## Description
Fixes the issue with Vercel preview deployments failing.
It appears that the old `PGHOST` environment variable injected by neon
was:
`ep-snowy-snowflake-a2vc5pa2.eu-central-1.aws.neon.tech`
It is now:
`ep-snowy-snowflake-a2vc5pa2.eu-central-1-pooler.aws.neon.tech`
Notice the `-pooler` being attached automatically to the `PGHOST`.
## References
> The following changes were made to the [Neon Vercel
Integration](https://vercel.com/integrations/neon):
>
>To ensure that users accessing a Neon database from a serverless
environment have enough connections, the DATABASE_URL and PGHOST
environment variables added to a Vercel project by the Neon integration
are now set to a pooled Neon connection string by default. Pooled
connections support up to 10,000 simultaneous connections. Previously,
these variables were set to an unpooled connection string supporting
fewer concurrent connections.
https://neon.tech/docs/changeloghttps://neon.tech/docs/guides/vercel#manage-vercel-environment-variables
Remove `bcrypt` in favor of `@node-rs/bcrypt` which includes precompiled
binaries for many platforms reducing the number of tasks to run post
`npm install`.
Resolves#986
Tidy the docker setup and include a Github Action
for publishing docker containers to DockerHub and
Github Container Registry.
Also add a small README file with docker hosting instructions.
Tidy the docker setup and include a Github Action
for publishing docker containers to DockerHub and
Github Container Registry.
Also add a small README file with docker hosting instructions.
Return the recipient as an array to match the other formats for Zapier.
Otherwise, Zaps with the "DOCUMENT_OPENED" hooks won't work.
All the other webhooks return the "Recipient" field as an array.
---
name: Pull Request
about: Submit changes to the project for review and inclusion
---
## Description
<!--- Describe the changes introduced by this pull request. -->
<!--- Explain what problem it solves or what feature/fix it adds. -->
## Related Issue
<!--- If this pull request is related to a specific issue, reference it
here using #issue_number. -->
<!--- For example, "Fixes #123" or "Addresses #456". -->
## Changes Made
<!--- Provide a summary of the changes made in this pull request. -->
<!--- Include any relevant technical details or architecture changes.
-->
- Change 1
- Change 2
- ...
## Testing Performed
<!--- Describe the testing that you have performed to validate these
changes. -->
<!--- Include information about test cases, testing environments, and
results. -->
- Tested feature X in scenario Y.
- Ran unit tests for component Z.
- Tested on browsers A, B, and C.
- ...
## Checklist
<!--- Please check the boxes that apply to this pull request. -->
<!--- You can add or remove items as needed. -->
- [ ] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [ ] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [ ] I have updated the documentation to reflect these changes, if
applicable.
- [ ] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
- [ ] I have addressed the code review feedback from the previous
submission, if applicable.
## Additional Notes
<!--- Provide any additional context or notes for the reviewers. -->
<!--- This might include details about design decisions, potential
concerns, or anything else relevant. -->
This PR adds the public-facing API.
The public API will allow users to interact with Documenso
programmatically. At the moment, there are 5 available endpoints:
1. `GET /documents`
- get all documents of the user making the API call
- it accepts 2 URL query parameters - `page` and `perPage`, but they are
not mandatory
2. `GET /documents/:id`
- get a specific document of the user making the API call
- it requires 1 URL parameter, which represents the ID of the document
that needs to be retrieved
3. `DELETE /documents/:id`
- delete a specific document of the user making the API call
- it requires 1 URL parameter, which represents the ID of the document
that needs to be deleted
4. `POST /documents`
- making a POST request to this endpoint will return an S3 pre-signed
URL where you can upload the document
- it requires you to pass the file name and the file content type
5. `PATCH /documents/:id/send-for-signing`
- send a document for signing
- it allows you to pass the following:
- signer email *(required)*
- signer name *(optional)*
- field type (signature, email, name, etc.) *(required)*
- page number where to insert the field *(required)*
- page X *(required)*
- page Y *(required)*
- page width *(required)*
- page height *(required)*
- email subject *(optional)*
- email body *(optional)*
The users are authenticated through API tokens. The users can create one
or more tokens in their account settings, and each token will be
available for 1 year _(duration open to suggestions/changes)_.
Each time the user makes a request, the app checks if the token exists
and if it's valid. The app will return `401` *(unauthorized)* and the
appropriate error message if either is false. If both are true AND the
user uses the correct HTTP verb and passes the required URL parameters
and body, the API call will be successful.
Code overview:
- `@documenso/packages/lib/trpc/api-contract` - this folder contains the
`contract` and `schema` files. The `contract.ts` file describes the
structure of the API, the format of the requests and responses, and how
to authenticate your API calls, among others. The `schema.ts` file
contains the Zod schemas used in the API contract.
- `@documenso/packages/trpc/server/api-token-router` - this folder
contains the `router.rs` and `schema.ts` files. Here are the tRPC
procedures used on the frontend. That is, the user's settings page,
where the user can list/create/delete API tokens.
- `@documenso/packages/trpc/tsconfig.json` - I added `"strict": true`
because that's what's suggested in the `ts-rest` documentation.
*([source](https://ts-rest.com/docs/quickstart#create-a-contract))*
- `[...ts-rest].tsx` - This file contains the implementation of the API.
You can see the logic behind each route.
- the rest of the code represents the code for the API tokens page in
the user's settings.
<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->
## Summary by CodeRabbit
- **New Features**
- Added two-factor authentication form handling in profile settings.
- Introduced account deletion functionality, including Stripe customer
data removal.
- Updated UI components and styles for improved user interaction, such
as enhanced visual feedback for destructive actions.
- **Refactor**
- Improved code quality by updating import statements for type-only
imports.
- **Chores**
- Restructured the `forwardPorts` array in dev container configuration
for clarity.
- Removed a trailing comma in the `vscode` extensions list to adhere to
JSON format rules.
- **Documentation**
- Added comments to clarify the handling of undefined values in
two-factor authentication verification.
- **Database**
- Implemented a SQL migration script for creating a default deleted user
in the system.
<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->
## Description
This feature allows us to have a dedicated page to view details for a
document.
The current `/documents/[id]` page has been moved to
`/documents/[id]/edit`.
The new `/documents/[id]` page will now display general information on
the document itself.
This will allow us to provide more details relating to a document in the
future, such as version history.
## Examples
These may be outdated as deployment failed
Login via example@documenso.com
Draft document no recipients:
https://stg-7hpkvyc5i-documenso.vercel.app/documents/446
Draft document with recipients:
https://stg-7hpkvyc5i-documenso.vercel.app/documents/440
Pending document:
https://stg-7hpkvyc5i-documenso.vercel.app/documents/447
Completed document:
https://stg-7hpkvyc5i-documenso.vercel.app/documents/448
Pending teams document:
https://stg-7hpkvyc5i-documenso.vercel.app/t/hello/documents/449/
## Checklist
<!--- Please check the boxes that apply to this pull request. -->
<!--- You can add or remove items as needed. -->
- [ ] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [ ] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Additional Notes
When a user "sends" a document (DRAFT -> PENDING), should we redirect
them to the document/id page, or keep it how it currently is and have it
redirect to `/documents` page?
