Self-hosted plant care from the roots up — watering intelligence, garden maps, shared homes, and a calm UI. Your data stays on your machine.
the product is RootCore.
Today: clear water plan (how much · when), weather, tips, and seasonal ideas
Most plant apps are cloud-only inventory. RootCore is built for self-hosting:
| You get | Details |
|---|---|
| Clear watering | How much (~ml), when (morning/evening in your timezone), heat & humidity aware |
| Garden map | Rooms, pots, freehand L/U beds, drag plants, custom emojis |
| Multi-home | Balcony, allotment, parents’ house — separate collections |
| Photos | Upload yours or search free Wikimedia and pick a cover |
| Demo garden | One click sample plants + map |
| Themes | Blossom, meadow, night garden, dusk — ambient bees optional |
| Today | Plants | Map |
|---|---|---|
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| Catalog | Settings (APIs) |
|---|---|
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Switch anytime in Settings → Appearance (saved in the browser). Ambient butterflies/bees have an on/off switch and a 0–100 intensity slider.
| Blossom | Meadow | Night | Dusk |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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Also: Light garden and System (follow device).
RootCore works offline-first for your plants, tasks, and maps. Network helpers are opt-in in Settings.
| Service | What it does | API key? | Cost | Where configured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-Meteo | Weather (temp, humidity, rain) for outdoor watering & “when to water” | No | Free | Settings → location + weather source |
| MET Norway (yr.no) | Alternative weather provider | No (User-Agent only) | Free | Settings → Weather source |
| Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia | Free plant photos (auto cover + search & pick) | No | Free | Auto photos on/off; plant page → Find photo |
| PlantNet | Identify species from a photo | Yes (free personal key) | Free tier | Settings → Plant photo ID + API key |
- Your plant list, care history, photos you upload, households, passwords
- Coordinates are sent only to the weather provider you choose when weather is fetched
- PlantNet is used only if you add a key and use photo ID
- Wikimedia is used only for auto-cover / photo search
Self-hosters usually want free, documented APIs without accounts for every feature. Open-Meteo and MET Norway need no keys. PlantNet is the best open photo-ID option; commercial apps (PictureThis, Plant.id) need paid commercial licenses.
git clone https://github.com/Username-010/rootcore.git
cd rootcore
chmod +x scripts/rootcore
./scripts/rootcore startOpen http://localhost:5173 → create username/password (email optional) → set location → Settings → Load demo garden.
./scripts/rootcore stop # API + web
./scripts/rootcore stop --all # + Postgrescp .env.example .env
# openssl rand -hex 32 → set SECRET_KEY=
docker compose up -d --build
# App: http://localhost:8000Podman:
export DOCKER_HOST=unix://$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/podman/podman.sock
docker-compose up -d --buildData volumes: rootcore_pgdata (database), rootcore_media (photos).
- Auth — username or email, JWT, multi-household RBAC, invites
- Watering engine — pot, soil, season, heat, humidity, rain → plain-language care card
- Today — water plan, quick plan (clickable), bulk water/done, undo restores plan
- Map — freehand beds, drag pots/plants, pot & plant emojis
- Catalog — species with photos; archive restore/delete
- Tips — tip of the day, plant of the day, seasonal recommendations
- Themes + ambient — blossom / meadow / night / dusk + animation slider
| Dev | Production |
|---|---|
| Python 3.12+, Node 20+, Docker/Podman | Docker Compose only |
rootcore/
├── backend/ # FastAPI · SQLAlchemy · Alembic · watering engine
├── frontend/ # React · Vite · Tailwind
├── docs/screenshots/ # README images
├── deploy/ # Dockerfiles, Caddy example
├── docker-compose.yml
└── scripts/rootcore # one-command start/stop
Design notes (optional reading): PROJECT_PLAN.md · SPEC.md · API.md
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 — free to self-host and share; network services based on this code must provide source to users.