CFP.ninja

Open source Call for Proposals platform. Simple, self-hosted alternative to Sessionize and Papercall.

Features

• GitHub and Google OAuth authentication
• Create events with integrated CFP
• Submit talk proposals with multiple speakers
• Rate and manage proposals
• Co-organizer support
• Public event discovery with search/filters
• Custom questions for CFP submissions
• Speaker attendance confirmation
• Email notifications for speakers and organisers (via Resend)
• Weekly digest emails for organisers
• Export proposals to CSV
• Stripe payment integration for event/submission fees
• Dark mode with system preference detection
• CLI tool for submitting proposals from the terminal

CLI Tool

The cfp command-line tool lets you browse events and submit proposals from your terminal.

Installation

go install github.com/sreday/cfp.ninja/cmd/cfp@latest

Or build from source:

go build ./cmd/cfp

Getting Started

# Authenticate via browser (one-time)
cfp login

# Browse events with open CFPs
cfp events

# View event details
cfp events gophercon-2026

# Submit a proposal (opens your editor)
cfp submit gophercon-2026

# Create a new event (organizers)
cfp create

Commands

Command	Description
cfp login [--provider github|google] [--server URL]	Authenticate via browser OAuth (default: GitHub)
cfp logout	Clear stored credentials
cfp whoami	Show current user info
cfp events [slug]	List events or show event details
cfp create	Create a new event
cfp submit <slug>	Submit a proposal to an event
cfp proposals [id]	List or show your proposals
cfp talks list	List your saved talks (reusable templates)
cfp talks show <id>	Show one saved talk (use -o yaml to dump)
cfp completion <shell>	Generate shell completion script

Output Formats

All display commands support -o, --output flag:

cfp events -o json              # JSON output
cfp events -o yaml              # YAML output
cfp proposals -o json | jq ...  # Pipe to jq for filtering

Filtering Events

cfp events --tag go              # Filter by tag
cfp events --country US          # Filter by country
cfp events --cfp-open            # Only open CFPs (default)
cfp events --all                 # Include closed CFPs
cfp events --after 2026-03-01    # Events after date

Working with YAML Files

Both submit and create support file-based workflows:

# Submit from a YAML file directly (no editor)
cfp submit gophercon-2026 --file proposal.yaml

# Use an existing file as a starting template (opens in editor)
cfp submit gophercon-2026 --template previous-proposal.yaml

# Validate without submitting
cfp submit gophercon-2026 --file proposal.yaml --dry-run

Saved Talks (My Talks)

Build a deck of reusable talks on the website (Dashboard → My Saved Talks), then pull them down from the CLI to reuse as YAML templates:

# Browse your deck
cfp talks list

# Dump one talk as YAML and use it as the next submission's template
cfp talks show 42 -o yaml > my-talk.yaml
cfp submit kubecon-2026 --template my-talk.yaml

The CLI is read-only for talks — add, edit, and delete in the dashboard.

Shell Completion

# Bash
source <(cfp completion bash)

# Zsh
source <(cfp completion zsh)

# Fish
cfp completion fish | source

With completion enabled, event slugs auto-complete:

cfp submit gopher<TAB>  # completes to gophercon-2026

Configuration

Credentials are stored in ~/.config/cfp/config.yaml with restricted permissions (0600).

To use a different CFP.ninja server:

cfp login --server https://cfp.myconference.com

Event Synchronization

CFP.ninja automatically syncs events from external sources in the background. Sync is gated by the AUTO_ORGANISERS_IDS environment variable — if not set, sync is disabled entirely and no background goroutine is launched.

Event Sources

• SREday family (sreday.com, llmday.com, devopsnotdead.com) — both upcoming and past events are synced
• Conf42 (metadata from GitHub) — only future events, all marked as online. Slug format: conf42-{topic}-{year}

Configuration

Set AUTO_ORGANISERS_IDS to a comma-separated list of user IDs to enable sync and assign organizers to auto-created events. The first ID becomes the event creator, and all IDs are added as organizers.

