How it works
From a real problem to an open source tool
HugAI combines a catalog of tools you can use today with a community that decides what is worth building next. The community brings demand and support; HugAI brings technical judgment, planning and delivery.
The process
- 01
Propose
Anyone with an account describes a real problem from their AI work: a new tool or an improvement to an existing one.
- 02
Review and scope
The maintainer reviews every proposal by hand, asks for details if needed, defines the scope and estimates the effort in hours.
- 03
Community signals
People vote, discuss and can contribute extra development time. Signals inform priorities but never change the official state.
- 04
Build and publish
HugAI develops, tests and releases the tool as open source, with docs, changelog and credits to everyone involved.
Lifecycle
Every initiative has one official state, set by HugAI. Its page keeps the full history, and once published it becomes the tool page.
Main path
- Proposed
Submitted by someone from the community.
- Under Review
HugAI checks fit, duplicates and initial feasibility.
- Accepted
Passed the first review; ready to define scope.
- Scoping & Estimation
Scope, acceptance criteria and base effort are defined.
- Community Prioritization
Open to votes and contributed time.
- Ready for Development
Scope and resources allow starting.
- In Development
Being built, documented and tested.
- Testing & Review
Functional, technical, security and docs review.
- Published
Released as open source with repository, docs and license.
- Maintenance
Receives bug and security fixes.
Other outcomes
- Needs Information
HugAI asked the proposer for more details.
- Rejected
Not accepted. The reason stays public.
- Duplicate
Linked to an existing initiative that covers it.
- On Hold
Paused, with a public reason.
- Cancelled
Stopped, with a public reason. Contributed time is reassigned.
- Archived
Kept as reference, no longer maintained.
Votes, comments and sharing
- One vote per person and initiative: upvote or downvote. You can change or withdraw it at any time.
- Votes freeze when an initiative is Rejected, Duplicate, Cancelled or Archived.
- To comment you need an account with a username and a vote on that initiative. A downvote counts too.
- Sharing only spreads the word. It is not counted or shown anywhere.
Three separate metrics
HugAI never merges these into one score.
- Net votes
- Upvotes minus downvotes. Shows interest.
- Funding
- Extra development time contributed by the community.
- Base effort
- HugAI's standard estimate, in hours.
Trending
Trending orders lists by recent activity: every vote and comment adds 1 point and every contributed hour adds 2, counting the last 14 days, with each event losing half its weight every 72 hours. Only verified identities count. It is a sort order, not a visible metric.
Contributions
A contribution adds development time to an initiative, from Community Prioritization on, or to the General fund that HugAI assigns to maintenance and initiatives. One hour is US$30.
Options
Coffee
+10m · US$5
Beer
+30m · US$15
Pizza
+1h · US$30
Argentine Asado
+4h · US$120
- Contributed time adds to the base effort; it does not replace it. Total development budget = base effort + community support.
- It does not buy ownership, priority over other people, technical decisions or delivery dates.
- Refunds only for a mistake or a duplicate payment, within 14 days.
- If an initiative is cancelled, you choose another one within 30 days; otherwise the time goes to the General fund.
Community Ranking and Development Roadmap
The Community Ranking shows interest. The Development Roadmap is the real plan. A popular initiative may not be ready to build, and a simple, useful one may go first with little support. At most 2 initiatives are In Development at the same time, and each roadmap card explains why it is there.
Open source
- Tools are published under MIT by default; Apache-2.0 when a project needs patent protection.
- The HugAI.dev platform is AGPL-3.0, and documentation is CC BY 4.0.
- Code contributions are accepted with a DCO sign-off; no CLA.
- Maintenance is best effort: tools can move to Maintenance, Deprecated (with 90 days' notice) or Archived.
Private work
Contributions never pay for private projects. Custom work for a company is hired separately through Slackdevs. Hire through Slackdevs
Have a problem worth solving?
Describe it in a few lines. HugAI reviews every proposal.