PolicyWatcher

Projects that follow the best practices below can voluntarily self-certify and show that they've achieved an Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) best practices badge.

There is no set of practices that can guarantee that software will never have defects or vulnerabilities; even formal methods can fail if the specifications or assumptions are wrong. Nor is there any set of practices that can guarantee that a project will sustain a healthy and well-functioning development community. However, following best practices can help improve the results of projects. For example, some practices enable multi-person review before release, which can both help find otherwise hard-to-find technical vulnerabilities and help build trust and a desire for repeated interaction among developers from different companies. To earn a badge, all MUST and MUST NOT criteria must be met, all SHOULD criteria must be met OR be unmet with justification, and all SUGGESTED criteria must be met OR unmet (we want them considered at least). If you want to enter justification text as a generic comment, instead of being a rationale that the situation is acceptable, start the text block with '//' followed by a space. Feedback is welcome via the GitHub site as issues or pull requests There is also a mailing list for general discussion.

We gladly provide the information in several locales, however, if there is any conflict or inconsistency between the translations, the English version is the authoritative version.
If this is your project, please show your badge status on your project page! The badge status looks like this: Badge level for project 13465 is passing Here is how to embed it:
You can show your badge status by embedding this in your markdown file:
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These are the Passing level criteria. You can also view the Silver or Gold level criteria.

Baseline Series: Baseline Level 1 Baseline Level 2 Baseline Level 3

        

 Basics 13/13 ●

  • General

    Note that other projects may use the same name.

    PolicyWatcher is an open-source data tracking and monitoring platform designed to bring transparency and forensic auditability to corporate policies, terms of service, and AI safety disclosures. As regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act, GDPR, and NIST AI Risk Management Framework place stricter obligations on corporate transparency, PolicyWatcher provides organizations, researchers, and compliance teams with a continuous, evidence-first timeline of how digital terms are updated, processed and aligned.

    Please use SPDX license expression format; examples include "Apache-2.0", "BSD-2-Clause", "BSD-3-Clause", "GPL-2.0+", "LGPL-3.0+", "MIT", and "(BSD-2-Clause OR Ruby)". Do not include single quotes or double quotes.
    If there is more than one language, list them as comma-separated values (spaces optional) and sort them from most to least used. If there is a long list, please list at least the first three most common ones. If there is no language (e.g., this is a documentation-only or test-only project), use the single character "-". Please use a conventional capitalization for each language, e.g., "JavaScript".
    The Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) is a structured naming scheme for information technology systems, software, and packages. It is used in a number of systems and databases when reporting vulnerabilities.

    Core Architecture: PolicyWatcher is built on Next.js (React), utilizing Prisma ORM with support for SQLite (local/demo) and PostgreSQL (production). Integrity Assurance: Every monitored policy text is fingerprinted with SHA-256 hashes and tracked via an append-only transaction history database table. AI Integration: Leverages Google Gemini models for structured text analysis, summarization, and 15-KPI risk compliance mapping (e.g. EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF). Security Posture: Developed with zero-JS tooltips, strict Content-Security-Policy (CSP) headers without 'unsafe-eval', and SSRF-resistant scraping egress logic.

  • Basic project website content


    Enough for a badge!

    The project website MUST succinctly describe what the software does (what problem does it solve?). [description_good]
    This MUST be in language that potential users can understand (e.g., it uses minimal jargon).

    Enough for a badge!

    The project website MUST provide information on how to: obtain, provide feedback (as bug reports or enhancements), and contribute to the software. [interact]

    Enough for a badge!

    The information on how to contribute MUST explain the contribution process (e.g., are pull requests used?) (URL required) [contribution]
    We presume that projects on GitHub use issues and pull requests unless otherwise noted. This information can be short, e.g., stating that the project uses pull requests, an issue tracker, or posts to a mailing list (which one?)

    Non-trivial contribution file in repository: https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md.


    Enough for a badge!

    The information on how to contribute SHOULD include the requirements for acceptable contributions (e.g., a reference to any required coding standard). (URL required) [contribution_requirements]

    https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md


  • FLOSS license


    Enough for a badge!

    The software produced by the project MUST be released as FLOSS. [floss_license]
    FLOSS is software released in a way that meets the Open Source Definition or Free Software Definition. Examples of such licenses include the CC0, MIT, BSD 2-clause, BSD 3-clause revised, Apache 2.0, Lesser GNU General Public License (LGPL), and the GNU General Public License (GPL). For our purposes, this means that the license MUST be: The software MAY also be licensed other ways (e.g., "GPLv2 or proprietary" is acceptable).

    PolicyWatcher is released as Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS). The codebase is publicly available and licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license.

    FSF Approved: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) approves CC BY 4.0 as a free license.
    Debian & Fedora Compliant: The license is acceptable to Debian Main and is listed as a "good" (approved) license according to Fedora guidelines.
    Freedom of Use: It grants all users the freedom to run, copy, modify, distribute, and adapt the software—even commercially—subject only to providing appropriate attribution to the original author.


    Barely enough for a badge.

    It is SUGGESTED that any required license(s) for the software produced by the project be approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). [floss_license_osi]
    The OSI uses a rigorous approval process to determine which licenses are OSS.

    The project’s current license is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). While it is fully Free/Libre under the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Debian guidelines, it is not on the list of software-specific licenses officially approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). (Note: If you wish to satisfy this suggestion in the future, you could dual-license the project's source code under a standard OSI-approved license such as the MIT or Apache 2.0 license, while keeping CC BY 4.0 for the datasets/documentation).


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST post the license(s) of its results in a standard location in their source repository. (URL required) [license_location]
    One convention is posting the license as a top-level file named LICENSE or COPYING, which MAY be followed by an extension such as ".txt" or ".md". An alternative convention is to have a directory named LICENSES containing license file(s); these files are typically named as their SPDX license identifier followed by an appropriate file extension, as described in the REUSE Specification. Note that this criterion is only a requirement on the source repository. You do NOT need to include the license file when generating something from the source code (such as an executable, package, or container). For example, when generating an R package for the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN), follow standard CRAN practice: if the license is a standard license, use the standard short license specification (to avoid installing yet another copy of the text) and list the LICENSE file in an exclusion file such as .Rbuildignore. Similarly, when creating a Debian package, you may put a link in the copyright file to the license text in /usr/share/common-licenses, and exclude the license file from the created package (e.g., by deleting the file after calling dh_auto_install). We encourage including machine-readable license information in generated formats where practical.

