A new non-profit applied research lab dedicated to ensuring the stability of the global Open Source ecosystem we all rely on.
Mission
We are a non-profit applied research lab that safeguards global tech infrastructure by caring for the Open Source technology it relies upon. We develop ways to make the Open Source ecosystem more secure, sustainably funded, and responsibly governed. We do this to benefit the public and protect critical services that depend on Open Source, like transportation, healthcare and the internet.
Strategy
Our team identifies threats to the global Open Source ecosystem and mitigates them by producing software, APIs, informal research reports, and peer-reviewed research papers. We work directly with maintainers to help them implement our solutions.
Our work in increasing software supply chain transparency has enabled developers to understand the propagation of vulnerabilities, and to identify critical maintainers that need support.
And our work on sustainable funding and governance systems has helped widely-deployed projects avoid maintainer burnout so that they can continue their critical work.
Experience
Our staff of industry specialists and doctoral researchers have held senior or founding roles at internationally impactful Open Source initiatives like:
Our members have contributed to organisations such as:
Our members have been part of working groups at:
Team
Maintainer of the Open Source Pledge, which has raised $7,156,281 for maintainers. thanks.dev core developer, Open Source Endowment board adviser. Helped build software used by the Gates Foundation to allocate $1B in healthcare funding.
BPS award-winning psychologist and author of the to-date most comprehensive report on burnout in Open Source. PhD researcher in moral psychology and philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.
Creator of leading Open Source intelligence providers ecosyste.ms and libraries.io. Organiser of the FOSDEM Package Management devroom. Previously an engineer at GitHub and Tidelift.
Leader of globally-used web framework Nuxt. Steward of package manager frontend npmx. Regular keynote speaker, Microsoft MVP, Google GDE, and GitHub Star.
Former Director of Data Science at CHAOSS. Helped develop Intel's global Open Source engagement strategy. PhD in software metrics.
Steward of npmx. Core developer of foundational web development tools used by millions, such as Vite, Vitest and e18e. Previously at StackBlitz.
CTPO at Administrate. Project Leader of Homebrew. Former GitHub Principal Engineer (#232). Author of Git in Practice.
Values
Public good
Our projects must provide a clear benefit to the public; and not put the public at disproportionate risk of harm, eg through drastic environmental consequences or the creation of monopolies.
Public access
All our research outputs are accessible and usable by all. Across our different outputs, this means Open Source code, open data, and open access research papers.
Systemic improvements
We aim for widely-applicable systemic solutions, instead of fixes for particular technologies. Our goal is to improve the software ecosystem for current and future developers, not to help current developers shape themselves to fit a bad system.
Interdisciplinarity
Our work is rooted in software, but we also address the social, ethical and policy dimensions of Open Source. This includes responsible governance, healthy communities, good working conditions and respect.
Decentralisation
We promote sharing and distributing power over technology. We want users to be able to shape the tech they use so that it meets their needs and works in their best interests.
Interdependence
We aim to advance public knowledge about the webs of interdependence that constitute our global tech infrastructure; about how the tech we have today is made possible by thousands of developers collaborating openly.
Interested?
Have questions?
Reach out to Vlad at vlad@vlad.website.