Disables the generation of the blog and content pages using
generateStaticPaths to deal with a regression with routing
introduced with next-runtime-env.
## Description
Add support for enterprise billing plans.
Enterprise billing plans by default get access to everything early
adopters do:
- Unlimited teams
- Unlimited documents
They will also get additional features in the future.
## Notes
Pending webhook updates to support enterprise onboarding.
Rolled back env changes `NEXT_PUBLIC_PROJECT` since it doesn't seem to
work.
improved document-dropzone ui for small vertical screens (screens less
than 800px vertically)
Although it can still become congested on really small vertical screens,
but possibility is really low.
fixes: #840
Adding a security.txt file enables security researchers to quickly and
easily see where they can submit security issues and know that they are
being taken serious. From the proposal website:
> "When security risks in web services are discovered by independent
security researchers who understand the severity of the risk, they often
lack the channels to disclose them properly. As a result, security
issues may be left unreported. security.txt defines a standard to help
organizations define the process for security researchers to disclose
security vulnerabilities securely.”
See also https://securitytxt.org
## Description
Currently we're not restricting team transfer and email verification
tokens from flowing into the frontend.
This changes restricts it to only return the required information
instead of the whole data object.
## Description
Currently the document redirect URL feature is preventing documents from
being created unless a redirect URL is provided.
During the document edit flow, the redirect URL is hidden in an advanced
tab with the value of an empty string, which will always fail the
current Zod validation since `optional` requires undefined to pass.
There are multiple ways to fix this, but I think this is the easiest
method where we can assume an empty string is valid.
## Description
Fixed issue where setting a recipient role as CC will prevent any
further changes as it is considered as "sent" and "signed".
## Other changes
- Prevent editing document after completed
- Removed CC and Viewers from the field recipient list since they will
never be filled
- Minor UI issues
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Description
Add the ability to feature flag the teams feature via UI.
Also added minor UI changes
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Description
Fixed issue where you are prevented from removing fields for a recipient
that has multiple fields.
Example:
Recipient has 3 fields, you remove 1 and proceed to next step. In the
next step the field reappears as it was not deleted.
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Description
Add support for teams which will allow users to collaborate on
documents.
Teams features allows users to:
- Create, manage and transfer teams
- Manage team members
- Manage team emails
- Manage a shared team inbox and documents
These changes do NOT include the following, which are planned for a
future release:
- Team templates
- Team API
- Search menu integration
## Testing Performed
- Added E2E tests for general team management
- Added E2E tests to validate document counts
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [ ] I have updated the documentation to reflect these changes, if
applicable.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Description
**Fixed document limitation bypassing issues through templates.**
Previously, users could bypass document restrictions by utilizing
templates even after reaching their limitations. This fix ensures that
templates will no longer function as a workaround when users reach their
document limits.
## Changes
1. imported `useLimits` hook on `data-table-templates.tsx`
2. Disabled the 'Use Template' button when the user reaches their limit.
3. Added an Alert Component on top of the templates page to notify users
that they can't use templates anymore because they have reached their
limit.
4. Used `getServerLimits` hook on `template-router` to a condition on
the server.
## Example
## Issue
Closes#883
## Description
Adds the ability to see the events relating to the account.
Event data includes:
- Device
- IP Address
- Time
- Action
Actions are:
- Profile update
- Account linked to SSO (Example user signs in with Google after
creating a email/password account)
- Enable 2FA
- Disable 2FA
- Reset password
- Update password
- Sign out
- Sign in
- Sign in fail
- Sign in 2FA fail
## Changes
- Added audit logs
- Updated 2FA dialogs to have consistent footers
- Update `/settings/security/page` layout
## Testing Performed
Tested events:
More tested events:
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Additional Notes
- Not sure if we really want to record the sign out event or not
- Might want to design breadcrumbs for nested setting pages
## Description
Currently the count for the documents table tabs do not display the
correct values when the period filter is applied.
## Changes Made
- Updated `getStats` to support filtering on period
## Testing Performed
- Tested to see if the documents tab count were being filtered based on
the period
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Description
This pull request solves the problem where the avatar component within
the document list has the same z-index value as the header component,
causing the avatar to be above the header. When two elements have the
same z-index value, the last one takes priority!
## Related Issue
Fixes#870
## Changes Made
1. Increases the value of the header's `z-index` by `10` (the current
value is `50`
## Description
Currently we are required to ensure PII data is not passed around in
search parameters and in the open for GDPR reasons.
Allowing us to encrypt and decrypt values with expiry dates will allow
us to ensure this doesn't happen.
## Changes Made
- Added TPRC router for encryption method
## Testing Performed
- Tested encrypting and decrypting data with and without `expiredAt`
- Tested via directly accessing API and also via trpc in react
components
- Tested parsing en email search param in a page and decrypting it
successfully
## Checklist
- [X] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
When you're in the `/documents` page in the dashboard, if you hover over
a draft and a completed document, you'll see different URLs.
At the moment, the shortcut tries to go to the following URL for a
completed document `/documents/{doc-id}`.
However, that's the wrong URL, since the URL for a completed doc is
`/sign/{token}` when the user is the recipient, not the one that sent
the document for signing.
If it's the document owner & the document is completed, the URL is fine
as `/documents/{doc-id}`.
---------
Co-authored-by: Lucas Smith <me@lucasjamessmith.me>
Fixed the deleting signature block issue on touchscreens, for some
reason the `onClick` event isn't working on the touchscreens that's why
I've added `onTouchEnd` event to delete the signature block when the
user clicks on it.
Extracts the API implementation to a package so we can
potentially reuse it across different applications in the
event that we move off using a Next.js API route.
Additionally tidies up the tokens page and form to be more simplified.
## Description
Currently there are various z-index values that are causing:
- Toasts to be placed behind dialog blur background
- Menu being cropped off by header
## Changes Made
- Revert `z-[1000]` back to `z-50` for the header (not exactly sure why
it was bumped)
- Refactor z-indexes over 9000 to start from 1000
- Ensure z-index of toast is higher than dialog
This PR makes a small but useful tweak to the `DeleteDocumentDialog`.
Now, the input field gets cleared whenever the dialog is opened. Here’s
what’s changed:
1. **Clear Field After Deleting**: After you delete something and open
the dialog again, it won’t show the old, deleted text anymore. It’s
clean and ready for the next delete.
2. **Type Again to Confirm**: If you type something but close the dialog
without deleting, you’ll have to type it again next time. This way, it
makes sure the user really mean to delete something and didn't do it by
mistake.
Demo Link:
See the old vs. new in action here:
https://www.loom.com/share/80eca0d3b1994f7cbcab6f222db2dbfe?sid=ebc6135c-345e-4640-b395-daff190a96e7
It’s a small change, but it makes the delete process safer and smoother.
## Description
Previously we assumed that there can only be 1 subscription per user.
However, that will soon no longer the case with the introduction of the
Teams subscription.
This PR will apply the required migrations to support multiple
subscriptions.
