🎉 First beta release is live —
v0.1.0-beta.1. Workouts, programs, gym mode, dashboard, weight, and the new nutrition tracker are all in. Pin this tag for a stable self-host target instead of trackingmain.
Beta — actively being built. Expect rough edges and frequent updates. Issues and feedback are welcome. The software equivalent of going to the gym for the first time.
🌐 Live demo → lyftr-demo.fly.dev — log in with
demo@lyftr.local/password123. Shared instance, resets every hour.
Tested and working on:
- Raspberry Pi 4 (2 GB RAM, arm64 Docker image)
- Any x86 VPS — Hetzner CAX11, DigitalOcean Droplet, Oracle Free Tier
- Synology NAS via Docker (Container Manager)
- Proxmox LXC with Docker installed
- Local machine — Mac, Linux, Windows (WSL2)
Single SQLite file, minimal RAM, no external services required.
Hevy and Strong are polished apps but cloud-only, increasingly paywalled, and your data lives on someone else's server. Wger is a solid self-hosted option with a lot of features — Lyftr's focus is a more modern, mobile-first UI and a simpler deployment story. FitNotes is local-only with no sync or server deployment story.
Lyftr is for people who want a modern, mobile-first workout tracker that they fully own and can run on a $5 VPS or a Raspberry Pi in the corner. No subscription. No vendor lock-in. No "your export is a Pro feature."
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Workout logging with 800+ exercise library | ✓ |
| Program builder — reusable workout templates | ✓ |
| Active workout mode — guided set-by-set flow | ✓ |
| Gym Mode — full-screen card layout, one exercise at a time | ✓ |
| Exercise detail — personal records, progression chart, muscle diagram | ✓ |
| Dashboard — volume trends, consistency heatmap, muscle balance | ✓ |
| Weight tracking with trend graph | ✓ |
| lbs / kg unit support across all data | ✓ |
| Self-hosted — all data stays on your server | ✓ |
| Nutrition tracking — calories, macros, barcode scan, food search | ✓ |
| PWA — installable on any device | Planned |
| Strong / Hevy CSV import | Planned |
| iOS app (Swift) | Planned |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
demo@lyftr.local |
|
| Password | password123 |
Pre-loaded with 8 weeks of PPL workouts, 90 days of weight logs, and food logs so every page has data to explore. Shared instance — resets automatically every hour so any changes are wiped clean.
Or register your own account on the demo — your data persists until the next hourly reset, and nobody else can see it.
No clone. No build. No Go install required. Just Docker.
curl -o docker-compose.yml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Cawlumm/lyftr/main/docker-compose.yml
curl -o .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Cawlumm/lyftr/main/.env.exampleEdit .env and set a strong JWT_SECRET (32+ characters), then:
docker compose up -dOpen http://localhost in your browser and create your account. If running on a VPS, replace localhost with your server IP or domain.
All variables live in .env at the project root.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
JWT_SECRET |
required | Min 32-char secret for signing tokens |
CORS_ORIGIN |
http://localhost |
Set to your domain in production |
PORT |
80 |
Host port for the web interface |
On first startup, Lyftr automatically seeds 800+ exercises from free-exercise-db in the background. No API key. No setup required. It just works.
[startup] exercises table empty — fetching from free-exercise-db...
[startup] seed: synced 868 exercises
The seed runs async so the server is immediately available. Exercises appear in the UI within a few seconds.
Re-sync exercises: Go to Settings → Exercise Library — shows current exercise count and a progress indicator while seeding. Hit Re-sync to pull the latest exercises (safe upsert, existing workout data is untouched).
All workout data is stored in ./data/lyftr.db (SQLite). Back this up regularly. It's one file. You have no excuse.
# Backup
cp ./data/lyftr.db ./data/lyftr.db.backup
# Update to latest
docker compose pull && docker compose up -dBecause paying $15/month for a fitness app subscription is money better spent on protein powder.
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose-plugin
mkdir lyftr && cd lyftr
curl -o docker-compose.yml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Cawlumm/lyftr/main/docker-compose.yml
curl -o .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Cawlumm/lyftr/main/.env.example
nano .env # set JWT_SECRET and CORS_ORIGIN
docker compose up -dFor HTTPS, put Lyftr behind Caddy or nginx with a Let's Encrypt certificate.
- Workout logging + program builder
- Active workout mode (list + gym mode layouts)
- Exercise detail — PRs, progression chart, muscle diagram
- Dashboard with charts and trends
- Weight tracking with trend graph + lbs/kg support
- Docker deployment with E2E test pipeline
- Nutrition tracking — calories, macros, Open Food Facts search, barcode scan, history
- PWA — installable on any device without an app store
- Strong / Hevy CSV import — so you don't lose years of data switching
- Apple Health / Google Fit export
- iOS app (Swift)
- Hosted option (no self-hosting required)
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | Go, Gin, SQLite |
| Frontend | React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Vite |
| Auth | JWT with refresh tokens |
| Deployment | Docker, nginx |
# Backend (runs on :3000)
cd backend && go run main.go
# Frontend (runs on :5173, proxies /api to :3000)
cd web && npm install && npm run devSee backend/config/config.go for all supported environment variables.
Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are all welcome. Open an issue before submitting large changes — unlike leg day, communication should not be skipped.