SELF-HOSTED · MIT LICENSED · NO ACCOUNT TO CREATE
Connect your own Gmail, Microsoft 365 or IMAP/SMTP mailboxes, warm them up, run multi-step campaigns, answer every reply in one inbox and track deals in a built-in CRM. A self-hosted alternative to Instantly that runs on your laptop or your own server, so your leads and replies never leave your database.
Free and MIT licensed. You pay only for your own server, if any, and your own mailboxes.
Don't want to read the docs yet? You need Docker and git:
git clone https://github.com/AnalyticDog13/rightnow-ai.git && cd rightnow-ai && cp .env.example .envThen add three secrets to .env and run scripts/start.sh.
Sample. Each mailbox's allowance is reserved before every send.
Sample data. The dashboard of a running install.
HOW IT WORKS
This is the whole loop rightnow-ai runs for you. Each step is a page in the app.
[ 01 / 06 ]
Gmail, Microsoft 365 and any IMAP/SMTP host. Gmail and Google Workspace connect with your own Google OAuth client, Microsoft 365 and Outlook with your own Entra app, everything else with a host, username and app password. Logins are encrypted before they are stored.
Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP/SMTP mailboxes side by side.
[ 02 / 06 ]
SPF, DKIM and DMARC, checked for you. The Deliverability page checks each sending domain's records, MX and spam blacklists, and tells you what to fix. A missing or broken SPF record blocks launch.
The Deliverability page tells you which DNS record to fix.
[ 03 / 06 ]
Two to four weeks before real volume. Turn on warm-up per mailbox: your mailboxes send short, plainly labelled messages to each other and record whether they land in the inbox or in spam. A mailbox that sat idle for 30 days is re-warmed automatically.
Warm-up volume, inbox rate and health per mailbox.
[ 04 / 06 ]
CSV in, duplicates out. Map your CSV's columns to names, companies and custom fields. You confirm you have the right to contact the list and record a lawful basis before the import starts. Anyone on the blocklist is never emailed.
Leads with lists, tags and custom fields.
Map CSV columns; duplicates are removed.
[ 05 / 06 ]
Steps, delays, A/B variants and a schedule. Write step 1 and the follow-ups with merge fields like {{firstName}} and spintax like {{RANDOM | Hi | Hello}}. Set sending days and hours, the time zone, the daily limit and which mailboxes send. Send yourself a test, then launch.
Steps, delays, merge fields and A/B variants.
Sending days, hours and time zone per campaign.
[ 06 / 06 ]
One inbox, a CRM, analytics and automations. Replies from every mailbox land in one threaded inbox, labelled interested, out of office, unsubscribe and more. Interested leads become deals on a Kanban board, with revenue tracked back to the campaign that found them.
Every mailbox in one threaded inbox.
Deals on a Kanban board, revenue tied to the campaign.
Sends, replies, bounces and revenue by campaign, step and mailbox.
Rules like "when a lead replies interested, move it to this stage".
TRY IT · RUNS IN YOUR BROWSER
A simulation of rightnow-ai's rules with sample data. In the app these happen on your schedule, minutes or days apart.
UNIFIED INBOX · CRM
rightnow-ai labels each reply with rules first (interested, out of office, unsubscribe, automated), and you can always correct it. Below is a working copy of the idea with sample threads. It is also a small open-source CRM: deals, stages, tasks and revenue, on your own server.
6 sample threads
SAMPLE DATAReplied 0
Interested 1
Meeting Scheduled 1
Proposal Sent 0
Closed Won 0
Sample threads. In the app, replies arrive through each mailbox's sync and the labels come from rules you can correct; optional AI labelling is off by default.
FEATURES
Gmail API, Microsoft Graph and any IMAP/SMTP host. Per-mailbox daily limits, health and encrypted logins.
Gradual ramp-up between your own mailboxes, inbox-placement tracking, and automatic re-warming after a break.
SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX and blacklist checks, inbox placement tests, bounce monitoring and automatic slow-down.
Unlimited steps and delays, A/B variants, spintax, merge fields with fallbacks, schedules per time zone and mailbox rotation.
CSV import with column mapping and dedupe, lists, custom fields, tags, a blocklist and optional email verification.
