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

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.
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.
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.
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.
Reference Server
- Stateless API implementing OCMS and CRQL. OpenAPI spec, clean SDKs, Helm charts. Postgres for metadata, vector DB for embeddings, pluggable blob backends.
E2EE Media Envelope
- Client side encryption for originals and vectors. Passkey based identity. Group sharing with modern message layer security. Audited reference libs.
Conformance Suite and Fixtures
- Golden test corpora. CLI validator. Badges for Compatible with Inspiration Engine.
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

{
  "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)

{
  "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.

7.8 KiB Raw Blame History