Open Grant Proposal: Texas Civic Evidence Archive

# Open Grant Proposal: Texas Civic Evidence Archive

**Project Name:** Texas Civic Evidence Archive: Privacy-Gated Public Records on Filecoin

**Proposal Category:** Integrations

**Individual or Entity Name:** Texas Privacy Coalition, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

**Proposer:** `phillipunlimited`

**Project Repo(s):**

- Existing working application and records infrastructure: https://github.com/phillipunlimited/Texas-Privacy-Coalition
- Grant-funded Filecoin adapter, evidence-manifest library, reference implementation, and documentation: a new public repository will be created after a grant agreement is signed.

**(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 dual license?** Yes. All grant-funded code, schemas, fixtures, and documentation will be released under the MIT/Apache-2.0 dual license. Public records and third-party source materials will retain their original legal status and will not be relicensed as project work.

# Project Summary

Texas Privacy Coalition operates a working, draft-first public-records research system for Texas communities. The current repository includes a statewide directory seeded with 1,464 government targets, records-request workflows, source-linked research pages, and safeguards that separate private intake and review from public release. Public records often arrive as PDFs, spreadsheets, email exports, audio, or video. Once a record is approved for publication, a reader should be able to verify that the file has not silently changed and that it remains retrievable even if a local server or source URL fails.

The Texas Civic Evidence Archive will add a Filecoin Onchain Cloud integration to that publication boundary. It will package only records already approved for public release, create a machine-readable manifest containing source, jurisdiction, request, redaction, hash, and version metadata, store the approved package through the Synapse SDK and Filecoin Warm Storage Service, record PieceCID/data-set/provider and Proof of Data Possession status, and periodically test retrieval. Private drafts, credentials, unredacted submissions, legally restricted records, and personal information that has not passed publication review will never enter the Filecoin workflow.

The funded output will be a reusable TypeScript library, command-line tool, Next.js reference integration, manifest schema, and deployment guide that other civic-data and public-records projects can adopt. The project is an integration proposal: TPC has not yet integrated Filecoin, and no Filecoin storage is claimed for the current system.

## Impact

Filecoin Onchain Cloud can give public-interest publishers cryptographic, provider-backed evidence that released records remain stored and retrievable. The practical gap is the application layer between a sensitive records workflow and decentralized storage. A naive upload script can accidentally publish drafts, personal information, or files that lack redistribution clearance. It also may save a CID without preserving the source, redaction decision, storage status, proof state, or a repeatable retrieval check.

This project will supply that missing reference pattern. Filecoin gains a production-oriented integration for a real civic-records application, a documented privacy gate, and a reference corpus of Texas public-record evidence packages. Civic-data maintainers gain a deployable workflow that treats Filecoin storage evidence as part of publication, not as an unexplained hash pasted onto a page. Success means an independent maintainer can approve a permitted record, generate the same manifest, store it through Filecoin Onchain Cloud, retrieve it from a clean environment, and verify every byte without using TPC's server.

The risks of not getting this right are concrete: sensitive drafts can become permanently public, a CID can be mistaken for evidence of durable Filecoin storage, records can become detached from their source and redaction history, and public pages can continue linking to files that no longer retrieve. The proposed release makes each of those conditions testable and visible.

## Outcomes

The funded release will provide:

1. A dual-licensed TypeScript manifest library and JSON Schema for public-record evidence packages, including stable package/version IDs, source URL, government body and jurisdiction, request/reference ID, received and publication dates, media type, byte size, SHA-256, content CID/PieceCID where applicable, redaction and redistribution status, Filecoin data-set/provider identifiers, PDP status, and retrieval-check history.
2. A fail-closed publication gate. Files must be explicitly marked public, pass required metadata and redaction checks, and contain no unresolved restriction flag before the Filecoin adapter can receive their bytes. Draft, private, quarantined, or metadata-only records will be rejected by automated tests.
3. A Filecoin Onchain Cloud adapter using the current Synapse SDK and Warm Storage Service. It will support calibration-network testing, mainnet storage, at least two provider copies when supported by the production service, upload result/status capture, and wallet/session-key separation documented for nonprofit operators.
4. A retrieval verifier that downloads each package, recomputes file and manifest hashes, records provider-independent success or failure, and emits both machine-readable JSON and a human-readable report. A CID without completed Filecoin storage evidence will not pass the publication check.
5. A Next.js reference integration showing Filecoin storage and retrieval status on TPC's public evidence pages without exposing wallet credentials or private workflow data.
6. A reference corpus of at least 250 publication-approved version records from at least five Texas jurisdictions, with a minimum of 10 GB of unique, lawful-to-publish data stored and verified through the funded Filecoin path. If the qualifying corpus is smaller than 10 GB, the project will report the actual amount and will not add duplicate or filler data.
7. Automated unit, integration, and failure tests; a threat model; recovery and key-rotation instructions; an operator runbook; migration documentation; a reproducible demonstration; and a public correction log.

