Building a Modern CRM Doesn't Have to Be a Headache

Remember the last time you tried to set up a CRM for a project? You were probably stuck choosing between a clunky, expensive enterprise suite or building something from scratch that would eat up months of development time. It feels like there should be a better option—something modern, open, and actually built for developers.

That's where Twenty comes in. It's an open-source CRM that aims to cut through the noise, giving you a solid foundation without locking you into someone else's ecosystem. Think of it as a developer-friendly starting point for managing customer relationships.

What It Does

Twenty is a self-hostable, open-source Customer Relationship Management platform. At its core, it handles the essentials you'd expect: contacts, companies, activities, and notes. But it's built with a key philosophy: it should be a foundation you can own and extend, not just a black-box SaaS product you rent.

Why It's Cool

The real appeal for developers is in the architecture and approach. Twenty is built with a modern stack (React, Node.js, TypeScript, and PostgreSQL) and is designed from the ground up to be customizable. The entire codebase is open, which means you're not just tweaking settings; you can modify the data model, add entirely new modules, or deeply integrate it with your own tools.

A standout feature is its focus on the "single source of truth." Instead of your customer data being scattered across emails, spreadsheets, and other tools, Twenty encourages you to centralize it. This makes it powerful for small teams and startups that need to move fast but keep their data organized. It feels less like a rigid corporate tool and more like a flexible workspace you can mold to your actual workflow.

How to Try It

The quickest way to see it in action is to check out their live demo on the Twenty website. You can log in with a test account and poke around the interface.

If you want to run it yourself, it's straightforward. The project provides a Docker-based setup, which is the recommended path. Clone the repo and use docker-compose to spin everything up locally.

git clone https://github.com/twentyhq/twenty.git
cd twenty
docker-compose up

For detailed instructions, including environment configuration, the GitHub repository README is the best place to start.

Final Thoughts

As a developer, the value of a tool like Twenty is in the time it saves and the control it returns to you. You're not building a CRM from an empty index.js file, but you're also not signing up for a platform that will dictate your limits or cost a fortune to scale. It occupies a useful middle ground—a fully-functional, modern application that you can treat as a starting point and make truly yours.

Whether you're building an internal tool for a client, need a CRM for your own side-project, or just want to explore a well-structured open-source application, Twenty is worth a look. It's a practical example of how open-source can solve real business problems without the usual vendor lock-in.

Follow for more interesting open-source projects: @githubprojects