Systemson the bench
1
A self-governed, high-performance distributed log, built in C++.
layer 04
Run it
layer 03
Shard per core
layer 02
Replication
github.com/Kwaque-org/Kwaque
in progress
The log
open to everyonea student community at USAR · GGSIPU, Delhi
UFC, the USAR FOSS Club: Open Source,Open
We read code, break it, fix it and give it back. UFC is where curious students become contributors — in public, together, and with nobody asking permission.
all branches welcome
Open to software people, designers, hardware hackers, roboticists, ML tinkerers, writers, organisers, first-timers, everyone. fork it, read the source, open a pull request, review kindly, ship in public, learn out loud, git gud, break things together, merge small, merge often, leave it better.
§ 01 — the premise
Free software isn't freeas in beer. It's freeas in freedom. Four of them.
The Free Software Foundation counts them from zero, the way a programmer would. At UFC each one turns into something you can actually do: show up, take things apart, share what you learn, and send a fix. Scroll down to see how.
0
The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
at ufcEveryone is welcome: any year, any branch, any stack. All we ask for is community awareness. If you want to contribute seriously and work for the people around you, you’re in.
- open door
- all branches
- zero gatekeeping
any year · any branch · any stack
1
The freedom to study how it works, and change it.
at ufcGit Gud and the Open Community Chintans open up the tools you use every day. You see how they’re built and how the people who maintain them think.
- workshops
- read the source
- ask why
// you use all of this every day.
$ git clone --depth 1 <anything>
$ grep -r "how does this work" ./src
→ 1,204 matches. start reading.
read the source
2
The freedom to redistribute copies, to help your neighbour.
at ufcMaintainers and GSoC alumni talk to the whole community, not a lucky few. The link goes out on WhatsApp and anyone can walk in.
- open talks
- mentors
- pass it on
talks are open to everyone, links drop on WhatsApp
pass it on
3
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements.
at ufcAt FOSS Forge you go from reading code to getting it merged. Git Clash and the repo sprints give you real issues and real pull requests, all in public.
- git clash
- repo sprint
- merged PRs
club/culture.ts
- while (gatekeeping) {
+ while (contributing) {
mergeKindly();
}
✓ merged into main
§ 02 — the bazaar
Open source wasnever one kindof person.
The idea is simple: if you can see how something works, you can fix it — and if you can fix it, you can share the fix. That turns software into a commons: built by strangers, for strangers.
Eric Raymond called the closed way the cathedral — a few people, behind doors. The open way is the bazaar: everybody turns up, argues, trades and ships.
And look who turned up first. The compiler, the code that flew Apollo, the very first program — none of it came from one type of person. A club that wants to do open source honestly can't be one type of club.
cathedral
few hands, closed doors
bazaar
everyone, in the open
n. · open source
Code anyone can see, use, change and share.
…which quietly means anyone can show up, too.
free as in freedom
software was always a team sport
the philosophy, on sticky notes
Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.The more people who can read the code, the faster someone spots the mistake that everyone else walked past. That's why we review each other's pull requests — kindly, and in the open.— “Linus's law”, via Eric S. Raymond
Talk is cheap. Show me the code.Ideas are welcome, but the work is what moves a project. Opening a small, imperfect pull request beats planning a perfect one for a month — you'll learn more, and someone can help you finish it.— Linus Torvalds
Release early, release often.Don't wait until it's flawless. Ship the rough version, let real people poke at it, and fix what they find. Every great open-source project started as an embarrassing first commit.— The Cathedral & the Bazaar
Docs, design and doodles are contributions too.A clearer README, a cleaner logo, a translated guide, a bug report with screenshots, a welcoming reply to a newcomer: none of these need a line of code, and projects live or die on them.
§ 03 — the big tent
Software people.Designers.Hardware hackers.You.
Here's the gap. Most open source only asks for code, so everyone else quietly assumes it isn't for them. We'd like to close that. Pick what describes you — we'll show you where you fit.
I'm someone who…
for
Designers
Most projects look the way they do because no designer ever walked in.
you could
- ✦Logos, posters and brand systems
- ✦UX audits and redesigns of real screens
- ✦Icons, illustrations and accessible colour
tools you'll meet
- Inkscape
- GIMP
- Krita
- Penpot
- Blender
first contribution → Redesign one screen of this very website.
What we promise in return
01
Not just code
Work is framed so a designer, a writer or a hardware person always has a place to start.
02
Ask anything
No question is too basic. The chat exists for exactly those.
03
Be kind
Assume good faith. Review the work, never the person.
§ 04 — the log
Our history is a git log.
0000001tag: day-zero· init
Genesis — initial commit
The founding orientation. A room of curious builders and a whiteboard of ideas.
- orientation
- founding
6179f0d· workshop
Git Gud
Commits, branches and the first pull request — version control from scratch, hands on.
