Diff: governance/contributor-model
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| schema: foundry-doc-v1 | schema: foundry-doc-v1 |
| title: "Three-tier contributor model" | title: "Three-tier contributor model" |
| slug: contributor-model | slug: contributor-model |
| category: governance | category: governance |
| type: topic | type: topic |
| quality: complete | quality: complete |
| short_description: "The Three-Tier Contributor Model organises PointSav substrate contributors into Core (4–7 salaried engineers), Paid (50–100 contracted project contributors), and Open (10,000-plus public participants), with explicit mobility paths between tiers." | short_description: "The Three-Tier Contributor Model organises PointSav substrate contributors into Core (4–7 salaried engineers), Paid (50–100 contracted project contributors), and Open (10,000-plus public participants), with explicit mobility paths between tiers." |
| status: active | status: active |
| bcsc_class: public-disclosure-safe | bcsc_class: public-disclosure-safe |
| last_edited: 2026-04-30 | last_edited: 2026-04-30 |
| editor: pointsav-engineering | editor: pointsav-engineering |
| cites: | cites: |
| - ni-51-102 | - ni-51-102 |
| paired_with: contributor-model.es.md | paired_with: contributor-model.es.md |
| --- | --- |
| The PointSav platform is too broad for any single team to maintain and too valuable to lock to a single team's release cadence. The **Three-Tier Contributor Model** that follows from this constraint produces three distinct tiers — Core, Paid, and Open — with explicit mobility paths between them. This article describes the tiers, the mathematics of why the model works, and the architectural primitives that make it tractable. | The PointSav platform is too broad for any single team to maintain and too valuable to lock to a single team's release cadence. The **Three-Tier Contributor Model** that follows from this constraint produces three distinct tiers — Core, Paid, and Open — with explicit mobility paths between them. This article describes the tiers, the mathematics of why the model works, and the architectural primitives that make it tractable. |
| ## The three tiers | ## The three tiers |
| | Tier | Headcount target | Funding | Role | | | Tier | Headcount target | Funding | Role | |
| |---|---|---|---| | |---|---|---|---| |
| | **Core** | 4–7 | PointSav-employed; salaried; equity in PointSav Digital Systems | Day-to-day stewardship of the substrate | | | **Core** | 4–7 | PointSav-employed; salaried; equity in PointSav Digital Systems | Day-to-day stewardship of the substrate | |
| | **Paid** | 50–100 | PointSav-funded contracts; outcome-based deliverables | Project-tier engineering work via GitHub pull requests | | | **Paid** | 50–100 | PointSav-funded contracts; outcome-based deliverables | Project-tier engineering work via GitHub pull requests | |
| | **Open** | 10,000+ | None — Apache 2.0 / MIT / CC BY 4.0 contributions | Public substrate contributions; no CLA required | | | **Open** | 10,000+ | None — Apache 2.0 / MIT / CC BY 4.0 contributions | Public substrate contributions; no CLA required | |
| ### Core | ### Core |
| The Core tier owns workspace documents, doctrine amendments, conventions, and the citations registry. Architectural decisions flow through this tier. Apprentice-mode oversight — the senior review function in the apprenticeship substrate — for new model versions and new contributors lives here. | The Core tier owns workspace documents, doctrine amendments, conventions, and the citations registry. Architectural decisions flow through this tier. Apprentice-mode oversight — the senior review function in the apprenticeship substrate — for new model versions and new contributors lives here. |
| This tier is small by design. Three architectural primitives keep it tractable: the substrate is operationally self-sufficient enough that customer breakouts do not require Core handholding; the [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate]] makes the substrate self-documenting; and the [[adapter-composition|Adapter Composition Algebra]] makes operational personality composable rather than person-dependent. | This tier is small by design. Three architectural primitives keep it tractable: the substrate is operationally self-sufficient enough that customer breakouts do not require Core handholding; the [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate]] makes the substrate self-documenting; and the [[adapter-composition|Adapter Composition Algebra]] makes operational personality composable rather than person-dependent. |
| ### Paid | ### Paid |
| Project-tier engineering work, paid by PointSav, executed via GitHub pull requests against the public substrate repositories. Engineering work in `pointsav-monorepo/` and the per-project cluster paths. Multi-tenant aggregation services. Per-jurisdiction export adapters. LoRA adapter authoring. Customer-specific deployment provisioning and integration. | Project-tier engineering work, paid by PointSav, executed via GitHub pull requests against the public substrate repositories. Engineering work in `pointsav-monorepo/` and the per-project cluster paths. Multi-tenant aggregation services. Per-jurisdiction export adapters. LoRA adapter authoring. Customer-specific deployment provisioning and integration. |