## Changes Made
- Updated the Prisma schema to allow for multiple `Subscriptions` per
`User`
- Added a Stripe `customerId` field to the `User` model
- Updated relevant billing sections to support multiple subscriptions
## Testing Performed
- Tested running the Prisma migration on a demo database created on the
main branch
Will require a lot of additional testing.
## Checklist
- [ ] I have tested these changes locally and they work as expected.
- [ ] I have added/updated tests that prove the effectiveness of these
changes.
- [X] I have followed the project's coding style guidelines.
## Additional Notes
Added the following custom SQL statement to the migration:
> DELETE FROM "Subscription" WHERE "planId" IS NULL OR "priceId" IS
NULL;
Prior to deployment this will require changes to Stripe products:
- Adding `type` meta attribute
---------
Co-authored-by: Lucas Smith <me@lucasjamessmith.me>
Currently customers with inactive/expired plans will be shown the
BillingPlans component but upon hitting the subscribe button they will
be redirected to their portal where they are unable to complete a
checkout.
To resolve this we check for expiration of their subscription and use a
normal stripe checkout instead.
* feat: add link to homepage on the complete sign page for logged in users
* feat: added ChevronLeft icon to the link
* feat: remove icon from the link
Change "Open" links to "Open Startup" to reduce confusion about how to open the web app.
Additionally add the OSS Friends link to the footer since it was dropped during some changes.
Implementation of a universal upload allowing for multiple storage backends
starting with `database` and `s3`.
Allows clients to put and retrieve files from either client or server using
a blend of client and server actions.
* feat: update document table layout
- Removed dashboard page
- Removed redundant ID column
- Moved date to first column
- Added estimated locales for SSR dates
- Fixed z-index when dragging pre-existing fields
- Refactored document flow
- Added button spinner
- Added animation for document flow slider
- Updated drag and drop fields
- Updated document flow so it adjusts to the height of the PDF
- Updated claim plan dialog
This change actually makes the authoring flow work for
the most part by tying in emailing and more.
We have also done a number of quality of life updates to
simplify the codebase overall making it easier to continue
work on the refresh.
Improve the stripe webhook endpoint by checking for
subscriptions prior to performing an update to handle
cases where accounts have no created subscription.
This can happen in sitations such as when a checkout_session has been created but the payment fails.
description:Suggest a minor enhancement or improvement for this project
name:'General Improvement Request'
description:'Suggest a minor enhancement or improvement for this project'
title:'[Title for your improvement suggestion]'
body:
- type:markdown
attributes:
value:Please provide a clear and concise title for your improvement suggestion
- type:textarea
attributes:
label:Improvement Description
description:Describe the improvement you are suggesting in detail. Explain what specific aspect of the project it addresses or enhances.
label:'Describe the improvement you are suggesting in detail'
description:'Explain why this improvement would be beneficial. Share any context, pain points, or reasons for suggesting this change.'
validations:
required:true
- type:textarea
id:description
attributes:
label:Rationale
description:Explain why this improvement would be beneficial. Share any context, pain points, or reasons for suggesting this change.
- type:textarea
label:'Additional Information & Alternatives (optional)'
description:'Are there any additional context or information that might be relevant to the improvement suggestion.'
validations:
required:false
- type:dropdown
id:assignee
attributes:
label:Proposed Solution
description:If you have a suggestion for how this improvement could be implemented, describe it here. Include any technical details, design suggestions, or other relevant information.
- type:textarea
attributes:
label:Alternatives (optional)
description:Are there any alternative approaches to achieve the same improvement? Describe other ways to address the issue or enhance the project.
- type:textarea
attributes:
label:Additional Context
description:Add any additional context or information that might be relevant to the improvement suggestion.
label:'Do you want to work on this improvement?'
multiple:false
options:
- 'No'
- 'Yes'
default:0
validations:
required:true
- type:checkboxes
attributes:
label:Please check the boxes that apply to this improvement suggestion.
label:'Please check the boxes that apply to this improvement suggestion.'
options:
- label:I have searched the existing issues and improvement suggestions to avoid duplication.
- label:I have provided a clear description of the improvement being suggested.
- label:I have explained the rationale behind this improvement.
- label:I have included any relevant technical details or design suggestions.
- label:I understand that this is a suggestion and that there is no guarantee of implementation.
- label:'I have searched the existing issues and improvement suggestions to avoid duplication.'
- label:'I have provided a clear description of the improvement being suggested.'
- label:'I have explained the rationale behind this improvement.'
- label:'I have included any relevant technical details or design suggestions.'
- label:'I understand that this is a suggestion and that there is no guarantee of implementation.'
console.log(`Issue Count For ${username}: ${issueCount}`);
if (issueCount > 3) {
let issueCountMessage = `### 🚨 Documenso Police 🚨`;
issueCountMessage += `\n@${username} has ${issueCount} open issues assigned already. Consider whether this issue should be assigned to them or left open for another contributor.`;
Hey There! and thank you for opening this pull request! 📝👋🏼
We require pull request titles to follow the [Conventional Commits Spec](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/) and it looks like your proposed title needs to be adjusted.
Signing documents is a fundamental building block of private, economic, and government interactions. Access to easy and secure signing to participate in society should therefore be a fundamental right for everyone. The technology to enable this should be accessible and widespread.
We know that open source is the key to solving this need once and for all to benefit all humankind. Using open source kickstarts innovation by putting the open sharing of ideas and solutions first. With Documenso, we will create an open and globally accessible signing platform to empower users, customers, and developers to fulfill their needs. Documenso is built by and for the global community, listening and implementing what is needed. Being transparent with the code and the processes that use it brings trust and security to the platform.
We build Documenso for longevity and scale by embracing the capital efficiency and inclusiveness of the Commercial Open Source (COSS) movement. We are building a global commodity for the world.
🚨 We are live on Product Hunt with Single Player Mode and the new free tier: [https://www.producthunt.com/products/documenso](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/documenso-singleplayer-mode)
@ -107,7 +105,7 @@ Contact us if you are interested in our Enterprise plan for large organizations
To run Documenso locally, you will need
- Node.js
- Node.js (v18 or above)
- Postgres SQL Database
- Docker (optional)
@ -117,10 +115,12 @@ To run Documenso locally, you will need
Want to get up and running quickly? Follow these steps:
1. [Clone the repository](https://help.github.com/articles/cloning-a-repository/) it to your local device.
1. [Fork this repository](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/working-with-forks/about-forks) to your GitHub account.
After forking the repository, clone it to your local device by using the following command:
2. Set up your `.env` file using the recommendations in the `.env.example` file. Alternatively, just run `cp .env.example .env` to get started with our handpicked defaults.
@ -154,10 +154,12 @@ npm run d
Follow these steps to setup Documenso on your local machine:
1. [Clone the repository](https://help.github.com/articles/cloning-a-repository/) it to your local device.
1. [Fork this repository](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/working-with-forks/about-forks) to your GitHub account.