- git
- github
- first PR
f055f09· flagship
FOSS Forge 2025
Two days of Git Clash, the Pokémon YAML Showdown and a Repo Sprint, as part of ELYSIAN 2025.
- competition
- git clash
- repo sprint
a1e7a1c· hackathon
Build with TRAE
TRAE and MiniMax in New Delhi: AI-native coding, then a mini hackathon to try it for real.
- AI
- TRAE
- hackathon
9d1ce5a· branch talks
Open threat models
Open Community Chintan #01 — the creator of Precogly on threat modeling, and how to contribute to it.
- security
- Precogly
- online
c0ffee3HEAD → talks· branch talks
All roads lead to open source
Open Community Chintan #02 — Jigyasu Rajput on GSoC, remote work and doing it all from a Tier-3 college.
- GSoC
- careers
- online
keep scrolling →
2025 → 2026
§ 05 — the core leads
The humans behind the
The students who keep this community alive.
the wall
HELLO
my name is
Siddharth
President 1.0
“The One Piece… THE ONE PIECE IS REAL!!”
HELLO
my name is
Vikram
President 2.0
“Mera khel khatam hai.”
HELLO
my name is
Harsh
Tech Lead
“Believes every problem can be solved with one more npm install.”
HELLO
my name is
Moksh
Oldie
“Trained a model to predict his wake-up time. Accuracy: 0%.”
HELLO
my name is
Mridul
Tech Lead
“Pushed to main at 3 a.m. and called it “a small fix”.”
HELLO
my name is
Aayush
Tech Lead
“Spotted travelling through dimensions. Pull request still pending.”
HELLO
my name is
Shifali
Non-Tech Lead
“Runs on chai, spreadsheets and zero tolerance for missed deadlines.”
HELLO
my name is
Sujal
Non-Tech Lead
“Main character of every landscape photo. The waterfall is just a prop.”
HELLO
my name is
Abhi
Operations Lead
“Plans events like a pro. Trusts the projector like an amateur.”
HELLO
my name is
Piyush
Oldie
“sudhar gye toh sher kaun bolega”
HELLO
my name is
Dhruv
Oldie
“Merged on a Friday. Zero regrets, several incidents.”
HELLO
my name is
Pranshu
Oldie
“Retired, but the cat memes never will.”
HELLO
my name is
Ojaswini
Oldie
“Has seen every bug in this club and still hears “works on my machine”.”
HELLO
my name is
Ananya
Oldie
“Fluent in LGTM, Python and politely savage PR comments.”
HELLO
my name is
Manandeep
Oldie
“Went to touch grass in 2024. Grass is still loading.”
HELLO
my name is
Avish
Oldie
“Still waiting on the intern stipend. Buffering since forever.”
HELLO
my name is
Meyank
Operations Lead
“Keeps the whole club organised. Cannot explain his own desktop.”
HELLO
my name is
Harshit
Tech Lead
““I dont care.” (He cares deeply. About everything.)”
HELLO
my name is
Gursimar
Oldie
“Now ships code at Zomato. The delivery is always on time.”
WANTED
you.
contributors of every kind
reward: your name in git blame
psst, we accept pull requests for this wall, too. github ↗
now hiring: you
§ 06 — the workshop
What we've built,in public.
These are the projects the community is proudest of. Each one starts pulled apart into its layers. Scroll to put it back together.
Dev toolslive
2
Modular full-stack features you install, own, and customize.
sedim-web.vercel.app/docs
Docs
sedim-web.vercel.app
The stamp model
sedim-web.vercel.app
In the terminal
sedim-web.vercel.app
live
Landing page
Project 1 of 6: Kwaque
filed away, not forgotten
And 29 more from the same batch.
The first Project Bootcamp produced 32 projects in all. These are a few of the ones waiting in the archive.
AI and ML
Machine Learning, from scratch
by Moksh
Everything else
NESt
by Manandeep
Games
Snake Game
by Aayush
Web
Quik Type
by Dhruv
Web
Connect Four Online
by Shashank
Web
Collaborative Whiteboard
by Bhavya
Everything else
Cutesy Room
by Ananya
Web
My Metro Mates
by Bhuwan
Web
Whizper
by Mridul
AI and ML
Market-ov
by Moksh
§ 07 — the zoo
The open-source
Every project that lasts grows a mascot. Here are a few we love — they're all licensed for sharing, and they're all throwable.
§ 08 — the invitation
Your first pullrequest starts here.
- 1
Say hello
Join the community chat. Event links and first-timer help land there.
- 2
Read this site
It's open source too. Clone it, run it, find something small to fix.
- 3
Open your first PR
A typo counts. We'll review it kindly and show you how to land it.
$git clone https://github.com/USAR-FOSS/ufc_website
Already in? Sign in with GitHub to see your dashboard and the leaderboard.
JOIN
UFC
open source, open minds.
- ✦ any year · any branch
- ✦ coders, designers, hardware, words
- ✦ bring curiosity. that's it.
tear one off