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Open Locker Open-Source Smart Lockers
DE

Vision

Access should be simple and affordable

Section titled “Access should be simple and affordable”

Open Locker gives people access to physical resources that would otherwise be out of reach because of cost, distance, or missing infrastructure. The project started with a particular focus on young people, socially disadvantaged people, and rural communities, but it is not limited to specific groups or use cases.

Open Locker was founded as open source infrastructure under the premise of “Public Money, Public Code.” This origin does not prescribe how the project will be funded in the future. An optional managed service should sustainably fund the open core while remaining more affordable than typical market offerings.

Our principles

Section titled “Our principles”
  • Affordability over feature breadth: Hardware, operation, and use should remain as affordable as possible.
  • Trust as the foundation: Security, privacy, reliability, and traceability take priority.
  • Simple to use: Access should be understandable for people of all ages and should not depend on owning a smartphone in the long term.
  • Openness and data sovereignty: Self-hosting, European data protection, open interfaces, and freedom of hardware prevent lock-in.
  • Retrofit instead of replace: Existing non-smart cabinets should be affordable to upgrade.
  • One stable core, many applications: Optional modules and integrations should enable rental lockers, short-term use, pickup, direct sales, item lending, and further use cases.

How we evaluate contributions

Section titled “How we evaluate contributions”

A contribution moves Open Locker in the right direction when it expands or simplifies access to resources, keeps total costs low, and protects the foundations of security, privacy, reliability, and traceability. It should strengthen the open core without making every operator pay for individual special cases.

Open Locker should not become a full ERP, inventory, or lending system, a surveillance tool, or a closed ecosystem. It does not compete in a costly race for enterprise feature breadth.

Success means independent organizations use and operate Open Locker over the long term, retrofit existing cabinets without vendor lock-in, and realize projects for which commercial alternatives would be too expensive. An active community and a sustainable managed service support the continued development of the open core.

The complete bilingual version is available in VISION.md.