After forking the repository, clone it to your local device by using the following command:
We support DevContainers for VSCode. [Click here to get started.](https://vscode.dev/redirect?url=vscode://ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers/cloneInVolume?url=https://github.com/documenso/documenso)
### Video walkthrough
If you're a visual learner and prefer to watch a video walkthrough of setting up Documenso locally, check out this video:
[](https://youtu.be/Y0ppIQrEnZs)
## Docker
🚧 Docker containers and images are current in progress. We are actively working on bringing a simple Docker build and publish pipeline for Documenso.
@ -238,7 +246,7 @@ Now you can install the dependencies and build it:
```
npm i
npm run:build:web
npm runbuild:web
npm run prisma:migrate-deploy
```
@ -276,12 +284,16 @@ WantedBy=multi-user.target
### Railway
[](https://railway.app/template/DjrRRX)
[](https://railway.app/template/bG6D4p)
### Render
[](https://render.com/deploy?repo=https://github.com/documenso/documenso)
### Koyeb
[](https://app.koyeb.com/deploy?type=git&repository=github.com/documenso/documenso&branch=main&name=documenso-app&builder=dockerfile&dockerfile=/docker/Dockerfile)
## Troubleshooting
### I'm not receiving any emails when using the developer quickstart.
description: We are creating signing as a public good and are commoditizing it to make it cheaper and better.
authorName: 'Timur Ercan'
authorImage: '/blog/blog-author-timur.jpeg'
authorRole: 'Co-Founder'
date: 2024-01-25
tags:
- Vision
- Mission
- Open Source
---
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/lighthouse.jpeg"
width="650"
height="650"
alt="A lighthouse on a tiny island."
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Lighthouses are often used as an example of a public good; As they benefit all maritime users, but no one can be excluded from using them as a navigational aid. Use by one person neither prevents access by other people, nor does it reduce availability to others.
</figcaption>
</figure>
# Commodifying Signing
> TLDR; We are creating signing as a public good and are commoditizing it to make it cheaper and better.
While we are in full-on building mode with Documenso, I think a lot about the big picture of what we are attempting to do. One phrase that keeps popping up is, "We are commodifying signing." Let's dig deeper into what that means.
Let's start with why we are doing this. Documenso's mission is to solve the domain of signing once and for all for everyone. In so many calls, I hear stories about how organizations build their own solution because the existing ones are too expensive or need to be more flexible. That means not hundreds but probably thousands of companies worldwide have done the same. This is simply wasting humanity's time. Since digital signing systems are understood well enough that seemingly "everyone" can build them, given enough pain, It's time to do it once correctly.
## Is signing already a commodity?
> In economics, a **commodity** is an economic good, usually a resource, that has explicitly full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.
That sounds like the signing market today. There is no shortage of signing providers, and you can get similar signing services from many places. So why is this different from what we want, and why does this not satisfy the market?
- Signing is expensive and painful when you are locked into your vendor, and they charge by signing volume.
- Signing is also expensive and painful when you have to build it yourself since no vendor fits your requirements or you are not allowed to
To understand why, we need to look at the landscape as it is today:
- **Public Goods**: Web Tech, Digital Signature Algorithms and Standards
What the current players have done is to commodify the listed public goods into commercial products:
> […]the action and process of transforming goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information, people, or animals into commodities.
> (Let's ignore the end of that list for now and what it says about humanity, yikes)
While this paradigm brought digital signing to many businesses worldwide, we aim for a different future. To solve signing once and for all, we need to achieve two core points:
- Making it cheaper so it's profitable for everyone to use
- Making it more accessible so everyone can use it (e.g. regulated industries) and flexible enough (extendable, open).
To achieve this, we must transform the landscape to look like this:
- **Public Goods**: (no longer private): OS (Open Source) Signing Code Base, OS Regulatory Know-How
- **Public Goods**: OS Web Tech, Digital Signature Algorithms and Standards
## Raising the Bar
Before creating a commodity, we are raising the bar of what the underlying public good is. Having an open source singing framework you can extend, self-host, and understand makes the resulting solution much more accessible and extendable for everyone. Now for the final feat of making signing cheaper:
As we have seen, signing has already been commodified. But since it was done by a closed source and, frankly, a very opaque industry, no downward price spiral has ensued. By building Documenso open source with an open culture, we can pierce the veil and trigger what the space has been missing for a long time: Commoditization. If you had to read that again, so did I:
> In business literature, **commoditization** is defined as the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) become simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers.
By only selling what creates value for the customer (hosting a highly available service, keeping it compliant, supporting with technical issues and challenges, preparing industry-specific components), we are commoditizing signing since everyone can do it now: The resources enabling it are public goods, aka. open source. A leveled playing field, as described above, is the perfect environment for a community-first, technology-first, and value-first company like Documenso to flourish.
## Changing the Game
In this new world, a company needing signing (literally every company) can decide if the ROI (Return on Investment) of building signing themselves is greater than simply paying for the value-added activities they will need anyway. Pricing our offering not on volume but fixed is a nice additional wedge into the market we intend to use here.
The market dynamic now changes to who can offer the greatest value added to the public goods, driving the price down as this can be done much more efficiently than locking customers into closed source SaaS. Documenso, being a lean company, which we intend to stay with for a long time, will help kickstart this effect. Open Source capital efficiency is real. Our planned enterprise components, hosting support, and partner ecosystem will all leverage this effect.
We will grow our community around the public good, the open-source repo, and create an ecosystem around the commodities built on top of it (components, hosting, compliance, support). We will solve signing once and for all, and the world will be better for it. Onwards.
As always, feel free to connect on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions or comments.
> 🔔 UPDATE: We launched <a href="https://documen.so/day1" target="_blank">teams</a> and the early adopters plan will be replaced by the new teams pricing as soon as all availible early adopters seats are filled.
## Community-Driven Development
As we ramp up hiring and development speed for Documenso, I want to discuss how we plan to build its core version.
description: On January 10th, 2022, we were notified by our email provider that they had experienced a security incident.
authorName: 'Lucas Smith'
authorImage: '/blog/blog-author-lucas.png'
authorRole: 'Co-Founder'
date: 2024-01-17
tags:
- Security
---
On January 10th, 2024 we were notified by our email provider that a security incident had occurred. This security incident which had started on January 7th led to a bad actor obtaining access to their database which contains ours and other customer’s data.
We understand that during this security incident the following has been accessed:
- Email addresses.
- Metadata on emails sent excluding the email body.
While the incident is unfortunate we are pleased with the remediation and the processes that our email provider has put in place to help avoid this kind of situation in the future. Since the incident, our provider has rectified the issue and has engaged a security company to conduct an exhaustive investigation and to help improve their security posture moving forward.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to our current email provider, and will not be taking any further action with relation to changing providers.
We are now working with our legal counsel to ensure that we provide the appropriate notice to all our customers in each jurisdiction. If you have any further questions on this incident please feel free to contact our support team at [support@documenso.com](mailto:support@documenso.com).
We appreciate your ongoing support in this matter.
You can read more on the incident on our providers blog post below:
> TLDR; Docucmenso now supports teams that share documents, templates and a team mail address. Early Adopter get UNLIMITED<sup>1</sup> Users.
