ProjectsFrom

ProjectsFrom, often written as projectsfrom, is a conceptual framework and lightweight data model used to describe the relationships among related projects within collaborative environments. It focuses on provenance, derivation, and the organization of project sets that originate from a common source.

The core idea is to record how a project began, where it originated, and how subsequent projects relate to it. This includes links to source projects, and references to derivatives, forks, variants, or merged versions. By capturing these relationships, projectsfrom aims to improve traceability, asset reuse, and coordination across teams and repositories.

A typical projectsfrom model includes elements such as a unique identifier, title, origin source, and a set of relationship fields (for example, derivedFrom, forks, variantOf, mergedInto). Additional metadata may cover authors, creation dates, licenses, contributors, and status. The model is designed to be interoperable with common data interchange formats like JSON or YAML and can be embedded in project management tools as metadata to support governance and auditing.

Applications of projectsfrom span software development, research programs, and multi-team initiatives where understanding lineage and dependencies is important. It is often used to map a main project to its subprojects, forks, and variants, aiding decision-making around reuse, licensing, and resource allocation.

History and status: projectsfrom arose from discussions in open-source governance and provenance communities as a practical approach to manage project lineage. It is not a formal universal standard, but it has been adopted in some tools and workflows as a complementary model for project organization.