Relational Tech Network

The Relational Tech Network watcher scans public GitHub repositories that have opted into the network, surfaces meaningful changes, and helps builders learn from each other's work across neighborhoods.

Think of it as a neighborhood newsletter for the relational tech ecosystem. When a community calendar project in San Francisco adds multilingual support, a builder working on a similar tool in Detroit might want to know.

How to join

Add the topic relational-tech to your GitHub repository. That's it. The watcher will discover your repo on its next scan and add it to the network.

On your GitHub repo page, click the gear icon next to "About" in the right sidebar. In the Topics field, type relational-tech and save.

For richer participation

Optionally, add a .reltech.yml file to your repo root. This lets you describe your project, set privacy preferences, and declare what you're interested in hearing about from other projects.

# .reltech.yml
version: 1

project:
  name: "Your Project Name"
  description: "What this project does"
  neighborhood: "Your City / Neighborhood"
  builder: "Your Name"

tags:
  - community-calendar
  - events
  - multilingual

watch:
  signals: ["releases", "prs"]
  threshold: "minor"

preferences:
  name_contributors: false

interests:
  - accessibility
  - translation
  - event-aggregation

Helping others reach you

The watcher automatically links to the GitHub profile of the person behind each update, so fellow builders can find you. If you'd like to share more about how to get in touch, add a ## Builder or ## Contact section to your README. The watcher will pick it up and display it alongside your updates.

It doesn't need to be rigid -- even a few lines with your name and preferred way to connect is enough:

## Builder

Sarah Chen -- building for Tenderloin neighbors.
Reach me on Signal or email: sarah@example.org

This helps other builders who see your work in the feed know how to reach out, share ideas, or offer help. It's one small way the network stays relational, not just informational.

What the watcher does and doesn't do

The watcher reads public metadata: repo descriptions, commit messages, PR titles and descriptions, release notes, and READMEs. It uses these to generate short, human-readable summaries of what's happening across the network.

The watcher never clones your code, indexes source files, or reproduces proprietary logic. It does not monitor issues, discussions, or contributor activity patterns. It attributes work to projects, not individuals (unless your manifest says otherwise).

Opting out

Remove the relational-tech topic from your repo. The watcher's next scan will notice and stop watching your repo. If you want to stay in the project directory but stop generating feed entries, add watch: none to your .reltech.yml.

Principles

This tool is built by the Relational Tech Project, which supports people in cultivating healthy relational soil -- the conditions in which agency, belonging, and trust can grow.

The watcher is designed to celebrate what builders ship, not surveil what they're working on. It respects boundaries, honors consent, and treats every repo's preferences as authoritative.