    Non-trivial license location file in repository: https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/LICENSE.


  • Documentation


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST provide basic documentation for the software produced by the project. [documentation_basics]
    This documentation must be in some media (such as text or video) that includes: how to install it, how to start it, how to use it (possibly with a tutorial using examples), and how to use it securely (e.g., what to do and what not to do) if that is an appropriate topic for the software. The security documentation need not be long. The project MAY use hypertext links to non-project material as documentation. If the project does not produce software, choose "not applicable" (N/A).

    No appropriate folder found for documentation basics.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST provide reference documentation that describes the external interface (both input and output) of the software produced by the project. [documentation_interface]
    The documentation of an external interface explains to an end-user or developer how to use it. This would include its application program interface (API) if the software has one. If it is a library, document the major classes/types and methods/functions that can be called. If it is a web application, define its URL interface (often its REST interface). If it is a command-line interface, document the parameters and options it supports. In many cases it's best if most of this documentation is automatically generated, so that this documentation stays synchronized with the software as it changes, but this isn't required. The project MAY use hypertext links to non-project material as documentation. Documentation MAY be automatically generated (where practical this is often the best way to do so). Documentation of a REST interface may be generated using Swagger/OpenAPI. Code interface documentation MAY be generated using tools such as JSDoc (JavaScript), ESDoc (JavaScript), pydoc (Python), devtools (R), pkgdown (R), and Doxygen (many). Merely having comments in implementation code is not sufficient to satisfy this criterion; there needs to be an easy way to see the information without reading through all the source code. If the project does not produce software, choose "not applicable" (N/A).

  • Other


    Enough for a badge!

    The project sites (website, repository, and download URLs) MUST support HTTPS using TLS. [sites_https]
    This requires that the project home page URL and the version control repository URL begin with "https:", not "http:". You can get free certificates from Let's Encrypt. Projects MAY implement this criterion using (for example) GitHub pages, GitLab pages, or SourceForge project pages. If you support HTTP, we urge you to redirect the HTTP traffic to HTTPS.

    https://www.policywatcher.online


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have one or more mechanisms for discussion (including proposed changes and issues) that are searchable, allow messages and topics to be addressed by URL, enable new people to participate in some of the discussions, and do not require client-side installation of proprietary software. [discussion]
    Examples of acceptable mechanisms include archived mailing list(s), GitHub issue and pull request discussions, Bugzilla, Mantis, and Trac. Asynchronous discussion mechanisms (like IRC) are acceptable if they meet these criteria; make sure there is a URL-addressable archiving mechanism. Proprietary JavaScript, while discouraged, is permitted.

    GitHub supports discussions on issues and pull requests.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project SHOULD provide documentation in English and be able to accept bug reports and comments about code in English. [english]
    English is currently the lingua franca of computer technology; supporting English increases the number of different potential developers and reviewers worldwide. A project can meet this criterion even if its core developers' primary language is not English.

    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST be maintained. [maintained]
    As a minimum, the project should attempt to respond to significant problem and vulnerability reports. A project that is actively pursuing a badge is probably maintained. All projects and people have limited resources, and typical projects must reject some proposed changes, so limited resources and proposal rejections do not by themselves indicate an unmaintained project.

    When a project knows that it will no longer be maintained, it should set this criterion to "Unmet" and use the appropriate mechanism(s) to indicate to others that it is not being maintained. For example, use “DEPRECATED” as the first heading of its README, add “DEPRECATED” near the beginning of its home page, add “DEPRECATED” to the beginning of its code repository project description, add a no-maintenance-intended badge in its README and/or home page, mark it as deprecated in any package repositories (e.g., npm deprecate), and/or use the code repository's marking system to archive it (e.g., GitHub's "archive" setting, GitLab’s "archived" marking, Gerrit's "readonly" status, or SourceForge’s "abandoned" project status). Additional discussion can be found here.

 Change Control 9/9 ●

  • Public version-controlled source repository


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have a version-controlled source repository that is publicly readable and has a URL. [repo_public]
    The URL MAY be the same as the project URL. The project MAY use private (non-public) branches in specific cases while the change is not publicly released (e.g., for fixing a vulnerability before it is revealed to the public).

    Repository on GitHub, which provides public git repositories with URLs.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project's source repository MUST track what changes were made, who made the changes, and when the changes were made. [repo_track]

    Repository on GitHub, which uses git. git can track the changes, who made them, and when they were made.


    Enough for a badge!

    To enable collaborative review, the project's source repository MUST include interim versions for review between releases; it MUST NOT include only final releases. [repo_interim]
    Projects MAY choose to omit specific interim versions from their public source repositories (e.g., ones that fix specific non-public security vulnerabilities, may never be publicly released, or include material that cannot be legally posted and are not in the final release).

    PolicyWatcher’s public GitHub repository contains the complete, granular Git version control history.

    It does not simply upload final release archives. All incremental commits, developer pull requests, feature-branch updates, and daily modifications are committed and visible in real time, allowing for continuous collaborative review of interim code changes before they are finalized into a official release.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that common distributed version control software be used (e.g., git) for the project's source repository. [repo_distributed]
    Git is not specifically required and projects can use centralized version control software (such as subversion) with justification.

    Repository on GitHub, which uses git. git is distributed.


  • Unique version numbering


    Enough for a badge!

    The project results MUST have a unique version identifier for each release intended to be used by users. [version_unique]
    This MAY be met in a variety of ways including a commit IDs (such as git commit id or mercurial changeset id) or a version number (including version numbers that use semantic versioning or date-based schemes like YYYYMMDD).

    PolicyWatcher follows the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) specification (e.g., 3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.5.0).

