WhitePact

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 baseline badge status on your project page! The baseline badge status looks like this: Baseline badge level for project 14112 is baseline-1 Here is how to embed the baseline badge:
You can show your baseline badge status by embedding this in your markdown file:
[![OpenSSF Baseline](https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/14112/baseline)](https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/14112)
or by embedding this in your HTML:
<a href="https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/14112"><img src="https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/14112/baseline"></a>


These are the Baseline Level 2 criteria. These are criteria version v2026.08.28.

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

        

 Basics

  • General

    Note that other projects may use the same name.

    WhitePact is an open-source runtime authority, governance, and assurance layer for autonomous systems. It provides deterministic five-way authorization decisions (ALLOW, ALLOW_WITH_REDACTION, REQUIRE_APPROVAL, DENY, QUARANTINE), policy and risk enforcement, human approval workflows, tamper-evident evidence, MCP governance, trust controls, guardrails, and enterprise integration tooling.

    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.

 Controls 18/19 ●

  • Controls


    Not enough for a badge.

    When a CI/CD task is executed with no permissions specified, the CI/CD system MUST default the task's permissions to the lowest permissions granted in the pipeline. [OSPS-AC-04.01]
    Configure the project's settings to assign the lowest available permissions to new pipelines by default, granting additional permissions only when necessary for specific tasks.

    STATUS: UNMET
    EVIDENCE: The official current-main OpenSSF Scorecard assessment at commit 9dcdc1bebe0ad856bd399dc627d17c35a2cc5828 reports Token-Permissions 0 and identifies a workflow without top-level default permissions.
    JUSTIFICATION: PR #52 adds least-privilege defaults, but it is still unmerged; branch-only evidence is not represented as current-main compliance.
    URL: https://scorecard.dev/viewer/?uri=github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact


    Enough for a badge!

    When an official release is created, that release MUST be assigned a unique version identifier. [OSPS-BR-02.01]
    Assign a unique version identifier to each release produced by the project, following a consistent naming convention or numbering scheme. Examples include SemVer, CalVer, or git commit id.

    Each WhitePact release uses a unique version identifier. The project version is maintained in pyproject.toml and released versions use distinct semantic version numbers such as v1.0.0, v1.1.0, v1.2.0, v1.2.1, and v1.2.2.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/releases [version_unique]


    Enough for a badge!

    When an official release is created, that release MUST contain a descriptive log of functional and security modifications. [OSPS-BR-04.01]
    Ensure that all releases include a descriptive change log. It is recommended to ensure that the change log is human-readable and includes details beyond commit messages, such as descriptions of the security impact or relevance to different use cases. To ensure machine readability, place the content under a markdown header such as "## Changelog".

    Non-trivial release notes file in repository: https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md. [release_notes]


    Enough for a badge!

    When a build and release pipeline ingests dependencies, it MUST use standardized tooling where available. [OSPS-BR-05.01]
    Use a common tooling for your ecosystem, such as package managers or dependency management tools to ingest dependencies at build time. This may include using a dependency file, lock file, or manifest to specify the required dependencies, which are then pulled in by the build system.

    WhitePact declares its external runtime, optional, and development dependencies in the machine-processable pyproject.toml package configuration.

    Dependencies are separated into the core dependency list and named optional groups for dashboard, PostgreSQL, Redis, telemetry, SSO, model providers, billing, testing, and other integrations.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/pyproject.toml [external_dependencies]


    Enough for a badge!

    When an official release is created, that release MUST be signed or accounted for in a signed manifest including each asset's cryptographic hashes. [OSPS-BR-06.01]
    Sign all released software assets at build time with a cryptographic signature or attestations, such as GPG or PGP signature, Sigstore signatures, SLSA provenance, or SLSA VSAs. Include the cryptographic hashes of each asset in a signed manifest or metadata file.

    WhitePact cryptographically attests its published wheel and source-distribution artifacts using GitHub Artifact Attestations backed by Sigstore and GitHub Actions OIDC.

    The release workflow creates build-provenance attestations for dist/* before publishing to PyPI and uses PyPI Trusted Publishing, so no long-lived private PyPI or signing key is stored on the public distribution service.

    Every GitHub Release includes verification instructions:

    gh attestation verify <artifact> --owner Guruprasath-Annadurai

    This verifies that the artifact was produced by WhitePact's trusted GitHub Actions workflow from the identified repository and commit.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/.github/workflows/publish.yml [signed_releases]


    Enough for a badge!

    When the project has made a release, the project documentation MUST include a description of how the project selects, obtains, and tracks its dependencies. [OSPS-DO-06.01]
    It is recommended to publish this information alongside the project's technical & design documentation on a publicly viewable resource such as the source code repository, project website, or other channel.

