Open-Source Payouts
How Hanzo Cloud attributes usage to the open-source packages it runs and pays their authors — the 25% commitment, the attribution pipeline, and how to participate, with an honest line between live and roadmap.
Open-Source Payouts
The AI stack runs on open source that almost nobody pays for. Hanzo Cloud's commitment, written into the billing code and not just a blog post:
75% of attributable cloud revenue stays with the platform; 25% is pooled for the open-source developers whose packages the cloud actually ran.
This page explains how attribution works, how to participate, and exactly what is live versus roadmap.
How attribution works
| Step | What happens | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Build | Every image the build system produces gets a Software Bill of Materials (syft → CycloneDX): the exact dependency graph of what shipped. | Built (ingestion currently opt-in) |
| Attribute | A git blame engine maps each dependency to its authors line by line, producing per-author contribution percentages. | Built |
| Meter | The cloud already meters usage per organization for billing; that usage is the cost basis. | Live |
| Split | Usage is allocated across the dependency graph, weighted by contribution; 25% of the attributable amount is reserved for contributors. | Built (25% pool is in code) |
| Pay | Contributors receive their share. | Credits live; crypto/fiat roadmap |
The 25% figure is not marketing copy — it is the configured platform/contributor split in the payout engine (75/25) and in the revenue-share config.
How to participate
Status, plainly. The attribution engine, the 25% split, the metering, the payout model, and a contributor API all exist today. What is being switched on is the connective tissue: SBOM ingestion, the scheduled payout run, and the external (crypto/fiat) payout rails. The first payouts go to the dependencies Hanzo Cloud itself runs on, as the reference implementation, paid in credits.
The contributor flow (preview):
- Register a contributor identity tied to your Git login and choose a payout method (credits today; crypto and fiat are being wired).
- Your packages are matched against the SBOMs of what the cloud builds and
runs; the
git blameengine computes your contribution share per package. - Payouts are calculated from metered usage × dependency weight × your share, against the 25% pool, with a small minimum per payout.
- Check your earnings and reconcile them against the SBOM that produced them.
A Hanzo Commerce contributor API backs these operations (register, submit/inspect SBOM attribution, calculate payouts, read earnings). It is being prepared for public self-serve use alongside the onboarding flow below.
Link your repo (roadmap, and the headline)
The end state is fully self-serve:
Connect a GitHub repository, verify you own it, choose how you want to be paid, and receive a share whenever Hanzo Cloud runs software that depends on yours.
This onboarding flow — repo linking with ownership verification — is the piece we are building next. Until it ships, attribution covers a curated set of dependencies (starting with Hanzo's own), and payouts are issued in credits. When self-serve launches, you will be able to verify your earnings directly against the published SBOMs.
Payout methods
| Method | Status |
|---|---|
| Hanzo credits (non-expiring) | Live — the first payout rail. |
| Crypto (to a verified address) | Roadmap — the underlying rail that pays an arbitrary recipient exists; wiring it to contributor payouts is in progress. |
| Fiat | Roadmap — external fiat disbursement is not yet implemented. |
Related
- Proof of AI — how the cloud verifies the work it bills.
- Node Operator — earn by running compute.
- Commerce — the billing system that meters usage and issues payouts.
How is this guide?
Last updated on