Refqueue

Open-source waitlist with built-in referrals. The "refer friends to skip the line" launch mechanic, self-hosted and free. GetWaitlist and LaunchList are hosted SaaS that keep your signup data and charge to remove their branding. Refqueue is yours.

▶ Live demo: refqueue.com

They took the free plan away and the category leader just got acquired. Here's the open-source one that can't be paywalled or taken from you.

What it does

• Email signup → a live queue position ("You're #247").
• A unique referral link per signup with X / WhatsApp / LinkedIn / email share buttons.
• Confirmed referrals move you up the line: every friend who joins and confirms their email bumps your position. Unconfirmed signups never count.
• Configurable reward milestones ("refer 3 → early access") with automatic emails.
• A maker dashboard: signups, positions, top referrers, a 30-day chart, CSV export.
• Themeable: logo, color, and copy via environment variables.
• "Powered by Refqueue" credit: on by default, removable with one env var.

Anti-gaming

A referral counts only after the referred email completes double opt-in. That makes a fake referral cost a real, verifiable inbox, the single rule that keeps the numbers honest. Per-IP rate limiting and disposable-email blocking back it up.

Quick start

Refqueue is a Next.js app backed by Supabase (Postgres + Auth). Set up Supabase first (see supabase/README.md), then deploy.

Deploy to Vercel

Set APP_BASE_URL to your deployment's public URL after the first deploy.

Deploy with Docker

cp .env.docker.example .env.docker   # fill in your values
docker compose up -d

The app serves on port 3000; put it behind your reverse proxy and point APP_BASE_URL at the public URL.

Configuration

All configuration is environment variables, no settings UI to break. Copy .env.example and fill in. The app refuses to start in production if a required variable is missing.

Variable	Required	What it's for
SUPABASE_URL	yes	Supabase project URL
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY	yes	Server-side data access (keep secret)
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY	yes	Maker auth sessions
APP_BASE_URL	yes	Your public URL, used in verification links
EMAIL_FROM	yes	From-address for emails
RESEND_API_KEY or SMTP_*	yes	An email provider (double-opt-in needs one)
WAITLIST_NAME	no	Display name (default "Waitlist")
MAKER_EMAIL / MAKER_PASSWORD	no	Enables the /dashboard (omit = no dashboard)
THEME_ACCENT_COLOR / THEME_LOGO_URL / THEME_HEADLINE / THEME_SUBHEAD / THEME_CTA_LABEL	no	Branding
REWARD_TIERS	no	JSON array of {referrals, label} milestones
POWERED_BY	no	Set to false to remove the credit

See .env.example for the full annotated list.

Development

npm install
npx supabase start          # local Postgres + Auth (needs Docker/colima)
cp .env.example .env        # fill in local values (supabase status -o json for keys)
npm run dev
npm test                    # unit
npm run test:integration    # needs the local Supabase stack running

To populate a demo instance with believable, already-confirmed signups (a live 30-day curve, a top-referrers leaderboard, a real-looking queue position), point the script at your Supabase env and run:

npm run seed -- --dry-run                 # preview the generated data, write nothing
npm run seed -- --env .env --count 250    # seed 250 verified signups

It writes directly with the service role, so it needs no email provider. By default it clears the waitlist's existing signups first; pass --append to keep them.

Known limitations

Refqueue v1 is deliberately small. Documented tradeoffs (tracked for v1.1):

• Rate limiting is per-instance and keyed on x-forwarded-for. Deploy behind a proxy that sets it, and expect a shared limiter to arrive with multi-instance support.
• A milestone reward email can rarely double-send if two referred users confirm in the same instant (best-effort semantics; bounded to a duplicate email, never a broken flow).
• Re-signing up with a known email returns that email's status: convenient status read-back, but it discloses membership. Use a generic response if that matters to you.
• The dashboard loads all signups per view: fine to tens of thousands; revisit at scale.

Roadmap (v1.1+)

• Embeddable widget: drop the signup form into an existing site (most-requested).
• Position-jump animation: the satisfying "move up the line" motion.
• Email-provider sync (Mailchimp/ConvertKit), shared/distributed rate limiting, generated Supabase types.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT. An open-source alternative to GetWaitlist / LaunchList. Own implementation; no affiliation.