| The 50–100 band is the size where individual contributor reputation can be tracked through the [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate's attribution]], per-deliverable contracting is tractable without enterprise procurement bureaucracy, and revenue from multi-tenant aggregation services can sustain the headcount without venture-scale capital. | The 50–100 band is the size where individual contributor reputation can be tracked through the [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate's attribution]], per-deliverable contracting is tractable without enterprise procurement bureaucracy, and revenue from multi-tenant aggregation services can sustain the headcount without venture-scale capital. |
| ### Open | ### Open |
| Contributors to the public substrate via pull requests against the open repositories: `pointsav/factory-release-engineering`, `pointsav-design-system`, the wiki engine `app-mediakit-knowledge`, MCP server adapters, LoRA adapter recipes, and TOPIC content in the `content-wiki-*` repositories. | Contributors to the public substrate via pull requests against the open repositories: `pointsav/factory-release-engineering`, `pointsav-design-system`, the wiki engine `app-mediakit-knowledge`, MCP server adapters, LoRA adapter recipes, and TOPIC content in the `content-wiki-*` repositories. |
| Apache 2.0 / MIT / CC BY 4.0 licensed contributions per the artefact tier. No CLA required for contributions to the open core; CLAs are only needed for dual-licensed commercial-tier components. | Apache 2.0 / MIT / CC BY 4.0 licensed contributions per the artefact tier. No CLA required for contributions to the open core; CLAs are only needed for dual-licensed commercial-tier components. |
| The 10,000-plus scale is plausible because comparable substrate communities have demonstrated it: the Linux kernel sustains roughly 14,000 contributors per year, the Apache Foundation crosses tens of thousands across projects, and Kubernetes carries 4,000-plus on a single project. The licensing posture (Apache 2.0 weights, CC BY 4.0 docs, Apache 2.0 design-system) matches the licensing patterns that have demonstrably scaled to these levels. | The 10,000-plus scale is plausible because comparable substrate communities have demonstrated it: the Linux kernel sustains roughly 14,000 contributors per year, the Apache Foundation crosses tens of thousands across projects, and Kubernetes carries 4,000-plus on a single project. The licensing posture (Apache 2.0 weights, CC BY 4.0 docs, Apache 2.0 design-system) matches the licensing patterns that have demonstrably scaled to these levels. |
| The Open tier is what makes the substrate self-sustaining at a scale that 4–7 Core could not possibly maintain alone. Most substrate features ship via Open contribution; Core reviews and accepts; Paid implements the commercial-tier extensions that Open contributors do not typically tackle. | The Open tier is what makes the substrate self-sustaining at a scale that 4–7 Core could not possibly maintain alone. Most substrate features ship via Open contribution; Core reviews and accepts; Paid implements the commercial-tier extensions that Open contributors do not typically tackle. |
| ## Cross-tier mobility | ## Cross-tier mobility |
| The model is not caste-bound. Three mobility paths operate: | The model is not caste-bound. Three mobility paths operate: |
| - **Open to Paid.** A contributor whose recurring work shows operational quality is offered Paid contracts. Reputation derives from the [[apprenticeship-substrate|Trajectory Substrate's attribution]] — how much each contributor's work shapes downstream recommendations. | - **Open to Paid.** A contributor whose recurring work shows operational quality is offered Paid contracts. Reputation derives from the [[apprenticeship-substrate|Trajectory Substrate's attribution]] — how much each contributor's work shapes downstream recommendations. |
| - **Paid to Core.** Rare; requires alignment with PointSav's long-term substrate stewardship and senior operational trust. | - **Paid to Core.** Rare; requires alignment with PointSav's long-term substrate stewardship and senior operational trust. |
| - **Anyone can fork, leave, and operate their own substrate.** The Designed-for-Breakout property applies at the contributor level: a contributor can take their work, their adapters, and their tenant data and operate independently. The substrate does not lock contributors any more than it locks customers. | - **Anyone can fork, leave, and operate their own substrate.** The Designed-for-Breakout property applies at the contributor level: a contributor can take their work, their adapters, and their tenant data and operate independently. The substrate does not lock contributors any more than it locks customers. |
| ## Why the math works | ## Why the math works |
| Naïve calculation: 4–7 employees plus 50–100 contractors plus 10,000-plus open contributors yields a substrate with the reach of a large platform team at roughly five percent of the headcount cost. | Naïve calculation: 4–7 employees plus 50–100 contractors plus 10,000-plus open contributors yields a substrate with the reach of a large platform team at roughly five percent of the headcount cost. |