    Every user-facing release is assigned a unique version identifier which is:

    Declared in the project’s package.json file.
    Formally logged and explained in the CHANGELOG.md file.
    Displayed on the web platform's UI (in the footer as Build vX.Y.Z).
    Assigned as a unique Git release tag on GitHub.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) or Calendar Versioning (CalVer) version numbering format be used for releases. It is SUGGESTED that those who use CalVer include a micro level value. [version_semver]
    Projects should generally prefer whatever format is expected by their users, e.g., because it is the normal format used by their ecosystem. Many ecosystems prefer SemVer, and SemVer is generally preferred for application programmer interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs). CalVer tends to be used by projects that are large, have an unusually large number of independently-developed dependencies, have a constantly-changing scope, or are time-sensitive. It is SUGGESTED that those who use CalVer include a micro level value, because including a micro level supports simultaneously-maintained branches whenever that becomes necessary. Other version numbering formats may be used as version numbers, including git commit IDs or mercurial changeset IDs, as long as they uniquely identify versions. However, some alternatives (such as git commit IDs) can cause problems as release identifiers, because users may not be able to easily determine if they are up-to-date. The version ID format may be unimportant for identifying software releases if all recipients only run the latest version (e.g., it is the code for a single website or internet service that is constantly updated via continuous delivery).

    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that projects identify each release within their version control system. For example, it is SUGGESTED that those using git identify each release using git tags. [version_tags]

    The project strictly implements the Semantic Versioning (SemVer 2.0.0) version numbering format (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH).

    This format maps directly to the project's release guidelines:

    MAJOR increment (e.g., 3.0.0): Indicates significant feature updates, database restructuring, or framework modifications.
    MINOR increment (e.g., 3.5.0): Indicates structured release tracks, such as alternating between Feature Drops (X.0) and Confidence Releases (X.5).
    PATCH increment (e.g., 3.0.1): Used for small bug fixes, security header adjustments, and build packaging corrections.


  • Release notes


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST provide, in each release, release notes that are a human-readable summary of major changes in that release to help users determine if they should upgrade and what the upgrade impact will be. The release notes MUST NOT be the raw output of a version control log (e.g., the "git log" command results are not release notes). Projects whose results are not intended for reuse in multiple locations (such as the software for a single website or service) AND employ continuous delivery MAY select "N/A". (URL required) [release_notes]
    The release notes MAY be implemented in a variety of ways. Many projects provide them in a file named "NEWS", "CHANGELOG", or "ChangeLog", optionally with extensions such as ".txt", ".md", or ".html". Historically the term "change log" meant a log of every change, but to meet these criteria what is needed is a human-readable summary. The release notes MAY instead be provided by version control system mechanisms such as the GitHub Releases workflow.

    https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md (and GitHub releases page: https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/releases)

    Release notes justification
    PolicyWatcher maintains a structured, human-readable CHANGELOG.md in the root repository.

    For every release, the log provides a clear summary categorized into:

    Added: New features, pages, or components (e.g., v3.5 Roadmap page, Interchangeable Navigation layouts).
    Changed: Structural refactoring, database updates, or dependency version upgrades.
    Fixed: Specific bug resolutions or security configurations (e.g., CSP header hardening).
    These notes are written by the maintainers, are separate from raw git log commits, and are also published inside the web application via the interactive Changelog menu modal.


    Enough for a badge!

    The release notes MUST identify every publicly known run-time vulnerability fixed in this release that already had a CVE assignment or similar when the release was created. This criterion may be marked as not applicable (N/A) if users typically cannot practically update the software themselves (e.g., as is often true for kernel updates). This criterion applies only to the project results, not to its dependencies. If there are no release notes or there have been no publicly known vulnerabilities, choose N/A. [release_notes_vulns]
    This criterion helps users determine if a given update will fix a vulnerability that is publicly known, to help users make an informed decision about updating. If users typically cannot practically update the software themselves on their computers, but must instead depend on one or more intermediaries to perform the update (as is often the case for a kernel and low-level software that is intertwined with a kernel), the project may choose "not applicable" (N/A) instead, since this additional information will not be helpful to those users. Similarly, a project may choose N/A if all recipients only run the latest version (e.g., it is the code for a single website or internet service that is constantly updated via continuous delivery). This criterion only applies to the project results, not its dependencies. Listing the vulnerabilities of all transitive dependencies of a project becomes unwieldy as dependencies increase and vary, and is unnecessary since tools that examine and track dependencies can do this in a more scalable way.

    There have been no publicly known vulnerabilities or CVEs associated with the PolicyWatcher codebase. As there are no vulnerability reports or CVE assignments to document, this criterion is not applicable to the current release logs.


 Reporting 8/8 ●

  • Bug-reporting process


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST provide a process for users to submit bug reports (e.g., using an issue tracker or a mailing list). (URL required) [report_process]

    GitHub provides defect reporting mechanisms by default (via issues). [osps_do_02_01]https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/issues


    Enough for a badge!

    The project SHOULD use an issue tracker for tracking individual issues. [report_tracker]

    PolicyWatcher uses GitHub Issues as its dedicated tracker to log, categorize, and track the status of individual bug reports, feature enhancements, and tasks.

    Using GitHub's native issue tracker allows the project to:

    Assign tasks to specific maintainers.
    Use labels (e.g., bug, enhancement, security, documentation) to organize work.
    Link issues directly to Pull Requests and specific code commits for complete traceability.
    Group issues into milestones for release planning (e.g., tracking v3.5 Confidence Release priorities).


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST acknowledge a majority of bug reports submitted in the last 2-12 months (inclusive); the response need not include a fix. [report_responses]

    All public bug reports submitted via the GitHub Issue Tracker are actively reviewed and triaged by the maintainers.

    The project maintains a weekly triage cycle where incoming tickets are categorized, labeled, and commented on often within 48 to 72 hours. Maintainers acknowledge reports by asking for reproduction details, assigning labels, or outlining how the issue fits into the project's alternating "Tick-Tock" release schedule, even if a final patch is deferred to a later release.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project SHOULD respond to a majority (>50%) of enhancement requests in the last 2-12 months (inclusive). [enhancement_responses]
    The response MAY be 'no' or a discussion about its merits. The goal is simply that there be some response to some requests, which indicates that the project is still alive. For purposes of this criterion, projects need not count fake requests (e.g., from spammers or automated systems). If a project is no longer making enhancements, please select "unmet" and include the URL that makes this situation clear to users. If a project tends to be overwhelmed by the number of enhancement requests, please select "unmet" and explain.

    Enhancement and feature requests submitted to the issue tracker are systematically reviewed by the maintainers.

    More than 50% of these requests receive a response discussing design viability, alignment with the project’s architectural roadmap, or requesting community feedback. Acceptable feature requests are labeled as enhancement or future-release and mapped to future release cycles (such as the alternating Feature Drop releases).


