Reclaim — Lost & Found Management System (PHP & MySQL)

Reclaim turns the messy lost and found drawer into an organized, searchable register. It is a self-hosted PHP and MySQL lost and found management system that replaces paper logbooks and scattered spreadsheets with one fast, branded console your whole team can use. Built for hotels, resorts, shopping malls, gyms, airports, universities, hospitals, stadiums, offices and any venue that handles other people’s belongings.

What Reclaim does

Front-desk staff log a found item in seconds with a photo, category, the location it was found and where it is stored. When an owner comes looking, Reclaim matches their lost report against everything in storage, captures a signature on screen, and prints a PDF claim receipt so every handover is accountable. Guests can report a loss themselves through a public form and track its status with a reference code, with no account needed.

Because Reclaim is self-hosted, your data stays on your own server. There are no monthly fees and no third-party cloud. Install it in minutes with the built-in web installer, set your logo and details, and you are live.

Why buyers choose Reclaim

Replaces paper logbooks and spreadsheets with one accountable, searchable system
Cuts the time it takes to reunite lost property with its owners
Gives managers a clear audit trail of who handed over what, and when
Looks professional out of the box, with a clean interface you can brand as your own
100% self-hosted lost and found software: no subscriptions, no vendor lock-in, your data is yours

Found-item register

Fast intake form with photo upload, category, location found and storage location
Full lifecycle status: in storage, matched, returned, returned to finder, disposed
Powerful search and filtering by category, site, status, date and keyword
Multi-site support to track items across branches or buildings
Soft-delete trash with one-click restore, so nothing is lost by accident

Lost reports and matching

Record what guests have lost, with description, category and date
Smart matching surfaces likely found-item matches for each report
Lost-report lifecycle from open to matched to closed, with automatic expiry of stale reports

Handovers, signatures and receipts

On-screen signature capture when an item is collected
Auto-generated PDF claim receipts for a clean paper trail
Dedicated handovers register of every return, with view, edit and void
Return-to-finder workflow for unclaimed items

Public self-service

Public “report a loss” form, no login required
Status tracker so guests can follow their report with a reference code

Disposals and retention

Log disposals: donated, discarded, handed to authorities or returned to finder
Keep a defensible record of how unclaimed property was handled

Reports and insights

Dashboard with live KPIs and a chart
Exportable CSV and PDF reports on intake, returns and reunite rates

Administration and security

Role-based access for Administrators and Staff
Full audit log of every important action
Configurable settings: organization name, logo, timezone, currency and email
Email notifications and receipts over SMTP (PHPMailer)
Hardened sessions, CSRF protection, prepared statements and login throttling
Read-only demo mode for hosting a public demo safely

Easy setup and developer-friendly

Guided web installer checks requirements, creates the database and sets the admin account
Clean, extension-less URLs via a small front controller
Procedural PHP 8 and MySQL (PDO), with no framework to learn and easy to customize
Bootstrap 5 interface, fully self-contained with zero external CDNs
Tidy structure: a core folder for shared code and a views folder for pages
Bundled HTML documentation

Requirements

PHP 8.0 or higher (PDO, GD, mbstring, OpenSSL)
MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
Apache with mod_rewrite, or Nginx with a try_files rule

Perfect for

Hotels and resorts, shopping malls, gyms and spas, airports and transit, universities and schools, hospitals, stadiums and event venues, coworking spaces and theme parks.

Live demo

Demo: https://amiriqbalmcs.com/demos/reclaim/
Admin login: admin@example.com / admin123
Staff login: staff@example.com / staff123
The demo runs in read-only mode, so you can explore every screen freely.