Vibecode Capsule
track this build5 steps, step by step0%KINDA · weekend project
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Capsule, track contacts, opportunities, tasks, and notes for a small business. The hard boundary is email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity, plus integrations, data quality, and workflow lock-in.
the project pack4 files · fastest path to a working personal build
You are building a lean indie version of Capsule. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== README.md ===== # Capsule indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Capsule workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity - automatic email and calendar capture - data enrichment - large integration ecosystem - enterprise reporting If those capabilities are essential, use Twenty instead of pretending the gap is solved. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs". ===== BUILD_PLAN.md ===== # Build plan ## Original build brief Build a personal replacement for Capsule in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages. Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export. Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging. Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard. Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command. Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion. Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases. Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Docker - PostgreSQL - self-hosted server - optional email API credentials ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden. ===== .env.example ===== # Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
You are building a lean indie version of Capsule. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== README.md ===== # Capsule indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Capsule workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity - automatic email and calendar capture - data enrichment - large integration ecosystem - enterprise reporting If those capabilities are essential, use Twenty instead of pretending the gap is solved. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs". ===== BUILD_PLAN.md ===== # Build plan ## Original build brief Build a personal replacement for Capsule in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages. Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export. Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging. Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard. Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command. Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion. Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases. Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Docker - PostgreSQL - self-hosted server - optional email API credentials ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden. ===== .env.example ===== # Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
You are building a production product version of Capsule. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== PRODUCT.md ===== # Capsule product brief ## Problem The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Capsule, track contacts, opportunities, tasks, and notes for a small business. The hard boundary is email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity, plus integrations, data quality, and workflow lock-in. ## Product outcome Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Docker - PostgreSQL - self-hosted server - optional email API credentials ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity - automatic email and calendar capture - data enrichment - large integration ecosystem - enterprise reporting ## Success criteria - The primary workflow is measurable end to end. - Setup is reproducible in a clean environment. - Failure, recovery, and support paths are documented. - Product claims match what the implementation actually guarantees. ===== ARCHITECTURE.md ===== # Architecture ## Starting brief Build a personal replacement for Capsule in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages. Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export. Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging. Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard. Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command. Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion. Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases. Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Boundaries Separate the product into replaceable modules for interface, application logic, persistence, external integrations, and operational concerns. Keep domain logic independent from delivery frameworks and vendors. ## Production baseline - Configuration: validated at startup with safe local defaults where possible. - Security: least privilege, input validation, secret redaction, rate limits on abuse-prone paths, and no invented security primitives. - Data: explicit schema and migrations, transactional writes where integrity matters, backup and restore instructions. - Integrations: adapters around third-party providers, idempotent webhook or job processing, bounded retries, and timeouts. - Observability: structured logs with request or operation IDs, an error-tracking hook, and health/readiness checks where a server exists. - Quality: unit tests for domain rules, integration tests at module boundaries, and one end-to-end critical-path test. ## Decision records For each major dependency, document why it was chosen, its failure mode, and how it can be replaced. Do not introduce infrastructure until a requirement justifies it. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Read `PRODUCT.md` and `ARCHITECTURE.md` before changing code. - Implement milestone by milestone; keep each change reviewable and leave the application runnable. - Treat authentication, payments, encryption, imports, webhooks, and destructive actions as high-risk boundaries when present. - Never invent cryptography or silently weaken a requirement to make a test pass. - Use provider interfaces for external services and deterministic fakes in tests. - Add migrations and rollback or recovery notes for persistent data changes. - Log useful operational context without credentials, tokens, passwords, or personal data. - Update documentation and run all checks before completing a milestone. ===== MILESTONES.md ===== # Delivery milestones ## M0 — Decisions and scaffold - Confirm the runtime, persistence model, threat boundaries, and deployment target. - Create a reproducible local environment and continuous checks. ## M1 — Core workflow - Implement the smallest end-to-end product path with validation and tests. - Keep integrations behind interfaces. ## M2 — Trust layer - Add secure failure behavior, recovery paths, audit-relevant events, and data safeguards. - Test abuse cases and destructive operations. ## M3 — Operability - Add structured logs, error reporting hooks, health signals, backup/restore documentation, and deployment configuration. ## M4 — Release gate - Run a clean-install test, critical-path end-to-end test, dependency review, and documented rollback exercise. - Compare the shipped behavior with `PRODUCT.md` and publish remaining limitations. ===== OPERATIONS.md ===== # Operations ## Before release - Validate configuration and secrets at startup. - Define backup, restore, and rollback procedures and test them. - Document logs, error tracking, health signals, and alert ownership. - Set dependency update and vulnerability review expectations. ## Incident checklist 1. Contain the issue without destroying evidence or user data. 2. Record the timeline and affected scope. 3. Rotate exposed secrets and revoke compromised sessions or credentials. 4. Restore from a verified source when needed. 5. Document the root cause, remediation, and regression test. ## Launch constraint Do not market omitted Capsule capabilities as implemented. The v1 non-goals in `PRODUCT.md` remain user-visible limitations until they are deliberately delivered.
