vouch README

The project's README from github.com/mitchellh/vouch. As one markdown file: README.md.

Vouch

A community trust management system.

FAQ · Cookbook · Contributing

People must be vouched for before interacting with certain parts of a project (the exact parts are configurable to the project to enforce). People can also be explicitly denounced to block them from interacting with the project.

The implementation is generic and can be used by any project on any code forge, but we provide GitHub integration out of the box via GitHub actions and the CLI.

The vouch list is maintained in a single flat file using a minimal format that can be trivially parsed using standard POSIX tools and any programming language without external libraries.

This project is based on the already successful system in use by the Pi project. I took what they already do and extracted it into a more generalizable system with some other changes.

[!WARNING]

This is an experimental system in use by Ghostty. We'll continue to improve the system based on experience and feedback.

Why?

Open source has always worked on a system of trust and verify.

Historically, the effort required to understand a codebase, implement a change, and submit that change for review was high enough that it naturally filtered out many low quality contributions from unqualified people. For over 20 years of my life, this was enough for my projects as well as enough for most others.

Unfortunately, the landscape has changed particularly with the advent of AI tools that allow people to trivially create plausible-looking but extremely low-quality contributions with little to no true understanding. Contributors can no longer be trusted based on the minimal barrier to entry to simply submit a change.

But, open source still works on trust! And every project has a definite group of trusted individuals (maintainers) and a larger group of probably trusted individuals (active members of the community in any form). So, let's move to an explicit trust model where trusted individuals can vouch for others, and those vouched individuals can then contribute.

Who is Vouched?

Who and how someone is vouched or denounced is left entirely up to the project integrating the system. Additionally, what consequences a vouched or denounced person has is also fully up to the project. Implement a policy that works for your project and community.

Usage

GitHub

Integrating vouch into a GitHub project is easy with the provided GitHub Actions. By choosing which actions to use, you can fully control how users are vouched and what they can or can't do.

For an example, look at this repository! It fully integrates vouch.

Below is a list of the actions and a brief description of their function. See the linked README in the action directory for full usage details.

Action Trigger Description
check-issue issues Check if an issue author is vouched on open or reopen. Bots and collaborators with write access are automatically allowed. Optionally auto-close and lock issues from unvouched or denounced users.
check-pr pull_request_target Check if a PR author is vouched on open or reopen. Bots and collaborators with write access are automatically allowed. Optionally auto-close PRs from unvouched or denounced users.
check-user Any Check if a GitHub user is vouched. Outputs the user's status and fails the step by default if the user is not vouched. Set allow-fail to only report via output.
manage-by-discussion discussion_comment Let collaborators vouch, denounce, or unvouch users via discussion comments. Updates the vouched file and commits the change.
manage-by-issue issue_comment Let collaborators vouch or denounce users via issue comments. Updates the vouched file and commits the change.
sync-codeowners Any Sync CODEOWNERS owners into the vouch list by vouching missing users.
setup-vouch Any Install the vouch CLI on PATH. Nushell is installed automatically if not already available.

CLI

The CLI is implemented as a Nushell module and only requires Nushell to run. There are no other external dependencies.

Integrated Help

This is Nushell, so you can get help on any command:

use vouch *
help add
help check
help denounce
help gh-check-issue
help gh-check-pr
help gh-manage-by-issue

Local Commands

Check a user's vouch status:

vouch check <username>

Exit codes: 0 = vouched, 1 = denounced, 2 = unknown.

Add a user to the vouched list:

# Preview new file contents (default)
vouch add someuser

# Write the file in-place
vouch add someuser --write

Denounce a user:

# Preview new file contents (default)
vouch denounce badactor

# With a reason
vouch denounce badactor --reason "Submitted AI slop"

# Write the file in-place
vouch denounce badactor --write

GitHub Integration

Requires the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable. If not set and gh is available, the token from gh auth token is used.

Check if an issue author is vouched:

# Check issue author status (dry run)
vouch gh-check-issue 123 --repo owner/repo

# Auto-close unvouched issues (dry run)
vouch gh-check-issue 123 --repo owner/repo --auto-close

# Actually close unvouched issues
vouch gh-check-issue 123 --repo owner/repo --auto-close --dry-run=false

# Allow unvouched users, only block denounced
vouch gh-check-issue 123 --repo owner/repo --require-vouch=false --auto-close

Outputs status: skipped (bot/collaborator), vouched, allowed, or closed.

