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Our Mission

Vision

A world where scientific tools and knowledge are freely accessible to everyone.

Mission Statement

The Open Science Collective exists to:

  1. Build open-source tools that address real needs in scientific research
  2. Foster a welcoming community of contributors and users
  3. Promote best practices in open science and reproducible research
  4. Bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and practical tools

Design Principles

Precision Over Features

Researchers need accurate, citation-backed answers. We prioritize reliability and correctness over feature count. Every response should be traceable to documentation or authoritative sources.

Simple Infrastructure

Our tools are designed for lab server deployment without complex scaling requirements. Small research communities can self-host without DevOps expertise:

  • No PostgreSQL, Redis, or Kubernetes required
  • In-memory state for single-instance deployment
  • Direct document fetching, no complex RAG pipelines

Extensible Architecture

General tool systems that communities can adapt for their specific needs:

  • Custom document retrieval tools
  • Domain-specific validators
  • Specialized system prompts
  • Knowledge source retrievers

Domain Expertise

Deep knowledge of specific tools (HED, BIDS, EEGLAB), not broad generalist approaches. Each assistant is tuned for its domain.

Core Values

Openness

Everything we create is open source. Our code, documentation, and discussions are all publicly available.

Collaboration

We believe the best tools are built together. We welcome contributions from anyone, regardless of background or experience level.

Quality

We strive for excellence in everything we do, from code quality to documentation to community interactions.

No Mocks, Real Tests

We believe in testing with real data. No mock tests, no artificial passes. If a test doesn't use real data, it's not a real test.

Goals

  • Develop and maintain high-quality open-source tools for researchers
  • Create comprehensive documentation that empowers users
  • Build a sustainable community of contributors and maintainers
  • Advance standards and best practices in open science