Open Grant Proposal: RegArchive

# Open Grant Proposal: RegArchive

**Project Name:** RegArchive: Verifiable Public-Document Archives on Filecoin

**Proposal Category:** Developer and data tooling

**Individual or Entity Name:** Daniel Sultan, applying as an individual

**Proposer:** `itsdanielsultan`

**Project Repo(s):** A new public repository will be created after a grant agreement is signed. Prior work showing my ability to ship an open-source public-information product: https://github.com/itsdanielsultan/Daniel-CIRE

**(Optional) Filecoin ecosystem affiliations:** None.

**(Optional) Technical Sponsor:** None.

**Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this proposal under the MIT/Apache-2.0 dual license?** Yes.

Grant-created code, documentation, schemas and fixtures will use the MIT/Apache-2.0 dual licence. Third-party public documents will keep their publishers' licences and will not be relicensed as project work.

# Project Summary

Public rules and guidance are often published as ordinary web pages, PDFs and spreadsheets. A link can keep working while the document behind it changes. Files disappear, URLs move, and a reader has little way to prove which version supported an explanation on a particular date. Small organizations usually handle this with local folders, ad hoc scripts and screenshots.

RegArchive will be an open-source TypeScript tool that turns collections of permitted public documents into versioned, content-addressed archive packages for Filecoin. The command-line tool will fetch or accept a file, require and record its source URL, retrieval time and reuse status, compute a cryptographic hash, pack eligible content and manifests into CAR files, store them through a current Filecoin storage path, and verify later retrieval against the original manifest. A small static viewer will let a person inspect versions, CIDs, Filecoin storage evidence and retrieval checks without learning the command line.

The reference implementation will use verified Open Government-licensed documents and synthetic fixtures. When a document cannot be redistributed, RegArchive will keep no copy. It may record a source link, retrieval time and hash only when the fetch itself is lawful and authorized under the publisher's access terms. The existing InvestmentRegulation.ca course will provide a small integration example using content that I own or am allowed to reuse.

## Impact

Filecoin is designed for durable, content-addressed storage, but many public-interest collections are made of thousands of small files that need to be licensed, described, packed, indexed and tested before they are useful. RegArchive addresses that practical step. It will publish a repeatable path from a folder or URL list to CAR packages, Filecoin storage records and verified retrieval, with clear handling for documents that cannot be redistributed.

The project will give civic-data teams, journalists, researchers and open-education maintainers a working example they can reuse for their own document collections. Success means that another maintainer can install the tool, package a licensed collection, retrieve a stored version and verify it locally without relying on my server. The Filecoin ecosystem gains an open small-document onboarding workflow, a public reference corpus and documented retrieval tests. Without those pieces, a stored package is hard to search, audit or test after the person who created it moves on.

## Outcomes

The funded release will include:

1. A dual-licensed TypeScript command-line tool that ingests URLs and local files, requires and records reuse metadata, checks required fields, computes hashes, creates versioned manifests and batches eligible files into CAR packages.
2. A provider adapter and documented Filecoin storage flow that records Filecoin-specific storage evidence for every release package. The record will include the payload or root CID, PieceCID when exposed, provider or onramp, storage identifier, status, expiry or term when exposed, and retrieval path. A CID or IPFS pin by itself will not count as delivery. The accepted evidence may be a storage deal, PDP record or another current Filecoin-supported proof agreed with the Foundation.
3. A retrieval command that fetches a package by CID, checks every included file against its manifest and produces a machine-readable verification report.
4. A static public viewer for browsing source versions, CIDs, metadata, licence status and the latest retrieval result.
5. A reference corpus containing at least 500 version records from reuse-permitted Canadian public documents, plus a metadata-only path that retains no document bytes when redistribution is not allowed. One version record means one observed source version with a stable source ID, retrieval time, hash, reuse status, manifest entry and, when archived, its package and Filecoin storage reference.
6. Automated tests, threat and failure notes, a reproducible demo, contributor documentation and a public issue-based correction log.

