Practiq

Open-source AI practice management for boutique professional services firms.

CPA, law, HR advisory, consulting, agency — Practiq is the AI-native context layer for a firm that manages 50–200 clients across every channel. It runs in your terminal (via @cliwant/practiq-mcp) and in your browser (the web app at the repo root).

Try the demo → · Self-host → · MCP install → · Docs →

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Why this exists

TaxDome was acquired. Karbon raised at $400M. Canopy is at $75M ARR. Every existing practice-management tool is a CRM with calendar bolted on. None of them understand that a 6-person CPA firm managing 120 clients needs an AI that knows every client's context across every channel — not another inbox.

Practiq is what you would build if you started a practice-management product in 2026, not 2010.

• Local-first MCP server. No cloud lock-in. Bring your own LLM key. Works inside Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor.
• Same code on practiq.dev cloud and your own laptop. No "open source" → "actually the EE features are paid" bait-and-switch.
• AGPL-3.0 permanent. We commit to AGPL forever. No surprise re-license to BSL or closed-core.

What you can do in 5 minutes

# Option 1 — MCP server only (recommended starting point)
npx -y @cliwant/practiq-mcp

# Option 2 — Full self-host (Postgres + web + MCP)
git clone https://github.com/cliwant/practiq-oss && cd practiq-oss
cp .env.example .env.local
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up

The MCP server (Option 1) is the fully-working way to use Practiq today. Docker self-host brings up Postgres + the web app and syncs the schema; one runtime-serving item is still being finalized — see Self-host.

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MCP install

Claude Desktop

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "practiq": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cliwant/practiq-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add practiq -- npx -y @cliwant/practiq-mcp

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "practiq": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cliwant/practiq-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Now ask: "Good morning, what do I need to focus on today?" — Practiq scans your local ~/.practiq/ data and returns a prioritized briefing across overdue deadlines, upcoming items, stale clients, and health-flagged accounts. Ten tools total — full list in packages/mcp/README.md.

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Self-host

A complete self-hosted Practiq runs on one box with Docker:

git clone https://github.com/cliwant/practiq-oss
cd practiq-oss
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local — minimum: OPENROUTER_API_KEY (or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -d

That spins up:

• Postgres 16 with pgvector (data store)
• the Next.js web app (port 3000)

The image builds, the container boots, and prisma db push syncs the schema (CI-verified on Ubuntu + Apple-Silicon native build). One runtime-serving item is being finalized — see issue #9. Until it lands, the MCP server (above) is the recommended local entry point. See docs/pages/self-host.md for production notes, backup strategy, and OAuth setup.

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Cloud vs self-host — honest answer

Feature	OSS / self-host	Practiq Cloud (practiq.dev)
All 10 MCP tools	✅	✅
Web app (sign in, dashboards, clients, deadlines)	✅	✅
Bring your own LLM key	✅	✅ (or use ours)
Stripe billing UI	✅	✅
Multi-tenant SSO (Google / LinkedIn / Microsoft)	✅	✅
Postgres + auth + auth	✅ self-managed	✅ managed
Pricing	$0 (your infra cost only)	from $99/seat/mo

We are not running a "cloud-only feature" trick. Self-hosting Practiq gives you the same feature surface as practiq.dev. The cloud sells managed infra (Postgres, backups, scaling, support, single-tenant deploys for enterprise), not premium features behind a paywall in the OSS.

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How it's structured

practiq-oss/
├── src/                     Next.js 15 + React 19 web app (at the repo root)
├── prisma/                  Postgres schema
├── packages/
│   └── mcp/                 @cliwant/practiq-mcp — local-first MCP server (the npm pkg)
├── docker/
│   ├── docker-compose.yml   one-command self-host
│   └── Dockerfile.web       web app image
├── docs/                    documentation (rendered at practiq.dev/docs)
└── .github/                 CI workflows + issue/PR templates

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Contributing

We follow Contributor Covenant 2.1 (CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). Read CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, dev loop, and how PRs work. Security issues — please use SECURITY.md, not public issues.

License

AGPL-3.0. Permanent. We will not re-license to closed-core or BSL.

Built by

Practiq is built by Cliwant, a venture studio. We ship real product first, keep the core open under AGPL-3.0, and sell managed infrastructure rather than paywalled features.