Welcome to
Open-Source Civics.
A nonpartisan guide to the people, groups, processes and ideas that are already doing the work — and a civic assistant that points you to exactly the right one.
Our Mission
The Work is Ours.
Civic life isn't something that happens to you. It's something you build, alongside your neighbors, one small act at a time.
Why we exist
Most people aren't apathetic about democracy — they're exhausted by it. The process feels opaque, the information is fragmented, and the loudest voices are rarely the most useful ones. Our Civic Duty exists to lower the cost of participation: to make it easier to find the right trustworthy resource and act on it, without an account, an algorithm, or an agenda in the way.
Strictly nonpartisan
We do not endorse candidates, parties, or political positions. We do not rank campaigns. We do not run ads. Every external resource we link to — Vote411, Ballotpedia, the League of Women Voters, 5 Calls, ResistBot, Power the Polls, TurboVote, Vote.gov — is itself a vetted nonpartisan civic resource. If you ever find content on this platform that crosses that line, please tell us.
How it works
- The Open Orgs directory — a curated, categorized collection of the nonpartisan organizations already doing the work: voter registration, money-in-politics watchdogs, government transparency tools, and more. Every card links straight to the source.
- Learn Our Civics— free, plain-language OpenStax textbooks browsable by chapter and topic; a Civics Glossary of civic-action vocabulary, where every term comes with a "Citizen Leverage" note on how to actually use it; and a Field Guide of step-by-step Action Sets for taking real civic action.
- The civic assistant— a chat that doesn't lecture you. Ask a question and it points you to the single best resource for it — the right organization, the right chapter of a free civics textbook, or the right local government record — with a quick note on why it fits. It's an automated directory, not another conversation chat.
- The Local Wiki— official, verified county government records (meeting times, contacts, where records requests go) rolling out state by state, starting in Texas. Everywhere else, real users can add and edit local civics pages, with full revision history and a way to flag what's disputed.
Anonymous, on purpose
There's no founder bio on this page, and that's deliberate, not evasive. An anonymous author can't be accused of building a personal brand or angle here — there's no name to read a bias into. It's the same logic as strictly nonpartisan, carried one step further: the tool shouldn't need you to trust a person in order to trust the work.
That doesn't mean no one's accountable — it means accountability runs through the work instead of a name. The Local Wiki's full revision history is public for exactly this reason, and every source this platform points to is linked, not just asserted.
One more honest note: "Open-Source Civics" isn't a license claim — the code isn't public yet. It describes how the civics itself is handled: public sources, visible edits, nothing decided behind a closed door. If that changes, you'll read it here first.
— The Steward Clerk
Get in touch
Questions, corrections, partnership ideas, or feedback? Email ourcivicduty.app@gmail.com or browse the Open Orgs directory.