES, or custom SMTP - Enter your credentials and click Save Configuration - Use Test Connection and Send Test Email to verify Option 2: Environment Variables Set these in your .env to configure email without the admin panel: | Variable | Description | |---|---| SMTP HOST | SMTP server hostname e.g., smtp.gmail.com | SMTP PORT | SMTP port default: 587 | SMTP USERNAME | SMTP username or email address | SMTP PASSWORD | SMTP password or app-specific password | SMTP FROM EMAIL | Sender email address | SMTP PROVIDER | Provider name e.g., gmail , sendgrid , custom | Environment variables take priority over admin panel settings. Fields locked by env vars are shown with a lock icon in the admin panel. Gmail users:Enable 2-Step Verification, then generate an App Password . Use the 16-character app password, not your regular password. If no email provider is configured, signup falls back to direct password-based registration no email confirmation . sparQ syncs tasks and blockers with GitHub Issues. Connect using a classic Personal Access Token PAT : - Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens classic https://github.com/settings/tokens/new - Create a new token with these scopes: repo and admin:repo hook - In sparQ, go to Settings → Integrations and paste your token and repository owner/repo - Open Settings → Integrations → GitHub → Match GitHub people and map each GitHub account to a sparQ member, so commit and PR activity is attributed to the right person unmapped accounts are skipped . Members can also self-map in their own settings. That's it. Issues, labels, and assignees sync between sparQ and your repository, and commits and pull requests show up in the Status feed as each person's current activity. Self-hosting behind a reverse proxy?Set GITHUB WEBHOOK BASE URL to your public URL e.g. https://app.example.com so the auto-registered webhook resolves correctly, and set GITHUB WEBHOOK SECRET to verify inbound webhooks required in production . sparq/ ├── pulse/ Main application sparQ Pulse │ ├── app.py Application factory │ ├── modules/ Feature modules core, updates, presence, etc. │ ├── system/ Framework db, auth, email, middleware, etc. │ ├── tests/ Unit, integration, and e2e tests │ ├── Makefile Dev commands make run, make venv, etc. │ └── requirements.in Python dependencies ├── metrics/ coming soon ├── knowledge/ coming soon └── docker-compose.yml Backend : Python, Flask, SQLAlchemy, Flask-SocketIO Database : SQLite default or PostgreSQL Frontend : Server-rendered Jinja2 templates, HTMX Real-time : WebSocket via Flask-SocketIO Production : Gunicorn cd pulse Run tests python -m pytest tests/ Reset database make reset Verbose startup shows module loading make run V=1 We welcome contributions Please read our Contributing Guide /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md to get started. If you find a security vulnerability, please follow our Security Policy /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/SECURITY.md instead of filing a public issue. This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 /gosparq/sparq/blob/master/LICENSE . Copyright c 2025-2026 sparQ Software LLC.