Shelf

Asset and equipment tracking software used by teams who value clarity. Shelf is an asset database and QR asset label generator that lets you create, manage and overview your assets across locations. Unlimited assets, free forever.

Thriving · 90
90/100
Thriving

High commit volume, frequent releases and growing activity.

Maintenance 38/40
Releases 25/25
Community 11/20
Momentum 15/15

Commit activity more than 96% of tracked projects; popularity more than 57%. How this is calculated.

Commits, last 11 months

2025-10: 304 commits 2025-11: 253 commits 2025-12: 181 commits 2026-01: 245 commits 2026-02: 314 commits 2026-03: 237 commits 2026-04: 215 commits 2026-05: 331 commits 2026-06: 451 commits 2026-07: 445 commits 2026-08: 1057 commits
2025-10 4033 total 2026-08
Stars3k
Latest releaseshelf@2.2.1 · 23 Sept 2026
Repo updated25 Sept 2026
LicenceAGPL-3.0
Built withNodejs

Is Shelf actively maintained?

Development is ongoing. The repository recorded 4033 commits over the same window, and the last three months alone account for 1953 of them.

Activity is accelerating: the last quarter carried 149% more commits than the one before it.

The most recent tagged release, shelf@2.2.1, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.

Of the 13 projects we track in Inventory Management, Shelf ranks #2 by health score — in the top quarter of its category.

What Shelf actually does

Shelf is a self-hosted asset tracking system designed to help teams catalogue and monitor equipment across multiple locations. It functions as a centralised asset database and includes built-in tools for generating QR codes to label physical items. The platform is free to use with unlimited asset capacity under an open-source licence.

Best fit: Teams managing physical inventory or equipment pools who want an internal directory without per-user SaaS subscription costs.

Worth knowing: Because asset tracking depends heavily on reliable physical tagging and consistent user scanning habits, adoption friction within your team is a primary risk.

Deployment notes

As a Node.js application, you will typically need to run it behind a reverse proxy for TLS termination and ensure you configure persistent storage for your database and uploaded files.


Shelf as a replacement for


Alternatives to Shelf

Projects in the same categories, ordered by health score.