Success metrics will be:

- at least 95% of the licensed reference corpus reproducibly packaged from a clean environment;
- 100% of released packages accompanied by manifests and retrieval-verification reports;
- successful verified retrieval of every release package from a fresh environment before final delivery;
- six external developer or archive-maintainer tests, with their setup failures and resulting corrections documented;
- an installation-to-first-verified-retrieval path completed in under 30 minutes by at least four of the six testers; and
- zero knowingly redistributed documents without recorded reuse permission.

## Data Onboarding

- Month 1: development fixtures and test packages under 1 GB.
- Month 3: at least 3 GB of reuse-permitted public documents, version manifests and indexes.
- Month 6: at least 5 GB, matching the funded reference-corpus deliverable.
- Month 12: maintain and verify the funded 5 GB corpus. Any growth beyond it depends on permitted community collections and separate storage support and is not claimed as a grant deliverable.

The initial corpus is small because the project is testing a reusable small-file packaging and retrieval workflow. I will report the actual unique bytes stored and will not inflate the total with duplicate filler.

## Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

The first audience is maintainers of public-document collections: civic-data groups, small archives, investigative and local journalists, regulatory researchers and open-education projects. InvestmentRegulation.ca will be the first documented integration, so users can see a source citation open the exact archived version and inspect its retrieval evidence.

I will recruit the first six testers through public GitHub outreach, Filecoin community channels and direct invitations to open-data and civic-technology maintainers. The release will include a five-minute quick start, one complete sample collection, a migration guide for existing folders and URL lists, and a public feedback issue. The release will be a local tool and static viewer. Anyone will be able to run it against their own permitted collection.

## Development Roadmap

All dates below assume a grant agreement is signed by October 14, 2026. If signing occurs later, the milestone dates should move by mutual agreement. No funded development will begin before both parties sign.

### Milestone 1: specification, licence boundary and packaging prototype

- **Dates:** October 15 to November 15, 2026
- **People:** Daniel Sultan, project lead and developer; independent source-licensing reviewer for the reuse checklist
- **Funding:** $4,000
- **Deliverables:** public architecture and threat notes; manifest and version schema; reuse-permission decision record; deterministic small-file-to-CAR prototype; local verification tests; sample corpus using synthetic fixtures and verified Open Government-licensed documents.

### Milestone 2: Filecoin storage and retrieval integration

- **Dates:** November 16, 2026 to January 15, 2027
- **People:** Daniel Sultan, developer; independent Filecoin technical reviewer
- **Funding:** $7,000
- **Deliverables:** one current Filecoin storage adapter; package upload and status recording; required Filecoin evidence fields for each release package; retrieval and byte-level verification command; automated failure tests covering missing files, changed manifests, provider errors and incomplete retrievals; technical review findings and corrections. A CID or IPFS pin alone will fail the release check.

### Milestone 3: reference corpus and public viewer

- **Dates:** January 16 to March 15, 2027
- **People:** Daniel Sultan, developer and data curator; source-licensing reviewer
- **Funding:** $6,000
- **Deliverables:** at least 500 defined version records; at least 5 GB of reuse-permitted content stored through the Filecoin flow; metadata-only records that retain no document bytes for sources that cannot be copied; searchable static viewer; InvestmentRegulation.ca integration example using permitted content; public source and correction log.

### Milestone 4: external testing, documentation and release

- **Dates:** March 16 to April 30, 2027
- **People:** Daniel Sultan, developer and maintainer; six compensated external testers; accessibility and documentation reviewer
- **Funding:** $5,000
- **Deliverables:** six documented external tests; accessibility review of the viewer and documentation; install, packaging, storage, retrieval and recovery guides; reproducible release demo; final retrieval report; dual-licensed v1.0 release and six-month maintenance calendar.