Success metrics:

- 100% of Filecoin-uploaded bytes correspond to a record that passed the explicit publication gate;
- zero known private drafts, credentials, unresolved personal-information flags, or legally restricted files onboarded;
- 100% of released packages include the required manifest and completed Filecoin storage evidence;
- every reference package passes a clean-environment byte-verification test before the final release;
- monthly retrieval results are published for six months after release;
- at least six external civic-data, records, or open-source maintainers test the setup, with failures and resulting corrections documented; and
- at least four of six testers complete installation through first verified retrieval in under 45 minutes.

## Data Onboarding

- **Month 1:** synthetic fixtures and a small set of publication-approved records on calibration network; less than 1 GB.
- **Month 3:** at least 100 version records and 3 GB of unique approved public data through the mainnet workflow.
- **Month 6:** at least 250 version records from at least five Texas jurisdictions and a target of 10 GB of unique approved public data.
- **Month 12:** maintain and verify the funded corpus; target up to 25 GB only as additional qualifying public records arrive and operating support permits.

These are public-evidence projections, not current Filecoin usage claims. TPC will publish actual unique bytes and package counts and will not inflate onboarding totals through duplicate or synthetic filler.

## Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

The first audience is public-records publishers, civic-technology groups, local journalists, researchers, watchdog organizations, and small nonprofits that need durable evidence without placing their intake workflow on a public network. TPC's existing Texas application will be the first reference integration. Its directory is already seeded with 1,464 government targets across 254 counties, 921 mapped cities and towns, and 289 agencies, which creates a concrete path from a working public-records workflow to a bounded Filecoin pilot.

The release will include a five-minute local fixture demo, a complete operator tutorial, a sample Next.js integration, a provider-neutral manifest schema, and a migration guide for projects that currently publish records from ordinary object storage. TPC will recruit the first six testers through public GitHub outreach, Filecoin community channels, Texas open-government and journalism networks, and direct invitations to civic-data maintainers. Feedback and corrections will remain public in the grant repository.

The first ten users will be TPC maintainers/testers and invited civic-records operators running the reference workflow. The path to 100 users will depend on documented reuse by other projects rather than account creation on a TPC-controlled platform. The library and CLI will be independently deployable.

## Development Roadmap

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

### Milestone 1: publication boundary, schema, and calibration prototype

- **Dates:** October 15-November 30, 2026
- **People:** Phillip Bodine, project lead and developer; independent privacy/redaction reviewer to be selected if funded
- **Funding:** $6,000
- **Deliverables:** architecture and threat model; evidence-manifest JSON Schema; explicit public/private/restricted states; fail-closed validation library; deterministic package builder; calibration-network Synapse SDK prototype; synthetic and permitted-record fixtures; automated tests proving excluded states cannot reach the storage adapter.

### Milestone 2: Filecoin storage and retrieval integration

- **Dates:** December 1, 2026-January 31, 2027
- **People:** Phillip Bodine, developer; independent Filecoin technical reviewer to be selected if funded
- **Funding:** $10,000
- **Deliverables:** production Synapse SDK/Warm Storage adapter; wallet and session-key separation; multi-provider upload configuration when supported; PieceCID/data-set/provider/PDP status capture; retrieval verifier; structured health reports; retry and partial-failure handling; independent technical review and documented corrections.

### Milestone 3: TPC integration and Texas reference corpus

- **Dates:** February 1-March 31, 2027
- **People:** Phillip Bodine, developer and records-workflow lead; privacy/redaction reviewer
- **Funding:** $8,000
- **Deliverables:** Next.js reference integration; public storage/proof/retrieval status display; at least 250 approved version records from at least five Texas jurisdictions; target of at least 10 GB unique data; published manifests and retrieval reports; correction workflow; no private intake or credential data exposed to the public application.

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

- **Dates:** April 1-May 15, 2027
- **People:** Phillip Bodine, developer and maintainer; six compensated external testers; accessibility/documentation reviewer
- **Funding:** $6,000
- **Deliverables:** six documented external tests; accessibility and documentation review; install, storage, retrieval, recovery, key-rotation, and upgrade guides; clean-environment reproducibility report; v1.0 dual-licensed release; six-month retrieval-monitoring and maintenance calendar.