# Enable sync with organizer user IDs
export AUTO_ORGANISERS_IDS="1,5,12"

# Sync every 30 minutes
go run main.go -sync-interval 30m

# Sync every 2 hours via environment variable
SYNC_INTERVAL=2h go run main.go

The sync interval flag accepts any Go duration string (e.g. 10s, 30m, 2h). The flag takes precedence over the environment variable.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• PostgreSQL (or Docker)
• GitHub OAuth credentials (recommended) or Google OAuth credentials

Setting Up GitHub OAuth (Recommended)

1. Go to GitHub Developer Settings
2. Click New OAuth App
3. Fill in the application details:
   • Application name: CFP.ninja (or your app name)
   • Homepage URL: http://localhost:8080 (or your production URL)
   • Authorization callback URL: http://localhost:8080/api/v0/auth/github/callback
4. Click Register application
5. Copy the Client ID → GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
6. Click Generate a new client secret → GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET

For production, update the callback URL to your production domain (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/api/v0/auth/github/callback).

Setting Up Google OAuth

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select existing)
3. Navigate to APIs & Services > Credentials
4. Click Create Credentials > OAuth client ID
5. Select Web application
6. Add authorized redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/api/v0/auth/google/callback
7. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

For production, add your production callback URL (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/api/v0/auth/google/callback).

Local Development

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/sreday/cfp.ninja
cd cfp.ninja

# Set environment variables
export DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/cfpninja"
export JWT_SECRET="your-secret-key"

# GitHub OAuth (recommended)
export GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="..."
export GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="..."
export GITHUB_REDIRECT_URL="http://localhost:8080/api/v0/auth/github/callback"

# Google OAuth (optional, for backup login)
export GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="..."
export GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="..."
export GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URL="http://localhost:8080/api/v0/auth/google/callback"

# Run with auto-migration
go run main.go -auto-migrate

Running with Docker Database

Start a local PostgreSQL database using Docker Compose:

# Start the database
make test-db-start

# Run the server (connects to Docker database)
DATABASE_URL="postgres://test:test@localhost:5433/cfpninja_test?sslmode=disable" \
go run main.go -auto-migrate

The server runs at http://localhost:8080.

Browse the database via Adminer at http://localhost:8081:

Field	Value
System	PostgreSQL
Server	test-db
Username	test
Password	test
Database	cfpninja_test

Running Tests

CFP.ninja has three test suites: integration tests (API), E2E tests (browser), and CLI tests.

# Start test database (Docker required)
make test-db-start

# Run all tests
make test-all

# Run individual test suites
make test-integration    # API integration tests
make test-e2e            # Browser E2E tests (headless)
make test-cli            # CLI command tests

# E2E with visible browser (for debugging, 1500x1500 window)
make test-e2e-headed

# Run tests with coverage
make test-integration-cover

# Stop/delete test database
make test-db-stop
make test-db-delete

Test Suites

Integration Tests (tests/integration/)

• API endpoint testing for all routes
• Authentication (JWT)
• Events CRUD operations
• Proposals submission and management
• Organizer permissions
• Search, filtering, and pagination

E2E Browser Tests (tests/e2e/)

Test File	What It Tests
events_test.go	Events listing, search, country/CFP filters, pagination, card navigation
event_detail_test.go	Event info display, CFP status badge, submit button visibility
proposal_submit_test.go	Proposal form, speaker fields, custom questions, submission flow
dashboard_test.go	User dashboard, events/proposals display, delete modals
create_event_test.go	Event creation form, auto-slug, custom questions, speaker benefits
manage_event_test.go	Event editing, CFP status updates, event deletion
proposals_review_test.go	Proposal listing, filtering, star ratings, status changes
theme_test.go	Dark/light mode toggle, localStorage persistence

CLI Tests (tests/cli/)

Test File	What It Tests
cfp_test.go	cmd/cfp: events, submit, proposals, output formats, completion

Test Requirements

• Docker: Required for test database (PostgreSQL on port 5433)
• Chrome: Required for E2E tests (Rod uses Chrome DevTools Protocol)
• Network: Some tests may fetch from external URLs (may be skipped if offline)

Database Behavior

All test suites use an isolated test database (cfpninja_test on port 5433), separate from development.

