A living document on why and how to open source my work.

Why Open Source?

Insights captured while building Chrome Extension Factory (April 2026).

  1. You plug into the collaborative ecosystem. Open source is a two-way street — you give tools, you get contributors, bug reports, and ideas you'd never have alone.
  2. You build tools that are modular and functional. When other people have to use your code, you're forced to build clean interfaces. Open source is an architectural discipline.
  3. You allow others to collaborate. Lowering the barrier to contribution means the best ideas surface regardless of who has them.
  4. You spark imagination. Someone sees your factory template and thinks "what if I used this for..." — that's innovation you catalyzed without lifting a finger.
  5. You build cognitive scaffolding. Your open source projects become shared mental models that others can stand on. You're not just shipping code, you're shipping ways of thinking.
  6. You harvest alpha. When someone forks your project and discovers a better pattern, you see it in the issues and PRs. The ecosystem does R&D for you.
  7. You build products that people love. Users who can see the source trust it more, customize it, and advocate for it.
  8. You don't stifle innovation with ego. The obsession with capturing >100% of the value you create is the single most common mistake in tech. The people who win create so much value that capturing even 10% of it is enormous.
  9. You get free QA. Other people find the edge cases you'd never hit in your own usage.
  10. You build reputation. "The person who made X" is a better brand than any locked-down product. Reputation compounds.

Projects to Open Source

Inspirations