Charybdis
A free, open-source electronic medical record built by a working therapist, for working therapists.
No subscription. No per-seat fees. Self-host it yourself, or let us run it for you.
Your charts are yours
Most EMR software is designed for large clinics, priced per seat, and built by people who have never sat across from a client. We call those vendors Big Chart — they lock your notes behind their portal, design for auditors instead of the person in the room, and turn your charting and your clients' data into their asset.
Charybdis is the opposite stance: software a therapist can own and run, with the clinical record kept where it belongs — with the therapist and the client.
Built around how the work actually goes
Two charts, by design
The official record and your psychotherapy notes are legally distinct — Charybdis keeps them structurally separate, so your private clinical thinking is never one routine disclosure away from leaving the room.
The full arc of care
Intake, session notes, scheduling, superbills, assessments, discharge — the self-pay clinical loop, end to end.
Private by architecture
Field-level encryption of identifying data, immutable signed notes, and an on-device local AI — so notes never leave your server for a third-party model.
Actually free
Open source, no subscription, no percentage of your billed income. Run it on your own box, or ask about a concierge setup.
Charybdis is one project; Open Charting is the mission — free, open tools that put the practice back in the practitioner's hands.
Follow the build
Charybdis is being built in the open, and we're looking for working therapists to be beta testers. If you're a tech-curious clinician who wants a say in what an open EMR should be, leave your email — updates come as an occasional letter, and replies go straight to the builder.
Or write directly: jeremiahhackett.lcsw@gmail.com