Hi all, I am, for the record, formally abstaining from this vote. My company Neighbourhoodie is the STA’s “Implementation Partner”, meaning: we get paid to do this work. On the one hand, that makes us extremely qualified to help PouchDB, on the other it means I cannot formally apply for this program and I am hereby excusing myself from this project decision.
Steven-John, thanks for getting this going! Best Jan — > On 9. Sep 2025, at 21:40, Steven-John Lange <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi devs, > > We need your input for a financial decision: > to improve the stability, security and reliability of PouchDB, Jan > proposed that we request funds from (Sovereign Tech Agency)[^1] to > invest in some payed work hours. > (He also provided the necessary paperwork[^2]) > > Please share a short feedback, if you agree or not. > > [^1]: https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund > > [^2]: The application > (as Jan shared this with us in our slack channel) > > Tab: Start Here > Category: Join the Sovereign Tech Resilience Program > Application Name: Apache PouchDB > > Tab: Project description > Project title: Apache PouchDB > Link to project website: https://pouchdb.com > Link to project repository: https://github.com/pouchdb/pouchdb > > Where is your open source technology project being used (describe all > user bases)? (300 words): > PouchDB is an in-browser implementation of the CouchDB API and > replication protocol in JavaScript. It is the original offline-first > database software (est. 2012) and has been continuously used in mission > critical offline-first/local-first scenarios. Use-cases include, but > not exhaustively: > > Offline data collection and management in agricultural scenarios. > Point-of-sales terminals in retail, hospitality and restaurants. > Mobile applications for transport logistics for vaccines in regions > with no or little internet connectivity, especially in sub-saharan > Africa. > Recording of long-term health care studies in remote and indigenous > regions. > Data science and research in remote regions like Antarctica. > Emergency first-responders like coast guards. > News dissemination from diaspora communities into countries with > oppressive governments. > Service software for field technicians in many fields from > avalanche protection services in the Alps to washing machine > technicians. > > Why do you consider your open source technology project to be relevant > and critical? (300 words): > PouchDB is the only open source and open governance project with a > reliable track record that support the aforementioned use-cases. It is > essential for both humanitarian and commercial use-cases and provides > tremendous value in data collection, management and communication > safety. Its continued maintenance and develeopment is crucial to those > fields. > > Should PouchDB cease to exist, the projects above would have no viable > future path or resources to develop compelling alternative techincal > solutions. > > How does your open source technology benefit the public interest? (300 > words): > With its focus on browser-side development with a simple API, PouchDB > allows even people with little technical skill to build robust and > reliable data solutions in organisations with little or no technology > funding. Many of the cited use-cases come down to it being only > possible to set up because PouchDB exists. > > While already serving in some crucial direct communication scenarios, > current advances in mobile peer-to-peer networking are poised to > proprel PouchDB to become the prime solution to build peer-to-peer > communication and data exchange software, as its replication model has > been built with this in mind from the start. > > Please describe the history and state of development of your open > source technology (500 words): > PouchDB since 2012 has had three individual lead maintainers and a > small number of dedicated supporters. The lead maintainers have since > retired from the project and the supporters have brought the project > into the Apache Software Foundation in 2025 to ensure successful long- > term open governance. > > The current team consists of seven developers who contribute to the > project on a (very) part-time basis. Releases happen about once a year > for feature releases, bugfix releases can happen more often. > > Tab: Sovereign Tech Resilience Services > Which Sovereign Tech Resilience services are you interested in?: > [x] Direct Contributions > > Describe why your project needs those services? (optional) (300 words): > Being an older software codebase, there are multiple areas of work > where modernisation would considerably help with easing ongoing > maintenance, development and onboarding additional contributors. > > One extra note: The PouchDB Project Management Committee Chair Jan > Lehnardt is also a CEO at Neighbourhoodie Software, the implementation > partner for the Bug Resilience Program. To avoid a conflict of > interest, Jan Lehnardt is excusing himself from any official CouchDB > project decisions with regards to this application. Should additional > statements or affidavit be required, we are happy to provide them.
