Licence and governance

Open Development Standards (ODS) is an open format for the data behind an assessment of a physical development: what is built or run, the conditions around it, the rules that apply, and how each result was reached.

ODS is a draft. Each schema page shows the schema's status and version. Schemas and the package format can still change until the first release.

Each schema has its own version, in three parts (major.minor.patch), and a change log on its page. A change that can break a reader raises the major part. A package names the schema versions it uses, so a reader knows what it is reading.

The schemas and code are licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The specification text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You can use, change and share ODS, also in commercial products. Copyright 2025–2026 OpenCycle Technologies Inc.

“ODS” here means Open Development Standards. It is not the OpenDocument spreadsheet format; ODS packages use the file extension .odspkg.

OpenCycle, in Calgary, Alberta, started ODS, maintains it and publishes its releases. Changes are proposed and discussed in the open. As other organizations adopt ODS, the aim is to share its governance and to put it forward to a standards body.

If you find an error, an omission or something to improve, write to support@opencycle.ai.