The current Hyperledger Project Lifecycle provides for projects to be started in Incubation and graduate from there to Active projects. Hyperledger Labs provides a space where work can easily be started without the creation of an official Hyperledger project.

Hyperledger can help build communities by gathering people sharing a common interest in developing blockchain related software. However, the only way to currently do so is to submit a HIP and launch a formal project in Incubation. This is a relatively heavy process which implies a level of endorsement by Hyperledger that is not suitable for cases where projects are immature from a code-complete, production-quality, or community building perspective, or experimental.

Labs will 1) lower the pressure on the TSC to start new projects and 2) allow for work to be done within a legal framework that eases the transition to a project in Incubation in cases where this ends up being the chosen path for the lab. In particular, this includes enforcement of the use of the Apache Software License and sign-offs on all contributions.

This new space will allow teams to experiment with new frameworks or new modules without the promise of stable code or MVP. It is a space suitable for innovation and testing of ideas.

Examples of possible labs: projects too early for TSC approval as an incubator because there’s not a lot of code; demos; documentation examples; sample code from hackathons, research projects, etc.

Hyperledger Labs have similarities with the Apache Labs and the W3C Community Groups.

To submit a new proposal, please follow the process outlined at Hyperledger Labs. The lab proposal must meet the following:

1. The scope of the proposed lab fits within Hyperledger’s mission;
2. The proposed name is appropriate (e.g., not too generic, confusing, or conflicting with other labs or projects, etc);
3. Proposers have a Sponsor (i.e. a maintainer of one of the Hyperledger projects, a TSC member or a WG chair);
4. Proposers need to be active members of the Hyperledger technical community (as defined in Section 4.a.ii of the Hyperledger Charter).

You can find all Hyperledger Lab approved proposals at https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/hyperledger-labs.github.io/labs. You can also look at the pull requests for all submitted proposals.

• https://github.com/hyperledger-labs - Github Organization

• labs@lists.hyperledger.org for general discussions on Hyperledger Labs (subscribe - archives)

• #labs

The following people have been approved by the TSC to be Labs Stewards. Please do not add your name unless you have been approved by the TSC to be a new Labs Steward.

• Proposed by Christopher Ferris (IBM), Arnaud Le Hors (IBM), Tracy Kuhrt (The Linux Foundation), Brian Behlendorf (The Linux Foundation)
• Approved by the TSC on January 16, 2018