    STATUS: MET
    EVIDENCE: Dependencies are declared and grouped in pyproject.toml; installation and build dependency acquisition use standard Python packaging tooling, and dependency selection/review expectations are documented in CONTRIBUTING.md and docs/CODE_REVIEW.md.
    JUSTIFICATION: The project publicly documents how dependencies are selected, obtained through pip/PyPI-compatible tooling, declared, reviewed, and tracked.
    URL: https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/pyproject.toml https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/docs/CODE_REVIEW.md


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST include instructions on how to build the software, including required libraries, frameworks, SDKs, and dependencies. [OSPS-DO-07.01]
    It is recommended to publish this information alongside the project's contributor documentation, such as in CONTRIBUTING.md or other developer task documentation. This may also be documented using Makefile targets or other automation scripts.

    WhitePact documents a standard development installation using a Python virtual environment and an editable pip installation:

    pip install -e ".[dev]"

    This installs WhitePact together with its development and testing dependencies, including pytest, pytest-cov, Ruff, mypy, and related development tooling.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md [installation_development_quick]


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST include a list of project members with access to sensitive resources. [OSPS-GV-01.01]
    Document project participants and their roles through such artifacts as members.md, governance.md, maintainers.md, or similar file within the source code repository of the project. This may be as simple as including names or account handles in a list of maintainers, or more complex depending on the project's governance.

    STATUS: MET
    EVIDENCE: GOVERNANCE.md publicly lists the sole current project member holding maintainer, security-contact, incident-command, risk-owner, merge, and release authority.
    JUSTIFICATION: WhitePact has one person with access to sensitive project resources and names that person plainly; no additional member or committee is implied.
    URL: https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST include descriptions of the roles and responsibilities for members of the project [OSPS-GV-01.02]
    Document project participants and their roles through such artifacts as members.md, governance.md, maintainers.md, or similar file within the source code repository of the project.

    WhitePact publicly documents the project's current roles and responsibilities in GOVERNANCE.md, including the founder/maintainer, security contact, incident commander, risk owner, merge/release authority, and responsibility for project decisions.

    The document also clearly identifies who currently holds each role rather than implying roles or committees that do not exist.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md [roles_responsibilities]


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST include a guide for code contributors that includes requirements for acceptable contributions. [OSPS-GV-03.02]
    Extend the CONTRIBUTING.md or CONTRIBUTING/ contents in the project documentation to outline the requirements for acceptable contributions, including coding standards, testing requirements, and submission guidelines for code contributors. It is recommended that this guide is the source of truth for both contributors and approvers.

    The contribution requirements are documented in CONTRIBUTING.md, including development setup, testing requirements, pull request guidelines, CI requirements, Ruff formatting/linting, mypy type checking, public-function typing requirements, and security-related engineering principles.https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md [contribution_requirements]


    Enough for a badge!

    The version control system MUST require all code contributors to assert that they are legally authorized to make the associated contributions on every commit. [OSPS-LE-01.01]
    Include a DCO in the project's repository, requiring code contributors to assert that they are legally authorized to commit the associated contributions on every commit. Use a status check to ensure the assertion is made. A CLA also satisfies this requirement. Some version control systems, such as GitHub, may include this in the platform terms of service.

    WhitePact adopts the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) 1.1 for non-trivial contributions. Contributors are required to certify their right to contribute by adding a Signed-off-by trailer to each commit using git commit -s.

    The requirement and contributor instructions are documented in CONTRIBUTING.md, and pull-request commits are automatically checked by CI.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md [dco]


    Enough for a badge!

    When a commit is made to the primary branch, any automated status checks for commits MUST pass or be manually bypassed. [OSPS-QA-03.01]
    Configure the project's version control system to require that all automated status checks pass or require manual acknowledgement before a commit can be merged into the primary branch. It is recommended that any optional status checks are NOT configured as a pass or fail requirement that approvers may be tempted to bypass.

    WhitePact runs its automated test suite through GitHub Actions on every push to main and develop and on pull requests targeting main.

    The CI job installs the project and development dependencies, runs linting and type checking, executes pytest with coverage, and reports success or failure through the GitHub Actions status checks.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci.yml [automated_integration_testing]


    Enough for a badge!

    Prior to a commit being accepted, the project's CI/CD pipelines MUST run at least one automated test suite to ensure the changes meet expectations. [OSPS-QA-06.01]
    Automated tests should be run prior to every merge into the primary branch. The test suite should be run in a CI/CD pipeline and the results should be visible to all contributors. The test suite should be run in a consistent environment and should be run in a way that allows contributors to run the tests locally. Examples of test suites include unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests.

    WhitePact runs its automated test suite through GitHub Actions on every push to main and develop and on pull requests targeting main.

