Raft Releases Source Code but Does Not Yet Accept External Contributions, Exploring the Prompt Request Model

AT A GLANCE

Raft makes its source code publicly available but is not currently accepting external contributions, and plans to explore a Prompt Request model.

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Raft Releases Source Code but Does Not Accept PRs: Agents Make Coding Cheaper, but Review Costs Have Not Decreased

Dongcha Beating AI news flash: Raft, the Agent collaboration platform founded by Richard Qian, the former author of Kimi CLI, has released its source code but is not currently accepting external Pull Requests, nor has it made its internal commit history public. The public GitHub repository is merely a release mirror; actual development remains in a private repository, with a complete code snapshot synchronized for each release.

The Raft team believes that Coding Agents have already made writing code too cheap. It is easy to generate a patch that looks reasonable, and generating ten at once is not difficult either, but maintainers still need to spend substantial time understanding, validating, and reviewing the code. In many cases, after reviewing code generated by someone else’s Agent, maintainers might as well ask their own Agent to reimplement it according to the requirements.

They therefore want to explore a “Prompt Request” model. Contributors may not necessarily submit code directly in the future; instead, they would first explain what problem should be solved, why it is worth solving, and what constraints and trade-offs exist. Maintainers and Agents would then decide how to implement it. This mechanism is not yet formally open, and Raft’s GitHub PRs and Issues are both closed.

Raft also questions the value of traditional commit history. The team believes that after Agents participate in development, it may be more useful to record why changes were made, what approaches were tried, and what problems the Agent discovered—the “decision history”—than to record every individual code change.

It should be noted that Raft is source-available this time, rather than open source in the traditional sense. FSL-1.1-ALv2 allows users to view, run, and modify the code, but prohibits using it to provide commercial products or services that compete with Raft. Two years after each release, it will automatically convert to Apache 2.0.

Original link https://m.theblockbeats.info/flash/368946

Key points

Raft has released its source code but is not currently accepting external Pull Requests.
Raft’s GitHub repository is a release mirror, while actual development remains in a private repository.
Raft's GitHub Pull Requests and Issues are currently closed.
The Raft team plans to explore a Prompt Request model in which contributors submit requirement descriptions, and maintainers and the Coding Agent decide how to implement them.
Raft uses the FSL-1.1-ALv2 license, which automatically converts to Apache 2.0 two years after the code is released.
FSL-1.1-ALv2 allows users to view, run, and modify the code, but prohibits providing commercial products or services that compete with Raft.

AI-assisted interpretation

The following is analysis, separate from reported facts. Verify important claims independently.

Raft makes its code public but has not opened the usual PR and Issue collaboration. The team believes that although Agents can generate code quickly, they have not similarly reduced the cost for maintainers to understand, verify, and review code. It is therefore considering having contributors first submit requirements, constraints, and trade-offs, after which maintainers and Agents would implement them.

Why it matters to readers

This demonstrates a software maintenance model oriented toward Agent collaboration: contributors submit issues and decision information rather than necessarily submitting code directly. However, this model has not yet been formally opened, and its practical effects remain unknown.

Seeing “source code available” does not mean “open source” in the traditional sense. The license may restrict commercial competition, and the community may temporarily be unable to participate through PRs or Issues.

Risks and unknowns

The evidence does not show an official Raft announcement or repository information, and the reporting has not yet received cross-confirmation beyond the original source.
The Prompt Request model has not yet been formally opened, so it remains unclear whether it can reduce the review burden.
The evidence does not state when Raft will open external PRs, Issues, or Prompt Requests.

Raft Releases Source Code but Does Not Yet Accept External Contributions, Exploring the Prompt Request Model

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