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have a publicly available archive for reports and responses for later searching. (URL required) [report_archive]

    https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/issues?q=is%3Aissue

    The project’s entire history of bug reports, feature requests, comments, triage decisions, and resolutions is publicly archived in the GitHub Issues repository.

    This archive is permanent, publicly indexable, and supports extensive search capabilities, enabling users to search historical issues by full-text keyword, status (open/closed), author, label, or milestone.


  • Vulnerability report process


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST publish the process for reporting vulnerabilities on the project site. (URL required) [vulnerability_report_process]
    Projects hosted on GitHub SHOULD consider enabling privately reporting a security vulnerability. Projects on GitLab SHOULD consider using its ability for privately reporting a vulnerability. Projects MAY identify a mailing address on https://PROJECTSITE/security, often in the form security@example.org. This vulnerability reporting process MAY be the same as its bug reporting process. Vulnerability reports MAY always be public, but many projects have a private vulnerability reporting mechanism.

    https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/SECURITY.md (and website page: https://policywatcher.online/security)

    The project publishes its vulnerability reporting process in two publicly accessible locations: in the root repository’s SECURITY.md file and on the production web platform at /security.
    The project publishes its vulnerability reporting process in two publicly accessible locations: in the root repository’s SECURITY.md file and on the production web platform at /security.

    The security policy explicitly defines:
    Reporting Channel: Suspected vulnerabilities must be reported privately to security@policywatcher.online (never logged as public GitHub issues).
    Details Required: Guidelines on what information to include (reproduction steps, affected endpoints, impact, and PoC details).
    Response Targets: Triage timelines (initial acknowledgment within 5 business days, triage within 10 business days).
    Scope Guidelines: Clear boundaries on what is in scope (routes, auth logic, scraper controls) and what is out of scope (DDoS testing, social engineering).


    Enough for a badge!

    If private vulnerability reports are supported, the project MUST include how to send the information in a way that is kept private. (URL required) [vulnerability_report_private]
    Examples include a private defect report submitted on the web using HTTPS (TLS) or an email encrypted using OpenPGP. If vulnerability reports are always public (so there are never private vulnerability reports), choose "not applicable" (N/A).

    https://github.com/sev7enITA/policywatcher/blob/main/SECURITY.md#reporting-a-vulnerability

    he project’s security policy provides explicit instructions on how to send vulnerability reports privately:

    Private Email Channel: Submitters are instructed to report suspected issues directly and privately to security@policywatcher.online.
    Explicit Warning against Public Disclosure: The policy clearly requests that reporters do not disclose the issue publicly (such as via public GitHub issues or public PRs) until it has been triaged and remediated.
    Drafting Guidelines: Details the exact private telemetry data, affected endpoints, and logs to include so that maintainers can independently reproduce the finding in isolation.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project's initial response time for any vulnerability report received in the last 6 months MUST be less than or equal to 14 days. [vulnerability_report_response]
    If there have been no vulnerabilities reported in the last 6 months, choose "not applicable" (N/A).

 Quality 13/13 ●

  • Working build system


    Enough for a badge!

    If the software produced by the project requires building for use, the project MUST provide a working build system that can automatically rebuild the software from source code. [build]
    A build system determines what actions need to occur to rebuild the software (and in what order), and then performs those steps. For example, it can invoke a compiler to compile the source code. If an executable is created from source code, it must be possible to modify the project's source code and then generate an updated executable with those modifications. If the software produced by the project depends on external libraries, the build system does not need to build those external libraries. If there is no need to build anything to use the software after its source code is modified, select "not applicable" (N/A).

    PolicyWatcher provides a fully automated, scriptable build system. Running the command:
    bash

    npm run build
    automatically triggers the complete compilation pipeline: it first executes prisma generate (to generate the localized database client models from source schema) and then compiles the React application via next build into optimized static and standalone Server-Side Rendered (SSR) chunks.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that common tools be used for building the software. [build_common_tools]
    For example, Maven, Ant, cmake, the autotools, make, rake (Ruby), or devtools (R).

    The project relies exclusively on standard, widely used tools within the modern web development ecosystem: Node.js, npm (Node Package Manager), Prisma CLI, and the Next.js framework compiler. No proprietary compile tools or obscure custom build scripts are necessary to construct the application.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project SHOULD be buildable using only FLOSS tools. [build_floss_tools]

    The entire development and build ecosystem of PolicyWatcher is composed of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) tools:

    Node.js / Next.js: Licensed under the MIT License.
    npm: Licensed under the Artistic License 2.0.
    Prisma: Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
    TypeScript: Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
    No proprietary software, compilers, or licenses are required to build, test, or deploy the application from source code.


  • Automated test suite


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST use at least one automated test suite that is publicly released as FLOSS (this test suite may be maintained as a separate FLOSS project). The project MUST clearly show or document how to run the test suite(s) (e.g., via a continuous integration (CI) script or via documentation in files such as BUILD.md, README.md, or CONTRIBUTING.md). [test]
    The project MAY use multiple automated test suites (e.g., one that runs quickly, vs. another that is more thorough but requires special equipment). There are many test frameworks and test support systems available, including Selenium (web browser automation), Junit (JVM, Java), RUnit (R), testthat (R).

    PolicyWatcher uses Vitest, a fast, open-source (MIT Licensed) unit testing framework. The instructions on how to run the test suite are documented in the CONTRIBUTING.md file under the Local Quality Gate section, instructing contributors to run npm run test. The configuration is defined in the public vitest.config.ts file.


    Enough for a badge!

    A test suite SHOULD be invocable in a standard way for that language. [test_invocation]
    For example, "make check", "mvn test", or "rake test" (Ruby).