## Kicking off Launch Week II - "Connected"
The day has come! Roughly 5 months after kicked off our first launch week with open sourcing our design and Malfunction Mania, Launch Week #2 is here 🎉 This Launch Week's theme is "connected", since this is all about connecting humans, machines and documents.
Working with documents and getting that signature is a team sport. This is why we are kicking it off today with a very long-awaited feature: Documenso now supports teams!
## Introducing Teams for Documenso
You can now create teams next to your personal account: Simply invite your colleagues, and you can include everyone you like in working with your documents. With teams, you can:
- Send unlimited signature requests with unlimited recipients
- Create, view, edit and sign documents owned by the team
- Define a dedicated team email, to receive signing requests into a team inbox for the owner to sign
- Manage team roles: Member (Create+Edit), Managers (+Manage Team Members), Owner (+Transfer Team +Delete Team + Sign Documents sent to team email)
## Pricing
Together with Teams, we are announcing the new teams pricing:
- $10 per seat per month
- 5 seats minimum
- You can add seats dynamically as needed
This pricing will take effect, as soon as the early adopter seats run out. Want to check out teams: [https://documen.so/teams](https://documen.so/teams).
## Early Adopter Perks
There is one more point on pricing I have been looking forward to for a long time:
All early adopter plans now include **UNLIMITED teams and users**<sup>1</sup> . We appreciate your support so far very much, and I'm happy to announce this first of more early adopter perks to come. We have roughly 48 early adopter plans left, so if you plan to onboard your team, now is a great time to [grab your early adopter seat.](https://documen.so/claim-early-adopters-plan)
We are eager to hear from all teams users how you like this addition and what we can add to make it even better. Connect with us on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions or comments! We're always here, and we would love to hear from you :)
> 🚨 We need you help to help us to make this the biggest launch week yet: <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's @Documenso Launch Week Day 1! Teams just dropped. Check it out https://documen.so/day1 🚀"> Support us on Twitter </a> or anywhere to spread awareness for open signing! The best posts will receive merch codes 👀
Best from Hamburg\
Timur
\
[1] Within reason. If you are unsure what that means, feel free to contact hi@documenso.com and ask for clarification if it's more than 100.
> TLDR; You can now reuse documents via templates. More field types coming soon as well.
## Introducing Templates
It's day 2 of Launch Week, everybody 🙌 After introducing [Teams](https://documenso.com/blog/launch-week-2-day-1) yesterday, today we are looking at making Documenso faster for daily use:
We are launching templates for Documenso! Templates are an easy way to reuse documents you send out often with just a few clicks. With templates, you can:
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/quickfill.png"
width="1260"
height="630"
alt="Template recipients quick fill view"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Quickly fill out recipients, when creating from a template
</figcaption>
</figure>
- Save often-uploaded documents for reuse
- Pre-define fields, so you just have to send the document
- Quickly fill out recipients and roles for new documents
- Share templates with your team to make working together even easier
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/template.png"
width="1260"
height="630"
alt="Create from template view"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
POV: You are a diligent german and create custom receipts with Documenso
</figcaption>
</figure>
## Pricing
Templates are **included in all Documenso Plans!** That includes our free tier: The limit of 5 documents per month still applies, but you are free to reach it with less friction using templates. Sharing templates with other users is only possible with the teams plan. If you want to share templates with people not in your team, we might have something coming up later this week 👀
## What's Next for Templates
We have a lot of great stuff coming up for templates as well:
- More Field Types are in the pipeline
- Sharing Templates Externally 👀
Check out templates [here](https://documen.so/templates) and let us know what you think and what we can improve. Which field types are you missing? Connect with us on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions or comments! We're always here and would love to hear from you :)
> 🚨 We need you help to help us to make this the biggest launch week yet: <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's @Documenso Launch Week Day 2! They just launched templates, and I'm pumped 🎉🚀🚀🚀. Check it out https://documen.so/day2"> Support us on Twitter </a> or anywhere to spread awareness for open signing! The best posts will receive merch codes 👀
description: Documenso's mission is to create a plattform developers all around the world can build upon. Today we are releasing the first version of our public API, included in all plans!
> TLDR; The public API is now availible for all plans.
## Introducing the public Documenso API
Launch. Week. Day. 3 🎉 Documenso's mission is to create a platform that developers all around the world can build upon. Today we are releasing the first version of our public API, and we are pumped. Since this is the first version, we focused on the basics. With the new API you can:
- Get Documents (Individual or all Accessible)
- Upload Documents
- Delete Documents
- Create Documents from Templates
- Trigger Sending Documents for Singing
You can check out the detailed API documentation here:
> API DOCUMENTATION: [https://app.documenso.com/api/v1/openapi](https://app.documenso.com/api/v1/openapi)
## Pricing
We are building Documenso to be an open and extendable platform; therefore the API is included in all current plans. The API is authenticated via auth tokens, which every user can create at no extra cost, as can teams. Existing limits still apply (i.e., the number of included documents for the free plan). While we don't have all the details yet, we don't intend to price the API usage in itself (rather the accounts using it) since we want you to build on Documenso without being smothered by API costs.
> Try the API here for free: [https://documen.so/api](https://documen.so/api)
## What's next for the API
You tell us. This is by far the most requested feature, so we would like to hear from you. What should we add? How can we integrate even better?
Connect with us on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions or comments! We're always here and would love to hear from you :)
> 🚨 We need you help to help us to make this the biggest launch week yet: <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's @Documenso Launch Week Day 3! The public API is here 👀 Check it out https://documen.so/day3"> Support us on Twitter </a> or anywhere to spread awareness for open signing! The best posts will receive merch codes 👀
title: Launch Week II - Day 4 - Webhooks and Zapier
description: If you want to integrate Documenso without fiddling with the API, we got you as well. You can now integrate Documenso via Zapier, included in all plans!
> TLDR; Zapier Integration is now available for all plans.
## Introducing Zapier for Documenso
Day 4 🥳 Yesterday we introduced our [public API](https://documen.so/day3) for developers to build on Documenso. If you are not a developer or simple want a quicker integration this is for you: Documenso now support Zapier Integrations! Just connect your Documenso account via a simple login flow with Zapier and you will have access to Zapier's universe of integrations 💫 The integration currently supports:
- Document Created ([https://documen.so/zapier-created](https://documen.so/zapier-created))
- Document Sent ([Chttps://documen.so/zapier-sent](https://documen.so/zapier-sent))
- Document Opened ([https://documen.so/zapier-opened](https://documen.so/zapier-opened))
- Document Signed ([https://documen.so/zapier-signed](https://documen.so/zapier-signed))
> ⚡️ You can create your own Zaps here: https://zapier.com/apps/documenso/integrations
Each event comes with extensive meta-data for you to use in Zapier. Missing something? Reach out on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord). We're always here and would love to hear from you :)
## Also Introducing for Documenso: Webhooks
To build the Zapier Integration, we needed a good webhooks concept, so we added that as well. Together with your Zaps, you can also now create customer webhooks in Documenso. You can try webhooks here for free: [https://documen.so/webhooks](https://documen.so/webhooks)
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/hooks.png"
width="1260"
height="630"
alt="Webhooks UI"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Create unlimited custom webhooks with each plan.