    The CI job installs the project and development dependencies, runs linting and type checking, executes pytest with coverage, and reports success or failure through the GitHub Actions status checks.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci.yml [automated_integration_testing]


    Enough for a badge!

    When the project has made a release, the project documentation MUST include design documentation demonstrating all actions and actors within the system. [OSPS-SA-01.01]
    Include designs in the project documentation that explains the actions and actors. Actors include any subsystem or entity that can influence another segment in the system. Ensure this is updated for new features or breaking changes.

    WhitePact maintains a public architecture specification in SPEC.md describing the system's high-level design, runtime governance pipeline, core entities, identity and authority models, policy and risk evaluation, governance decisions, persistence, evidence, approvals, MCP integration, and implementation boundaries.

    The specification explicitly distinguishes implemented capabilities from target architecture.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/SPEC.md [documentation_architecture]


    Enough for a badge!

    When the project has made a release, the project documentation MUST include descriptions of all external software interfaces of the released software assets. [OSPS-SA-02.01]
    Document all software interfaces (APIs) of the released software assets, explaining how users can interact with the software and what data is expected or produced. Ensure this is updated for new features or breaking changes.

    WhitePact documents its REST API, Python SDK and MCP external interfaces in README.md and its architecture specification. The FastAPI deployment exposes interactive API reference documentation, while MCP tools have structured input/output schemas and documented usage.
    Evidence URLs:
    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/README.md
    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/SPEC.md [documentation_interface]


    Enough for a badge!

    When the project has made a release, the project MUST perform a security assessment to understand the most likely and impactful potential security problems that could occur within the software. [OSPS-SA-03.01]
    Performing a security assessment informs both project members as well as downstream consumers that the project understands what problems could arise within the software. Understanding what threats could be realized helps the project manage and address risk. This information is useful to downstream consumers to demonstrate the security acumen and practices of the project. Ensure this is updated for new features or breaking changes.

    WhitePact cryptographically signs important Git version tags and documents how users can verify those signatures.

    Important release tags are created as annotated cryptographically signed tags using an approved project release-signing identity. The release process verifies that a release tag is annotated, signed, valid, and issued by an approved signer before publication.

    Public verification information is provided so users can independently verify Git tag signatures. This complements, rather than replaces, WhitePact's existing GitHub/Sigstore build-provenance attestations for published release artifacts.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/RELEASING.md [assurance_case]


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST include a policy for coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD), with a clear timeframe for response. [OSPS-VM-01.01]
    Create a SECURITY.md file at the root of the directory, outlining the project's policy for coordinated vulnerability disclosure. Include a method for reporting vulnerabilities. Set expectations for how the project will respond and address reported issues.

    WhitePact publishes its vulnerability reporting and responsible-disclosure process in SECURITY.md, including what information reporters should provide, scope, disclosure expectations, and response commitments.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/SECURITY.md [vulnerability_report_process]


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST provide a means for private vulnerability reporting directly to the security contacts within the project. [OSPS-VM-03.01]
    Provide a means for security researchers to report vulnerabilities privately to the project. This may be a dedicated email address, a web form, VCS specialized tools, email addresses for security contacts, or other methods.

    Private vulnerability reports are supported by email. SECURITY.md instructs researchers not to create a public GitHub issue and instead send vulnerability details directly to the project's designated security contact.

    https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/SECURITY.md [vulnerability_report_private]


    Enough for a badge!

    The project documentation MUST publicly publish data about discovered vulnerabilities. [OSPS-VM-04.01]
    Provide information about known vulnerabilities in a predictable public channel, such as a CVE entry, blog post, or other medium. To the degree possible, this information should include affected version(s), how a consumer can determine if they are vulnerable, and instructions for mitigation or remediation.

    STATUS: MET
    EVIDENCE: The public internal security review records discovered SQL-injection-shaped and SSRF issues, their remediation, and regression tests; release changes are published in CHANGELOG.md.
    JUSTIFICATION: Discovered project vulnerabilities and their disposition are publicly documented without claiming an independent penetration test.
    URL: https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/compliance/INTERNAL_SECURITY_REVIEW.md https://github.com/Guruprasath-Annadurai/Whitepact/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md



You can use tools and AI systems to propose changes via a simple URL, such as https://www.bestpractices.dev/en/projects/14112/choose/edit?osps_ac_01_01_status=Met&osps_ac_01_01_justification=GitHub+enforced. See our automation proposals system for how to do that. 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 Guruprasath Annadurai and the OpenSSF Best Practices badge contributors.

Project badge entry owned by: Guruprasath Annadurai.
Entry created on 2026-08-17 09:21:34 UTC, last updated on 2026-08-29 04:45:45 UTC. Last achieved passing badge on 2026-08-17 11:38:17 UTC.