The official specification repository for COSS (Contriboss Open Source Standard) - promoting software neutrality and anti-vendor lock-in principles.
Install the latest COSS specification template to your project:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/contriboss/coss_spec/master/install.sh | shOr download directly:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/contriboss/coss_spec/master/versions/v0.0.2/coss.toml -o coss.tomlCOSS (Contriboss Open Source Standard) is a comprehensive metadata specification that promotes:
- Software Neutrality: Avoiding vendor lock-in through standardized metadata
- Project Transparency: Clear documentation of dependencies, governance, and practices
- Community Trust: Standardized information for informed decision-making
- Development Best Practices: Encouraging quality, security, and maintainability
- Download the template using the curl command above
- Customize the coss.toml file with your project's information
- Commit the file to your repository root
- Keep it updated as your project evolves
The COSS specification is organized into the following sections:
- Basic Project Information: Name, version, description, licenses
- Repository Information: Repository URL, issue tracking
- Languages and Frameworks: Primary technologies used
- Build and Test Commands: How to build and test the project
- Maintainers and Governance: Who maintains the project and how
- Dependency Management: Lock files and packaging commands
- Quality Tooling: Linting, formatting, static analysis
- Security and Compliance: Vulnerability scanning, SBOM
- Documentation: Coverage metrics and style guides
- Internationalization: Locale and translation support
- Community Features: Chat, support channels, contribution tools
This repository follows semantic versioning. Each version of the specification is available in the versions/ directory:
versions/v0.0.1/- Initial specification (19 sections)versions/v0.0.2/- Added submodules support for modular architecturescoss.toml- Symlink to the latest version (currently v0.0.2)
To download a specific version:
# Install latest with script (recommended)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/contriboss/coss_spec/master/install.sh | sh
# Download specific versions directly
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/contriboss/coss_spec/master/versions/v0.0.1/coss.toml -o coss.toml
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/contriboss/coss_spec/master/versions/v0.0.2/coss.toml -o coss.toml- v0.0.1: Core COSS specification with 19 sections covering all essential metadata
- v0.0.2: Adds optional
[submodules]section - works for single projects (leave empty) or multi-repo architectures
See real-world examples of COSS-compliant projects:
- Contriboss Website - Static website using Astro
- [More examples coming soon...]
We welcome contributions to improve the COSS specification:
- Issues: Report problems or suggest improvements
- Pull Requests: Propose changes to the specification
- Discussion: Join conversations about open source standards
This specification is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
- Website: contriboss.com
- Documentation: contriboss.com/standard
- Community: contriboss.com/community
COSS promotes software neutrality, transparency, and community trust in open source projects.