OpenGlaze

June 3, 2026 · View on GitHub

Free ceramic glaze calculator, recipe manager, and UMF analyzer.
100% open source. Self-hosted. No paywalls.

Quick Start • Features • Docs • Self-Host • Contribute

Screenshots

UMF Calculator — oxide analysis and SiO₂:Al₂O₃ ratio Glaze Library — 44 community glazes across cone 6 and cone 10

Recipe Optimizer — computational suggestions for target CTE and surface Kama AI Assistant — context-aware glaze chemistry questions

Screenshots needed — see docs/screenshots/README.md for capture instructions.

OpenGlaze is open-source glaze chemistry software for potters, ceramic artists, studios, educators, and production ceramicists. It combines a ceramic glaze calculator, UMF analysis, CTE estimation, recipe management, self-hosting, and optional AI glaze consulting.

AI discovery: llms.txt provides a compact project summary for AI assistants and search crawlers.

Best-fit searches: ceramic glaze calculator, UMF calculator, glaze chemistry software, open source pottery app, self-hosted glaze recipe manager, CTE glaze calculator, Glazy alternative, ceramic recipe optimizer.

Overview

OpenGlaze is a free, open-source ceramic glaze management system for potters, ceramic artists, and studios. It combines a UMF calculator, CTE analysis engine, computational recipe optimizer, and AI-powered glaze consulting — all in one self-hosted application.

30-second example: diagnose a crazing glaze

Enter a glaze recipe such as feldspar/silica/whiting/kaolin.
OpenGlaze calculates UMF, oxide roles, SiO₂:Al₂O₃ ratio, and estimated CTE.
If the glaze fit looks risky, the optimizer suggests material adjustments for the next test tile.
You still fire a real test tile — but you waste less clay, material, and kiln space getting there.

Popular starting points: Ceramic glaze calculator · UMF calculator · CTE calculator · Glazy companion · Self-hosted glaze software

Built by potters, for potters. Your glaze recipes stay on your infrastructure. No subscriptions. No feature gates. MIT licensed.

Why OpenGlaze?

🏠 Own your data — Self-host on your own server. Recipes never leave your studio.
🔓 Truly open — MIT licensed, no proprietary lock-in, full source code available
🧮 Computational chemistry — UMF calculator, CTE prediction, and recipe optimizer using stoichiometric analysis — not guesswork
🧠 AI-powered — Kama assistant understands glaze chemistry and answers technical questions
🎨 Studio-ready — Multi-user collaboration, role-based access, shared glaze libraries
☕ Free forever — No paywalls, no subscriptions, no feature gates. Voluntary support only.

What is OpenGlaze?

OpenGlaze is a ceramic glaze calculator and recipe management tool designed for anyone working with glazes:

Hobby potters who want to understand their glazes at the molecular level
Studio ceramicists managing dozens of recipes and test firings
Educators teaching glaze chemistry with transparent, reproducible tools
Production potters optimizing recipes for consistency and cost

At its core, OpenGlaze automates the chemistry that ceramicists have historically done by hand or with spreadsheets: calculating Unity Molecular Formula (UMF), estimating thermal expansion coefficient (CTE), and suggesting material adjustments to achieve target properties.

How It Compares

Tool	What It Does	How OpenGlaze Fits
Glazy	Recipe database & community	Export from Glazy → analyze & optimize in OpenGlaze
DigitalFire	Ceramic chemistry education & reference	Deep educational content; OpenGlaze is the practical calculator
INSIGHT	Desktop glaze calculation software	Similar chemistry engine; OpenGlaze is web-based, open-source, and self-hosted
HyperGlaze	Recipe database	Import recipes into OpenGlaze for UMF analysis

OpenGlaze is not a replacement for these tools — it complements them. Many users maintain their recipe libraries in Glazy and use OpenGlaze for computational analysis and optimization.

Quick Start

Docker (Recommended, 2 minutes)

The default Docker path is a single-user, self-hosted SQLite install with persistent Docker volumes. It does not require PostgreSQL or Ory Kratos.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/KyaniteLabs/openglaze.git
cd openglaze

# Copy environment file and set a real SECRET_KEY before public use
cp .env.example .env

# Start OpenGlaze
docker compose up -d

# Access at http://localhost:8768
curl http://localhost:8768/health

Manual Installation

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Set up database and seed with community glazes
python seed_data.py

# Run
python server.py

Open http://localhost:8768 in your browser. (Docker default; manual install defaults to 8767.)