</figcaption>
</figure>
## Pricing
Just like the API, we consider the Zapier integration and webhooks part of the open Documenso platform. Zapier is **available for all Documenso plans**, including free! [Login now](https://documen.so/login) to check it out.
> 🚨 We need you help to help us to make this the biggest launch week yet: <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's @Documenso Launch Week Day 4! Documenso now supports @Zapier 🤯 https://documen.so/day4"> Support us on Twitter </a> or anywhere to spread awareness for open signing! The best posts will receive merch codes 👀
title: Launch Week II - Day 5 - Documenso Profiles
description: Documenso profiles allow you to send signing links to people so they can sign anytime and see who you are. Documenso Profile Usernames can be claimed starting today. Long ones free, short ones paid. Profiles will launch as soon as they are shiny.
> TLDR; Documenso profiles allow you to send signing links to people so they can sign anytime and see who you are. Documenso Profile Usernames can be claimed starting today. Long ones free, short ones paid. Profiles launch as soon as they are shiny.
## Introducing Documenso Profile Links
Day 5 - The Finale 🔥
Signing documents has always been between humans, and signing something together should be as frictionless as possible. It should also be async, so you don't force your counterpart to jog to their device to send something when you are ready. Today we are announcing the new Documenso Profiles:
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/profile.png"
width="1260"
height="813"
alt="Timur's Documenso Profile"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Async > Sync: Add public templates to your Documenso Link and let people sign whenever they are ready.
</figcaption>
</figure>
Documenso profiles work with your existing templates. You can just add them to your public profile to let everyone with your link sign them. With profiles, we want to bring back the human aspect of signing.
By making profiles public, you can always access what your counterparty offers and make them more visible in the process. Long-term, we plan to add more to profiles to help you ensure the person you are dealing with is who they claim to be. Documenso wants to be the trust layer of the internet, and we want to start at the very fundamental level: The individual transaction.
Profiles are our first step towards bringing more trust into everything, simply by making the use of signing more frictionless. As there is more and more content of questionable origin out there, we want to support you in making it clear what you send out and what not.
## Pricing and Claiming
Documenso profile username can be claimed starting today. Documenso profiles will launch as soon as we are happy with the details ✨
- Long usernames (6 characters or more) come free with every account, e.g. **documenso.com/u/timurercan**
- Short usernames (5 characters or fewer) or less require any paid account ([Early Adopter](https://documen.so/claim-early-adopters-plan), [Teams](https://documen.so/teams) or Enterprise): **e.g., documenso.com/u/timur**
You can claim your username here: [https://documen.so/claim](https://documen.so/claim)
> 🚨 We need you help to help us to make this the biggest launch week yet: <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's @Documenso Launch Week Day 5! You can now claim your username for the upcoming profile links 😮 https://documen.so/day5"> Support us on Twitter </a> or anywhere to spread awareness for open signing! The best posts will receive merch codes 👀
title: Moving from Linear to GitHub & LIVE Roadmap 2.0
description: We are leaving linear and are going all in on GitHub. Here is how we do it.
authorName: 'Timur Ercan'
authorImage: '/blog/blog-author-timur.jpeg'
authorRole: 'Co-Founder'
date: 2024-01-10
tags:
- GitHub
- Backlog
- Roadmap
---
# From Linear to GitHub
> TLDR; We are leaving Linear and are using only GitHub going forward. We no longer communicate feature timelines, only what we are working on and what's next.
If you follow us, you know we have been in full-on build mode. We are building, the community is building, it's great. Building is our daily business, so we think a lot about improving our approach to doing it.
Our most recent approach is to reduce the number of tools and platforms we use. Every tool we use
- Reduces the average time you spend on the tool
- Reduces your focus
- Increases mental load to keep all points of interest in mind
We thought about where we spend the most time, and hardly surprising: it's GitHub. Not only do we spend a lot of time there, but we also WANT to spend a lot of time there because:
- It's where the community contributes, and we are all about community
- It's where we show the world what we are working on
# The old structure
So far, we have been using Linear for our Backlog/ Task Management and synced issues we want to showcase or work on with the community via synclinear.com. Not only did we have our development issues there, but since
we have our own resident founding designer, we created a proper design backlog to structure our design workflows.
# The new structure
We moved everything to GitHub once we realized our focus was already there. This has a few key benefits:
- Reducing dilution of attention and time: You can hang out on GitHub without risk of missing much
- Putting different aspects of Documenso close to each other: Development, Design, Community
- Keep long-term, niche, and very abstract issues out of the main repo so we don't get desensitized by large issue numbers
To achieve this, we created a few GitHub repositories to host issues, with the main repository remaining the central point of interest, especially for the community.
## 1. Main Repository - Day to day Issues and the shorter-term roadmap (LIVE Roadmap 2.0)
Apart from the source code of the Documenso app and website, the main repo houses issues raised by the community and issues where we invite the community to participate.
With the overhauling of our issue management, we are also updating our progress communication. While the software and product development process is highly complex,
we try to give as much insight into what we do as possible. To that end, we went through 3 phases, three being what we do now.
1. **One extensive roadmap**: Initially we had one roadmap and were (very) slowly checking off boxes there (via a "Roadmap" milestone). While this is easy, it's also pretty imprecise and not practical as the project grows
2. **Estimated releases per quarter**: To give better guidance, we tried communicating our goals for the quarter; a pretty big window we thought we could roughly "hit". While the idea of not being too detailed was good, it is tough to estimate when some significant things are done if you do a lot of minor/ other things in parallel,
like working with the community and tuning things you go. Hitting time targets is tricky because there may be better things to do than sticking to that time target. This is always much easier to grasp for the people closely involved. The fallacy is to assume the thing you plan for exists in a vacuum.
3. Since we do not want to limit ourselves in choosing the most effective course but still give some insight into what's going on and what's coming up, we updated the live roadmap [https://documen.so/live](https://documen.so/live). It now shows what we are currently working on and what we plan on doing next. We do not provide
a specific timeline anymore since we couldn't even if we wanted to. Of course, we set our short-term goals based on what's best for the community. We give updates on the issues being worked on as well as possible.
The public backlog houses everything we want to build eventually. We do not provide a specific timeline of when that might happen. If we decide against something, it will be removed from the public backlog, as we consider this our long-term vision for Documenso. If you are interested in something on the roadmap, comment on the issue or post on Discord. This helps us gauge interest in specific features.
**Issues in the public backlog are not** available to be worked on. For issues to work on, please check the main repository issues. The issues found here are scoped broader since they are not meant for immediate execution but rather give a sense of where Documenso is going and what we consider part of our domain.
## 3. Internal Backlog
> github.com/documenso/backlog-internal
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/gh1.png"
width="1260"
height="630"
alt="GitHub: Development Board"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Our internal Kanban for development
</figcaption>
</figure>
This serves as the direct replacement for our Linear backlog. Here, we manage issues that are either too small or short-term for inclusion in the long-term roadmap, yet too specialized or fundamental to be integrated into the main repository. Our development Kanban board is implemented using a GitHub project.
