# Open Source Strategy: Make Inspiration Engine the Default

## Purpose

Build an open ecosystem that turns our product into the interoperability layer for creative memory. We will open source the standards, SDKs, and a high quality reference stack so vendors and developers adopt us by default.

## Positioning vs Competitors

* **Raindrop.io**: Closed, cloud centric, bookmark first. No E2EE, no OCR, limited storage model. We differentiate with open standards, storage agnosticism, and multimodal retrieval.
* **Pinterest**: Social discovery. Not a private tool. Our private by design architecture and specs are orthogonal to their model.
* **mymind**: Minimalist and private leaning but closed. No open interoperability story.
* **Eagle**: Local desktop DAM. No cloud standard or multi service ingest.

## What We Will Open Source

1. **OCMS: Open Creative Memory Spec**

   * Schema for assets, derivatives, embeddings, transcripts, annotations, provenance, rights, and relationships.
   * Content addressed IDs (CID style) and immutable manifests. Sidecar JSON Lines recommended.
   * Optional embedded XMP mapping for image and video files. Content credentials friendly.
   * Versioning rules, backward compatible migrations, and validation JSON Schemas.

2. **CRQL: Creative Retrieval Query Language**

   * JSON based queries that combine keyword, vector, and filter clauses across modalities.
   * Operators: palette, layout, subject, text_in_image, logo, similarity_to, within_collection, time_range.
   * Ranking profiles for different use cases: inspiration, research, compliance.

3. **Local Indexer Runtime**

   * On device OCR, vision embeddings, and audio transcription. Pluggable ONNX models. Incremental indexing and dedupe.
   * Emits OCMS compliant objects. Serves CRQL over localhost for desktop and mobile.

4. **Storage Adapter Interface**

   * Drivers for S3 compatible stores, WebDAV or Nextcloud, SMB, and local disk. Signed URL pattern and resumable uploads.
   * Conformance tests so vendors can self certify.

5. **Reference Server**

   * Stateless API implementing OCMS and CRQL. OpenAPI spec, clean SDKs, Helm charts. Postgres for metadata, vector DB for embeddings, pluggable blob backends.

6. **E2EE Media Envelope**

   * Client side encryption for originals and vectors. Passkey based identity. Group sharing with modern message layer security. Audited reference libs.

7. **Conformance Suite and Fixtures**

   * Golden test corpora. CLI validator. Badges for Compatible with Inspiration Engine.

8. **Connector SDK and Sandbox**

   * Legal friendly ingestion patterns, rate limit handling, normalized metadata. Example connectors for public feeds and export endpoints.

## What Remains Proprietary

* Managed cloud service with zero setup, high performance sync, usage based pricing.
* Premium connectors for closed platforms where support burden and compliance costs are high.
* Advanced ranking profiles, domain tuned models, and premium admin features.
* UX applications, mobile polish, and commercial support offerings.

## License and Governance

* **Code**: Apache 2.0. **Specs**: Creative Commons BY. **Examples and fixtures**: CC BY or CC0.
* **Trademark**: Inspiration Engine and OCMS, CRQL marks protected. Use allowed under logo program policy.
* **Governance**: Public RFC process, lightweight steering group with external maintainers. Quarterly elections once we reach 10+ external contributors. Target donation of specs to a neutral foundation when adoption milestones are hit.

## Architecture Overview

* **Client side**: Local Indexer Runtime. Optional background agents for desktop and mobile. All crypto performed before upload.
* **Server side**: Reference Server with adapters. Metadata in Postgres, embeddings in a vector store, blobs in BYO storage or our managed cloud.
* **Data model**: OCMS manifests with content addressed IDs. Provenance and rights attached at ingestion.

