OpenBcon

The Open Source AI Platform for Funding & Business Consultants

OpenBcon helps consultants, advisors, incubators, and funding teams run the full workflow in one place:

• discover funding programs
• assess business readiness
• manage company and client records
• generate funding-ready business plans
• organize applications, templates, resources, and reports

Community edition: AGPL-3.0-or-later

Commercial licensing available for private deployments, closed-source modifications, white-label/OEM distribution, implementation services, and ongoing support.

See COMMERCIAL-LICENSE.md and CLA.md.

Version 3.0.1

Version 3.0.1 makes administrator-triggered updates deterministic and clears stale browser state after a successful installation:

• Install update backs up the production environment file, force-replaces the checkout with origin/main, and preserves database volumes.
• Admin Console clears Cache Storage, service workers, localStorage, and sessionStorage after the new services are healthy, then reloads with a cache-busting URL.
• The update status reports the installed release label and explains that a locally stored browser session must sign in again after the refresh.

Version 3.0

Version 3.0 expands the funding catalog experience and makes the workspace Grants & Loans page independent from the interface language:

• Grants & Loans now loads every active program language from the shared catalog. English and Chinese program records remain associated with their own data sources instead of being filtered by the user's workspace language.
• The Grants & Loans directory displays at most 12 programs per page, with pagination that resets when search or filters change.
• Data-source names shown on funding cards use the latest Admin Console configuration, so renamed sources are reflected without re-importing records.
• Existing language-specific API consumers continue to receive their requested language; the all-language catalog query is used only by Grants & Loans.

Version 2.5.6

Version 2.5.6 improves local build visibility and Admin Console update feedback:

• Local Vite development and builds automatically read the current Git tag and commit when deployment environment variables are not provided, so the Updates page does not incorrectly show Unreleased for a tagged checkout.
• Install update now explains when updates have not been checked, no newer build is available, the update service is not configured, or no target build was returned.
• The install action remains available until an update is actually running, so administrators receive feedback instead of silently clicking a disabled button.

Version 2.5.5

Version 2.5.5 completes first-admin provisioning during VPS bootstrap:

• Setup Wizard validates and stores the initial admin email and password for one-time server-side provisioning.
• The deployment creates the administrator with the admin role in the Shared, Test, and Live PostgreSQL databases, so the same credentials work after switching between Test Mode and Live Mode.
• The initial password is stored only as a bcrypt hash in each database and the one-time bootstrap values are removed from deploy/.env.production after successful provisioning.
• Setup status explicitly reports administrator creation and continues to the public HTTPS and API health checks.

Version 2.5.4

Version 2.5.4 fixes funding data-source synchronization in the workspace:

• Google Sheets and Airtable funding records are now persisted to the shared PostgreSQL catalog instead of only being kept in browser cache.
• External catalog records are upserted by source and record identity, and records omitted from a completed sync are archived.
• JSON catalog field mappings are used consistently for duplicate detection.
• A local API proxy failure now explains that the API on port 8787 must be running instead of presenting an opaque 502 import error.

Version 2.5.3

Version 2.5.3 makes the installed release visible immediately after an administrator-triggered update:

• Deployment metadata is always regenerated from the current Git checkout, so stale commit or release values cannot be inherited from an older container.
• Application services are force-recreated after an update to ensure the new frontend bundle is running.
• Admin Console reloads after a successful update so the current build shows the installed release tag, such as 2.5.3.

Version 2.5.2

Version 2.5.2 fixes production updates when the private update agent runs Docker Compose from inside its updater container:

• Caddy configuration mounts now resolve through the VPS checkout path instead of the updater container's /workspace path.
• Existing Traefik proxy overrides are normalized automatically before Compose validates them, so deployments created by older releases can update safely.
• Database and Caddy data volumes are preserved; the fix does not delete application data.

Version 2.5.1

Version 2.5.1 makes release status easier to understand:

• Admin Console Updates displays the current and latest release tags, such as 2.5.1, instead of exposing an internal commit hash as the primary build label.
• Tagged deployments receive their release version automatically during the Docker build; untagged development builds are labeled Unreleased.
• Commit hashes remain available to the update service for safe comparison and fast-forward installation.

Version 2.5

Version 2.5 improves production operations and large catalog synchronization:

• Admin Console can check for and install fast-forward updates through a private, administrator-only update agent.
• JSON funding catalogs sync in bounded batches, so large U.S. Grants and similar sources do not exceed the API request limit; old records are archived only after the final batch completes successfully.
• Deployment health checks now report actionable service and HTTPS failures, while the bootstrap wizard shows generated database credentials and next steps.

After updating a deployment, rebuild the API service so the new synchronization logic is active:

docker compose \
  --env-file deploy/.env.production \
  -f deploy/docker-compose.production.yml \
  up -d --build api

Version 2.0.0

OpenBcon 2.0.0 adds a guided deployment experience for arbitrary customer domains. It includes the Admin Console Deployment Setup wizard and the secure Bootstrap Setup flow that runs before the application is configured. Operators can choose the public domain, HTTPS/proxy plan, and initial Test or Live Mode; the VPS generates database credentials and the application encryption key, then continues into the normal Docker deployment.

The release also includes account registration, login, password reset, multilingual workspace support, real funding-program discovery, company records, Quick Build, and configurable Strategic Report generation with business, technology, and financial sections.

The release has been verified locally with an end-to-end Test Mode walkthrough: register a user, sign in, reset the password, select a real funding program, create a company, launch Quick Build, and open the generated Strategic Report. Test Mode uses the deterministic mock gateway and test data stores; it does not send requests to an external LLM or payment provider. Configure Live Mode and server-side provider credentials before using real generation or payments.

Release validation commands:

npm run check
npm audit --omit=dev --audit-level=moderate
git diff --check

Latest local smoke validation also starts the Node API and checks the workspace routes with real catalog data. The API health check returned 200, Grants & Loans loaded 2,545 active programs (2,326 grants and 219 loans), Programs loaded the same catalog, the Dashboard showed a dynamic date and greeting, and the Guide and Templates Preview dialogs opened and closed successfully.

The shared catalog migration safely consolidates older workspace-scoped duplicates before enforcing the global (source_id, source_record_id) unique index. Existing application and package references are retargeted to the canonical program record during the migration.

The final local check passed with 14 test files and 77 tests, followed by a successful TypeScript and Vite production build. Lint reports only the existing React Fast Refresh and hook-dependency warnings.

Why OpenBcon

Funding consultants and business advisors still spend too much time on repetitive work:

• searching and comparing grant or loan programs
• collecting company information from clients
• rewriting business plans and funding narratives
• tracking applications, deadlines, and next actions
• building reports and export packages manually

OpenBcon turns that fragmented process into one AI-assisted workspace.

Who It's For

OpenBcon is designed for teams that help businesses secure funding:

• funding consultants and grant writers
• business advisors and coaches
• incubators and accelerators
• economic development organizations
• partner networks, internal advisory teams, and multi-client workspaces

Core Capabilities

• AI business plan generation: turn company and funding-program context into a structured funding-ready package
• Configurable Strategic Report: run section-by-section generation with admin-managed sections, document types, agents, roles, prompts, and ordering
• Reusable report layouts: configure cover-page and main-content CSS declarations in Admin Console with a live preview, then assign those layouts to Strategic Report sections
• Funding readiness workflows: assess strengths, risks, and missing inputs before submission
• Discovery scouting reports: compare each fundi