## Total Budget Requested

| Milestone # | Description | Deliverables | Completion Date | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---:|
| 1 | Specification and packaging prototype | Schema, licence checklist, CAR prototype and tests | November 15, 2026 | $4,000 |
| 2 | Filecoin integration | Storage adapter, evidence capture, retrieval verifier and technical review | January 15, 2027 | $7,000 |
| 3 | Reference corpus and viewer | 500 records, 5 GB minimum corpus, viewer and integration example | March 15, 2027 | $6,000 |
| 4 | Testing and release | Six external tests, accessibility review, documentation and v1.0 | April 30, 2027 | $5,000 |
| **Total** | | | | **$22,000** |

The budget covers Daniel's development and maintenance time, Filecoin storage and retrieval testing, independent Filecoin technical review, independent source-licensing review, six tester honoraria, accessibility review and documentation. Any related grant award that overlaps a funded deliverable or expense will be disclosed before an agreement, and duplicate costs will be removed.

## Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

I plan to maintain the repository for at least 12 months after the final milestone. I will run and publish a retrieval check at least monthly for the reference release, review dependency and provider changes quarterly, keep the issue tracker open for corrections and mark unsupported adapters clearly. The design will separate the manifest, packaging, storage and retrieval layers so contributors can add another supported Filecoin path without rewriting the archive format.

# Team

## Team Members

- Daniel Sultan, sole project lead and developer

Planned contractors and testers if funded: one independent Filecoin technical reviewer, one independent source-licensing reviewer, six compensated external testers and an accessibility/documentation reviewer. They are not current team members and have not been selected.

## Team Member LinkedIn Profiles

- Daniel Sultan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-sultan/

## Team Website

https://danielsultan.ca

## Relevant Experience

I am the 18-year-old sole builder of InvestmentRegulation.ca, a free, accountless and MIT-licensed learning site for Canada's Canadian Investment Regulatory Exam. I shipped its first public release in about three weeks. It now has 69 lessons across eight chapters, a knowledge check for every lesson, a separate 100-question bank, flashcards, drills, speed rounds, mock exams, a glossary and local progress tracking.

The project began because I was studying for the exam and found the official material difficult to enter as a beginner. While checking the question bank, I found that answer length could give away the correct choice. I revised the wrong-answer choices and checked the questions again. Correction, September 5, 2026: I can't verify the earlier 72%-to-35% comparison or the 98 rewritten answers, so please disregard those numbers. I haven't measured whether these changes helped people learn better. I have not built on Filecoin before. The proposal includes a focused integration, independent technical review and external setup testing because I need to prove the workflow rather than assume it works.

## Team code repositories

- InvestmentRegulation.ca: https://github.com/itsdanielsultan/Daniel-CIRE

# Additional Information

I found the Open Grants Program through Filecoin Foundation's public grants page while researching open-source funding routes for durable public-information tools.

Best email for the grant agreement and next steps: daniel@investmentregulation.ca

No related proposal has been awarded. Pending or incomplete related requests include a US$15,000 Solana proposal, a US$4,000-equivalent Tezos proposal, a US$15,000 Zcash proposal whose required forum step is now complete, and a US$10,000 ARO proposal that was acknowledged and forwarded for review. Those requests cover chain-specific learning material, source research and maps, attestations or contracts, regulatory review and paid curation.

RegArchive excludes those deliverables and costs. This request pays for the general Filecoin packaging, storage-evidence and retrieval tool. It does not pay for regulatory research, source-map writing, chain attestations, smart contracts, regulatory review or paid document curation. Existing permitted documents may appear only as unfunded test inputs. I will disclose any related award before contracting, provide a task-, hour- and vendor-level allocation if requested, and remove any overlap identified by the Foundation.

The proposal does not name existing repository files or tests; it describes a new TypeScript project to be created after a grant agreement. Start by reviewing the milestone 1 architecture, manifest schema, licence boundary and packaging prototype requirements. Done means delivering the staged CLI, Filecoin storage and retrieval flow, viewer, corpus, tests and documentation described in the milestones.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.