## Total Budget Requested

| Milestone # | Description | Deliverables | Completion Date | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---:|
| 1 | Publication boundary and prototype | Schema, privacy gate, package builder, calibration prototype, tests | November 30, 2026 | $6,000 |
| 2 | Filecoin integration | Mainnet storage, proof/status capture, retrieval verifier, technical review | January 31, 2027 | $10,000 |
| 3 | TPC integration and corpus | Next.js integration, 250 records, target 10 GB, public reports | March 31, 2027 | $8,000 |
| 4 | Testing and release | Six external tests, accessibility review, docs, v1.0 | May 15, 2027 | $6,000 |
| **Total** | | | | **$30,000** |

The budget covers development and maintenance time, Filecoin mainnet storage and retrieval testing, independent Filecoin technical review, independent privacy/redaction review, six tester honoraria, accessibility/documentation review, and operating costs directly attributable to the funded release. Any related award that overlaps a funded task or expense will be disclosed before contracting and removed from this budget.

## Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

Texas Privacy Coalition will maintain the grant repository for at least 12 months after the final milestone. We will run and publish retrieval checks at least monthly for the reference corpus during the first six months, review dependencies and provider/service changes quarterly, keep the public issue tracker open for corrections, and clearly mark any deprecated adapter or proof field. The manifest, publication gate, storage adapter, verifier, and UI integration will remain separate modules so another maintainer can update one Filecoin path without rewriting the records workflow.

# Team

## Team Members

- Phillip Bodine — founder, project lead, developer, and authorized representative; `info@texasprivacycoalition.com`; GitHub `phillipunlimited`

Planned funded reviewers and testers are not current team members and have not yet been selected: one independent Filecoin technical reviewer, one independent privacy/redaction reviewer, six compensated external testers, and one accessibility/documentation reviewer.

## Team Member LinkedIn Profiles

- No LinkedIn profile is supplied. GitHub work is available at https://github.com/phillipunlimited.

## Team Website

https://www.texasprivacycoalition.com

## Relevant Experience

TPC's current MIT-licensed repository is a working Next.js and Supabase public-records and privacy-research application, not a grant-only concept. It contains 240 tracked files and 137 commits as of this application. The system includes a private draft-first public-information workflow, a public records tracker, jurisdiction directories, source-linked research pages, redaction/publication controls, and automated infrastructure for routing and reviewing Texas Public Information Act work.

The statewide directory is seeded with 1,464 government targets: all 254 Texas counties, 921 mapped cities and towns, and 289 agencies. Current research and public-records work includes ALPR procurement, policy, sharing, audit, and oversight evidence. The project already treats source attribution, uncertainty, personal-information review, and the boundary between private intake and public publication as core engineering requirements. TPC has not previously built on Filecoin. The proposal therefore includes a bounded integration, calibration testing, an independent Filecoin technical review, and external setup tests instead of claiming prior ecosystem experience.

## Team code repositories

- Texas Privacy Coalition: https://github.com/phillipunlimited/Texas-Privacy-Coalition

# Additional Information

TPC found the Open Grants Program through Filecoin Foundation's official grants page while screening current open-source and public-interest funding opportunities.

Best email for the grant agreement and general next steps: `info@texasprivacycoalition.com`

Texas Privacy Coalition is a Texas nonprofit recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). Its mailing address is 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100, Austin, Texas 78731-4298. Phillip Bodine is authorized by the board to submit the proposal and sign on the organization's behalf.

The proposed Filecoin integration has not been built and no Filecoin data onboarding is claimed. The existing application is MIT-licensed; the grant-funded adapter, schema, verifier, fixtures, and documentation will be created in a new MIT/Apache-2.0 dual-licensed repository. Any modification funded under this proposal will be separately identified and dual-licensed to the extent required by the grant agreement.

TPC has submitted other nonprofit and open-source funding requests for organizational capacity, public-records research, and vendor-neutral civic infrastructure. No other award is represented as paying for the Filecoin adapter, PDP/storage evidence model, or retrieval verifier described here. TPC will disclose any related award before contracting, provide a task- and expense-level allocation if requested, and remove any overlap identified by Filecoin Foundation.

This proposal does not name files, tests, or an entry point in the devgrants repository; it describes a new TypeScript library, CLI, Next.js integration, schema, and deployment documentation to be created after a grant agreement. Start by reviewing the proposal and linked Texas Privacy Coalition repository, then define the project scope and acceptance plan; done would require the listed grant milestones rather than a self-contained repository change.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.