Understand How Open Source Software Is Built
Deep-dive explainers that help developers and product managers understand the architecture, workflows, dependencies, and design decisions behind popular open source projects—without cloning a single repo.
What You’ll Learn
Each explainer breaks down a project into four dimensions that matter most.
Architecture
System design, layers, and how components are organized at scale.
Workflows
How data flows through the system for key user journeys.
Dependencies
What technologies are used, why, and how they connect.
How It’s Built
Build systems, repo structure, deployment, and dev experience.
Featured Explainers
In-depth breakdowns of real-world open source projects.
Plane
Open-source project management platform (Jira alternative) with real-time CRDT collaboration, flexible workflows, and self-hosting. Built with React, Django, and PostgreSQL.
Open SaaS
Production-ready full-stack SaaS starter on the Wasp framework. Ships with auth, payments (Stripe/Lemon Squeezy), AI integration, file uploads, and an admin dashboard.
Twenty
The #1 open-source CRM (Salesforce alternative) with custom objects, workflow automation, email/calendar sync, and a modern UI inspired by Linear and Notion.
Midday
AI-powered business assistant for freelancers — bank sync (20,000+ institutions), invoicing, time tracking, receipt matching, and financial AI insights.
Who Is This For?
New Developers
- •Understand how production codebases are structured
- •Learn common architectural patterns in practice
- •See how different technologies connect end-to-end
- •Prepare for contributing to open source projects
Product Managers
- •Grasp the technical foundations of products you manage
- •Understand key user workflows and data flows
- •Make informed decisions about technical trade-offs
- •Communicate more effectively with engineering teams
This entire site — every explainer, diagram, and line of code — was built entirely by AI.