Make the codebase findable 
Requirements
The name of the codebase SHOULD be descriptive and free from acronyms, abbreviations, puns or organizational branding.
Examples
The codebase SHOULD have a short description that helps someone understand what the codebase is for or what it does.
Maintainers SHOULD submit the codebase to relevant software catalogs.
Catalogs to consider:
- Digital Public Goods Registry, global
- DIAL Catalog of Digital Solutions, global
- The Intergovernmental Software Collaborative, mostly USA but accepts others
- FSF software directory listing, global
- The Research Software Directory, global but only research related software
- code.europa.eu, only for the institutions of the European Union
- Inter-American Development Bank, mostly Latin America and the Caribbean but accepts others
- Civic Tech Field Guide, focus on civic tech but has considerable overlap with public code
- Katalog över öppen programvara inom offentlig sektor, only for codebases used by Swedish public organizations
- Developers Italia Software, Italian but accepts others
- CodeGouv, French
- Developer Overheid repositories, Dutch
- Common Ground software products, Dutch
- Open CoDE, German
The codebase SHOULD have a website which describes the problem the codebase solves using the preferred jargon of different potential users of the codebase (including technologists, policy experts and managers).
The codebase SHOULD be findable using a search engine by codebase name.
The codebase SHOULD be findable using a search engine by description of the problem it solves in natural language.
The codebase SHOULD have a unique and persistent identifier where the entry mentions the major contributors, repository location and website.
Tools
- Wikidata - by creating an “item” an identifier is generated. Make sure to add references so that the information can be verified.
- FSF software directory listing - by submitting a new entry an identifier is generated.
The codebase SHOULD include a machine-readable metadata description, for example in a publiccode.yml file.
Tools
Examples
- OpenZaak
- VerificaC19, the official Italian customization of the EU Digital COVID Certificate Verifier App for the Android Operating System