Scheduling · checked 2026-10-19Can I vibecode Doodle?
YES· one-shottable
A group poll is a short table: a title, a few candidate times, and a grid where each invitee marks what works without signing up. One agent session can build that on SQLite with a link per poll, a results grid that highlights the best time, and a confirmation email. Rallly already does the same in the open. What stays behind is Doodle's booking side: calendar connections that block your busy times, Zoom and Teams links, Stripe payments and team administration. A personal poll site on a small server or a tunnel needs none of those.
$15/moprice per seat
$180you'd save a year
one sittingbuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyBeginner · No setup beyond your agent.
TimeOne to two hours for the first version
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
- SMTP credentialsA transactional provider's free tier is plenty for a handful of polls.
- A public addressA tunnel or a small VPS with HTTPS; invitees must be able to open the page.
Before you buildDoodle Free allows one group poll at a time. If you run polls once in a while, you may not need Pro, and Rallly's hosted version is free to try.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a self-hosted group poll site to replace Doodle. Requirements: - Node.js 22 + TypeScript: Fastify with server-rendered pages (Eta) and a little vanilla JS. `npm start` serves http://localhost:4840; polls open at /p/<id> and the organizer's page at /admin/<token>. - Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/polls.db: polls (title, description, location, time zone, deadline, status), options (start, optional end), votes (name, optional email, option, answer yes | maybe | no) and comments. Poll ids are 12 random characters from `nanoid`; the admin token is 32 random bytes, shown once. - Create: a form with a date picker, several time slots per date, and switches for allowing "maybe" and for a vote limit per option. `luxon` handles time zones. - Vote: no account. An invitee enters a name, marks every option, and edits the answers later through a cookie or an edit link emailed to them. Times show in the visitor's own time zone. - Results: a grid with counts per option and the best options highlighted. The organizer can close the poll, pick the final option, and email everyone a notice with an .ics attachment (`ics`). - Email: `nodemailer` with SMTP settings from .env for new votes, deadline reminders and the final notice, capped at 20 emails per poll per day. - Abuse limits: rate-limit by IP, 200 participants and 40 options per poll, escape every name and comment, delete a poll 30 days after its last option. - Export: the organizer downloads votes as CSV. - No accounts, no telemetry. Out of scope: booking pages, calendar sync, payments, video-call links. - README: running behind Caddy or a tunnel, the .env keys, and a backup of polls.db.
Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Doodle.
Extend the poll site in this folder. Requirements: - In .env, accept up to three read-only calendar URLs (iCalendar feeds from Google, iCloud or Fastmail). - On the organizer's create page only, shade time slots that overlap a busy event, using `node-ical` and `luxon`; cache each feed for 5 minutes and never show events to voters. - If a feed fails, show a warning and keep working. - Update the README with how to get each calendar's private feed URL and a warning to keep it secret.
Add sign-up sheets to the poll site in this folder. Requirements: - A second kind of poll where each slot has a capacity; a visitor picks a slot, enters a name, and the slot closes when it is full. Use a transaction so two people cannot take the last place. - Let a visitor cancel through an emailed link, and show the organizer a list per slot. - Reuse the existing email, rate-limit and CSV export code. - Update the README.
Add a Doodle import to the poll site in this folder. Requirements: - A command `npm run import-doodle <file.xlsx>` for an Excel export of one Doodle poll. First print the sheet layout with `exceljs` and confirm the parsing plan before writing anything. - Create a closed poll with its options and each participant's answers; map unknown answers to maybe. - Make the import safe to run twice, and print counts of polls, options and votes. - Update the README with the Doodle export steps.
What you lose
- Calendar connections that show your busy times while you set up a poll, and sync of the chosen meeting
- Booking pages and 1:1 scheduling with Zoom, Teams and Webex links
- Stripe payments, custom branding and team features such as an admin console and co-hosting
- Sign-up sheets with sessions that fill up
- A link invitees already recognise and trust
Why people still pay
People who schedule every week get unlimited polls, booking pages, reminders and video links in one tool that invitees already know. The Pro price is small next to a meeting that never gets booked.