Every mailbox threaded in one place, with reply labels, notes, reminders and rich-text replies from the original mailbox.
A Kanban pipeline with deal values, tasks and activity history. Revenue is attributed to the campaign, step and mailbox.
Sends, replies, bounces, clicks, opportunities and revenue by campaign, step, variant and mailbox, with CSV export. Opens are marked as estimates.
Event rules like "when a lead replies interested, move it to this stage", plus signed webhooks.
Scoped API keys for accounts, campaigns, leads, inbox and analytics.
Bring your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint (including local models). Drafts wait for a human to approve them. Off by default.
Invites and roles, two-factor sign-in, an audit log, rate limits, GDPR export and erasure.
RELIABLE SENDING
Sending runs on a PostgreSQL-backed queue. These rules are enforced in code and covered by tests.
Illustration of the send path. Not live data.
Limits that cannot be overshot
Each mailbox's daily allowance is reserved in the same database transaction that claims a send, so parallel workers cannot exceed it.
Fresh mailboxes only
A mailbox may send only if it synced in the last 5 minutes, so replies, bounces and unsubscribes that arrived while you were offline are seen first.
Late, never all at once
After downtime, missed sends go out inside their schedule window at the normal pace, or wait for the next window. Never as a burst.
Never resent on a guess
A send whose outcome is unknown is looked for in the Sent folder. If it isn't found twice, 15 minutes apart, it is held until you release or cancel it.
One sender per lead
Follow-ups always go from the mailbox that sent step 1. A reply, bounce or unsubscribe stops the lead's sequence.
WARM-UP
Built-in warm-up uses only your own mailboxes. Every mailbox with warm-up on sends short, plainly labelled messages to the others, and some of them reply. Volume starts small and grows each day, and the app records whether each message landed in the inbox or in spam. That inbox rate feeds each mailbox's health score.
Want a bigger warm-up network? Connect the same mailboxes to an outside warm-up service, turn this app's warm-up off for them, and lower their daily campaign limit to leave room. Details on GitHub
Warm-up volume, inbox rate and health per mailbox.
Plan it with the same defaults the app uses. Nothing here leaves your browser.
Right now: checking your clock…
90emails per sending day
3 Google Workspace mailboxes at 30 a day: 90 emails per sending day after a 2-week warm-up. 3,000 emails take about 34 sending days.
| Constant | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Default provider cap | Google Workspace 1500, Gmail 400, Microsoft 365 5000, Outlook.com 250, SMTP 100 | accounts/factory.ts TIER_CAP |
| Highest daily limit per mailbox | Half the cap: 750, 200, 2500, 125, 50 | factory.ts maxDailyLimit |
| New mailbox daily limit | 30 (or the highest limit, if lower) | accounts/open-account.ts |
| Slow ramp-up (off by default) | 2 + 2 per day since connect | schema.prisma, quota.ts effectiveAllowance |
| Gap between sends | 540 s plus 0-300 s random (690 s on average) | schema.prisma Campaign minGapSec, randomGapSec |
| Default schedule | Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00 | campaigns/schema.ts officeHours |
| Warm-up (off until enabled) | 1 a day, +1 a day, up to 10; never above 50 or a tenth of the cap | deliverability/warmup-settings.ts, warmup.ts |
Defaults are read from the rightnow-ai source (factory.ts, quota.ts, warmup-settings.ts). The app also applies health and re-warm limits you can't see here.
SELF-HOST
rightnow-ai is only self-hosted. There is no rightnow account and no rightnow server: you run the same Docker Compose stack on a laptop or a Linux VPS.
scripts/backup.sh, scripts/upgrade.shgit clone https://github.com/AnalyticDog13/rightnow-ai.git
cd rightnow-aicp .env.example .env
# then set in .env:
MODE=local
APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<openssl rand -base64 32>
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=<openssl rand -base64 32>
SETUP_TOKEN=<16+ random characters>
# Back up ENCRYPTION_KEY with your database.scripts/start.sh
# Windows (PowerShell): powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\start.ps1
# Open http://localhost:3000/sign-up and create the owner with your SETUP_TOKEN.Back up ENCRYPTION_KEY with your database. Your mailbox logins are encrypted with it; a backup restored without the same key cannot read them.
