oss-tribute

Discover and fund the open source projects your code depends on.

Why tribute?

Your project relies on open source software maintained by volunteers and small teams. Many of these maintainers struggle to fund their work. tribute helps you:

• Discover all the open source dependencies in your project
• Find funding links (GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon, etc.)
• Prioritize which projects to support based on impact
• Generate documentation to showcase your dependencies

Installation

# Run directly with npx
npx oss-tribute

# Or install globally
npm install -g oss-tribute

# Then run with either command:
tribute
# or
oss-tribute

Usage

# Analyze current directory
tribute

# Analyze a specific path
tribute /path/to/project

# Output JSON for programmatic use
tribute --format json

# Generate FUNDING.yml and DEPENDENCIES.md
tribute --generate-files

# Use with GitHub token for better rate limits
GITHUB_TOKEN=xxx tribute

Options

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | -d, --depth <depth> | Dependency depth: direct or transitive (default: transitive) | | -f, --format <format> | Output format: markdown or json (default: markdown) | | -o, --output <dir> | Output directory for reports | | -g, --generate-files | Generate .github/FUNDING.yml and .github/DEPENDENCIES.md | | -t, --token <token> | GitHub token (or set GITHUB_TOKEN env var) | | -e, --ecosystems <list> | Comma-separated ecosystems to analyze |

Supported Ecosystems

• Node.js/npm - package.json, package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml
• Python - pyproject.toml, requirements.txt, Pipfile
• Go - go.mod, go.sum
• Rust - Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock
• Ruby - Gemfile, Gemfile.lock
• Java/Maven - pom.xml

Example Output

# Tribute Report for my-project

## Summary

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Total dependencies | 247 |
| Direct dependencies | 45 |
| With funding info | 89 (36%) |
| Without funding info | 158 |

## Top Dependencies to Fund

| Package | Ecosystem | Score | Funding |
|---------|-----------|-------|---------|
| lodash | npm | 94 | [GitHub Sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/lodash) |
| express | npm | 87 | [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/express) |
| typescript | npm | 82 | - |

Claude Code Integration

tribute includes a Claude Code skill for AI-enhanced analysis:

# Copy the skill to your Claude Code commands directory
cp skill/tribute.md ~/.claude/commands/

# Then use it with /tribute in Claude Code

The skill provides:

• Intelligent prioritization of which dependencies to fund
• Analysis of maintainers who work on multiple projects
• Answers to questions about your dependency tree

How Scoring Works

Dependencies are scored to help you prioritize funding:

| Factor | Weight | Description | |--------|--------|-------------| | Transitive Usage | 40% | How many other deps in your project use this | | Direct Dependency | 30% | Is this a dep you explicitly chose? | | Funding Gap | 20% | Does it lack funding info? (prioritize these) | | Ecosystem | 10% | Some ecosystems have better funding culture |

GitHub Token

For best results, set a GitHub token:

# As environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx

# Or pass directly
tribute --token ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx

Without a token: 60 API requests/hour With a token: 5,000 API requests/hour

Generated Files

With --generate-files, tribute creates:

.github/FUNDING.yml

Aggregates funding links from your dependencies for GitHub's funding button.

.github/DEPENDENCIES.md

A human-readable document listing all dependencies and their funding links, perfect for acknowledging the open source you use.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines first.

License

MIT