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Why host projects with LF AI & Data?

In a world where GitHub use is ubiquitous, it is no longer sufficient for a software foundation to offer just software repos, mailing lists, and a website. An enhanced set of services is required to support the projects and increase adoption. LF AI & Data’s  Project Lifecycle Document defines the various stages of project hosting, the benefits received by projects in each of the hosting stages, and the process to move from one stage to another.

We are a community of doers, developing, collaborating, and sharing open source AI and data technologies with the world through open source.

14K +

# of contributors to LF AI & Data projects

170K +

# of commits across projects

11M +

Lines of Code

Sandbox Projects

The Sandbox hosting stage is specific to projects that intend to join LF AI & Data Incubation in the future and wish to lay the foundations for that. Such projects for instance aim to extend one or more LF AI & Data projects with functionality or interoperability libraries, or they generally fit the LF AI & Data mission and provide the potential for a novel approach to existing functional areas (or are an attempt to meet an unfulfilled need).

Requirements to apply for Sandbox stage:

  • Have an open and documented technical governance.
  • Have an OSI-approved license.
  • Have its own GitHub organization.
  • Have achieved and maintained the OpenSSF Best Practices Passing Badge.
  • Submit a completed Project Contribution Proposal via a GitHub pull request.
  • Identify who will be handling security vulnerabilities reporting.
  • Project founders approve the Technical Charter and execute the Project Contribution Agreement.
  • Receive the affirmative vote of the TAC.

Incubation Projects

To be accepted into the Incubation stage, a project must meet all the requirements of the Sandbox stage plus:

  • Have at least two organizations actively contributing to the project.
  • Have a defined Technical Steering Committee (TSC) with a chairperson identified.
  • Have a sponsor who is an existing LF AI & Data member. Alternatively, a new organization would join LF AI & Data and sponsor the project’s incubation application.
  • Have at least 300 stars on GitHub; this is an existing requirement for a project to be listed on the LF AI & Data landscape.
  • Have achieved and maintained the OpenSSF Best Practices Silver Badge​.
  • In addition to the affirmative vote of the TAC, incubation stage projects also require the affirmative vote of the Governing Board.

Graduated Projects

To be accepted into the Graduation stage, a project must meet the Incubation stage requirements plus:

  • Have a healthy number of code contributions coming from at least five organizations.
  • Have reached a minimum of 1000 stars on GitHub.
  • Have achieved and maintained the OpenSSF Best Practices Gold Badge.
  • Have demonstrated a substantial ongoing flow of commits and merged contributions for the past 12 months.
  • Have completed at least one collaboration with another LF AI & Data hosted project
  • Received the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the TAC and the affirmative vote of the Governing Board.
  • Have a technical lead appointed for representation of the project on the LF AI & Data Technical Advisory Council.

Since these metrics can vary depending on the type, scope, and size of a project, the TAC has final judgment over the level of activity that is adequate to meet these criteria.

Host projects in incubation

The success of LF AI & Data hosted projects is due to several factors starting with a neutral hosting organization, open technical governance, dedicated support staff, a host of enabling services, various collaboration opportunities, and a vibrant community of over 15,000 developers contributing to our projects.  Join LF AI & Data in incubation and together we can grow the project, support and shape the open source AI and data ecosystem.

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Questions?

If you’re interested in hosting your project in LF AI & Data, please reach out using the contact form. We’re excited you’re considering us as a possible hosting organization and looking forward to discussing the opportunities with you.

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