CLI, MCP, and Agent Skill

OpenGlaze also ships agent-friendly local surfaces:

python -m openglaze_cli brief
python -m openglaze_cli umf --recipe "Custer Feldspar 45, Silica 25, Whiting 18, EPK 12" --cone 10
python -m openglaze_cli batch --recipe "Custer Feldspar 45, Silica 25, Whiting 18, EPK 12" --size 500
python -m openglaze_mcp

CLI: python -m openglaze_cli exposes project brief, UMF, batch scaling, and substitutions.
MCP: python -m openglaze_mcp starts a stdio MCP server with glaze recipe tools for agent hosts.
Skill: skills/openglaze/SKILL.md guides compatible agents on when to use the CLI or MCP server and how to keep glaze-safety claims bounded.

Example MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openglaze": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "openglaze_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Features

🎨 Glaze Management

Store unlimited glazes with chemistry, recipes, and visual references
Track family relationships and base types
UMF calculator with automatic oxide analysis and SiO₂:Al₂O₃ ratio
Recipe scaling and batch calculator with cost estimation
Food safety and cone range annotations (cone 06 through 10)

🔬 Chemistry Engine

UMF calculator — Unity Molecular Formula from any batch recipe
CTE analysis — Thermal expansion coefficient prediction for crazing/shivering risk
Glaze compatibility analysis and material substitution suggestions
Recipe optimizer — Computational suggestions to hit target CTE, surface (matte/glossy), or durability
Batch reporting with cost estimation
Oxide analysis with automatic role classification (flux, stabilizer, glass former)

🧠 AI Assistant (Kama)

Context-aware glaze consulting
Streaming responses for real-time help
Local LLM support (Ollama) or cloud (Claude)
Chemistry-aware prompt injection
Experiment suggestion engine

🧪 Experiment Pipeline

6-stage workflow: Ideation → Prediction → Application → Firing → Analysis → Documentation
Photo documentation at each stage
Structured firing log integration
Result comparison and archiving
Reproducibility tracking

👥 Studio Collaboration

Studio groups and invite-code joining
Lab assignment tracking
Shared experiment views
Simple local-token identity for lightweight collaboration
Role-based authorization and comment threads are roadmap items

🎮 Gamification

Points and streak tracking
Achievement badges
Activity leaderboards
Experiment milestones
Community challenges

More Features

🧮 Recipe Optimizer — Computational glaze recipe optimizer suggesting exact material adjustments to hit target CTE, surface, or durability without physical testing
📸 Photo Documentation — Gallery view across multiple firings
🔥 Firing Logs — Atmosphere, cone, and schedule tracking
🧮 Layering Tracker — Document and predict base/top combinations
💾 Import/Export — JSON/CSV export in the legacy dashboard; Glazy/INSIGHT import is a roadmap integration
📊 Progress views — Track experiments and prediction activity where auth is enabled
📱 PWA — Install as an app on mobile/desktop
⌨️ Command Palette — Quick navigation with ⌘K
🔐 Auth — simple local auth for studio features; Ory/Kratos support is experimental

Learn by search intent

These pages are built to answer the exact questions potters and AI answer engines ask:

Search intent	OpenGlaze page
Ceramic glaze calculator	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/ceramic-glaze-calculator.html
UMF calculator for ceramics	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/umf-calculator.html
Glaze recipe calculator	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/glaze-recipe-calculator.html
Glaze CTE calculator	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/cte-glaze-calculator.html
Glazy alternative / companion	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/glazy-alternative.html
DigitalFire companion	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/digitalfire-companion.html
Open-source pottery software	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/open-source-pottery-software.html
Self-hosted glaze software	https://openglaze.kyanitelabs.tech/self-hosted-glaze-software.html

AI crawlers and answer engines can use docs/llms.txt, docs/llms-full.txt, and docs/ai.txt for canonical project facts.

