Public-readiness: add .codeinventory.yml (code.gov / OMB M-16-21 metadata) #274

Activity

1. wz-gsa

   added

   enhancementNew feature or requestNew feature or request

   on Aug 4, 2026
2. wz-gsa commented on Aug 6, 2026

   

   wz-gsa

   on Aug 6, 2026

   ContributorAuthor

   More actions

   Closing after research (verified 2026-08-06): a per-repo .codeinventory.yml / code.json is not required and not the mechanism for a public GSA repo.

   Findings

   • The Federal Source Code Policy (OMB M-16-21) mechanism is an agency-level code.json (one aggregate file per agency), never a per-repo file. .codeinventory.yml is a third-party format, not the federal standard.
   • code.gov is defunct — the site, /agencies, the compliance dashboard, and api.code.gov now 301-redirect to a static Digital.gov policy page; the harvester last committed 2020.
   • GSA's agency inventory (open.gsa.gov/code.json, v2.0.0) still exists but is ~2 years stale (2024-05-16) and already lists repos as entries, not via per-repo files.
   • Active public GSA/TTS peers (data.gov, cloud-gov, 18F, digitalgov) ship no per-repo inventory file — this is policy-conformant (agency aggregation), matching M-16-21, not drift.
   • M-16-21 is nominally still on the books but operationally lapsed; no 2025–2026 OMB memo reaffirms or enforces it.

   Decision

   Do not add a per-repo inventory file — it would diverge from every GSA/TTS peer and add a drift surface. If inventory coverage is ever wanted, the correct action is agency-level: ensure the repo is public under the GSA org so it can be picked up by an agency-level code.json aggregation. Treating this as a non-requirement for going public.

   Not closing the parent public-readiness epic — this specific sub-item is resolved as "not required." AI-assisted (OpenCode); requires human review.
3. wz-gsa

   closed this as completedon Aug 6, 2026