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ICN Repository Map

Cross-repo orientation. For inside-the-icn-repo structure see `source-tree-map.md`, `rust-workspace-map.md`, and `repo-atlas.md`.

This document maps the repositories under the InterCooperative-Network GitHub organization to their roles in the ICN ecosystem. Visibility, scope, and merge-order rules are noted so a reader knows where a given concern actually belongs.

Repositories at a glance

Repository Visibility Role Notes
`icn` Public Canonical substrate. Kernel, apps, daemon, CLI, gateway, TypeScript SDK, public website. This repo. The truth lives here.
`nycn` Private NYCN institution ecosystem package. First application package built on ICN. First "institution-in-a-box" seed. Downstream of icn.
`icn-learn` Private ICN Academy. Role-based learning and onboarding. Teaching layer. Downstream of icn for facts, nycn for application examples.
`icn-community-bridge` Private Discord-to-Matrix onboarding bridge. Scaffold/docs only, not deployed. See docs/BRIDGE_POLICY.md in that repo.
`icn-infra` Private Organization infrastructure contracts, runbooks, templates, and sanitized inventories. Bridges public icn deployment artifacts and private provider truth. Not public product truth, a secrets store, or a production-readiness claim.
`.github` Public Organization profile and shared community-health mirror. Follows public truth from icn; must not lead or redefine it.
`demo-repository` Private GitHub-generated demonstration repository. Non-project noise unless the organization deliberately assigns and documents an ICN role.

If you came in expecting a separate website repository: the public site lives inside this repo at `website/`. Treat it as part of icn, not a separate property.

Roles by repo

icn (this repo) — canonical substrate

This is the public, citable, archivable core. Everything ICN claims to be technically lives here.

ICN-canonical changes (kernel primitives, public contracts, claims on intercooperative.network) start here.

nycn — institution ecosystem package

NYCN is the first concrete cooperative-network application built on top of ICN. It is not a fork; it consumes ICN primitives and adds institution-specific meaning (governance flows, member journeys, organizing tooling).

The kernel/app meaning firewall (see `docs/architecture/KERNEL_APP_SEPARATION.md`) is the contract between this repo and NYCN: ICN owns primitives; NYCN owns institution semantics.

icn-learn — Academy / teaching layer

Role-based learning material for organizers, members, contributors, and operators. Authoritative for how to learn ICN and NYCN; not authoritative for the facts being taught.

When the facts in icn-learn and the source repos disagree, the source repos win and icn-learn is the one that has to update.

icn-community-bridge — Discord ↔ Matrix bridge

A community-coordination utility, currently scaffold-and-docs only. Not deployed, not load-bearing. Treated as a small operational tool, not as a substrate component. See that repo's docs/BRIDGE_POLICY.md.

icn-infra — private organization infrastructure contracts

The organization-owned home for infrastructure contracts, runbooks, templates, and sanitized inventories. It translates public deployment artifacts from icn into bounded operational contracts without making private provider implementation details public.

icn-infra is not public product truth, a secrets store, or evidence of production readiness. The private external provider repository fahertym/network-ops remains authoritative for its own implementation and topology; material may move into icn-infra only as a sanitized contract or path/reference, never as copied private topology or sensitive values.

.github — public organization mirror

Organization profile and shared community-health files. This repository mirrors public project truth after it is established in icn; it does not originate architecture, status, or readiness claims.

demo-repository — unassigned demonstration repository

The GitHub demonstration repository has no current ICN project role. Treat it as non-project noise unless a deliberate retention decision assigns a documented purpose and truth relationship.

Merge order across repos

When a change crosses repo boundaries, the canonical merge order is:

  1. icn — primitives, public contracts, public claims.
  2. Private consuming packages — nycn for institution semantics; icn-infra for organization infrastructure contracts; icn-community-bridge for its bounded scaffold/policy.
  3. icn-learn — teaching that reflects what shipped above.
  4. .github — organization-facing mirrors after public truth is established.

demo-repository is outside this merge order because it has no assigned project role. See `ops/coordination/PR_STACK_PROTOCOL.md` and the PR template's "Cross-repo dependency status" section. Out-of-order merges create mirrors or teaching that describe something that does not yet exist, or private package behavior whose public contract moved underneath it.

Truth and confidentiality rules per repo

Repo Truth class What lives there that is not elsewhere
icn Public, canonical The substrate itself; the only place public claims can be grounded.
nycn Private, application-canonical Institution-specific decisions, member data models, organizing flows. Not exported to icn.
icn-learn Private, derivative Curriculum, exercises, narrative. Re-derives from icn/nycn; not a source of truth.
icn-community-bridge Private, operational Bridge config and policy. Operational only.
icn-infra Private, organization-infrastructure Contracts, runbooks, templates, and sanitized inventories. Not public product truth or provider implementation truth.
.github Public, mirror Organization profile and shared community-health files. Must follow icn public truth.
demo-repository Private, unassigned GitHub demonstration content with no current project truth role.

If a fact appears in a private or derivative repository and is meant to be public, it has to find its way back to icn (typically docs/, website/, or a code change) before it can be cited externally. .github may mirror that fact only after the public source exists.

Adjacent identifiers

A few external surfaces are referenced from ICN material but are not GitHub repos:

  • intercooperative.network — the public site, built from `website/` in this repo.
  • GitHub Sponsors — github.com/sponsors/InterCooperative-Network. See `.github/FUNDING.yml`.
  • Live K3s deployment — see `docs/operations/deployment/HOMELAB_DEPLOYMENT.md`. Operational, not a separate repo.
  • fahertym/network-ops — external private provider implementation truth. It is not an organization repository or public ICN truth root; do not copy private topology or sensitive values into public docs.

Where this map fits

This document is navigation, not state. For state, see `docs/STATE.md` and `docs/PHASE_PROGRESS.md`. For more granular maps inside this repo, see the rest of `docs/reference/project-index/`.

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