    The test suite is invocable using the standard command convention for the Node.js/JavaScript ecosystem:
    bash

    npm run test
    This script is mapped inside package.json to trigger the vitest run test execution.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that the test suite cover most (or ideally all) the code branches, input fields, and functionality. [test_most]

    The automated tests target the critical business logic of the platform, including:

    Text differences and chunk parsing (diffParse.test.ts)
    Data confidence status ranks and normalization (policyConfidence.test.ts)
    Subscriber notification filtering logic (subscriberPreferences.test.ts)
    Code coverage is monitored and tracked directly using Vitest's built-in coverage features (npm run test:coverage via v8/istanbul engines) to ensure branch coverage of the core algorithms.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that the project implement continuous integration (where new or changed code is frequently integrated into a central code repository and automated tests are run on the result). [test_continuous_integration]

    The project utilizes GitHub Actions for continuous integration (CI). Every time code is pushed or a Pull Request is opened on the main branch, a workflow (.github/workflows/quality.yml) is automatically triggered to spin up a virtual container, install dependencies, run linter checks (eslint), validate the Prisma database schema, and execute the Vitest test suite to prevent broken code from being integrated.


  • New functionality testing


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have a general policy (formal or not) that as major new functionality is added to the software produced by the project, tests of that functionality should be added to an automated test suite. [test_policy]
    As long as a policy is in place, even by word of mouth, that says developers should add tests to the automated test suite for major new functionality, select "Met."

    The project maintains a policy requiring that any major new functionality, core utility, or data-handling updates must be accompanied by new automated tests in the test suite. This ensures that new features are auditable from the moment they are introduced and prevents future regressions.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have evidence that the test_policy for adding tests has been adhered to in the most recent major changes to the software produced by the project. [tests_are_added]
    Major functionality would typically be mentioned in the release notes. Perfection is not required, merely evidence that tests are typically being added in practice to the automated test suite when new major functionality is added to the software produced by the project.

    This policy was strictly adhered to during the recent v3.5 "Confidence Release" update (which introduced status rankings and scraping log pipelines). The release included a new suite of 10 unit tests (policyConfidence.test.ts, diffParse.test.ts, and subscriberPreferences.test.ts) written specifically to cover the newly introduced codebase modules.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that this policy on adding tests (see test_policy) be documented in the instructions for change proposals. [tests_documented_added]
    However, even an informal rule is acceptable as long as the tests are being added in practice.

    The requirement is explicitly documented in the project’s pull request contribution guidelines. Under CONTRIBUTING.md # Pull Requests (Step 4), it instructs contributors to: "Add or update focused tests when changing shared logic, parsing, security, data-quality, or API behavior."


  • Warning flags


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST enable one or more compiler warning flags, a "safe" language mode, or use a separate "linter" tool to look for code quality errors or common simple mistakes, if there is at least one FLOSS tool that can implement this criterion in the selected language. [warnings]
    Examples of compiler warning flags include gcc/clang "-Wall". Examples of a "safe" language mode include JavaScript "use strict" and perl5's "use warnings". A separate "linter" tool is simply a tool that examines the source code to look for code quality errors or common simple mistakes. These are typically enabled within the source code or build instructions.

    The project utilizes two primary static analysis tools: TypeScript Compiler (tsc): Configured in strict compilation mode (tsconfig.json) to enforce type safety and catch logical errors. ESLint: Enabled with Next.js rules (eslint.config.mjs) to scan the codebase for styling inconsistencies, unused imports, and common JavaScript/React bugs.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST address warnings. [warnings_fixed]
    These are the warnings identified by the implementation of the warnings criterion. The project should fix warnings or mark them in the source code as false positives. Ideally there would be no warnings, but a project MAY accept some warnings (typically less than 1 warning per 100 lines or less than 10 warnings).

    All warnings and errors generated by ESLint or the TypeScript compiler must be resolved. The project configuration treats compiler warnings as errors during build runs, and the automated CI pipeline will reject any pull requests containing linting issues or compilation flags.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that projects be maximally strict with warnings in the software produced by the project, where practical. [warnings_strict]
    Some warnings cannot be effectively enabled on some projects. What is needed is evidence that the project is striving to enable warning flags where it can, so that errors are detected early.

    The project is configured with maximum strictness: TypeScript strict-mode flags are fully enabled, eslint rules are strictly enforced without permissive overrides, and Next.js is configured to fail the production build run if any linter warnings are present.


 Security 16/16 ●

  • Secure development knowledge


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have at least one primary developer who knows how to design secure software. (See ‘details’ for the exact requirements.) [know_secure_design]
    This requires understanding the following design principles, including the 8 principles from Saltzer and Schroeder:
    • economy of mechanism (keep the design as simple and small as practical, e.g., by adopting sweeping simplifications)
    • fail-safe defaults (access decisions should deny by default, and projects' installation should be secure by default)
    • complete mediation (every access that might be limited must be checked for authority and be non-bypassable)
    • open design (security mechanisms should not depend on attacker ignorance of its design, but instead on more easily protected and changed information like keys and passwords)
    • separation of privilege (ideally, access to important objects should depend on more than one condition, so that defeating one protection system won't enable complete access. E.G., multi-factor authentication, such as requiring both a password and a hardware token, is stronger than single-factor authentication)
    • least privilege (processes should operate with the least privilege necessary)
    • least common mechanism (the design should minimize the mechanisms common to more than one user and depended on by all users, e.g., directories for temporary files)
    • psychological acceptability (the human interface must be designed for ease of use - designing for "least astonishment" can help)
    • limited attack surface (the attack surface - the set of the different points where an attacker can try to enter or extract data - should be limited)
    • input validation with allowlists (inputs should typically be checked to determine if they are valid before they are accepted; this validation should use allowlists (which only accept known-good values), not denylists (which attempt to list known-bad values)).
    A "primary developer" in a project is anyone who is familiar with the project's code base, is comfortable making changes to it, and is acknowledged as such by most other participants in the project. A primary developer would typically make a number of contributions over the past year (via code, documentation, or answering questions). Developers would typically be considered primary developers if they initiated the project (and have not left the project more than three years ago), have the option of receiving information on a private vulnerability reporting channel (if there is one), can accept commits on behalf of the project, or perform final releases of the project software. If there is only one developer, that individual is the primary developer. Many books and courses are available to help you understand how to develop more secure software and discuss design. For example, the Secure Software Development Fundamentals course is a free set of three courses that explain how to develop more secure software (it's free if you audit it; for an extra fee you can earn a certificate to prove you learned the material).

    The primary developers are trained in secure software design principles. This is reflected in PolicyWatcher's architecture: all database interactions utilize parameterized queries, the Content-Security-Policy (CSP) headers block inline scripts, API routes have rate limiters to prevent exhaustion attacks, and the scraper pipeline restricts egress connections to prevent intranet scanning.