DEPLOY IT YOURSELF
01
Fork the repo to keep your own changes, or clone it as is.
git clone https://github.com/<you>/rightnow-ai.gitReplace <you> with your GitHub name, or use AnalyticDog13 to clone the original.
02
Copy the example file and set three secrets (and, on a VPS, your domain and a database password).
cp .env.example .env03
Build and start the stack, then create the owner account with your SETUP_TOKEN.
scripts/start.shWindows: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\start.ps1. Then open http://localhost:3000/sign-up.
rightnow-ai needs a PostgreSQL database and a background worker that runs all the time to sync mailboxes, warm up and send on schedule. Vercel runs short-lived functions and static files, so it cannot host the app. Use Docker Compose on your own machine or a VPS. This page is the only part deployed to Vercel: it is plain HTML in the repo's site/ folder.
Once it runs, everything in the app is also available over a REST API with scoped keys.
COMPARE
| Question | rightnow-ai | Hosted cold-email tools (Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist) |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | You, on your laptop or server | The vendor, as a SaaS |
| Source code | Public, MIT license | Not public |
| Where leads and replies live | Your own PostgreSQL database | The vendor's systems |
| Cost model | Free software. You pay for your server (if any), mailboxes and domains | Subscription; see each vendor's pricing page |
| Mailboxes | Your own Gmail, Microsoft 365 and IMAP/SMTP | Typically your own mailboxes; some vendors also sell mailboxes |
| Warm-up network | Your own mailboxes only | Vendor-run shared networks are common |
| Lead database | None. Bring your own lists | Some vendors include one |
| Setup work | Docker, DNS, and your own Google/Microsoft OAuth app | Sign up and connect |
Based on each product's public website as of October 2026. Check the vendors' own pages for current details.
You are responsible for how you use this software. Before you email anyone you need a lawful basis to do so (for example CAN-SPAM in the US, GDPR and PECR in the EU and UK, CASL in Canada, as they apply to you and your recipients). Send only as your own, honestly identified sender.
Every campaign email carries a List-Unsubscribe header and an unsubscribe link or opt-out line, and unsubscribes are always honored: the address is suppressed and the lead's sequences stop. Your mailbox providers' terms also apply and can restrict cold email. Nothing here is legal advice.
rightnow-ai is an independent open-source project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist or any other email-outreach vendor. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
FAQ
Yes. It is MIT-licensed open-source software with no paid edition, no plans and no account to create. You pay only for what you run it on (nothing extra on your own computer, or a small VPS) and for your own mailboxes and domains.
No. rightnow-ai is only self-hosted and the maintainer runs no servers. To try it without real mail, set MAIL_PROVIDER_FAKE=1 in .env: every provider is replaced by a fake in-process mailbox and the whole pipeline runs without sending anything.
Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine with Compose) and git. For always-on sending, a Linux VPS with 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM is enough to start, plus a domain for HTTPS.
Not the app. It needs PostgreSQL and a background worker that runs all the time, so it runs with Docker Compose on your machine or a VPS. Only this marketing page is a static site.
Gmail and Google Workspace (through your own Google OAuth client), Microsoft 365 and Outlook (through your own Microsoft Entra app), and any other provider over IMAP/SMTP with an app password where required.
Warm-up sends labelled messages between your own mailboxes, ramps volume up daily and records inbox versus spam placement. Nothing can guarantee inbox placement, and rightnow-ai never fakes opens or rescues mail from spam. For a larger network you can use an outside warm-up service alongside it.
It covers mailboxes, warm-up, campaigns, a unified inbox, a CRM, analytics, automations and an API. It does not include a lead database, done-for-you mailboxes, a shared warm-up network or autonomous AI agents.
In your own PostgreSQL database. Mailbox logins and tokens are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM using your ENCRYPTION_KEY. There is no rightnow account and no rightnow server for your data to go to.
Nothing sends while it sleeps. On wake, each mailbox syncs first, so replies and unsubscribes that came in are seen before anything is sent; missed sends go out inside their schedule window, never as a burst. A send whose outcome is unknown is held, not resent.
Yes. Invite teammates with roles, protect sign-in with two-factor authentication, and review the audit log. One workspace per install today.
MIT licensed, self-hosted, no account to create.