Doodle or your own copy?
Seats
Over
Your usage
3h ×$/h
Doodle, 1 yr$180
Your own copy, 1 yr$41running + build session
You keep$139pays for itself in the first month
Estimate · Runs on a free tunnel or a $5 VPS; SMTP at this volume fits free tiers. The build is token usage on your agent plan.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of Doodle
- 1Exporting poll results is a Doodle Pro feature, so export before you stop paying.
- 2Open poll: open it from the dashboard, click More, then Export. Booked or closed poll: click the three dots next to it on the dashboard and choose Export.
- 3You get an Excel (.xlsx) file in your Downloads folder with the poll's participant responses.
- 4We found no export for booking pages or sign-up sheets: write down the settings and links you need.
2 · Cancel Doodle
- 1Open your account settings and go to Subscription.
- 2Click Cancel subscription and confirm in the popup.
- 3That turns off auto-renewal: you keep your paid features until the end of the current term, then the account becomes Free.
- 4Annual subscribers can get a full refund within 14 days of purchase; monthly subscribers can ask for a prorated refund.
- After the subscription ends you can open existing polls but not create Pro polls or new 1:1s, and only your oldest booking page stays active.
- Group polls count as inactive 30 days after their last date option, and inactive polls are deleted for good, so export or finish important ones first.
- Deleting your account is a separate action that also removes the subscription and cannot be undone; turn off renewal instead if you only want to downgrade.
- Replace your Doodle booking link in email signatures and invites before it goes inactive.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
RalllyOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 date and time polls: invitees vote without an account, with an availability grid, comments and a final-date notice; hosted version and Docker.★ 5.3k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗Cal.diyOpen sourceMIT community edition of Cal.com for booking pages; the README says personal, non-production use.★ 49k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗Easy!AppointmentsOpen sourceGPL-3.0 PHP appointment scheduler with services, providers and calendar sync; for bookings, not polls.★ 4.4k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗Cal.diyOpen sourceMIT community edition of Cal.com for booking pages; the README says personal, non-production use.★ 49k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗Easy!AppointmentsOpen sourceGPL-3.0 PHP appointment scheduler with services, providers and calendar sync; for bookings, not polls.★ 4.4k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
Doodle pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | One group poll, one booking page, one 1:1 and 3 basic sign-up sheets. |
| Pro | $15 | $11 | Unlimited group polls, booking pages, 1:1s and sign-up sheets, deadlines, reminders and hidden participants, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex links, no ads, Excel export. |
| Team | $21 | $16 | Everything in Pro plus an admin console, roles and permissions, co-hosting, booking on behalf, activity reports, custom branding, Stripe payments and AI-written meeting descriptions. |
| Enterprise | — | $1,250 | Everything in Team plus SSO (SAML or OIDC), MFA, role-based access, branded booking pages, emails and URLs, a 99.9% SLA and a dedicated success manager. |
- Free tier
- One group poll, one booking page, one 1:1 and 3 basic sign-up sheets; no advanced settings, video links or Excel export.
- Billing
- Monthly or yearly, per seat. Cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), PayPal and Apple Pay in Safari. Annual subscribers can get a full refund within 14 days of purchase; monthly subscribers can ask for a prorated refund.
- Hidden costs
- Each organizer needs a seat; people who answer a poll need none. Excel export, video-call links and no ads all sit behind Pro. Team starts at two seats and Enterprise at $15,000 a year.
- Source
- doodle.com
Also on the list
Related apps
Free includes one group poll, one booking page, one 1:1 and three basic sign-up sheets, with no card.
Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.
About $15 a month on the Pro plan per seat, $180 a year (checked 2026-10-19).
Calendar connections that show your busy times while you set up a poll, and sync of the chosen meeting; Booking pages and 1:1 scheduling with Zoom, Teams and Webex links; Stripe payments, custom branding and team features such as an admin console and co-hosting; Sign-up sheets with sessions that fill up; A link invitees already recognise and trust. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: Rallly (open source), Cal.diy (open source), Easy!Appointments (open source).