HANDBOOK / STEWARDSHIP
The maintainer guide
Maintaining a project means making its responsibilities visible and durable.
Before accepting work
Publish a scope, architecture, contribution guide, security contact process, appropriate license, and named reviewers. Create tasks only when the objective and acceptance criteria are clear.
Review and release
Require independent review for consequential changes. Test the complete user flow, document migration and rollback, and publish release notes. Record the decision to advance lifecycle stages with evidence.
Succession and retirement
Document operating access, infrastructure costs, dependencies, and recovery procedures in appropriate public or protected locations. Appoint successors. Archive responsibly when maintenance cannot continue and communicate the consequences to users.