Handbook · Edition 0.1 · Open for review
The Handbook
The Findings say who controls the stack today. The Handbook says what to build and buy instead: criteria any software must meet, and a section per layer with the open-source solutions that meet them.
Every recommendation and statement in the Handbook is made by The Sovereign Stack Consortium, a group of academic, industry and technology experts, now forming.
Two sides, one method How the Handbook works
Criteria for any solution
Nine general criteria apply to every piece of software, open source or not, at every layer. Each is a view over the twelve sovereignty dimensions the Findings score, and each comes with a clause a buyer can put in a tender.
A section per layer
Each section adds the criteria specific to its layer, names the open standard behind each line, and says whether government has already adopted it, formally through the Open Standards Board or de facto through a public service that runs it. Then it lists the open-source solutions that meet the criteria, line by line, with a source for every claim.
Resting on the evidence
Every section ends with the published findings for its layers, so a recommendation can be set against where we are today. The section's index is the mean score of those findings.
Sections Edition 0.1.0
| # | Section | Status | Maintainers | Findings | Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Identity & access Federated identity under user control, passwordless by default, on open standards the UK already operates. | Under review | The Sovereign Stack | 15 | 68/100 |
| 2 | Workplace Browser, email, messaging, productivity and file storage on open formats, run by operators the buyer chooses. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 35 | 30/100 |
| 3 | Data & integration Business systems, sector systems and analytics with data portable by default and published APIs. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 176 | 45/100 |
| 4 | AI Models that can be inspected, pinned and hosted in the UK, with no single model provider. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 36 | 43/100 |
| 5 | Platform Operating systems, databases, runtimes and languages under foundation or standards-body governance. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 36 | 49/100 |
| 6 | Infrastructure UK-operated cloud with customer-held keys and workloads portable between providers. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 55 | 44/100 |
| 7 | Physical Diverse hardware and network supply, with open instruction sets as the long-term path. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 42 | 58/100 |
| 8 | Security Customer-held keys, open telemetry and shared sector security operations under UK control. | Draft | The Sovereign Stack | 24 | 56/100 |
Governance Who decides what goes in
The Handbook is the work of The Sovereign Stack Consortium: universities, public bodies, sector bodies, open-source projects, UK suppliers and independent experts, convened by The Sovereign Stack and governed by its members. Until its editorial board exists, each section names its maintainers, every change is a public pull request, and every edition is a numbered release that members can endorse as a fixed text.
A section moves from draft to under review when it is complete enough to be judged, and to endorsed when a named institution has reviewed that version and said so. The endorsement names the version, not the page.
The rules are in the repository: governance, contributing, code of conduct and maintainers.
How to contribute
- Open a discussion if the change needs agreement first; every section has a "Discuss this section" link.
- Edit the section's Markdown on GitHub ("Edit this section") and open a pull request. Sign off each commit under the Developer Certificate of Origin.
- A listing of a solution against a criterion must cite a source. Unsourced claims are not merged; a blank line is honest, a false "Yes" is not.
- Two maintainers review. Merged changes appear on the dev site first and in the next edition.
Text is licensed CC BY 4.0; code in the repository under MIT. Institutions that want to review or own a section should get in touch.
The general criteria at a glance Full text and tender clauses →
Cross-cutting pages The plan the sections serve
- Architecture
The reference layers in one table, and where to start.
- Skills
Schools, universities and the BBC as the skills engine.
- Roadmap
Three horizons, with the section each one calls on.