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A self-hosted Family OS with separate spaces for parents, children, grandparents and pets.
Your routines, your server, your family data.
LX Family is a private Family OS that brings the everyday life of a household into one calm,
role-aware app:
- organize calendars, chores, meals, shopping, school, chat and family files;
- give children an age-appropriate world with routines, missions, rewards and
parental approval instead of a scaled-down admin screen;
- keep everything on your own server, with optional Nextcloud, Home Assistant
and native Android notifications.
> **New name, same safe update path:** LX Family was previously called **LX
> Family Planner**. The repository, Docker image and Android package identifier
> deliberately stay stable, so existing installations update normally. Read the
> short [renaming note](docs/RENAMING.md).
## Try it first
> [!TIP]
> **[Open the read-only live demo](https://familie.laxxx-lab.de/)**
> Family: `Demo` · password: `demo`
> Choose **Doris** for the adult experience or **Jeremy Pascal** for the child
> experience. The demo is a shared showroom—please do not enter personal data.
| One-tap profile selection | A real child experience |
| --- | --- |
|  |  |
See calendars, chores, cloud, pets, family mail and tablet mode
| Shared calendar | Chores and approvals |
| --- | --- |
|  |  |
| Family Cloud inside LX | Parent control centre |
| --- | --- |
|  |  |
| Pet profile | Family mailbox |
| --- | --- |
|  |  |
## What makes it different?
| | LX Family | A traditional family calendar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Children | visual routines, missions, stars and parent-approved chores | mostly the adult UI with fewer controls |
| Profiles | adults, children, teens, grandparents, managed people and pets | usually one generic account type |
| Family network | invite grandparents or another household and share only what you approve | usually one isolated household |
| Data ownership | self-hosted SQLite, safe updates, optional Nextcloud | provider account and cloud required |
| Home setup | Docker, Proxmox, Unraid, Umbrel, CasaOS, Cosmos or plain Node.js | vendor-specific |
| Integrations | Android push, browser push, Home Assistant, Bring!, ICS and Gotify | varies by vendor |
## Highlights
- **Family calendar:** multiple participants, recurring appointments, birthdays,
waste collection, ICS subscriptions and flexible reminders.
- **Chores that stay fair:** shared assignments, automatic rotation, recurring
routines and a four-eyes approval flow before children receive stars.
- **Meals and recipes:** meal plan, cooking mode, shopping-list hand-off and
safe imports from public recipe sites, Pinterest, Facebook Reels, Tandoor and
My Recipe Box exports, including direct Android sharing of RTK backups.
- **Family communication:** group chat, protected direct messages, a pinboard,
attachments and a mailbox between explicitly connected families.
- **Child spaces:** school timetable, pocket money, savings goals, moods,
media limits, emergency card, achievements and profile-specific dashboards.
- **Designed for the whole home:** dedicated pet profiles, managed profiles for
people without an account, grandparent access and a landscape tablet mode.
- **Your infrastructure:** encrypted integration secrets, consistent backups,
migration simulation, data-integrity checks and an optional Family Cloud.
The complete feature and operations guide is available in the
**[German documentation](README.de.md)** while the English guide is being
expanded.
## Quick start
### Docker Compose (recommended)
```bash
git clone https://github.com/laxxx-lab/lx-family-planner.git
cd lx-family-planner
cp .env.example .env
sed -i "s/^APP_SECRET=.*/APP_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)/" .env
docker compose up -d --build
```
Open `http://SERVER-IP:3001`, create the first family and complete the guided
setup. The secure defaults allow the first family registration and then close
public registration automatically. Family names are not listed publicly.
> **Your server, your address:** LX Family does not operate a hosted service
> for other families. Each installation uses its own IP address or domain.
> See [self-hosting](docs/SELF_HOSTING.md) for LAN, HTTPS, Android and CORS.
> [!IMPORTANT]
> Keep `.env`, `APP_SECRET`, `data/` and `backups/` private. Never commit a
> Firebase service account, Nextcloud password or real family content.
On Windows, `Start-Familienplaner.cmd` performs the same setup with a double
click. Existing installations can use the guarded updater:
- Windows: `Update-Familienplaner.cmd`
- Linux/Docker: `bash scripts/docker-update.sh`
- Proxmox helper installation: see [the complete German guide](README.de.md#proxmox-ve-helper-script)
- Store packaging: see [store submissions](docs/STORE_SUBMISSIONS.md)
Every guarded update creates a consistent backup, runs migrations on a copy,
checks the result and rolls back if validation fails. LX retains the three
newest local backup-and-manifest pairs; a fourth is held only until a guarded
update has passed all checks. The `data/` and `backups/` directories are
independent from the application image.
### Without Docker
Requires Node.js 22.13 or newer:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/laxxx-lab/lx-family-planner.git
cd lx-family-planner
npm ci
cp .env.example .env
npm run build
npm start
```
For development, run `npm run server` and `npm run dev` in separate terminals.
## Languages
The visible language switch offers **German, English, French, Spanish, Italian,
Dutch and Polish** before login and in the main header. The choice stays on the
device. Set `APP_LANGUAGE=en` (or another supported language code) to choose
the default for a new installation and server-generated notifications.
Translation catalogues are key-checked during CI so a language cannot silently
lose UI strings. Native speakers are warmly invited to improve wording through
small, focused pull requests.
## Optional Family Cloud
LX can provision a separate Nextcloud account for each family, expose shared and
personal profile folders inside the app, sync calendars in both directions and
store encrypted backups. Enable the bundled Nextcloud profile with the provided
helper instead of committing credentials:
```bash
./scripts/nextcloud-enable.sh
```
An existing Nextcloud can be used as well. See the
[detailed cloud guide](README.de.md#family-cloud-mit-nextcloud) for reverse
proxy, trusted-domain, quota and restore instructions.
## Quality and trust
Every pull request runs the same production-oriented checks used before a
release:
- JavaScript syntax and translation-key parity;
- API, permissions, migration, backup and data-integrity regression tests;
- recipe, calendar, push, Nextcloud and platform packaging tests;
- a production frontend build;
- safe-update simulation against a copied SQLite database.
Useful local commands:
```bash
npm run check
npm run backup
npm run simulate-update
npm run audit
```
Security-sensitive reports belong in a private
[GitHub Security Advisory](https://github.com/laxxx-lab/lx-family-planner/security/advisories/new),
not in a public issue. Read the [security policy](SECURITY.md),
[contribution guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) and [roadmap](ROADMAP.md).
## Project direction
LX is built around four principles: children are supported rather than
monitored; private data is filtered on the server; integrations stay optional;
and an update must not cost a family its history. Near-term work focuses on
offline reliability, open CalDAV connections, a guided restore flow and
optional modules for larger household features.
Development is maintainer-led and uses automated tests plus AI-assisted tooling.
Changes are reviewed and validated against the working application before a
release. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for the workflow.
## Help LX grow
If LX solves a real problem for your household:
- give the repository a **Star** so more self-hosters can discover it;
- share one concrete use case or screenshot in GitHub Discussions;
- report a reproducible bug or propose a focused improvement;
- help review an English or German translation.
Optional one-time or monthly support through GitHub Sponsors is being prepared.
Sponsorship will never unlock features or create a paid priority lane: LX
remains free and the same application for every family.
Built for families who want helpful software without giving up their home data.