## 4. Internal Design Backlog
> github.com/documenso/design-internal
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/gh2.png"
width="1260"
height="630"
alt="GitHub: Design Board"
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Our internal Kanban for design
</figcaption>
</figure>
This is the design equivalent of the internal backlog. The internal design backlog houses our design projects that include the exploration of new features, detailed UI designs, and improving the platform overall.
It's similar to the Kanban board for the development backlog.
While the internal design backlog also existed in Linear, the public design repository is new. Since designing in the open is tricky, we opted to publish the detailed design artifacts with the corresponding feature instead.
We already have design.documenso.com housing our general design system. Here, we will publish the specifics of how we applied this to each feature. We will publish the first artifacts here soon, what may be in the cards can be found on the [LIVE Roadmap](https://documen.so/live).
Feel free to connect with us on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions or comments! We're always here to help and would love to hear from you :)
description: We are exicited to report the closing of our Pre-Seed round. You can find the juicy details on our new /open page. Yes, it was signed using Documenso.
description: We are excited to report the closing of our Pre-Seed round. You can find the juicy details on our new /open page. Yes, it was signed using Documenso.
authorName: 'Timur Ercan'
authorImage: '/blog/blog-author-timur.jpeg'
authorRole: 'Co-Founder'
@ -14,9 +14,11 @@ tags:
Today I'm happy to announce that we closed a \$1.25M Pre-Seed round for Documenso, bringing our total funding to \$1.54M. The round actually closed last month, we just were sneaky about it.
## Two more for the road (to open signing)
We're ecstatic to welcome [OSS Capital](https://twitter.com/osscapital) and especially [Joseph Jacks](https://twitter.com/JosephJacks_) to the inner circle of the open signing revolution. We're also fortunate to be joined by Orrick's very own [John Harrison](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-harrison-a1213b9/) and his legal experience. For those who are wondering, yes, the round was, of course, signed using Documenso.
## Open Source, Open Metrics
If you follow us, you know we're firmly committed to the open source values of openness and transparency. For us, this includes not only the code side of things but also the business. As we aim to build trust among our investors, customers, and partners, we want to be open about what's going on. We also want to allow everyone to learn from our data and choices, just as we did from so many other COSS (Commercial Open Source) startups. The term "Open Startup" isn't precisely defined (and probably will never be, just like startup). There is however a [great write-up](https://cal.com/blog/open-startup) about the basics by the founder of our favorite open source scheduling tool Cal.com.
@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ We kicked off [Malfunction Mania](https://documenso.com/blog/malfunction-mania)
## Documenso Merch Shop
The shirt will be available in our [merch shop](https://documen.so/shop) via a unique discount code. While the shirt will be gone after Malfunction Mania, the shop is here to stay and provide a well-deserved reward for great community members and contributors. All items can be earned by contrinuting to Documenso.
The shirt will be available in our [merch shop](https://documen.so/shop) via a unique discount code. While the shirt will be gone after Malfunction Mania, the shop is here to stay and provide a well-deserved reward for great community members and contributors. All items can be earned by contributing to Documenso.
@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ We’re an open-source project and focus on building a great developer experienc
So, we’re switching all conversations, team and community-wide, to Discord.
In this post, we won’t debate *why* we’re switching — Slack vs. Discord is a long-lasting debate with pros and cons, and fans on both sides. There are great [stories](https://blog.meilisearch.com/from-slack-to-discord-our-migration/) and [threads](https://twitter.com/McPizza0/status/1655519558600470528) on the topic. We just don’t want to write yet another story here.
In this post, we won’t debate _why_ we’re switching — Slack vs. Discord is a long-lasting debate with pros and cons, and fans on both sides. There are great [stories](https://blog.meilisearch.com/from-slack-to-discord-our-migration/) and [threads](https://twitter.com/McPizza0/status/1655519558600470528) on the topic. We just don’t want to write yet another story here.
Instead, we’ll focus on *how* we plan to make the switch.
Instead, we’ll focus on _how_ we plan to make the switch.
## Who is this story for?
@ -47,14 +47,13 @@ The detailed plan goes like this:
- 2023-08-02 `t+8`: We announce to the community the upcoming changes in the different channels — GitHub, Twitter, and Slack.
- **GitHub**
- Create new Pull Request
- Add story to the blog
- Update link to the community
```
https://documen.so/discord
```
- Start a new Discussion
```markdown
@ -73,6 +72,7 @@ The detailed plan goes like this:
```
- **Twitter**
- [Tweet the announcement](https://twitter.com/documenso/status/1686719482096766977)
- Pin Tweet
- Update link in bio
@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ The detailed plan goes like this:
```
- **Slack**
- Post message in `#general`
```markdown
@ -106,15 +107,15 @@ The detailed plan goes like this:
- Pin post
- Set topic and description
```
We're switching to Discord. Join the fun: https://documen.so/discord
- 2023-08-09 `t+15`: 7 days later, we send a reminder on Slack.
- **Slack**
- Schedule reminder in `#general`
```
@ -131,5 +132,5 @@ The detailed plan goes like this:
## Final thoughts
- We’re at the very, early stage on our journey to building a beautiful, open-source DocuSign alternative. We want to build a great developer experience with the open-source community and, switching to Discord, we want to set up the foundations of an open, safe place for community members to get in touch, brainstorm ideas, and have fun.
- It doesn’t mean we won’t ever switch back to Slack. The tools of today aren’t the ones of tomorrow. We don’t delete the Slack workspace, we archive it, and keep the `documenso` handle. May it be just an *au revoir?*
- It doesn’t mean we won’t ever switch back to Slack. The tools of today aren’t the ones of tomorrow. We don’t delete the Slack workspace, we archive it, and keep the `documenso` handle. May it be just an _au revoir?_
- For now, we’re pushing forward and are eager to welcome you on Discord. Make sure to [join the server](https://documen.so/discord) in order to keep up to date on all things Documenso. See you there!
description: I started Documenso because I wanted to build a modern tech company in a growing space with a mission bigger than money, I overpaid for a SSL cert 13 years ago, like encryption and want to help make the internet/ world more open.
authorName: 'Timur Ercan'
authorImage: '/blog/blog-author-timur.jpeg'
authorRole: 'Co-Founder'
date: 2024-02-06
tags:
- Founders
- Mission
- Open Source
---
<figure>
<MdxNextImage
src="/blog/burgers.jpeg"
width="650"
height="100"
alt="Burgers, drinks on a table between friends."
/>
<figcaption className="text-center">
Not the burger from the story. But it could be as well, the place is pretty generic.
</figcaption>
</figure>
> TLDR; I started Documenso because I wanted to build a modern tech company in a growing space with a mission bigger than money, I overpaid for a SSL cert 13 years ago, like encryption, and wanted to help make the world/ Internet more open.
It's hard to pinpoint when I decided to start Documenso. I first uttered the word "Documenso" while sitting in a restaurant with [Felix](https://twitter.com/flxmgdnz), eating a burger and discussing what's next in late 2022. Shortly after, I sat down with a can of caffeine and started building [Documenso 0.9](https://github.com/documenso/documenso/releases/tag/0.9-developer-preview). Starting Documenso is the most deliberate business decision I ever made. It was deliberate from the personal side and deliberate from the business side.
