+1
On 09.09.25 21:40, Steven-John Lange 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.