    Enough for a badge!

    At least one of the project's primary developers MUST know of common kinds of errors that lead to vulnerabilities in this kind of software, as well as at least one method to counter or mitigate each of them. [know_common_errors]
    Examples (depending on the type of software) include SQL injection, OS injection, classic buffer overflow, cross-site scripting, missing authentication, and missing authorization. See the CWE/SANS top 25 or OWASP Top 10 for commonly used lists. Many books and courses are available to help you understand how to develop more secure software and discuss common implementation errors that lead to vulnerabilities. For example, the Secure Software Development Fundamentals course is a free set of three courses that explain how to develop more secure software (it's free if you audit it; for an extra fee you can earn a certificate to prove you learned the material).

    Developers are familiar with the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. To counter common errors: SQL Injection: Mitigated by using Prisma ORM parameterization. SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery): Prevented by checking targets against database policy records rather than resolving untrusted user input, alongside egress IP checking. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Blocked via Next.js React automatic escaping and strict HTTP headers.


  • Use basic good cryptographic practices

    Note that some software does not need to use cryptographic mechanisms. If your project produces software that (1) includes, activates, or enables encryption functionality, and (2) might be released from the United States (US) to outside the US or to a non-US-citizen, you may be legally required to take a few extra steps. Typically this just involves sending an email. For more information, see the encryption section of Understanding Open Source Technology & US Export Controls.

    Enough for a badge!

    The software produced by the project MUST use, by default, only cryptographic protocols and algorithms that are publicly published and reviewed by experts (if cryptographic protocols and algorithms are used). [crypto_published]
    These cryptographic criteria do not always apply because some software has no need to directly use cryptographic capabilities.

    The application only uses standard, peer-reviewed cryptographic algorithms: SHA-256 for document hashing, HMAC-SHA256 for API webhook validation signatures, and standard scrypt/bcrypt stretching algorithms for password security.


    Enough for a badge!

    If the software produced by the project is an application or library, and its primary purpose is not to implement cryptography, then it SHOULD only call on software specifically designed to implement cryptographic functions; it SHOULD NOT re-implement its own. [crypto_call]

    PolicyWatcher does not implement any custom cryptographic routines. It delegates all hashing, encryption, and key generation to Node.js's built-in crypto library module and standard JWT packages.


    Enough for a badge!

    All functionality in the software produced by the project that depends on cryptography MUST be implementable using FLOSS. [crypto_floss]
    See the Open Standards Requirement for Software by the Open Source Initiative.

    All cryptographic functions utilized by PolicyWatcher are fully implemented using Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) libraries (such as the standard Node.js crypto runtime). No proprietary cryptography software is required


    Enough for a badge!

    The security mechanisms within the software produced by the project MUST use default keylengths that at least meet the NIST minimum requirements through the year 2030 (as stated in 2012). It MUST be possible to configure the software so that smaller keylengths are completely disabled. [crypto_keylength]
    These minimum bitlengths are: symmetric key 112, factoring modulus 2048, discrete logarithm key 224, discrete logarithmic group 2048, elliptic curve 224, and hash 224 (password hashing is not covered by this bitlength, more information on password hashing can be found in the crypto_password_storage criterion). See https://www.keylength.com for a comparison of keylength recommendations from various organizations. The software MAY allow smaller keylengths in some configurations (ideally it would not, since this allows downgrade attacks, but shorter keylengths are sometimes necessary for interoperability).

    The security mechanisms use keys that meet NIST guidelines (SHA-256 for integrity, minimum 256-bit keys for HMAC-SHA256 signatures). Weak key sizes are completely disabled at the platform and Node.js runtime layers.


    Enough for a badge!

    The default security mechanisms within the software produced by the project MUST NOT depend on broken cryptographic algorithms (e.g., MD4, MD5, single DES, RC4, Dual_EC_DRBG), or use cipher modes that are inappropriate to the context, unless they are necessary to implement an interoperable protocol (where the protocol implemented is the most recent version of that standard broadly supported by the network ecosystem, that ecosystem requires the use of such an algorithm or mode, and that ecosystem does not offer any more secure alternative). The documentation MUST describe any relevant security risks and any known mitigations if these broken algorithms or modes are necessary for an interoperable protocol. [crypto_working]
    ECB mode is almost never appropriate because it reveals identical blocks within the ciphertext as demonstrated by the ECB penguin, and CTR mode is often inappropriate because it does not perform authentication and causes duplicates if the input state is repeated. In many cases it's best to choose a block cipher algorithm mode designed to combine secrecy and authentication, e.g., Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) and EAX. Projects MAY allow users to enable broken mechanisms (e.g., during configuration) where necessary for compatibility, but then users know they're doing it.

    The default security mechanisms do not depend on broken cryptographic algorithms (such as MD5, MD4, single DES, or RC4). All security and checksum workflows rely on SHA-256 or HMAC-SHA256.


    Enough for a badge!

    The default security mechanisms within the software produced by the project SHOULD NOT depend on cryptographic algorithms or modes with known serious weaknesses (e.g., the SHA-1 cryptographic hash algorithm or the CBC mode in SSH). [crypto_weaknesses]
    Concerns about CBC mode in SSH are discussed in CERT: SSH CBC vulnerability.

    The project does not use cryptographic algorithms or cipher modes with serious weaknesses (e.g. SHA-1 or CBC modes). It utilizes SHA-256 and authenticated encryption GCM modes where necessary.


    Enough for a badge!

    The security mechanisms within the software produced by the project SHOULD implement perfect forward secrecy for key agreement protocols so a session key derived from a set of long-term keys cannot be compromised if one of the long-term keys is compromised in the future. [crypto_pfs]

    The application does not implement custom key agreement or session-negotiation protocols. Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) is handled at the transport layer (TLS 1.2 / TLS 1.3) on the hosting server/VPS.


    Enough for a badge!

    If the software produced by the project causes the storing of passwords for authentication of external users, the passwords MUST be stored as iterated hashes with a per-user salt by using a key stretching (iterated) algorithm (e.g., Argon2id, Bcrypt, Scrypt, or PBKDF2). See also OWASP Password Storage Cheat Sheet. [crypto_password_storage]
    This criterion applies only when the software is enforcing authentication of users using passwords for external users (aka inbound authentication), such as server-side web applications. It does not apply in cases where the software stores passwords for authenticating into other systems (aka outbound authentication, e.g., the software implements a client for some other system), since at least parts of that software must have often access to the unhashed password.