Looking at the personal side, I've had some time off and was actively looking for my next move. Looking back, I stumbled into my first company. Less so with the second one, but I joined my co-founders and did not develop the core concept myself. While coming up with Documenso, I was deliberately looking for a few things, based on my previous experiences:
- An entrepreneurial space that was a big enough opportunity
- A huge macro trend, lifting everything in it's space
- A mode of working that fits my flow (which, luckily for me, is pretty close to the modern startup/ tech scene)
- A more significant impact to be made than just earning lots of money (though there is nothing wrong with that)
Quick shoutout to everyone feeling even a pinch of imposter syndrome while calling themselves a founder. It was after ten years, slightly after starting Documenso, that I started doing it in my head without cringing. So cut yourself some slack. Considering how long I've been doing this, I would have earned the internal title sooner, and so do you. After grappling with my identity for a second, as is customary for founders, my decision to start this journey came quickly.
Aside from the personal dimension, I had a clear mindset of what I wanted. The criteria I describe below clicked into place one after another, in no particular order. Having experienced no market demand and a very gritty, grindy market, I was looking for something more fundamental. Something basic, infrastructure-like, with a huge demand. A growing market deeply rooted in the ever-increasing digitalization of the world.
And to be honest, I just always liked digital signature tools. It's a product that is easy enough to comprehend and build but complex and impactful enough to satisfy a hard need. It's a product you can build very product-driven since the market and domain are well understood. So when asked about what's next for me, I literally said, "Digital, um, let's say… signatures". As it turns out, my first gut feeling was spot on, but how spot on I only realized when I started researching the space. An open source document signing company happens to be the perfect intersection of all the criteria and personal preferences I described above; it's pretty amazing, actually:
- The global signing market is enormous and rapidly growing
- To put it bluntly, the signing space is vast and dominated by one outdated player. Outdated in terms of tech, pricing, and ecosystem
- The signing space is also ridiculously opaque for a space based on open web tech, open encryption tech, and open signing standards. Even by closed-source standards
- We are currently seeing a renaissance for commercial open source startups, combining venture founder financials with open source mechanics
- Rebuilding a fundamental infrastructure as open source with a meaningful scale has a profoundly transformative effect on any space
- Working in open source requires being open, cooperative, and inclusive. It also requires quite a bit of context jumping, "going with the flow," and empathy
- Apart from fixing the signing space, making Documenso successful would be another domino tile toward open source eating the world, which is great for everyone
Building a company is so complex it can't be planned out. Basing it on great fundamentals and the expected dynamics is the best founders can do, in my humble opinion. After these fundamental decisions, you are (almost) just along for the ride and need to focus on solving the "conventional" problems of starting a company the best you can. With digital signatures hitting so many points of my personal and professional checklist, this already was a great fit. What got me excited at first, though, apart from the perspective of drinking caffeine and coding, was this:
Roughly 13 years ago, I was launching my first product. We obviously wanted SSL encryption on the product site, so I had to buy an SSL certificate. ~$200ish, two years validity, from VeriSign, I think. Apart from it being ridiculously complicated to get, it bothered me that we had basically paid $200 for what is essentially a long number someone generated. SSL wasn't even that widespread back then because it was mainly considered important for e-commerce, no wonder considering it cost so much. "Why would I encrypt a blog?". Fast forward to today, and everyone can get a free SSL cert courtesy of [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/) and browsers are basically blocking unencrypted sites. Mostly, it is even built into hosting platforms, so you barely even notice as a developer.
I had forgotten all about that story until I realized this is where signing is today. A global need fulfilled only by a closed ecosystem, not really state-of-the-art companies, leading to, let's call it, steep prices. I had considered Let's Encrypt a pillar of the open internet for so long that I forgot that they weren't always there. One day, someone said, let's make the internet better. Signing is another domain that should have had an open ecosystem for a long time. Another parallel to that story is the fact that the cryptographic certificates you need for document signing are also stuck in the "pre-Let's Encrypt world." Free document signing certificates via "Let's Sign" are now another to-do on the [long-term roadmap](https://documen.so/roadmap) list for the open signing ecosystem. Effecting this change in any way is a huge driver for me.
Apart from my personal gripes with the corporate certificate industry, I have always found encryption fascinating. It's such a fundamental force in society when you think about it: Secure Communication, Secure Commerce, and even [internet native, open source money (Bitcoin)](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin) were created using a bit of smart math. All these examples are expressions of very fundamental human behaviors that should be enabled and protected by open infrastructures.
I never told rthis to anyone before, but since starting Documenso, I realized that I underestimated the impact and importance of open source for quite some time. When I was in University, I distantly remember my mindset of "yeah, open source is nice, but the great, commercially successful products used in the real world are built by closed companies (aka Microsoft)" _shudder_ It was never really a conscious thought, but enough that I started learning MS Silverlight before plain Javascript. It was slowly, over time, that I realized that open web standards are superior to closed ones, and even later, I understood the same holds true for all software. Open source fixes something in the economy I find hard to articulate. I did my best in [Commodifying Signing](https://documenso.com/blog/commodifying-signing).
To wrap this up, Documenso happens to be the perfect storm of market opportunity, my interests, and my passions. Creating a company in which people want to work for the long term while tackling these issues is a critical side quest of Documenso. This is not only about building the next generation of signing tech; it's also about doing our part to normalize open, healthy, efficient working cultures and tackling relevant problems.
As always, feel free to connect on [Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/eltimuro) (DM open) or [Discord](https://documen.so/discord) if you have any questions, comments, thoughts or feelings.
So you love Documenso and all the things that we do and now you want to work with us to unlock the future of open signing?
---
## Open Positions
Unfortunately we have no open positions available at the moment. Our team has grown and so we must grow with it, please check back from time to time as now is not forever and we may be hiring again in the future.
title:'Documenso - The Open Source DocuSign Alternative',
exportfunctiongenerateMetadata() {
return{
title:{
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description:
'Join Documenso, the open signing infrastructure, and get a 10x better signing experience. Pricing starts at $30/mo. forever! Sign in now and enjoy a faster, smarter, and more beautiful document signing process. Integrates with your favorite tools, customizable, and expandable. Support our mission and become a part of our open-source community.',
keywords:
'Documenso, open source, DocuSign alternative, document signing, open signing infrastructure, open-source community, fast signing, beautiful signing, smart templates',
title:'Documenso - The Open Source DocuSign Alternative',
description:
'Join Documenso, the open signing infrastructure, and get a 10x better signing experience. Pricing starts at $30/mo. forever! Sign in now and enjoy a faster, smarter, and more beautiful document signing process. Integrates with your favorite tools, customizable, and expandable. Support our mission and become a part of our open-source community.',
'Join Documenso, the open signing infrastructure, and get a 10x better signing experience. Pricing starts at $30/mo. forever! Sign in now and enjoy a faster, smarter, and more beautiful document signing process. Integrates with your favorite tools, customizable, and expandable. Support our mission and become a part of our open-source community.',
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