Workout.cool is an open-source, MIT-licensed fitness coaching platform built in TypeScript on Next.js, React, and PostgreSQL that lets coaches and individuals create workout plans, track training progress, and browse a large exercise database.

What it is

Workout.cool is a web application for fitness coaching and training management, written in TypeScript and organised around a Next.js frontend, React components styled with Radix UI, and a PostgreSQL database accessed through Prisma. The codebase follows feature-sliced design, and the README documents the project's architecture, a contributing process, and a dedicated self-hosting section. The repository is published under the MIT licence, carries roughly 8,400 stars and 740 forks, and documentation is available in German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese.

The project solves a specific continuity problem in the open-source fitness ecosystem. It is a fresh implementation of the abandoned workout.lol platform, which the current maintainer had previously contributed to. That earlier project ran into difficulty securing a reliable exercise video provider, was sold, and was then abandoned when the new owner found exercise video licensing costs prohibitively expensive. Workout.cool exists to replace that lost platform with something maintained, so users who had workouts and progress tracked in the original can return to a comparable tool.

Key capabilities

• Create and manage workout plans for yourself or for coached clients, with progress tracking across sessions.
• Access a large exercise database with detailed written instructions and video demonstrations.
• Import or seed the exercise database, documented under the Exercise Database Import section of the README.
• Run the whole stack with make dev, which starts PostgreSQL in Docker, applies migrations, seeds the database, and launches the Next.js dev server; make down stops the services.
• Apply schema changes with Prisma using npx prisma migrate dev against the workout_cool database.
• Configure the deployment through a single .env file created from .env.example.
• Build on a feature-sliced-design frontend using Next.js, React, and Radix UI components.

Who uses it and how

• Personal trainers and coaches who build and assign training plans for multiple clients, using the plan and progress-tracking features as their working tool.
• Self-hosters who run their own instance on their own PostgreSQL database, keeping training data on infrastructure they control.
• Former workout.lol users who had saved workouts and tracked progress, and who want an actively maintained replacement.
• Developers and contributors who work on the Next.js and Prisma codebase, add exercises to the database, or translate the documentation into the eight documented languages.
• Teams running a local development environment through Docker, where make dev reproduces the full stack without manual database setup.

Getting started

Clone https://github.com/Snouzy/workout-cool.git, copy .env.example to .env, and run make dev to bring up the database in Docker, run migrations, seed the data, and start the Next.js server at http://localhost:3000. Alternatively, install dependencies with pnpm install, create a PostgreSQL database named workout_cool with createdb -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres workout_cool, then run npx prisma migrate dev and start the development server. Prerequisites are Node.js v18 or later, pnpm v8 or later, and Docker for the containerised path.

How it compares

The README positions workout.cool directly against its predecessor, workout.lol, the project it reimplements. Where workout.lol was sold and then abandoned after its maintainer could not secure an affordable exercise video provider, workout.cool is presented as a modern, maintained alternative built on the same open-source premise. Both are community-oriented fitness platforms, but only workout.cool carries the MIT licence and the current maintenance commitment described in its origin story.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster has to operate a PostgreSQL database alongside the application, supply a populated .env file, and choose between the Docker workflow and a manual Node.js, pnpm, and Prisma setup, which means the deployment is far from one-click. Anyone without basic database and container skills, or anyone wanting a fully managed hosted service, should think twice before adopting it. The stated reason its predecessor died was the cost of exercise video licensing, so exercise demonstration media is a structural dependency worth investigating before committing to long-term use.

id,name,name_en,description,description_en,full_video_url,full_video_image_url,introduction,introduction_en,slug,slug_en,attribute_name,attribute_value

# Import exercises from a CSV file
pnpm run import:exercises-full /path/to/your/exercises.csv

# Example with the provided sample data
pnpm run import:exercises-full ./data/sample-exercises.csv

id,name,name_en,description,description_en,full_video_url,full_video_image_url,introduction,introduction_en,slug,slug_en,attribute_name,attribute_value
157,"Fentes arrières à la barre","Barbell Reverse Lunges","<p>Stand upright...</p>","<p>Stand upright...</p>",https://youtube.com/...,https://img.youtube.com/...,slug-fr,slug-en,TYPE,STRENGTH
157,"Fentes arrières à la barre","Barbell Reverse Lunges","<p>Stand upright...</p>","<p>Stand upright...</p>",https://youtube.com/...,https://img.youtube.com/...,slug-fr,slug-en,PRIMARY_MUSCLE,QUADRICEPS

src/
├── app/ # Next.js pages, routes and layouts
├── processes/ # Business flows (multi-feature)
├── widgets/ # Composable UI wit