README.md
# Capsule indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Capsule workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity - automatic email and calendar capture - data enrichment - large integration ecosystem - enterprise reporting If those capabilities are essential, use Twenty instead of pretending the gap is solved.
AGENTS.md
# Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs".
BUILD_PLAN.md
# Build plan ## Original build brief Build a personal replacement for Capsule in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages. Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export. Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging. Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard. Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command. Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion. Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases. Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Docker - PostgreSQL - self-hosted server - optional email API credentials ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden.
.env.example
# Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
PRODUCT.md
# Capsule product brief ## Problem The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Capsule, track contacts, opportunities, tasks, and notes for a small business. The hard boundary is email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity, plus integrations, data quality, and workflow lock-in. ## Product outcome Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Docker - PostgreSQL - self-hosted server - optional email API credentials ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity - automatic email and calendar capture - data enrichment - large integration ecosystem - enterprise reporting ## Success criteria - The primary workflow is measurable end to end. - Setup is reproducible in a clean environment. - Failure, recovery, and support paths are documented. - Product claims match what the implementation actually guarantees.
ARCHITECTURE.md
# Architecture ## Starting brief Build a personal replacement for Capsule in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline, log interactions, tasks, and notes, and surface the next action. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages. Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export. Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging. Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard. Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command. Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion. Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases. Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Boundaries Separate the product into replaceable modules for interface, application logic, persistence, external integrations, and operational concerns. Keep domain logic independent from delivery frameworks and vendors. ## Production baseline - Configuration: validated at startup with safe local defaults where possible. - Security: least privilege, input validation, secret redaction, rate limits on abuse-prone paths, and no invented security primitives. - Data: explicit schema and migrations, transactional writes where integrity matters, backup and restore instructions. - Integrations: adapters around third-party providers, idempotent webhook or job processing, bounded retries, and timeouts. - Observability: structured logs with request or operation IDs, an error-tracking hook, and health/readiness checks where a server exists. - Quality: unit tests for domain rules, integration tests at module boundaries, and one end-to-end critical-path test. ## Decision records For each major dependency, document why it was chosen, its failure mode, and how it can be replaced. Do not introduce infrastructure until a requirement justifies it.
AGENTS.md
# Agent instructions - Read `PRODUCT.md` and `ARCHITECTURE.md` before changing code. - Implement milestone by milestone; keep each change reviewable and leave the application runnable. - Treat authentication, payments, encryption, imports, webhooks, and destructive actions as high-risk boundaries when present. - Never invent cryptography or silently weaken a requirement to make a test pass. - Use provider interfaces for external services and deterministic fakes in tests. - Add migrations and rollback or recovery notes for persistent data changes. - Log useful operational context without credentials, tokens, passwords, or personal data. - Update documentation and run all checks before completing a milestone.
