In simple English
This tool lets you run your own private system for drafting, negotiating, and signing business contracts. You can invite people to review documents, make tracked changes, and sign them securely. It seals the final PDFs so no one can tamper with them afterward. You can host it entirely on your own server without paying a monthly fee to an outside company. It is best suited for small business owners and teams who want full control over their legal documents.
What it is
An open-source contract management platform built with TypeScript, featuring collaborative redlining, electronic signatures, and API integrations. It runs locally using Docker Compose and stores its data in PostgreSQL.
What it is good for
Solo founders and small business owners who want to handle client contracts, nondisclosure agreements, and vendor terms without relying on expensive hosted signing services.
- Runs on your own server, keeping all sensitive contract data completely under your control.
- Supports collaborative redlining and document edits directly inside the browser.
- Generates cryptographically sealed PDFs with built-in completion records and CMS integrity verification.
- Requires Docker (a way to run a program inside its own sealed box, so it cannot break anything else on your server) and some technical knowledge to set up and maintain.
- Uses the strict AGPL-3.0 licence (which requires you to share your source code if you modify the app and let others use it over a network).
- Very early development release with only a few GitHub stars and active issues still being worked out.
commercial electronic signature services and manual email contract negotiation
postgresql
- SigNoz/signoz32k stars
Not an alternative; this is a reminder to check actual domain tools as contract platforms are rare in open source.
git clone https://github.com/bytecrunch-io/openclm.git cd openclm docker compose up --build