carbon

Build hardware at the speed of software

Carbon combines ERP, MRP, MES and QMS.
Plan materials, run the shop floor, manage quality and track actual costs in one system.

Hard tech unicorns build on Carbon.

<strong>Start 30-day trial</strong> ·
<strong>Self-host</strong> ·
<strong>Docs</strong> ·
<strong>API</strong> ·
<strong>MCP</strong> ·
<strong>Discord</strong> ·
<strong>Roadmap</strong>



















  
    
    
  
  <b>One record from quote to cash.</b> Link quotes, orders, jobs and invoices.


  
    
    
  
  <b>Generate configurations from rules.</b> Control BOMs, routings and revisions.


  
    
    
  
  <b>Trace every unit to its source.</b> Follow lot and serial genealogy in both directions.

Contents

• Why Carbon
• Features
• Get Carbon
• API & MCP
• Architecture
• Tech Stack
• Monorepo
• Local Development
• Commands
• Security
• Contributing
• License

Why Carbon

Manufacturing teams often run planning, production, quality and accounting in separate systems. That creates predictable problems:

• BOMs and revisions are re-keyed between engineering and production
• Material shortages surface after work has started
• Job costs and quality records are reconstructed after the fact
• Integrations depend on vendor-specific tools and consultants

Carbon puts ERP, MRP, MES and QMS in one Postgres database you can inspect, own and extend. Engineering, planning, production, quality and accounting update the same data, without synchronization jobs between separate product databases.

Carbon is an open-source alternative to NetSuite, Epicor, SAP Business One, Plex, Odoo and ERPNext. It supports complex assembly, contract manufacturing, configure-to-order and high-mix, low-volume production. See all comparisons.

Features

ERP — Inventory & Costing	Quotes, orders, purchasing, inventory, invoicing and actual job costs
MRP — Planning	Demand, supply planning, versioned BOMs and routings, finite-capacity scheduling
MES — Execution	Digital travelers, operator terminals, 3D instructions, barcode and labor capture
QMS — Quality	Inspections, FAI, nonconformance, CAPA, calibration and risk management
Traceability	Forward and backward lot and serial genealogy
Engineering	Multi-level BOMs, revisions, change orders, supersession and product configuration
Accounting	General ledger, journals, multi-entity, multi-currency and accounting integrations
Workflows	Rule-based automation with triggers, actions and run history
Maintenance & Assets	Scheduled maintenance, fixed assets and kanban replenishment
API, Webhooks & MCP	Typed REST operations, event-driven webhooks and a permission-aware MCP server
Custom Fields	Extend records without changing the core schema
Integrations	Onshape, SolidWorks, Paperless Parts, Linear, Jira, Slack, Ramp, Stripe and Zebra

See the full roadmap for what's next.

Technical highlights

• Generated types shared by the database, application and API
• Postgres row-level security and tenant-scoped records
• Role- and attribute-based access for employees, customers and suppliers
• Realtime database subscriptions
• Shared identity and permissions across the application, API and MCP server
• Explicit dependency graphs for manufacturing operations
• Rust geometry services for STEP conversion and assembly motion planning

Get Carbon

Carbon Cloud	Managed application, database, updates and backups. Start a 30-day trial without a sales call.
Self-hosted	Run Carbon in your VPC, on-prem or air-gapped. See the self-hosting guide.
Develop locally	Run the application and supporting services from source. Follow Local Development.

API & MCP

The Carbon API exposes the same manufacturing operations used by the application. Each operation validates its input, updates dependent records and enforces the authenticated identity's permissions. Operations are available through two interfaces with the same arguments:

• HTTP: POST https://app.carbon.ms/api/v1/{module}/{operation}, with a published OpenAPI spec for generating a typed client in any language
• MCP: as tools for hosted or local AI agents, scoped to the permissions of the API key or signed-in user

Create a key under Settings → API Keys, then:

curl -X POST https://app.carbon.ms/api/v1/sales/getSalesOrders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CARBON_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "args": { "limit": 10 } }'

Sel