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The signing book, replaced.

QR passes at the gate, live presence for wardens, and one place for late-access requests, complaints and rooms.

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An open-air hostel corridor in afternoon light, with laundry drying outside the rooms
A hand holding up a phone that shows a QR code

A pass on every phone. A scanner at every gate.

Students carry one QR pass. It holds a random ID and nothing personal. The scanner at the gate asks the server before it opens, and the warden's screen updates within seconds.

  1. Show the pass

    From the app, the web portal, or a printed card.

  2. The gate checks with the server

    Open hours, approvals and repeat scans are decided there, not on the box.

  3. Staff see it live

    Headcounts update, and anything after hours shows up as an incident.

One app for the people who live there, and the people who run it.

The HostelHive staff sign-in page
Staff sign-in on the live web app.
The HostelHive student sign-in page on a phone
The student portal on a phone.

Students

  • Their QR pass, always on their phone
  • Late-access requests and Going Home
  • Complaints, with photos
  • Notices and their own movement history

Wardens and admins

  • Who is in and who is out, live
  • Approve late returns, see every incident
  • Complaints from report to resolved
  • Rooms, beds, invitations and reports

No answer from the server? The gate stays shut.

The scanner is an ESP32 with a small screen, two lights, a buzzer and a relay for the lock. It never decides on its own. No network, a timeout or an error all leave the gate locked, and staff use a logged override button instead.

Every gate has its own credential, which an admin can replace at any time. It talks to the server over TLS pinned to one root certificate.

How the gates work
An ESP32 prototype on a breadboard with jumper wires
100

Lighthouse performance score on the student sign-in page

107

API operations, each documented in the built-in API explorer

0

Passwords stored by HostelHive. Sign-in is handled by Firebase.

A tree-lined brick path on a university campus

Run it for your hostel.

HostelHive is open source and split into four parts you can deploy on their own. The docs walk through setup, deployment and building the gate scanners.

Read the docs