Roadmap & Budget

This document outlines how OpenIAP plans to grow and how sponsorship funding is allocated. Full transparency on where every dollar goes.

Development Roadmap#

Deliverable	Description	Status
Open governance model	Published governance document with maintainer policies and decision-making process	Done
Specification documentation	Formal documentation of the GraphQL schema as the cross-platform purchase specification	In Progress
Purchase verification profile	Standardized server-side receipt validation patterns for iOS and Android	Planned
Conformance test suite v1	Shared behavioral expectations executed against every store implementation and verification provider, backed by a machine-checked capability matrix. Android stores, Apple, IAPKit providers, React Native IAP, and Expo IAP are covered; Flutter, KMP, MAUI, and Godot adapters are next.	In Progress
Founding supporter outreach	Engage 3–5 organizations as initial supporters	In Progress

Deliverable	Description
Security guidance document	Transaction integrity best practices, fraud prevention patterns, audit-friendly purchase schema
Expanded platform support	Unity and Unreal Engine codegen plugins via the IR architecture
Secure provider interoperability spec	Standardized handoff protocol between stores, apps, and verification services
Formal spec versioning	Semantic versioning for the specification with migration guides per platform
Open funding channel	Transparent funding channel for individual and corporate donors

Deliverable	Description
Conformance certification	Formal certification process for libraries claiming OpenIAP compatibility
Third-party auditor guidelines	Integration specs for verification service providers
Alternative store support	EU DMA compliance, alternative app store billing APIs
Foundation hosting exploration	Evaluate foundation hosting options for long-term neutral governance
Mentorship program	Structured onboarding themes for new contributors (bindings, tests, docs)

How sponsorship funds are allocated across project needs:

Category	Allocation	Details
Maintainer Compensation	40%	Core maintainer time for spec development, code review, releases, and community management
Infrastructure	15%	CI/CD compute (GitHub Actions), hosting (Vercel), the IAPKit community instance (Convex), domain registration, code signing certificates
Security & Testing	20%	Conformance test infrastructure, security audits, verification profile development
Documentation	10%	API documentation, migration guides, tutorials, AI context compilation
Community & Outreach	10%	Contributor onboarding, mentorship programs, conference participation
Reserve	5%	Emergency platform API changes, legal/compliance needs

Item	Monthly Cost	Notes
Vercel hosting (docs site)	$20	openiap.dev
IAPKit community instance (Convex)	~$20	kit.openiap.dev receipt validation — community service funded through OpenCollective
Domain registration	~$3	openiap.dev annual amortized
GitHub Actions CI/CD	$0–50	Variable based on PR volume
Apple Developer account	~$8	$99/year amortized for testing
Google Play Console	~$2	$25 one-time amortized
Claude Code (AI assistant)	$200	Anthropic Max plan for development
Codex (AI assistant)	$100	OpenAI for code review and testing
Total baseline	$350–400/month	Excluding maintainer time

What becomes possible at each funding level:

Monthly Funding	Unlocks
$500/mo	Covers infrastructure costs + basic maintainer compensation for security updates
$2,000/mo	Part-time maintainer focus on spec development and conformance tests
$5,000/mo	Dedicated maintainer time + security audit + new platform bindings
$10,000/mo	Full-time spec development, mentorship program, conference presence, foundation hosting

OpenIAP is committed to financial transparency. As funding grows, we will: