OpenReception 1.0: Open-source appointment scheduling for doctor's offices ready
With OpenReception 1.0, an open-source appointment scheduling system is available – as a data protection-friendly alternative for practices and patients.
(Image: one photo / Shutterstock.com)
After around ten months of development, the open-source appointment scheduling system OpenReception has reached a stable version 1. The project positions itself as a data protection-friendly alternative to commercial appointment booking systems, whose business models often rely on the exploitation of patient data.
The software is under AGPL v3 and can be operated free of charge by practices and organizations themselves. The developers provide comprehensive technical documentation including configuration files. Those who do not want to take over hosting themselves can book a managed hosting offer starting at 69 Euros net per month. Some functions will be exclusively available in a premium version of the managed hosting in the future.
From prototype to stable version
The development of the prototype was funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) until the end of March 2026. According to the project team, this underscores the ministry's recognition of the need for an open, free, and secure appointment solution for doctor's offices.
Videos by heise
Karl Ludwig Weise and computer scientist Hendrik Belitz are behind OpenReception. In an interview with heise online in November 2025, Weise explained what is important to the team: “We want to create a free, encrypted, and open solution that focuses on the patient and the practice – not on the business model of third parties.” Via a dashboard, practices can manage their appointments, absences, and availabilities, while patients can book appointments without having to entrust their data to large platforms.
OpenReception uses end-to-end encryption and administrators are also not intended to have access to sensitive information. For integration with existing practice management systems (PVS), the team is developing publicly documented interfaces.
Previous functions
Practices manage their appointments, absences, and availabilities via a central dashboard. Patients can book appointments without sharing their data with large platform providers. Communication between practice and patient is end-to-end encrypted; the cryptographic keys are exclusively on the users' devices – even administrators of the hosting infrastructure cannot view sensitive information.
The team also considers quantum-resistant encryption methods to ensure long-term security. Publicly documented interfaces are being created for integration with existing practice management systems (PVS); functions are also planned that will allow encrypted appointments to be created directly from the practice software. Source code and project board are viewable on GitHub.
Community participation desired
The development of version 1 has already been accompanied by two rounds of interviews and usability tests, for which reports have been published. The team intends to continue this participatory approach and explicitly invites interested parties to participate – not only through code contributions but also through user tests, bug reports, or translations.
However, according to the developers, OpenReception is not yet finished. In the coming months, further functions will be incorporated into the community and premium versions. The project provides updates on Mastodon (@openreception) and Bluesky (openreception.bsky.social).
(mack)
