4 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/xtuple/xtuple.png)](https://travis-ci.org/xtuple/xtuple)
8 xTuple is open-source business management software. The code is managed by an eponymous
9 company in Norfolk, VA, and our community stretches around the world. Our web application
10 is implemented as an [HTML5 node.js app](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki/Overview).
11 The other client to our server is a [desktop app](https://github.com/xtuple/qt-client) written
12 in the cross-platform Qt framework.
14 Most of our commercial customers are inventory-based manufacturers or distributors, and we have a
15 fair amount of commercially-licensed code to specifically support these use-cases. That said,
16 businesses of all sorts, even services-based companies, run their operations on our open-source
19 We're always happy when people use xTuple as a launching point for their own projects,
20 whether or not you have a commercial relationship with us.
22 ### Why you might be interested in hacking on our software
24 The xTuple platform provides a great starting point for business software in practically
25 any industry. What you get for free is an entire stack to work on top of, and a lot
26 of business objects that you might want, like `Invoices`, `Currencies`, `Tasks` and
27 `Contacts` (and about a hundred more) are already implemented.
29 Moreover, one of the great strengths of the framework is extensibility and privilege
30 control. Our extension system allows for a high level of modularity, and keeps you
31 from having to rewrite the core. Fine-grained, centrally-managed privilege
32 control is also an important feature that businesses typically want, and
33 we've taken special care to implement it reliably across the application.
37 Fork us, take a test drive with our [free trial](http://www.xtuple.com/free-trial),
39 If you want to be a contributor and are looking for a place to
40 make your mark, we're keeping a list of issues that are
41 [fair game](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/labels/fair%20game)
42 to pick off and provide
43 a convenient, well-documented starting point into our project.
45 In the month of August, we will be running haxTuple 2014. As in previous incarnations,
46 we will open up our bug-shooting derby for the Qt client to our community, with prizes
47 for the most effective bugsquashers! In this year's event, we will also introduce our
48 new technologies by opening up our webapp for haxxing. Those who write the best
49 JavaScript extensions or REST clients will get prizes. More details
50 [here](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki/haxTuple-2014).
52 Also, don't miss the xTuple event of the year!
53 [xTupleCon 2014](http://www.xtuple.com/xtuple-conference-2014)
54 is going to be held October 13-18 in Norfolk, VA. With six days of events and a kickoff
55 speech by Steve Wozniak, it promises to the be the biggest xTupleCon yet.
57 ### Installing this project
59 The best way to start coding on our stack is to use our
60 [Vagrant setup](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki/Become-an-xTuple-Developer!).
64 View the [Release Notes](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple-documentation/tree/master/release-notes)
67 ### Additional Resources
68 * [Building an Extension Tutorial](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple-extensions/blob/master/docs/TUTORIAL.md)
69 * [Developer Wiki](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki)
70 * xTuple U [Tutorial Videos](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki/Tutorial-Videos)
71 * [API documentation](http://xtuple.github.io/api/current)
72 * [Setting up a non-development demo environment](https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple/wiki/How-to-set-up-xTuple)