drt is an open-source project. This document explains how decisions are made, who has what permissions, and how contributors grow into trusted roles.
drt has three roles. Each is a step on a ladder — anyone can grow from one to the next through their contributions.
Anyone with at least one merged PR.
Permissions:
- Open issues, discussions, and pull requests
- Comment, review, and propose changes
Recognition:
- Listed in the project's contributor graph
- Acknowledged in release notes when their changes ship
Trusted contributors who help manage the project's day-to-day flow. Cannot push code directly — that protects both the contributor and the project.
Permissions:
- Triage issues (label, assign, close)
- Manage pull requests (request reviews, label, close)
- Help review code (approval is non-binding for merge)
Criteria for invitation (any path qualifies):
- 5+ merged PRs with consistent quality, OR
- One major contribution completed end-to-end (e.g. a new connector or integration), AND
- Active in the last 30 days, AND
- Demonstrates constructive communication in issues and PRs
Process:
- A current Owner proposes the invitation publicly in a Discussion
- The candidate is invited with GitHub Triage permission
- Invitation is an offer, not a decree — the contributor can decline or step down anytime
Project maintainers with full administrative rights.
Permissions:
- Merge pull requests
- Push to protected branches (rare — squash-merge is the norm)
- Manage repository settings, secrets, and releases
- Invite/remove collaborators
Current Owners:
- @masukai — project lead
- @yodakanohoshi — co-maintainer
Owner role is intentionally kept small (currently 2). Adding an Owner requires unanimous agreement from all current Owners and is reserved for contributors who have demonstrated long-term commitment as a Triage Collaborator.
drt follows a lazy consensus model:
- Small changes (bug fixes, small features, docs): merge after one Owner approval
- Medium changes (new connectors, new CLI commands): one Owner approval + 24h for objection window
- Large changes (Protocol changes, breaking API, governance changes): require explicit agreement from both Owners + a public Discussion thread
When in doubt, open a Discussion before opening a PR.
The roadmap is tracked in GitHub Milestones — that is the single source of truth. README sections about roadmap link to the milestones rather than restating them, to avoid drift.
We follow the Contributor Covenant. Be kind, be constructive. Owners are responsible for enforcement.
Beyond role progression, drt recognizes contributors in several ways:
- Release notes — every merged PR is credited
- Monthly Contributor Spotlight — see #295
- all-contributors — README contributor list (planned)
- Conference / blog mentions — when speaking about drt, contributors are credited
Roles are voluntary. If a Triage Collaborator or Owner needs to step back:
- Open a PR removing yourself from this document, or
- Send a note to the Owners
No explanation needed. Re-joining later is welcome.
See OPEN_CORE.md for details on what's always free (connectors, CLI, sync engine, MCP server) and what defines the enterprise boundary (RBAC, audit logging, plugin system, cloud hosting).
The boundary is decided using the principles outlined in that document and ratified through lazy consensus (see "How Decisions Are Made" above).
Governance changes (criteria, role definitions, processes) require:
- A Discussion thread proposing the change
- Agreement from both Owners
- A PR updating this document
This intentionally has more friction than code changes — governance stability matters.