Hi DEV community! 👋
I wanted to introduce EverShelf, a self-hosted, MIT-licensed smart pantry manager I’ve been building to tackle food waste at home.
We recently crossed 147+ stars and 14 forks on GitHub, and I'd love to share the tech behind it, gather feedback from fellow developers, and invite new contributors!
💡 The Problem
We’ve all experienced it: buying groceries, tucking them away in cupboards, and forgetting about them until they expire and end up in the trash.
Most consumer pantry apps are closed-source, full of subscription paywalls, or rely on proprietary cloud platforms. I wanted something modern, self-hosted, offline-capable, and privacy-respecting.
🛠️ Tech Stack & Architecture
- Core: PHP 8+ backend, modular architecture with SQLite (WAL mode).
- Frontend: Clean, responsive Single Page Application (PWA) with offline-queue support.
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Deployment: Simple
docker-composesetup and an official versioned Unraid template. - AI Engine: Pluggable AI integration supporting Google Gemini, OpenAI, or locally hosted Llama instances.
- Integrations: Native Home Assistant support, ntfy/JSON push webhooks, and ICS/WebCal calendar feeds.
✨ Key Features
- 📷 Barcode Scanning & Receipt OCR: Fast mobile camera scanning and instant item identification.
- 🤖 Zero-Waste AI Recipes: Suggests meals using only ingredients currently available in your pantry, keeping expiries in mind.
- 🛒 Smart Shopping Lists: Calculates anti-waste quantities, deducts existing stock automatically, with optional sync to Bring!.
- 📅 Calendar Feed: Subscribe to your pantry’s expiry dates directly inside Google or Apple Calendar.
- 📱 Android Kiosk Mode: A dedicated kiosk APK with scale support for wall-mounted kitchen tablets.
🔗 Try It & Explore
- GitHub Repository (MIT): github.com/dadaloop82/EverShelf
- Live Interactive Demo: evershelf.site/demo/?lang=en
- Official Website: evershelf.site/?lang=en
🏆 Community Contest!
We are currently running an official community contest on GitHub! You can read all the instructions, participate, and help shape the project here:
👉 EverShelf Discussion #299
We are actively looking for feedback, bug reports, and contributors (code, translations, UX). If you like the project, a star on GitHub is always deeply appreciated! 🌟
Top comments (1)
Happy to answer any questions about the tech stack, SQLite performance, or Docker setup! What does your current pantry management workflow look like?