Test Suite	Database Impact
Integration	Cleans tables before each test (destructive to test DB)
E2E	Cleans tables on startup and between some tests (destructive to test DB)
CLI	Cleans tables before each test (destructive to test DB)

Safe for development: Tests never touch databases on port 5432 or any DATABASE_URL you have configured for local development. Only the Docker test database is affected.

E2E Test Screenshots

E2E tests automatically capture PNG screenshots of the final page state after each test. Screenshots are saved to tests/e2e/test-screenshots/ for inspection.

# View screenshots after running tests
ls tests/e2e/test-screenshots/
open tests/e2e/test-screenshots/TestEventsPage_LoadsSuccessfully.png

When running headed (make test-e2e-headed), the browser opens in a 1500x1500 window for consistent visual testing.

Email Notifications

CFP.ninja sends transactional emails via Resend. When RESEND_API_KEY is not set, emails are logged only.

Email	Trigger	To	Cc	Subject
Proposal Accepted	Organiser accepts a proposal	Primary speaker	Co-speakers	"Your proposal has been accepted!"
Proposal Rejected	Organiser rejects a proposal	Primary speaker	Co-speakers	"Update on your proposal"
Proposal Tentative	Organiser marks proposal tentative	Primary speaker	Co-speakers	"Update on your proposal"
Attendance Confirmed	Speaker confirms attendance	Contact email (or 1st organiser)	— (or remaining organisers)	"Speaker confirmed: {title}"
Emergency Cancel	Confirmed speaker cancels	Contact email (or 1st organiser)	— (or remaining organisers)	"Emergency cancellation: {title}"
Weekly Digest	Every Monday 09:00 UTC	Each organiser	—	"Your weekly CFP digest"

• Reply-To: Proposal status emails set reply-to to the event's contact email so speakers can reply directly to organisers.
• Smart routing: Attendance confirmed and emergency cancel emails are sent to the event's ContactEmail if set (no Cc). Otherwise they go to the first organiser with remaining organisers in Cc.
• Weekly digest: Aggregates the past 7 days of activity (new/accepted/rejected proposals, confirmed attendance) per organiser. Only sent to organisers with activity that week.

Environment Variables

Core

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	8080	Server port
DATABASE_URL	—	PostgreSQL connection string (required)
DATABASE_AUTO_MIGRATE	—	Enable auto-migration when set to any value
JWT_SECRET	random	Secret for signing JWT tokens (auto-generated if unset)
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	*	Comma-separated CORS origins. Must be set in production (wildcard rejected unless INSECURE=true)

Authentication

Variable	Default	Description
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	—	GitHub OAuth client ID
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	—	GitHub OAuth client secret
GITHUB_REDIRECT_URL	—	GitHub OAuth callback URL
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	—	Google OAuth client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	—	Google OAuth client secret
GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URL	—	Google OAuth callback URL
INSECURE	false	Bypass auth for testing (true, 1, or yes to enable)
INSECURE_USER_EMAIL	—	Email of user to impersonate in insecure mode

Limits

Variable	Default	Description
MAX_PROPOSALS_PER_EVENT	3	Maximum proposals a speaker can submit per event
MAX_ORGANIZERS_PER_EVENT	5	Maximum co-organizers per event

Email (Resend)

Variable	Default	Description
RESEND_API_KEY	—	Resend API key. When unset, emails are logged only
EMAIL_FROM	derived	Sender address for notifications. If unset, derived from EMAIL_SUBDOMAIN and BASE_URL
EMAIL_SUBDOMAIN	updates	Subdomain prepended to BASE_URL host for the default sender (e.g. updates.cfp.ninja)
BASE_URL	https://cfp.ninja	Public URL used in email links and for deriving the default EMAIL_FROM

When EMAIL_FROM is not set, the default is computed as:

CFP.ninja <notifications@{EMAIL_SUBDOMAIN}.{BASE_URL host}>

For example, with BASE_URL=https://cfp.example.com and EMAIL_SUBDOMAIN=updates (default), the sender becomes notifications@updates.cfp.example.com.

