Contributor Rewards Program

Where We Are Today

STOA is a pre-revenue, open-source project. There is no money to distribute yet — and we won't pretend otherwise.

What exists today: a framework for how revenue will be shared when it arrives. We publish it now so contributors know the intent from day one, not after the fact.

Why contribute today? Because you believe in open-source API management, you want to learn, and you want to shape a project early. The financial rewards will come later — the community, the skills, and the impact start now.

STOA's commitment: when enterprise revenue exists, 45% goes back to the community. This page explains the framework we've designed for that day.

Revenue Distribution Model

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              STOA Enterprise Revenue Split                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│   ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐     │
│   │  Foundation  │  │  Maintainers │  │ Contributors │     │
│   │     10%      │  │     20%      │  │     15%      │     │
│   └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘     │
│                                                             │
│   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐      │
│   │              Operations                          │      │
│   │                    55%                           │      │
│   │  (Development, Support, Infrastructure)          │      │
│   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘      │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Breakdown

Pool	%	Usage
Foundation	10%	Infrastructure, events, legal, grants
Maintainers	20%	Core maintainer compensation
Contributors	15%	Quarterly distribution based on points
Operations	55%	Development, support, infrastructure

The Four-Dimension Value Framework

We don't just count lines of code. We measure impact across four dimensions:

Dimension	Weight	What It Measures
Technical	30%	Quality, performance, security
Community	30%	Adoption, satisfaction, engagement
Durability	25%	Maintainability, technical debt avoided
Ecosystem	15%	Integrations, plugins, standards

Formula

Points = (Technical × 0.30) + (Community × 0.30) + 
         (Durability × 0.25) + (Ecosystem × 0.15)

Point System

Code Contributions

Contribution	Points	Notes
PR merged (major feature)	50	New capability
PR merged (minor feature)	20	Existing improvement
PR merged (bugfix)	10	Correction
PR merged (refactor)	15	Code quality

Documentation

Contribution	Points	Notes
PR merged (docs)	10	Guide, tutorial
Translation	15	i18n

Community

Contribution	Points	Notes
Issue triage + reproduction	5	Bug validation
RFC accepted	100	Major design
Community help (Discord/Forum)	2	Per helpful response
Talk/Meetup	30	External presentation
Blog post	30	Technical content

Security

Contribution	Points	Notes
Security fix (critical)	200	CVE critical
Security fix (high)	100	CVE high
Security fix (medium)	50	CVE medium
Responsible disclosure	50	Private report

Contribution Tiers (Anti-AI-Gaming)

Not all contributions are equal in the AI age:

Tier	Type	Points	Examples
1	AI-Proof	HIGH	RFC, mentoring, ADR, community building
2	AI-Assisted	MEDIUM	Complex features, critical bugs
3	AI-Easy	LOW	Refactoring, basic tests, typos

Distribution Formula

Pool_Q = 15% × Enterprise_Revenue_Q

Reward(contributor) = (Points_contributor / Total_points_all) × Pool_Q

Example

Quarterly Revenue = R
Contributors Pool = 15% × R
Total points Q = 2,000

Contributor A: 500 points (25%)
→ Reward = 25% × Pool

Contributor B: 200 points (10%)
→ Reward = 10% × Pool

Contributor C: 100 points (5%)
→ Reward = 5% × Pool

Point Lifecycle

T+0          T+1-3d        T+7d          T+30d
│            │             │             │
▼            ▼             ▼             ▼
PR Created → Merge Review → Staging →   Prod Impact
│            │             │             │
Points      Points        Points        Points
ESTIMATED   ADJUSTED      VALIDATED     FINAL
(auto)      (review)      (metrics)     (verified)

Transparency

Everything is public:

Dashboard: Real-time point tracking per contributor
Quarterly Reports: Pool size, distributions, recipients
Appeal Process: 7-day window to contest any decision

Program Status

Phase	Status	Description
1. Framework Design	Done	Point system, value dimensions, distribution model — documented here
2. Community Building	Current	Growing contributor base, establishing culture, tracking contributions informally
3. Revenue Generation	Upcoming	Enterprise customers, managed service, support contracts
4. First Distributions	Future	Quarterly payouts, transparency reports, public dashboard

We are in Phase 2. Contributions are valued and tracked, but there is no financial distribution yet. When Phase 3 generates revenue, Phase 4 activates automatically — contributors who joined early will benefit from their accumulated contributions.

Get Started Today

Join Discord — discord.gostoa.dev
Pick an issue — Look for good-first-issue labels
Submit a PR — Follow contribution guidelines
Build your track record — Every contribution is visible in git history

The financial rewards will come. But the learning, the community, and the portfolio value of contributing to an open-source project? That starts now.

Questions? Ask in #contributors on Discord or email contributors@gostoa.dev

Revenue Distribution Model​

Breakdown​

The Four-Dimension Value Framework​

Formula​

Point System​

Code Contributions​

Documentation​

Community​

Security​

Contribution Tiers (Anti-AI-Gaming)​

Distribution Formula​

Example​

Point Lifecycle​

Transparency​

Program Status​

Get Started Today​