con/serve
Vision #
Research generates far more than code and data. Every Slack thread, Zoom recording, GitHub discussion, AI coding session, and conference PDF is a piece of the scholarly record – and most of it is quietly rotting on someone else’s servers.
con/serve extends YODA principles to all digital research artifacts. If it matters to your work, it belongs in a version-controlled, content-addressed repository where you own the bits, not a SaaS provider.
The core idea is a bidirectional funnel:
- Ingest from dozens of sources – messaging platforms, video hosting, code forges, cloud storage, reference managers, AI assistants – into a git-annex / DataLad vault.
- Conserve and distribute outward to domain archives, cloud backups, institutional knowledge bases, and web publications.
%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': {'primaryColor': '#2d3748', 'primaryTextColor': '#fff', 'lineColor': '#718096', 'fontSize': '14px'}}}%%
flowchart LR
subgraph IN["INBOUND"]
direction TB
comm["Communications
(Slack, Matrix, Email)"] media["Media
(YouTube, Zoom)"] code["Code Artifacts
(Issues, Wikis)"] ai["AI Sessions
(Claude, Cursor)"] pubs["Publications
(Citations, PDFs)"] cloud_in["Cloud Storage
(rclone, 70+ providers)"] comm ~~~ media ~~~ code ~~~ ai ~~~ pubs ~~~ cloud_in end subgraph HUB["THE VAULT"] direction TB ga["git-annex
content-addressed storage"] dl["DataLad
dataset management"] org["YODA / STAMPED
organization & principles"] surfaces["Working Surfaces
(Hugo, HedgeDoc, LLM agents)"] ga --- dl dl --- org dl --- surfaces end subgraph OUT["OUTBOUND"] direction TB archives["Domain Archives
(OpenNeuro, DANDI, OSF)"] backup["Cloud Backup
(S3, Glacier, Dropbox)"] webpub["Web Publishing
(GitHub Pages)"] archives ~~~ backup ~~~ webpub end IN ==>|archive &
import| HUB HUB ==>|publish &
distribute| OUT classDef inbound fill:#2b6cb0,stroke:#2c5282,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px classDef hub fill:#d69e2e,stroke:#b7791f,color:#1a202c,stroke-width:3px classDef outbound fill:#2f855a,stroke:#276749,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px class comm,media,code,ai,pubs,cloud_in inbound class ga,dl,org,surfaces hub class archives,backup,webpub outbound style IN fill:#ebf8ff,stroke:#2b6cb0,stroke-width:2px,color:#2b6cb0 style HUB fill:#fefcbf,stroke:#d69e2e,stroke-width:3px,color:#744210 style OUT fill:#f0fff4,stroke:#2f855a,stroke-width:2px,color:#2f855a
(Slack, Matrix, Email)"] media["Media
(YouTube, Zoom)"] code["Code Artifacts
(Issues, Wikis)"] ai["AI Sessions
(Claude, Cursor)"] pubs["Publications
(Citations, PDFs)"] cloud_in["Cloud Storage
(rclone, 70+ providers)"] comm ~~~ media ~~~ code ~~~ ai ~~~ pubs ~~~ cloud_in end subgraph HUB["THE VAULT"] direction TB ga["git-annex
content-addressed storage"] dl["DataLad
dataset management"] org["YODA / STAMPED
organization & principles"] surfaces["Working Surfaces
(Hugo, HedgeDoc, LLM agents)"] ga --- dl dl --- org dl --- surfaces end subgraph OUT["OUTBOUND"] direction TB archives["Domain Archives
(OpenNeuro, DANDI, OSF)"] backup["Cloud Backup
(S3, Glacier, Dropbox)"] webpub["Web Publishing
(GitHub Pages)"] archives ~~~ backup ~~~ webpub end IN ==>|archive &
import| HUB HUB ==>|publish &
distribute| OUT classDef inbound fill:#2b6cb0,stroke:#2c5282,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px classDef hub fill:#d69e2e,stroke:#b7791f,color:#1a202c,stroke-width:3px classDef outbound fill:#2f855a,stroke:#276749,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px class comm,media,code,ai,pubs,cloud_in inbound class ga,dl,org,surfaces hub class archives,backup,webpub outbound style IN fill:#ebf8ff,stroke:#2b6cb0,stroke-width:2px,color:#2b6cb0 style HUB fill:#fefcbf,stroke:#d69e2e,stroke-width:3px,color:#744210 style OUT fill:#f0fff4,stroke:#2f855a,stroke-width:2px,color:#2f855a
For the full detailed diagram with all tools and connections, see the Architecture section.
See also the closing Beyond YODA slide and video from the YODA & BIDS webinar.
Explore #
| Section | What you will find |
|---|---|
| About | Project background, principles, and how to contribute |
| YODA Principles – how con/serve extends YODA to all artifacts | |
| Architecture – full system diagram (inbound / vault / outbound) | |
| STAMPED Framework – guiding principles for artifact management | |
| Frozen Frontiers – deliberate working boundaries and traversal | |
| Privacy & Access – archive aggressively, distribute selectively | |
| Integration Levels – native-datalad, git-annex, git-only, external | |
| AI Readiness – ai-ready, ai-partial, ai-manual | |
| Contributing – how to add tools and content | |
| Tools | Catalog of archival tools organized by artifact type |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted services for managing and serving archived artifacts |
| Concepts | Cross-cutting patterns for ingestion, conservation, and distribution |