Stripe Payments

Variable	Default	Description
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY	—	Stripe secret key (payments disabled if unset)
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY	—	Stripe publishable key
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET	—	Stripe webhook signing secret
EVENT_LISTING_FEE	0	Fee in cents for listing an event (0 = free)
EVENT_LISTING_FEE_CURRENCY	usd	Currency for event listing fee
SUBMISSION_LISTING_FEE	100	Fee in cents for submitting a proposal
SUBMISSION_LISTING_FEE_CURRENCY	usd	Currency for submission fee

Event Sync

Variable	Default	Description
SYNC_INTERVAL	1h	Event sync interval as Go duration (e.g. 30m, 2h)
AUTO_ORGANISERS_IDS	—	Comma-separated user IDs. Sync is disabled if unset

Validation

The API enforces the following rules on event dates:

• end_date must be on or after start_date
• cfp_close_at must be on or after cfp_open_at
• website and terms_url must be valid HTTP/HTTPS URLs when provided

Deploy to Heroku

heroku create your-app-name
heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:mini

# Required
heroku config:set JWT_SECRET=...
heroku config:set DATABASE_AUTO_MIGRATE=true

# GitHub OAuth (recommended)
heroku config:set GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=...
heroku config:set GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=...
heroku config:set GITHUB_REDIRECT_URL=https://your-app.herokuapp.com/api/v0/auth/github/callback

# Google OAuth (optional)
heroku config:set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=...
heroku config:set GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=...
heroku config:set GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URL=https://your-app.herokuapp.com/api/v0/auth/google/callback

# Event sync (optional - set user IDs to enable automatic event sync)
heroku config:set AUTO_ORGANISERS_IDS=1,2

# Email notifications (optional - sign up at resend.com and verify your domain)
heroku config:set RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
heroku config:set BASE_URL=https://your-app.herokuapp.com

git push heroku main

API Documentation

All API endpoints are prefixed with /api/v0/.

Public Endpoints (no auth required)

• GET /api/v0/stats - Platform statistics
• GET /api/v0/countries - List unique countries from all events
• GET /api/v0/events - List events with search/filters/pagination
• GET /api/v0/e/{slug} - Get event by slug
• GET /api/v0/events/{id} - Get event by ID

Authentication

• GET /api/v0/auth/github - Start GitHub OAuth flow (recommended)
• GET /api/v0/auth/github/callback - GitHub OAuth callback
• GET /api/v0/auth/google - Start Google OAuth flow
• GET /api/v0/auth/google/callback - Google OAuth callback
• GET /api/v0/auth/me - Get current user
• GET /api/v0/me/events - List user's events

Events (auth required for mutations)

• POST /api/v0/events - Create event
• PUT /api/v0/events/{id} - Update event
• PUT /api/v0/events/{id}/cfp-status - Update CFP status
• GET /api/v0/events/{id}/proposals - List proposals
• GET /api/v0/events/{id}/organizers - List organizers
• POST /api/v0/events/{id}/organizers - Add organizer
• DELETE /api/v0/events/{id}/organizers/{userId} - Remove organizer

Proposals (auth required)

• POST /api/v0/events/{id}/proposals - Submit proposal
• GET /api/v0/proposals/{id} - Get proposal
• PUT /api/v0/proposals/{id} - Update proposal
• DELETE /api/v0/proposals/{id} - Delete proposal
• PUT /api/v0/proposals/{id}/status - Update status (organizer only)
• PUT /api/v0/proposals/{id}/rating - Rate proposal (organizer only)
• PUT /api/v0/proposals/{id}/confirm - Confirm attendance (proposal owner)

License

MIT