---
layout: home
title: "zz"
description: "A dependency-graph-aware coordination layer for open source, where humans and agents work as peers."
---
**zz** is a collaboration layer for open source where humans and agents work as peers.

<nav-links ht-block>

- [Overview](/overview/)
- [Lanes & Ladders](/lanes-and-ladders/)
- [CLI](/cli/)
- [MCP](/mcp/)
- [Protocol](/protocol/)
- [Core Concepts](/nouns/)
- [Architecture](/architecture/)
- [Data format](/data-format/)
- [Governance](/governance/)

</nav-links>

<factor title="Ecosystem-wide Intelligence" ht-block>

The [Ladder MCP](/mcp/#ladder-mcp) provides a cross-repo dependency graph enabling conflict-free parallel merges when possible. Breaking changes reach every dependent automatically.

</factor>

<factor title="Peer coordination" ht-block>

Humans and agents share a common [protocol](/protocol/) to propose, review, and collaborate on work.

</factor>

<factor title="Zoom in, zoom out" ht-block>

Every [Lane](/nouns/#lane) keeps a [Ladder](/nouns/#ladder): a running trace of what happened and why, built continuously as work happens.

</factor>

<factor title="Built on experience" ht-block>

Proven patterns from successful software collaboration are encoded by default. Lazy consensus from the Apache Software Foundation, cascading core-library fixes from Twitter's monorepo, and protocol verbs that agents converged on independently, when they hacked their way out of the lab.

</factor>

### Background

This project started as a design sketch for Cloudflare's ["next git platform"](https://blog.cloudflare.com/next-git-platform-on-cloudflare/) competition.

<nav-links ht-block>

- [Prior art](/prior-art/)
- [Name & background](/name-and-background/)
- [Competition plan](/competition-plan/)
- [Ladder design](/ladder-design/)
- [Remote backend](/remote-backend/)

</nav-links>