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// founding document · v0.1

The Charter.

written at the kitchen table · spring 2026 · revised when needed

This is the short agreement I made with myself about what Willow & Vineyard is, and what it is not.

Purpose

01To make small, free, open-source software for the people I love.

Willow & Vineyard exists to serve a specific, tiny audience: my friends and my family. If something I build turns out to be useful to strangers too, that is a nice accident. It is not the goal.

Shape

02One person. On purpose.

The company is me. It will stay that way. Staying one person is a design constraint, not a limitation — it keeps the software humble, the roadmap honest, and the meetings non-existent.

Practice

03Grow slowly. Release when it works.

I work on things in evenings and on weekends. A project is finished when my mum can use it without calling me. Software is released when it is kind to its user — not on a schedule.

what we do

  • + free, open-source code (MIT / AGPL)
  • + simple modern tech stacks that offer great dx
  • + self-hosting guides in plain language
  • + reply to emails, eventually
  • + show up for the people who use the tools

what we don’t

  • × ads, tracking, telemetry
  • × charging money unnecessarily

Money

04Pocket money. A jar on the shelf.

Willow & Vineyard isn’t run for profit. Costs are small — a domain, a small server, a handful of stamps. If any money arrives, it goes back into the jar. If the jar runs out, the projects keep going; they just move a little slower.

Care

05The people using it come first.

If a project stops being useful, I will say so and stop working on it. If I can’t maintain something, I will help whoever uses it move somewhere else. Nothing is abandoned quietly.

Software can and shold be simple, helpful, and affordable — I first learned to code to solve my own problems and still do, now I want to help others do the same.

Amendments

This charter is a living thing. If it stops being true, I will edit it and note the change at the top. The spirit of it — small, free, for the people I love — does not change.

— signed, the gardener
willow & vineyard software co.
a one-person project