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# System prepended metadata

title: Radicle 2023

---

# Radicle 2023

| Author(s): | cloudhead, zlatan |
| ---------- | ----------------- |
| Created:   | 2023-03-22        |

## Purpose

The Radicle Org aims to develop a fully-sovereign code collaboration stack called "Radicle".

Radicle is designed to be a secure, decentralized and powerful alternative to
code forges such as GitHub and GitLab while preserving user sovereignty and freedom.

Specifically, Radicle attempts to address the following problems:

* Platform risk
    * GitHub and others have been known to censor projects as well as shutdown developer accounts (eg. youtube-dl)
    * GitHub is closed source and its ToS allows them to change and remove functionality at will.
    * GitHub and others create lock-in via their non-git features, eg. issues, pull requests etc.
    * GitHub trains Copilot on user data without consent.
    * GitHub and others can choose to monetize any feature at any time, requiring users to pay for something they weren't paying for before.
    * GitHub and others are built as monolithic platforms that are not adaptable and changeable by users.
* Open access
    * GitHub and others are not available in all countries due to trade embargos and require an account
      for interacting with the platform.
* Privacy
    * GitHub and others have access to all private user repositories.
* Data ownership
    * GitHub and others own their user's data and this data is not part of the git repository, hence it cannot be migrated.
* Security
    * By not using cryptography, GitHub's security model allows hackers and/or employees to forge user data
      without evidence to the user.
* Availability
    * When GitHub or GitLab are down, there is no possible access to the service. Only the source code remains accessible.

By providing the following solutions:

* Users are able to run their own nodes without reliance on any third parties. They cannot be de-platformed.
* All social artifacts (eg. comments, issues etc.) are stored in git, and thus easy to migrate, backup and
  access both online and offline. Users own their data.
* Radicle is always available, since it is local-first. Users don't need internet access to carry out a majority of tasks.
* Radicle uses public-key cryptography throughout the product and protocol, removing the need for trust in third-parties.
  Every social artifact or piece of code can be verified by anyone.
* Radicle plans to add end-to-end encryption to git repositories, protecting all user data from third-parties.
* Radicle is open source and permissibly licensed.
* Radicle is censorship resistant: any node on the network can choose to host a radicle repository and make it
  available to others.
* Radicle is an open protocol that can change and adapt to user needs and a changing world.

## Annual Strategy & Quarterly Objectives

### Objectives

* Get closer to GitHub core feature parity.
    * This is the primary goal, and is elaborated on in the Roadmap section.
    * GitHub's core features are considered to be:
        * Repository hosting
        * Issues
        * Pull Requests
        * Actions (CI/CD)
        * User profiles
        * Orgs
        * Search
        * Notifications
    * We will focus on the first four to five
* Stabilize the technology stack 
    * Stabilize the protocol specification via Radicle Improvement Proposals (RIPs).
    * Stabilize reference implementation (`heartwood`).
    * Add any required supporting features to the web.
* Relaunch (social-)media presence
    * Launch a technical blog
        * Promote to the FOSS/Linux communities.
    * Re-launch website (https://radicle.xyz)
    * Re-launch Twitter account (@radicle)
    * Build a presence on decentralized media (eg. mastodon, nostr)

### Roadmap

* Q2 2023: External/public release to "community"
    * Focused on FOSS communities, P2P, Bitcoin
    * Code Review functionality
        * This includes inline comments and discussions around code.
    * Overhaul of `app.radicle.xyz` application using new brand
        * New landing page.
        * Patches & Issues.
        * Basic repository discovery.
    * Community seed node
        * Users can specify whether or not they want to be "tracked"
* Q3 2023: Identities
    * Initial R&D on *Radicle Identities*
        * The goal is for users to have an easy way to associate metadata
          to their DID, eg. avatar, name, links etc. in a peer-to-peer way.
* Q4 2023: CI/CD
    * Launch of CI/CD functionality in Radicle
        * We intend to launch our own take on CI/CD that runs peer-to-peer.
        
If time permits, we will also work on:

* Launch of *Secure artifacts*
    * We intend to launch our own take of GitHub "Releases". This can be
      described as a way of doing cryptographically-secure binary releases
      using Radicle's trust model.
    
## Organizational Structure

### Legal structure

Corporate entity (Sárl) based in Switzerland, with `@cloudhead` as managing director.

### Contributors

* `@cloudhead` -- project lead -- *full-time*
* `@zlatan` -- project & community management -- *part-time*
* `@rudolfs` -- software engineering on web -- *full-time*
* `@sebastinez` -- software engineering on web -- *full-time*
* `@dave` -- software engineer on heartwood -- *full-time*
* `@slackcoder` -- software engineering on heartwood -- *part-time*
* `@erikli` -- software engineering on heartwood -- *part-time*
* `@fintohaps` -- software engineering on heartwood -- *full-time*
* `@adaszko` -- systems operations on heartwood -- *full-time*

## Communication

* Core team development & support: https://radicle.zulipchat.com
* Core team repositories: https://app.radicle.xyz/seeds/seed.radicle.xyz
* GitHub: https://github.com/radicle-dev
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/radicle
* Mastodon: https://mastodon.radicle.xyz
* Monthly dev calls (TBD)