The equipment rental industry runs on software that wasn't built for it, or software that was built for it but not for you. The Signals Rental Framework exists to change that.
We believe rental businesses deserve tools that are powerful, transparent, and truly theirs. These are the principles we build by.
SRF is in active development. Not everything described here exists today — but these principles guide every decision we make as we build it. They're not aspirations. They're constraints.
Signals Rental Framework is MIT-licensed and will remain so permanently. There is no "open core" catch. No features held back for a paid edition. No time-limited trials of the full product. The Framework is complete, production-ready software that you can run, modify, and distribute without restriction.
There is one Signals Framework. Not a "community edition" and an "enterprise edition." Every rental business — from a sole trader with a van to a national operation with ten depots — runs the same code. The difference is what you build on top of it, not what we take away from it.
Most rental businesses run on software that was designed for something else — inventory tools, e-commerce platforms, ERPs with bolt-on modules. Signals is purpose-built for equipment rental from the ground up. Availability, scheduling, maintenance cycles, kit prep, transport logistics, dry hire, wet hire, sub-hire, cross-hire — these aren't afterthoughts. They're the foundation.
You can run Signals on your own server, your own terms, your own infrastructure. Self-hosting is a first-class experience, not a second-class workaround. Documentation, tooling, and upgrade paths are maintained with the same care as any managed offering. Your data stays yours.
Signals is designed to be built on. The Framework is API-first — every capability is accessible programmatically, not buried behind a UI with no way in. The plugin architecture is a core design decision, not a bolted-on afterthought. Build custom modules, extend core behaviour, integrate with your accounting software, your CRM, your PAT testing workflow, your transport scheduler. Third parties are encouraged to build and sell commercial products, add-ons, themes, and integrations on top of the Framework. Signals is most powerful when developers and businesses treat it as a platform, not just an application.
Open source doesn't mean anti-business. Signals offers official managed hosting, cloud services, and platform products for businesses that want them. Third parties are free to offer their own commercial services, hosting, support, and customisation — the API and plugin architecture exist to make that straightforward, not to gatekeep it. The Framework stays free. The ecosystem around it is open for business.
The Framework roadmap is shaped by the people who use the software — rental operators, warehouse managers, hire desk staff, technicians, developers. Feature decisions are made in the open. Contributors earn influence through participation. We listen hardest to the people on the tools every day.
Signals ships with strong defaults that reflect real-world rental operations. Out of the box, it should make sense to anyone who has run a hire desk. But opinion is not dogma. Configuration is deep, overrides are clean, and the plugin system means you can change how Signals behaves without forking the core. When you need to do things differently, the Framework gets out of your way rather than fighting you.
We ship when it's ready. The core is well-tested, well-documented, and reliable — because rental businesses depend on this software to operate. A stable release means stable. Contributions are reviewed thoroughly. Breaking changes are communicated early and migrated cleanly. Trust is earned in the mundane discipline of not breaking things.
The hire industry has always run on relationships — lending kit to competitors, covering each other's shortfalls, sharing knowledge at the back of a truck. Signals is built in that spirit. We share what we build. We help each other get better.
Signals Rental Framework is open-source software for the equipment rental industry.
