Shift schedule maker for drafting and printing a rota

What a drafting tool needs

People: Name, role or skills (bar, kitchen, keyholder), contracted hours, and a colour.
Shift templates: Named shifts with times, such as Open 7:00 to 15:00, Close 14:00 to 22:00, so you place a shift instead of typing times.
Requirements: How many of each role you need per shift and day: two on the floor at lunch, one keyholder at open and close.
Availability: Days or times each person can't work, entered as they tell you, plus holidays.
The week grid: Days across, people down (or shifts down), filled by dragging or tapping.
Totals: Hours per person against their contract, hours per day, and a rough cost if you add hourly rates.

Checks that catch the usual mistakes

The value of a tool over a spreadsheet is that it can warn you as you go. Ask for warnings, not hard blocks, so you stay in charge:

A shift with fewer people or skills than its requirement.
Someone placed on a day they marked unavailable or on holiday.
Two overlapping shifts for one person.
Too short a gap between a late close and an early open.
Hours well above or below someone's contract.
No keyholder at opening or closing.

Working-time and rest-break rules vary by country and sector. The app checks the numbers you give it; it doesn't know the law, so set the limits from your own obligations.

Describing your rota

Be concrete about shifts and rules: "A shift schedule maker for a café with eight staff. Roles: barista, kitchen, keyholder (some people have two). Shifts: Open 7:00 to 15:00, Mid 10:00 to 18:00, Close 13:00 to 19:00. Weekdays need 2 baristas and 1 kitchen at open; weekends 3 and 2. Warnings for unavailability, overlaps, under 11 hours between shifts and no keyholder. Copy last week as a starting point. Print the week on one landscape A4 page."

Anticode writes it as one app. Your people, templates and past weeks are saved in that browser, so next Sunday starts from last week's rota. Run it in parallel with your current method for a couple of weeks before you rely on it.

This is where a sandboxed app is honest about its limits. Data stays in the browser it was entered in, so staff opening the link see an empty tool, not your rota. The practical ways to get the rota to people are:

Print it for the staff room.
Save the print view as a PDF from your browser's print dialog and send it in your team chat.
Take a screenshot of each person's week.

Keep one device as the place the rota is made. Ask for an export and import of your data too, and save a backup each week in case that browser's data is cleared.

What it won't do

No staff logins. Nobody can sign in to see only their own shifts.
No swaps, requests or approvals. Staff can't request a day off or swap shifts through it.
No notifications. It can't text or email people when the rota changes.
No clocking in or payroll. Timesheets and pay need dedicated software.
Not part of Anticode's booking calendar. The booking calendar takes customer bookings for services; it has no staff rotas or scheduling, and this app doesn't connect to it.

When the team needs those features, use a dedicated rota platform, or have a developer build on the Next.js export, which includes staff roles as a starting point. For a team's projects rather than shifts, see project management app builder. For your own working hours, the time tracking app fits.

Questions people ask

Can it build the rota automatically?

You can ask for an auto-fill that places people to meet requirements and availability, then adjust. Check its choices, since fairness is a judgement the app can't make for you.

Can staff see their shifts on their phones?

Only as something you send them, such as a PDF or screenshot. The link alone shows an empty tool.

Can it handle split shifts?

Yes. Describe them as two shift templates on the same day and ask for the gap between them to be shown.