## Example CRQL

```json
{
  "text": "burnt orange hoodie in strong rim light",
  "vector": { "similar_to": "asset:8f1a..." },
  "filters": {
    "modality": ["image", "video"],
    "palette": { "include": ["#cc5500"], "tolerance": 0.1 },
    "has": ["ocr", "faces"],
    "created": { "gte": "2025-01-01" },
    "collection": ["moodboards/fw25"]
  },
  "rank_profile": "inspiration-v1",
  "limit": 100
}
```

## Example OCMS Manifest (trimmed)

```json
{
  "ocms": "0.1",
  "asset_id": "cid:baguqe...",
  "media": {"mime": "image/jpeg", "width": 4096, "height": 2730},
  "derivatives": [{"kind": "thumbnail", "href": "s3://.../thumb.jpg"}],
  "embeddings": [{"space": "clip-ViT", "dim": 768, "href": "local://emb/8f1a.vec"}],
  "ocr": {"language": ["en"], "href": "local://ocr/8f1a.jsonl"},
  "provenance": {"source": "instagram:post:123", "ingested_at": "2025-10-04T12:00:00Z"},
  "rights": {"license": "All Rights Reserved", "owner": "user:abc"}
}
```

## Differentiation: Why this beats competitors

* **Open standard gravity**: Vendors integrate once to OCMS and CRQL and reach every app that speaks them. We become the default wire format and query.
* **Storage agnostic**: Works with local disk, S3, or Nextcloud. No caps. Raindrop and mymind cannot match without rewriting their core.
* **Private by design**: E2EE envelope plus passkeys. Pinterest and Raindrop cannot offer this without a deep architecture change.
* **Multimodal by default**: OCR and vision embeddings for images, frames, and scans. Eagle is local only and closed. We publish portable outputs.

## Go to Market for OSS

* **Developer first**: OpenAPI, SDKs in TS, Python, Swift, Kotlin. Quickstarts and copy paste samples.
* **Certify**: Conformance tests and a public directory of Compatible with integrations. Badges for storage vendors, DAMs, MAMs, CMSs.
* **Design tool plugs**: Figma, Photoshop, and Blender exporters built on Local Indexer and OCMS.
* **Migrations**: Importers for Pocket exports, Raindrop, Pinterest boards CSV, and Eagle libraries. All emit OCMS.
* **Community**: Public RFCs, monthly office hours, Discord, examples repo. Clear contribution guide.

## Business Model Alignment

* **Monetize**: Managed cloud, premium connectors, enterprise support and SLAs, hosted key escrow for regulated orgs, compliance add ons.
* **Not lock in**: Exports are first class. Our advantage is performance and convenience, not data capture.

## KPIs

* 50 reference integrations in 6 months. 5 storage vendors certified. 10 production deployments of the reference server. 5 community models plugged into Local Indexer. 1k stars and 100 external PRs across repos.

## 30 60 90 Plan

* **Day 0 to 30**: Publish OCMS and CRQL drafts. OpenAPI for Reference Server. TS SDK. Minimal Local Indexer with OCR and image embeddings. S3 and local adapters. Docs site live.
* **Day 31 to 60**: Conformance suite. Nextcloud and WebDAV adapters. Importers for Pocket and Raindrop. Beta Reference Server on Kubernetes. Discord and monthly RFC calls.
* **Day 61 to 90**: E2EE envelope reference libs. Passkey flows. Figma exporter. First partner storage certified. Announce logo program.

## Risks and Mitigations

* **Embrace extend from incumbents**: Lock the spec with public RFCs and a trademark policy. Foundation home once we hit adoption.
* **Connector ToS conflicts**: Start with user export endpoints and share sheet capture. Ship legal guidelines with the SDK.
* **Security trust**: Third party audits, threat model docs, and a public bug bounty.
* **Under resourcing**: Scope a thin slice per deliverable. Ship working reference first, optimize later.

## Messaging

* Tagline: **Your private creative memory. Search by idea, not filename.**
* Proof points: E2EE, storage agnostic, multimodal search, open standards.

## Call to Action

Green light OCMS and CRQL drafts. Assign owners for Local Indexer, Reference Server, Adapters, and Docs. Start partner outreach to storage vendors and design tool ecosystems today.