| Three architectural primitives make it real: | Three architectural primitives make it real: |
| 1. The [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate]] makes contributor reputation cryptographically attributable, so Open-tier reputation can compound into Paid-tier eligibility without procurement bureaucracy. | 1. The [[trajectory-substrate|Trajectory Substrate]] makes contributor reputation cryptographically attributable, so Open-tier reputation can compound into Paid-tier eligibility without procurement bureaucracy. |
| 2. The [[adapter-composition|Adapter Composition Algebra]] lets individual contributors ship adapters without owning the whole substrate. | 2. The [[adapter-composition|Adapter Composition Algebra]] lets individual contributors ship adapters without owning the whole substrate. |
| 3. The [[customer-hostability|Designed-for-Breakout]] property keeps the contributor relationship voluntary — no contributor is locked in, which means contributors participate because the substrate serves their interests, not because they cannot leave. | 3. The [[customer-hostability|Designed-for-Breakout]] property keeps the contributor relationship voluntary — no contributor is locked in, which means contributors participate because the substrate serves their interests, not because they cannot leave. |
| ## Forward-looking — scaling the Open tier | ## Forward-looking — scaling the Open tier |
| Per `[ni-51-102]` continuous-disclosure language, the trajectory toward 10,000-plus Open contributors is planned and intended, not declared as a current state. The shape is in place; the operational throughput matures as the substrate's user base grows. | Per `[ni-51-102]` continuous-disclosure language, the trajectory toward 10,000-plus Open contributors is planned and intended, not declared as a current state. The shape is in place; the operational throughput matures as the substrate's user base grows. |
| The path: each customer who runs the platform substrate becomes a candidate Open contributor; a fraction of those contribute back; a fraction of those graduate to Paid; a small number graduate to Core over decades. The model is slow at the top tier and fast at the bottom — by design. | The path: each customer who runs the platform substrate becomes a candidate Open contributor; a fraction of those contribute back; a fraction of those graduate to Paid; a small number graduate to Core over decades. The model is slow at the top tier and fast at the bottom — by design. |
| ## What this model is not | ## What this model is not |
| It is not a hierarchy in the dignity sense. The Open tier is not lower than Core; it is differently scoped. A contributor who ships a substrate-shaping LoRA adapter as Open is doing work the Core tier could not have done alone. | It is not a hierarchy in the dignity sense. The Open tier is not lower than Core; it is differently scoped. A contributor who ships a substrate-shaping LoRA adapter as Open is doing work the Core tier could not have done alone. |
| It is not a replacement for governance. Core makes architectural decisions; Paid implements; Open contributes. But the platform's constitutional convention process is the venue for architectural disagreements, and any contributor can bring an amendment. | It is not a replacement for governance. Core makes architectural decisions; Paid implements; Open contributes. But the platform's constitutional convention process is the venue for architectural disagreements, and any contributor can bring an amendment. |
| It is not a venture-scale labour model. The 50–100 Paid tier sustains on multi-tenant aggregation revenue without venture-scale capital — the unit economics work because the headcount is small, the deliverables are bounded, and the customer base pays for outcomes rather than tickets. | It is not a venture-scale labour model. The 50–100 Paid tier sustains on multi-tenant aggregation revenue without venture-scale capital — the unit economics work because the headcount is small, the deliverables are bounded, and the customer base pays for outcomes rather than tickets. |
| ## See also | ## See also |
| - [[compounding-substrate]] — the substrate architecture that open contributors extend and improve | - [[compounding-substrate]] — the substrate architecture that open contributors extend and improve |
| - [[apprenticeship-substrate]] — corpus capture and attribution pipeline that tracks contributor reputation | - [[apprenticeship-substrate]] — corpus capture and attribution pipeline that tracks contributor reputation |
| - [[trajectory-substrate]] — cryptographic attribution substrate that makes Open-to-Paid mobility tractable | - [[trajectory-substrate]] — cryptographic attribution substrate that makes Open-to-Paid mobility tractable |
| - [[customer-hostability]] — the breakout property that keeps contributor participation voluntary | - [[customer-hostability]] — the breakout property that keeps contributor participation voluntary |
| - [[canadian-simple-copyright]] — IP ownership posture governing work produced under the Paid and Core tiers | - [[canadian-simple-copyright]] — IP ownership posture governing work produced under the Paid and Core tiers |