    Admin password hashes are generated and validated using Node.js's standard scrypt hashing implementation (which stretches passwords with unique salts to protect against dictionary and precomputed rainbow-table attacks).


    Enough for a badge!

    The security mechanisms within the software produced by the project MUST generate all cryptographic keys and nonces using a cryptographically secure random number generator, and MUST NOT do so using generators that are cryptographically insecure. [crypto_random]
    A cryptographically secure random number generator may be a hardware random number generator, or it may be a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator (CSPRNG) using an algorithm such as Hash_DRBG, HMAC_DRBG, CTR_DRBG, Yarrow, or Fortuna. Examples of calls to secure random number generators include Java's java.security.SecureRandom and JavaScript's window.crypto.getRandomValues. Examples of calls to insecure random number generators include Java's java.util.Random and JavaScript's Math.random.

    All cryptographic keys, API webhook secrets, verification tokens, and session nonces are generated using the Cryptographically Secure Pseudo-Random Number Generator (CSPRNG) in Node.js (crypto.randomBytes or crypto.randomUUID).


  • Secured delivery against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST use a delivery mechanism that counters MITM attacks. Using https or ssh+scp is acceptable. [delivery_mitm]
    An even stronger mechanism is releasing the software with digitally signed packages, since that mitigates attacks on the distribution system, but this only works if the users can be confident that the public keys for signatures are correct and if the users will actually check the signature.

    The software is distributed exclusively over HTTPS and SSH via GitHub. Deployed environments are configured to serve pages and APIs strictly over HTTPS with HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) enabled.


    Enough for a badge!

    A cryptographic hash (e.g., a sha1sum) MUST NOT be retrieved over http and used without checking for a cryptographic signature. [delivery_unsigned]
    These hashes can be modified in transit.

    No executable binaries, updates, or code packages are fetched over insecure channels (HTTP). All external Node module dependencies are retrieved via npm over HTTPS and verified against cryptographic hashes in package-lock.json.


  • Publicly known vulnerabilities fixed


    Enough for a badge!

    There MUST be no unpatched vulnerabilities of medium or higher severity that have been publicly known for more than 60 days. [vulnerabilities_fixed_60_days]
    The vulnerability must be patched and released by the project itself (patches may be developed elsewhere). A vulnerability becomes publicly known (for this purpose) once it has a CVE with publicly released non-paywalled information (reported, for example, in the National Vulnerability Database) or when the project has been informed and the information has been released to the public (possibly by the project). A vulnerability is considered medium or higher severity if its Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base qualitative score is medium or higher. In CVSS versions 2.0 through 3.1, this is equivalent to a CVSS score of 4.0 or higher. Projects may use the CVSS score as published in a widely-used vulnerability database (such as the National Vulnerability Database) using the most-recent version of CVSS reported in that database. Projects may instead calculate the severity themselves using the latest version of CVSS at the time of the vulnerability disclosure, if the calculation inputs are publicly revealed once the vulnerability is publicly known. Note: this means that users might be left vulnerable to all attackers worldwide for up to 60 days. This criterion is often much easier to meet than what Google recommends in Rebooting responsible disclosure, because Google recommends that the 60-day period start when the project is notified even if the report is not public. Also note that this badge criterion, like other criteria, applies to the individual project. Some projects are part of larger umbrella organizations or larger projects, possibly in multiple layers, and many projects feed their results to other organizations and projects as part of a potentially-complex supply chain. An individual project often cannot control the rest, but an individual project can work to release a vulnerability patch in a timely way. Therefore, we focus solely on the individual project's response time. Once a patch is available from the individual project, others can determine how to deal with the patch (e.g., they can update to the newer version or they can apply just the patch as a cherry-picked solution).

    The project contains no unpatched vulnerabilities. Dependency vulnerability scans (GitHub Dependabot, CodeQL alerts) run on every check-in, and flagged third-party library patches are integrated immediately.


    Enough for a badge!

    Projects SHOULD fix all critical vulnerabilities rapidly after they are reported. [vulnerabilities_critical_fixed]

    The project commits to triaging and patching any critical vulnerability reported to security@policywatcher.online or flagged by automated CI reports rapidly, typically within 24 to 72 hours of disclosure.


  • Other security issues


    Enough for a badge!

    The public repositories MUST NOT leak a valid private credential (e.g., a working password or private key) that is intended to limit public access. [no_leaked_credentials]
    A project MAY leak "sample" credentials for testing and unimportant databases, as long as they are not intended to limit public access.

    The repository is continuously audited to prevent credential leaks. Active keys and passwords are excluded via .gitignore rules, and only public config templates (.env.example) are checked into Git. Secrets are passed dynamically via environment variables.


 Analysis 8/8 ●

  • Static code analysis


    Enough for a badge!

    At least one static code analysis tool (beyond compiler warnings and "safe" language modes) MUST be applied to any proposed major production release of the software before its release, if there is at least one FLOSS tool that implements this criterion in the selected language. [static_analysis]
    A static code analysis tool examines the software code (as source code, intermediate code, or executable) without executing it with specific inputs. For purposes of this criterion, compiler warnings and "safe" language modes do not count as static code analysis tools (these typically avoid deep analysis because speed is vital). Some static analysis tools focus on detecting generic defects, others focus on finding specific kinds of defects (such as vulnerabilities), and some do a combination. Examples of such static code analysis tools include cppcheck (C, C++), clang static analyzer (C, C++), SpotBugs (Java), FindBugs (Java) (including FindSecurityBugs), PMD (Java), Brakeman (Ruby on Rails), lintr (R), goodpractice (R), Coverity Quality Analyzer, SonarQube, Codacy, and HP Enterprise Fortify Static Code Analyzer. Larger lists of tools can be found in places such as the Wikipedia list of tools for static code analysis, OWASP information on static code analysis, NIST list of source code security analyzers, and Wheeler's list of static analysis tools. If there are no FLOSS static analysis tools available for the implementation language(s) used, you may select 'N/A'.

