Nice work. I cannot test the demo as it is down now but just wanted to share I have been using open source solution Zammad and I am pretty happy about it. It's fully open source (it's a ruby app - so different stack.) and pretty robust. The frontend is a bit oldish, but it has a lot of nice features. The single binary, easy deploy + fresh UI is interesting thought. Are you planning multilingual features?
Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
41–50 of 79 posts
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#42Anyone using RT still here?
My idea tracking system is one that exists in email, but doesnt send a billion obnoxious "your ticket has been created" emails and butcher the contents. So far I've got it kind of working with RT as a no reply listener. We watch all comms but it doesnt reply to anything.
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#43Potential roadmap item: bidirectional sync with Jira (and others) so support requests can create/be linked to Jira (etc) tickets, and see updates from them.
While we're thinking about it, something I always wanted when I was working support. The abilitiy to "upvote" a bug from within a support case. That way a PM can sort open issues by number of users who are griping about it.
Yeah! Or at least have a count of the number of customer requests linked to the same ticket.
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you plan to fund the development, if at all? For a project like this, a hosted version might be a nice idea if you eventually want to do something else than putting your free time into support and maintenance. And many users will appreciate that the hosted version takes care of DB migration and backups for them. A hosted version need not necessarily target maximum money making. You could run it as a nonprofit…
> A hosted version need not necessarily target maximum money making. You could run it as a nonprofit whose goal is to ensure that the open-source project works well and lives long. That actually makes sense. Also will apply to FOSS funds like - https://floss.fund
For an example of how it can go down otherwise:
papercups.io – Open-source alternative to Intercom
Funded by Y Combinator
https://web.archive.org/web/20230404011725/https://papercups...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26527268
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24133719
I don't know why it shut down (my guess: didn't pan out with the typical revenue growth goals of a startup), but having a hosted version might save your project from such fate, making enough money to fund you, or somebody you hire who's excited about working on Free Software.
Some pricing ideas: Free for noncommercial with limited data retention (like the Chatwoot free tier), 3-5 $/month for noncommercial individuals (e.g. users to put it in their website), more $/month for commercial. Add some more expensive enterprise plan that supports Microsoft EntraID groups for externalised permission management and you're good to go :) Add easy DB import/export functionality, so people can switch between hosted and self-hosted. A lot of people will be happy to pay for the convenience of hosted. Host in EU for best data protection (makes it easier for people to sign up).
For billing, probably good to use a Merchant-of-Record service such as paddle.com (our startup likes it) to be able to sell internationally without having to deal with international taxes.
I wish you and the project lots of success!
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#45Nice work. I cannot test the demo as it is down now but just wanted to share I have been using open source solution Zammad and I am pretty happy about it. It's fully open source (it's a ruby app - so different stack.) and pretty robust. The frontend is a bit oldish, but it has a lot of nice features. The single binary, easy deploy + fresh UI is interesting thought. Are you planning multilingual features?
It's up now, yes planning to support multiple languages.
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#46[flagged]
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#47[flagged]
How so?
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#48We all know open-source customer support tools are still the wild west, and Libredesk might just be the sheriff in town.
Libredesk's single binary app approach is refreshing - simplicity can be beautiful when done right.
As someone who's been around the block a few times, I'm intrigued by the potential for self-hosted support desks to disrupt traditional SaaS models.
In fact, I remember when our own company was small and struggled with customer support. We ended up building something similar to Libredesk, but it took us months of trial and error - not exactly scalable.
So kudos to you, abhinavxd, for creating a tool that could potentially make all our lives easier (or harder, depending on how we choose to use it).
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#49If the AI response feature promises something I cannot deliver, who is liable?
Re: Show HN: Libredesk – Open-source customer support desk. Single binary app
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A hosted version need not necessarily target maximum money making. You could run it as a nonprofit whose goal is to ensure that the open-source project works well and lives long. That actually makes sense. Also will apply to FOSS funds like - https://floss.fund
For an example of how it can go down otherwise: papercups.io – Open-source alternative to Intercom Funded by Y Combinator https://web.archive.org/web/20230404011725/https://papercups... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26527268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24133719 I don't know why it shut down (my guess: didn't pan out with the typical revenue growth goals of a startup), but having a hosted version might…
Would hosting in Europe really help?
I’m under the impression that current EU case law makes it impossible for EU-based government entities to store personal data in services owned by US entities, no matter where they are hosted.
Maybe I misunderstood this?
Someone has told me that all the EU governments using Office 365 are basically violating the GDPR and getting away with it (for now). Any truth to that?