MILESTONES.md
# Delivery milestones ## M0 — Decisions and scaffold - Confirm the runtime, persistence model, threat boundaries, and deployment target. - Create a reproducible local environment and continuous checks. ## M1 — Core workflow - Implement the smallest end-to-end product path with validation and tests. - Keep integrations behind interfaces. ## M2 — Trust layer - Add secure failure behavior, recovery paths, audit-relevant events, and data safeguards. - Test abuse cases and destructive operations. ## M3 — Operability - Add structured logs, error reporting hooks, health signals, backup/restore documentation, and deployment configuration. ## M4 — Release gate - Run a clean-install test, critical-path end-to-end test, dependency review, and documented rollback exercise. - Compare the shipped behavior with `PRODUCT.md` and publish remaining limitations.
OPERATIONS.md
# Operations ## Before release - Validate configuration and secrets at startup. - Define backup, restore, and rollback procedures and test them. - Document logs, error tracking, health signals, and alert ownership. - Set dependency update and vulnerability review expectations. ## Incident checklist 1. Contain the issue without destroying evidence or user data. 2. Record the timeline and affected scope. 3. Rotate exposed secrets and revoke compromised sessions or credentials. 4. Restore from a verified source when needed. 5. Document the root cause, remediation, and regression test. ## Launch constraint Do not market omitted Capsule capabilities as implemented. The v1 non-goals in `PRODUCT.md` remain user-visible limitations until they are deliberately delivered.
$ choose a build depth, inspect the files, then open the complete pack in your agent · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR
People still pay for Capsule because CRM value compounds as the system becomes the shared memory of every customer interaction and embeds itself in the rest of the stack. The recurring cost buys deduplication, permissions, imports, sync, enrichment, email capture, automations, backups, and audit history, not just the visible interface.
xemail integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity
xautomatic email and calendar capture
xdata enrichment
xlarge integration ecosystem
xenterprise reporting
share on X ↗"I just replaced Capsule ($18/mo) with one prompt"
Don't feel like building it? These folks already made it free.
TwentyA modern pipeline CRM with custom objects, views and mailbox sync; the subscription becomes a Compose file.open source↗
Krayin CRMA Laravel sales pipeline with leads, contacts and email; glossy enough, but it still wants a PHP stack.open source↗SSuiteCRMThe old-school full-fat CRM: every module you remember, plus the server you now own.open source↗all 8 free alternatives to Capsule →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Capsule pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | Maximum 2 users, 250 contacts, 5 custom fields, 1 sales pipeline, 50 MB storage |
| starter | — | $18/user | 30,000 contacts, 50 custom fields, 1 sales pipeline, 10 GB file storage/user, 5 email templates, 10 AI Content Assists/month |
| growth | — | $36/user | 60,000 contacts, 150 custom fields, 5 sales pipelines, 30 GB storage/user; workflow automation and dashboards |
| advanced | — | $54/user | 120,000 contacts, 300 custom fields, 50 sales pipelines, 50 project boards, 50 GB storage/user |
| ultimate | — | $72/user | 240,000 contacts, unlimited custom fields, at least 100 sales pipelines, 100 GB storage/user; 5+ users recommended |
free tier2 users, 250 contacts, 5 custom fields, 1 sales pipeline and 50 MB storage
billingmonthly + annual (save up to 14%)
hidden costsCapsule Marketing is a separate add-on. Contact records and storage rise by tier; the free 250-contact cap is total, and paid plans are charged per user. Monthly USD prices were not verifiable from the rendered live page.
verified 2026-08-12 · source ↗
Vibecode Capsule
Kinda. The core of Capsule is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity, automatic email and calendar capture. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Capsule cost?
Capsule costs about $18/month (Starter, checked 2026-08-12), which is $216 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Capsule?
Honestly: email integrations, workflow automation, accounting connections, and mature simplicity; automatic email and calendar capture; data enrichment; large integration ecosystem; enterprise reporting. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Capsule?
Yes: Twenty (A modern pipeline CRM with custom objects, views and mailbox sync; the subscription becomes a Compose file.) Krayin CRM (A Laravel sales pipeline with leads, contacts and email; glossy enough, but it still wants a PHP stack.) SuiteCRM (The old-school full-fat CRM: every module you remember, plus the server you now own.) All 8 curated free alternatives are at vibecodeit.com/capsule-crm/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.