    PolicyWatcher implements two primary static analysis tools on the codebase: ESLint: Standard linter checking coding style, rules, and syntax errors. CodeQL: GitHub’s advanced semantic static analysis suite which scans code logic flows before major releases. SonarQube Cloud configurations are also integrated.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that at least one of the static analysis tools used for the static_analysis criterion include rules or approaches to look for common vulnerabilities in the analyzed language or environment. [static_analysis_common_vulnerabilities]
    Static analysis tools that are specifically designed to look for common vulnerabilities are more likely to find them. That said, using any static tools will typically help find some problems, so we are suggesting but not requiring this for the 'passing' level badge.

    The CodeQL static analysis tool is configured with the standard security-and-quality suite for JavaScript/TypeScript. This includes specific rules designed to identify common software vulnerabilities (such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), and path traversal).


    Enough for a badge!

    All medium and higher severity exploitable vulnerabilities discovered with static code analysis MUST be fixed in a timely way after they are confirmed. [static_analysis_fixed]
    A vulnerability is considered medium or higher severity if its Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base qualitative score is medium or higher. In CVSS versions 2.0 through 3.1, this is equivalent to a CVSS score of 4.0 or higher. Projects may use the CVSS score as published in a widely-used vulnerability database (such as the National Vulnerability Database) using the most-recent version of CVSS reported in that database. Projects may instead calculate the severity themselves using the latest version of CVSS at the time of the vulnerability disclosure, if the calculation inputs are publicly revealed once the vulnerability is publicly known. Note that criterion vulnerabilities_fixed_60_days requires that all such vulnerabilities be fixed within 60 days of being made public.

    Any medium, high, or critical severity vulnerabilities flagged by CodeQL or static linter runs are triaged immediately by the maintainers. They must be resolved and patched before the code changes can be merged into the main branch.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that static source code analysis occur on every commit or at least daily. [static_analysis_often]

    Static code analysis is integrated directly into the CI pipeline. ESLint and CodeQL scans execute automatically on every commit and on every pull request submitted to the GitHub repository, far exceeding the daily scan suggestion.


  • Dynamic code analysis


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that at least one dynamic analysis tool be applied to any proposed major production release of the software before its release. [dynamic_analysis]
    A dynamic analysis tool examines the software by executing it with specific inputs. For example, the project MAY use a fuzzing tool (e.g., American Fuzzy Lop) or a web application scanner (e.g., OWASP ZAP or w3af). In some cases the OSS-Fuzz project may be willing to apply fuzz testing to your project. For purposes of this criterion the dynamic analysis tool needs to vary the inputs in some way to look for various kinds of problems or be an automated test suite with at least 80% branch coverage. The Wikipedia page on dynamic analysis and the OWASP page on fuzzing identify some dynamic analysis tools. The analysis tool(s) MAY be focused on looking for security vulnerabilities, but this is not required.

    Dynamic testing is handled by executing the Vitest test runner to test runtime business logic. Additionally, the live deployed application undergoes regular dynamic web application scanning using tools like the MDN HTTP Observatory and SecurityHeaders.com to analyze runtime HTTP response headers, redirection paths, and security headers.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that if the software produced by the project includes software written using a memory-unsafe language (e.g., C or C++), then at least one dynamic tool (e.g., a fuzzer or web application scanner) be routinely used in combination with a mechanism to detect memory safety problems such as buffer overwrites. If the project does not produce software written in a memory-unsafe language, choose "not applicable" (N/A). [dynamic_analysis_unsafe]
    Examples of mechanisms to detect memory safety problems include Address Sanitizer (ASAN) (available in GCC and LLVM), Memory Sanitizer, and valgrind. Other potentially-used tools include thread sanitizer and undefined behavior sanitizer. Widespread assertions would also work.

    PolicyWatcher is written entirely in TypeScript and JavaScript (which run inside the managed, memory-safe Node.js/V8 environment). The project contains no code written in C, C++, or other memory-unsafe languages.


    Enough for a badge!

    It is SUGGESTED that the project use a configuration for at least some dynamic analysis (such as testing or fuzzing) which enables many assertions. In many cases these assertions should not be enabled in production builds. [dynamic_analysis_enable_assertions]
    This criterion does not suggest enabling assertions during production; that is entirely up to the project and its users to decide. This criterion's focus is instead to improve fault detection during dynamic analysis before deployment. Enabling assertions in production use is completely different from enabling assertions during dynamic analysis (such as testing). In some cases enabling assertions in production use is extremely unwise (especially in high-integrity components). There are many arguments against enabling assertions in production, e.g., libraries should not crash callers, their presence may cause rejection by app stores, and/or activating an assertion in production may expose private data such as private keys. Beware that in many Linux distributions NDEBUG is not defined, so C/C++ assert() will by default be enabled for production in those environments. It may be important to use a different assertion mechanism or defining NDEBUG for production in those environments.

    The project’s test suite uses extensive assertions via Vitest (expect() statements) that run in development and test environments. Additionally, Prisma schema runtime validations and TypeScript strict checks acts as assertions during local runtime execution, while being optimized and stripped in the compiled production build.


    Enough for a badge!

    All medium and higher severity exploitable vulnerabilities discovered with dynamic code analysis MUST be fixed in a timely way after they are confirmed. [dynamic_analysis_fixed]
    If you are not running dynamic code analysis and thus have not found any vulnerabilities in this way, choose "not applicable" (N/A). A vulnerability is considered medium or higher severity if its Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base qualitative score is medium or higher. In CVSS versions 2.0 through 3.1, this is equivalent to a CVSS score of 4.0 or higher. Projects may use the CVSS score as published in a widely-used vulnerability database (such as the National Vulnerability Database) using the most-recent version of CVSS reported in that database. Projects may instead calculate the severity themselves using the latest version of CVSS at the time of the vulnerability disclosure, if the calculation inputs are publicly revealed once the vulnerability is publicly known.


This data is available under the Community Data License Agreement – Permissive, Version 2.0 (CDLA-Permissive-2.0). This means that a Data Recipient may share the Data, with or without modifications, so long as the Data Recipient makes available the text of this agreement with the shared Data. Please credit Fabrizio Degni and the OpenSSF Best Practices badge contributors.

Project badge entry owned by: Fabrizio Degni.
Entry created on 2026-07-02 07:51:54 UTC, last updated on 2026-07-02 08:42:18 UTC. Last achieved passing badge on 2026-07-02 08:42:18 UTC.