Check if a PR author is vouched:

# Check PR author status (dry run)
vouch gh-check-pr 123 --repo owner/repo

# Auto-close unvouched PRs (dry run)
vouch gh-check-pr 123 --repo owner/repo --auto-close

# Actually close unvouched PRs
vouch gh-check-pr 123 --repo owner/repo --auto-close --dry-run=false

# Allow unvouched users, only block denounced
vouch gh-check-pr 123 --repo owner/repo --require-vouch=false --auto-close

Outputs status: skipped (bot/collaborator), vouched, allowed, or closed.

Manage contributor status via issue comments:

# Dry run (default)
vouch gh-manage-by-issue 123 456789 --repo owner/repo

# Actually perform the action
vouch gh-manage-by-issue 123 456789 --repo owner/repo --dry-run=false

Responds to comments from collaborators with sufficient role (admin, maintain, write, or triage by default):

Keywords are customizable via --vouch-keyword and --denounce-keyword. You can also allow specific managers listed in a separate VOUCHED file via --vouched-managers.

Outputs status: vouched, denounced, or unchanged.

Library

The module also exports a lib submodule for scripting:

use vouch/lib.nu *

let records = open VOUCHED.td
$records | check-user "mitchellh" --default-platform github  # "vouched", "denounced", or "unknown"
$records | add-user "newuser"                                # returns updated table
$records | denounce-user "badactor" "reason"                 # returns updated table
$records | remove-user "olduser"                             # returns updated table

Vouched File Format

The vouch list is stored in a .td file. See VOUCHED.example.td for an example. The file is looked up at VOUCHED.td or .github/VOUCHED.td by default.

# Comments start with #
username
platform:username
-platform:denounced-user
-platform:denounced-user reason for denouncement

The from td and to td commands are exported by the module, so Nushell's open command works natively with .td files to decode into structured tables and encode back to the file format with comments and whitespace preserved.

[!NOTE]

What is .td? This stands for "Trustdown," a play on the word "Markdown." I intend to formalize a specification for trust lists (with no opinion on how they're created or used) so that software systems like this Vouch project and others can coordinate with each other. I'm not ready to publish a specification until vouch itself stabilizes usage more.

vouch (mitchellh/vouch)

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5.1K ·GitHub
Vouch
What is this?Vouch is a community trust management system where trusted maintainers explicitly vouch for or denounce contributors, and only vouched people are allowed to interact with certain parts of a project, like opening issues or pull requests.
Is this a hosted service or something I run myself?It's self-hosted: a CLI tool implemented as a Nushell module plus a set of GitHub Actions you add to your own repository. There is no central server involved.
How do I add it to my GitHub repo?Add the provided GitHub Actions (check-issue, check-pr, check-user, manage-by-discussion, manage-by-issue, sync-codeowners) to your workflows, or run the setup-vouch action to install the CLI on PATH. The vouch list lives in a VOUCHED.td file at the repo root or .github/.
What do I need to run the CLI?Just Nushell — the CLI is a Nushell module with no other external dependencies. GitHub-integration commands need a GITHUBTOKEN environment variable, or will fall back to the gh CLI's token.
Is this ready for production use?The author flags it as experimental — it's currently used by the Ghostty project and is expected to keep changing as feedback comes in, so the format and behavior may evolve.
How do maintainers vouch for or denounce someone?Collaborators with sufficient role comment 'vouch' or 'vouch @user' (optionally with a reason) on an issue, PR, or discussion, and the manage-by-issue or manage-by-discussion actions update the VOUCHED.td file automatically. Denounce works the same way, prefixed with a dash.
What happens to an unvouched person's issue or PR?The check-issue and check-pr actions can optionally auto-close and lock issues or PRs from unvouched or denounced users, while bots and collaborators with write access are always let through.
What is the .td file format?'Trustdown' (.td) is a minimal flat-file format storing one handle per line, optionally prefixed with a platform like github:mitchellh, with a leading dash to denounce. Nushell's built-in open command can decode and encode it directly.
Why did the author build Vouch?AI tools made it trivial to submit plausible-looking but low-quality contributions, removing the natural effort-based filter that used to protect open source projects, so the author extracted an explicit vouch-based trust system already used by the Pi project.
What are similar projects?GrantDecay, GDecay, gh-secure, loop-engineering, gh-aw, openworker, nushell, geiger
Which topics is it in?nushell, governance, access-control, bot, community, github-actions, github, workflow-automation, security-tools, command-line-tool, security, automation
Creator
mitchellh
Size
0.2 MB
Stars
5.1K
Updated
CommitJul 12Releasev1.5.0Jul 12
Age
8mo
Commits · 90 Days