The world of open source metadata (Interview)

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Andrew Nesbitt builds tools and open datasets to support, sustain, and secure critical digital infrastructure. He’s been exploring the world of open source metadata for over a decade. First with libraries.io and now with ecosyste.ms, which tracks over 12 million packages, 287 million repos, 24.5 billion dependencies, and 1.9 million maintainers.

What has Andrew learned from all this, who is using this open dataset, and how does he hope others can build on top of it all? Tune in to find out.

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Sponsors:

• Tiger Data – Postgres for Developers, devices, and agents The data platform trusted by hundreds of thousands from IoT to Web3 to AI and more.
• Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
• Outshift by Cisco – The open source collective building the Internet of Agents. Backed by Outshift by Cisco, AGNTCY gives developers the tools to build and deploy multi-agent software at scale. Identity, communication protocols, and modular workflows—all in one global collaboration layer. Start building at AGNTCY.org.
• Miro – The innovation workspace for the age of AI. Built for modern teams, Miro helps you turn unstructured ideas into structured outcomes—fast. Diagramming, product design, and AI-powered collaboration, all in one shared space. Start building at miro.com

Featuring:

• Andrew Nesbitt – Website, GitHub, X
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

• ecosyste.ms
• ecosyste-ms/oss-taxonomy
• Octobox
• Libraries.io

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

บท

1. This week on The Changelog (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Tiger Data (00:01:17)

https://www.tigerdata.com

3. Start the show! (00:02:54)

4. Some history (00:04:04)

5. Research use (00:17:21)

6. Sponsor: Augment Code (00:19:00)

https://www.augmentcode.com

7. CLI install patterns (00:20:33)

8. 15k people run the world (00:25:13)

9. Tracking the funding (00:27:06)

10. Friends tipping circle (00:31:04)

11. How he stores everything (00:32:59)

12. Who's involved (00:36:30)

13. Footing the bill (00:40:48)

14. The black sheep (00:49:59)

15. Sponsor: Outshift by Cisco (00:59:33)

https://agntcy.org

16. Sponsor: Miro (01:00:46)

https://miro.com

17. The schema is not simple (01:02:13)

18. Curbing the enthusiasm (01:07:04)

19. Deciding what to work on (01:10:24)

20. Metadata substrate (01:16:03)

21. Designing useful tools (01:21:16)

22. Telemetry via exhaust (01:24:54)

23. Information black holes (01:26:59)

24. Octobox update (01:29:54)

25. Exciting new uses (01:30:59)

26. OSS Taxonomy (01:32:00)

27. What Andrew wants (01:39:14)

28. Wrapping up (01:42:00)

29. Closing thoughts (01:42:22)