What is Odoo?

Odoo (formerly known as OpenERP and originally TinyERP) is a comprehensive suite of open-source business applications. The name "Odoo" doesn't stand for anything - it was chosen in 2014 as a distinctive, easy-to-pronounce brand name when the company rebranded from OpenERP.

Overview

Odoo is an all-in-one business management software that covers:

• CRM - Customer Relationship Management
• Sales - Quotations, orders, and customer portal
• Inventory - Stock management, warehousing, and logistics
• Manufacturing - MRP, work orders, and BOMs
• Accounting - Invoicing, payments, and financial reports
• HR - Employees, recruitment, expenses, and timesheets
• Website & eCommerce - Website builder and online store
• Project Management - Tasks, timesheets, and planning
• And 40+ more apps - All integrated seamlessly

Editions

Edition	Description	Licensing
Community	Free and open-source with core features	LGPL v3
Enterprise	Adds advanced features like Studio, IoT, mobile apps	Proprietary (paid)
Odoo.sh	Cloud hosting platform with CI/CD and staging	Subscription-based
Odoo Online	SaaS version hosted by Odoo SA	Subscription-based

A Brief History

Year	Milestone
2005	TinyERP founded by Fabien Pinckaers in Belgium
2009	Renamed to OpenERP
2014	Rebranded to Odoo with version 8
2024	Odoo 18 released
2025	Odoo 19 (current version covered in this guide)

Odoo SA is headquartered in Belgium with offices worldwide and has over 12 million users globally.

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The Technology Stack

Understanding what powers Odoo helps you troubleshoot issues and communicate with developers.

Layer	Technology	What It Does
Database	PostgreSQL (psql)	Stores all your data - customers, orders, products, everything. Each Odoo database is a separate PostgreSQL database.
Backend	Python 3	The brain of Odoo. All business logic, calculations, workflows, and data processing happen in Python.
Frontend	JavaScript (OWL Framework)	What you see in the browser. OWL (Odoo Web Library) is Odoo's own reactive framework, similar to React or Vue.
Web Server	Werkzeug (Python)	Handles HTTP requests. Odoo runs its own web server - no Apache or Nginx required (though often used as proxy).
API	XML-RPC / JSON-RPC	How external systems talk to Odoo. Used for integrations, mobile apps, and automation scripts.
Templating	QWeb (XML)	Odoo's template engine for reports, website pages, and email templates. Similar to Jinja2 but XML-based.

How It All Connects

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                          YOUR BROWSER                                    │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │                 JAVASCRIPT FRONTEND (OWL)                        │   │
│  │     OWL Components  │  Web Client  │  Widgets  │  Actions       │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                  │ JSON-RPC / HTTP
                                  ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       ODOO SERVER (Python)                               │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Werkzeug (HTTP)  │  Controllers  │  Authentication             │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │     Models (ORM)  │  Business Logic  │  Reports (QWeb)          │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                  │ SQL (via ORM)
                                  ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       POSTGRESQL DATABASE                                │
│     res_partner  │  sale_order  │  product_product  │  account_move     │
│      (Contacts)  │   (Sales)    │    (Products)     │    (Invoices)     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Terminology

Term	What It Means	Example
Module / App	A self-contained package of features that can be installed or uninstalled	sale, stock, hr
Model	A database table that stores a specific type of data	res.partner (contacts), sale.order (quotations)
Record	A single row in a model (one customer, one order)	Customer "Acme Corp" with ID 42
Field	A column in a model that stores a specific piece of data	name, email, amount_total
View	How data is displayed to users (form, list, kanban, etc.)	The sales order form you fill out
ORM	Object-Relational Mapping - Python code that talks to the database	self.env['res.partner'].search([])
XML-ID / External ID	A unique identifier for records, used in data files and code	base.main_company, sale.action_orders
Context	A dictionary of parameters passed around to control behavior	{'default_partner_id': 5, 'lang': 'en_US'}
Domain	A filter condition written as a list of tuples	[('state', '=', 'sale'), ('amount_total', '>', 1000)]

Common File Types

Extension	Purpose	Where You'll See It
.py	Python code - models, business logic, controllers	models/sale_order.py
.xml	Views, actions, menus, demo data, security rules	views/sale_order_views.xml
.js	JavaScript - custom widgets, frontend logic	static/src/js/my_widget.js
.scss / .css	Styling - colors, layouts, fonts	static/src/scss/style.scss
.csv	Data import files (demo data, initial records)	data/res.country.csv
.po / .pot	Translation files	i18n/fr.po