Skeleton Labs

Skeleton is a powerful UI toolkit featuring tight integration between Svelte and Tailwind CSS. Previously tended by Brain & Bones, Skeleton will now be supported by Skeleton Labs, a new company formed by Chris Simmons and Trey Weir.

Our Mission

Skeleton was created to be open source since day one. It will continue to be free and open source under the MIT license. Skeleton Labs, however, will serve as an commercial extension, handling sponsorship funding and providing premium services alongside the the open source project.

Many people understand the challenges faced when funding source developement. To that end, Skeleton Labs will handle all commercial needs for the project and ensure the library can thrive for many years to come.

Services

Skeleton Labs will aim to provide a growing suite of services, including the following:

Sponsorship

Enable donations from both individuals and large organizations through programs such as GitHub Sponsors, Patreon, Open Collective, Ko-Fi, and more.

Premium Assets

Provide modules, tooling, and even full website templates purpose built by and for Skeleton. Long term we hope to introduce a digital marketplace that enables the community to monetize their own assets.

Premium Support

Providing in-depth support that extends well beyond what GitHub Issues and the community Discord offers today.

The Team

Chris Simmons

Creator and lead contributor to Skeleton, as well as co-founder of Skeleton Labs.

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Trey Weir

Co-founder and business relations for Skeleton Labs, as well as co-founder of Brain & Bones.

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Questions & Answers

Does Skeleton Labs own Skeleton?

No, Skeleton is a community developed project, and no company can or will change that. It is collectively owned by those who contribute code and no single individual may own it. This is covered by the project's MIT license.

Does Skeleton Labs control the development of Skeleton?

No, Skeleton's development is control by the Skeleton community and maintainers. While Skeleton Labs may share contributors and leadership, all development for Skeleton will continue to occur entirely in the open, including technical decisions, pull requests, and code reviews for all to see.

How will Skeleton Labs contribute to Skeleton?

Skeleton Labs may employee individual contributors to promote developement of the project and surrounding ecosystem. All code contributions will occur in the open, via proposals, pull requests, and be available to all to evaluate and provide feedback. Any contribution by Skeleton Labs will be be provided to GitHub, the same as community contributions, and fall within the conditions of the MIT license of the project.

Will Skeleton Labs control funding for the Skeleton project?

Yes, namely sponsorship donations through services such as Github Sponsors and similar. These services require an active bank account and payment gateway. Skeleton Labs will be the business entity that fulfills both requirements. These funds will help support team members, cover the costs for advertising and contractors (ex: tutorial production), as well as help cover Skeleton’s infrastructure costs (domains, hosting, blog services, etc). However, the Skeleton project will also include sponsorship opportunities for core contributing members, allowing you to support these members directly.

Are other companies using this approach successfully?

Yes, Skeleton Labs is drawing inspiration from several successful offerings in the space:

Tailwind UI - which provide premium components and website templates.
Vuetify - which provide an asset marketplace and partnership with jobs board.
MUI - which provide premium support plans.
Plus numerous open source projects that rely on donations and sponsorship.

Will Chris Simmons continue to contribute directly to the Skeleton project?

Absolutely, he will likely remain the largest contributor to the Skeleton project. Like all contributors, his work on Skeleton will occur in the open, and he will keep the project’s interests as his guidance. No changes are expected from day-to-day operations. In practice, he will help bridge the gap between Skeleton Labs and the open source project.