Chipping in
Help pay for the next box on the bench.
It's all free: 207 projects, with no accounts, no licence keys and no paid version lurking round the corner, and it's staying that way. Making it does cost money, though, so here's where that goes and how to help if you fancy it.
Since you were going to ask
Yes, I use AI, and a lot. It's how one working tech gets tools out across audio, video, lighting, RF and networking at this rate, and I say so on every repo rather than hoping you won't notice.
It doesn't make the work free, though. It's a metered subscription that turns up every month. It won't buy the amp I need on the bench to find out what the protocol actually does, or pay for the fab run of a board revision that turns out to be wrong. And it doesn't check its own homework, so that's still hours of me reading every line before any of it goes near a show.
Where the money goes
- 01
Hardware to test against
You can't reverse-engineer a control protocol from a datasheet. Every bridge, monitor and fleet tool here exists because somebody bought, borrowed or hired the actual box and watched what it said on the wire.
- 02
Boards that don't work yet
Open hardware means fab runs, stencils, reels of parts and prototypes, including the revisions that turn out to be wrong. Rev A is hardly ever the one that ships.
- 03
AI tooling
The help that makes this pace possible is metered, and it isn't cheap. It's a monthly bill rather than something you buy once.
- 04
Everything around the code
Build machines, CI minutes, test VMs, signing, hosting, domains. The dull line items that turn a repo into something you can actually download and run.
- 05
The hours
The biggest cost by a distance, and the one nobody invoices for. It gets written between calls, on the way home and on days off, for tools given away to people who'll never know who wrote them.
Ways to help
Pick whichever suits youGitHub Sponsors
One-off or monthly, and you don't need another account. It all goes straight into the work.
OpenPatreon
Monthly support with tiers, changelog notes and early builds.
OpenLiberapay
A non-profit, open-source funding platform that doesn't take a cut.
OpenKo-fi
One-off tips, if a tool saved you an afternoon.
OpenCosts you nothing
- Star the repos. It's the only signal that tells anyone these tools exist.
- File the bug. A proper report from an actual gig is worth more to me than a donation.
- Tell me it worked. Hearing that a tool got through a show is a big part of why the next one gets written. Tag a post #MadeWithStoatworks and it goes on the site.
- Pass it on to the tech next to you who's still doing it by hand.
No pressure either way
Nothing's paywalled or crippled, and it never will be. If you can help, it goes straight back into the next board and the next tool. If you can't, use it all anyway. That's what it's there for.