Tech Stack

Component	Technology	License
Backend	Flask 3.x (Python)	MIT
Frontend	Vanilla JS SPA	MIT
Database	SQLite	Public Domain
Auth	Simple local tokens; Ory hooks experimental	Apache 2.0
AI	Ollama (local) / Anthropic Claude (cloud)	—
Import/Export	JSON/CSV export in legacy dashboard; broader Glazy/INSIGHT import is roadmap	MIT
Chemistry	Custom UMF Engine	MIT
Container	Docker + Compose	—

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Client Layer                          │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐      │
│  │   Browser    │  │   PWA App    │  │   API Clients│      │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘      │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Flask Application                        │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐       │
│  │  Glazes  │ │Chemistry │ │    AI    │ │ Templates│       │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘       │
│  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐       │
│  │ Studios  │ │   Auth   │ │Analytics │ │  Uploads │       │
│  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘       │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Data Layer                              │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────────────────────┐  │
│  │SQLite    │  │Ory       │  │Ceramics Foundation Data  │  │
│  │          │  │Kratos    │  │(Materials, Recipes, etc.)│  │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Documentation

Document	Description
Installation	Docker and manual setup guides
Configuration	Environment variables and settings
API Reference	REST API endpoints and examples
Architecture	System design and data flow
User Guide	End-user feature walkthrough
Development	Contributing and local dev setup
Self-Hosting	Production deployment guide
Support	Voluntary support for the project
Changelog	Version history and release notes

Self-Hosting

OpenGlaze is designed for self-hosting. All components are open source.

Minimum Requirements

1 CPU core
1 GB RAM
10 GB storage
Docker & Docker Compose

Deployment Options

Platform	Cost	Difficulty	Best For
VPS (Hetzner, DO, Linode)	$5-20/mo	Medium	Full control
Render / Railway / Fly.io	$7-25/mo	Easy	Managed platforms
Raspberry Pi / Bare Metal	$0	Hard	Offline/local use

See docs/self-hosting.md for detailed deployment instructions for each platform.

Support the Project

OpenGlaze is free and open source. If it saves you materials, time, or a failed kiln load, consider starring the repo or contributing a recipe.

No pressure — the tool is yours either way.

Customizing Glaze Collections

Glaze templates live in core/templates/ and templates/. To add your own:

Create a YAML file following the community-glazes.yaml format
Add glaze entries with name, cone, atmosphere, base_type, recipe, etc.
Update seed_data.py to load your template, or import via the API

No code changes required — everything is data-driven.

Data

The ceramics-foundation/ directory contains canonical ceramic reference data:

30+ materials with oxide analyses and aliases
19 oxides with molecular weights, roles, and safety ratings
Firing schedules for cone 06 through 10
UMF target ranges and surface prediction thresholds
Layering rules and material substitutions
Studio recipes in YAML format

All data is versioned, sourced, and cited. See ceramics-foundation/ for the full dataset.

Templates

Pre-built glaze collections:

Cone 10 Reduction (Community) — 28 traditional reduction glazes
Cone 6 Oxidation (Community) — 12 electric kiln glazes
Cone 6 Reduction (Community) — 4 gas kiln reduction glazes

See templates/ and ceramics-foundation/recipes/.

Testing

# Run the full test suite
pytest tests/ -v

# Run with coverage
pytest tests/ --cov=. --cov-report=html

The test suite covers:

Kama AI context injection and streaming
Chemistry context retrieval and UMF calculation
Recipe optimizer (target CTE, surface, alkali, running risk)
Flask route imports and response formats
System prompt generation and database schema

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Quick start:

# Fork and clone
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/openglaze.git
cd openglaze

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run tests
pytest tests/

# Make changes and submit a PR

Security

See SECURITY.md for our security policy and vulnerability reporting process.

Support

Questions, bug reports, and feature requests:

GitHub Discussions — Community help
GitHub Issues — Bug reports and feature requests

License

Code: MIT License — Free to use, modify, distribute
Templates: CC-BY-4.0 — Free with attribution
Documentation: CC-BY-4.0

Acknowledgments

The ceramics community for sharing knowledge and recipes
Contributors who have helped build OpenGlaze
Ceramic Arts Network for glaze chemistry references
Digitalfire for oxide data and UMF methodology

Built with ❤️ for the ceramics community

GitHub • Discussions • Website

Part of KyaniteLabs

More from KyaniteLabs. Related projects:

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Elixis — local-first AI pattern-synthesis engine for ideas
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→ More at kyanitelabs.tech