One of the most influential pieces of writing in open source history is Eric Raymond’s “The Cathedral and the Bazaar.” If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a must—it basically sets up a contrast between two ways of organizing a project:
- The Cathedral: A small group of highly focused architects building (and polishing) something behind closed doors, releasing updates only when it’s “done.”
- The Bazaar: An open, noisy, collaborative marketplace where everyone can contribute simultaneously, and innovation emerges from the collective chaos.
This essay laid a philosophical foundation for why open source is so powerful: when many people can contribute, ideas and code can iterate faster, more organically, and with a sense of shared ownership.
I want to share how this analogy applies to Gitcoin’s evolution. Increasingly I think of Allo ecosystem as the bazaar and Gitcoin Grants Stack as a cathedral…
Allo as the Bazaar
If we look at today’s open funding mechanisms in the Gitcoin ecosystem, there are about a dozen built on Allo. , Allo is our very own “bazaar.” It’s designed from the ground up to be modular, flexible, and open. Anyone can hop in, experiment with new funding models, or spin up their own instance of a grants program. It’s this swirl of community-led innovation—everyone pitching in from different angles—that truly embodies the bazaar spirit. Think of Allo as an endlessly hackable marketplace of ideas, where communities can create new ways to fund what matters most to them.
One of my favorite bazaar type projects right now is ai16z… They are competing with cathedral heavyweights (google and openAI) with open source innovation. And winning because they ship FAST. This is something to emulate with Allo I think. To do that, we might need a new structure that is built for the ground up for speed.
Gitcoin Quarterly Programs: Also the Bazaar
Gitcoin’s Grants - Gitcoin’s Quarterly Public Goods Funding Programs (especially after going multi-mechanism) also embody the bazaar spirit. These programs are spaces for experimentation, where new communities, ideas, and funding mechanisms are constantly emerging and being tested. They’re open, dynamic, and powered by the contributions of diverse participants.
Gitcoin & Grants Stack as the Cathedral
Meanwhile, the Gitcoin Grants Stack (the engine that powers Gitcoin’s Grants rounds from GG15-GG22) is closer to the “cathedral” approach. It’s deliberately built and managed with guardrails, curation, and a more enterprise ready set of standards. There’s a solidity (pun intended) in how the Grants Stack is structured, ensuring a consistent and high-quality experience for grantees and donors alike. Grants Lab takes in feedback, carefully shape the code, and then release it in well-thought-out updates—a bit like a team of dedicated cathedral builders perfecting each stone in place.
Both approaches are valid, powerful, and—most importantly—complementary. The bazaar thrives on experimentation, fluid collaboration, and fast iteration. The cathedral provides reliability, structure, and a polished experience at scale. By weaving them together, we can create a more robust ecosystem of public goods funding: one that’s open and experimental enough to welcome new ideas (Allo), while also being dependable and user-friendly at scale (Gitcoin Grants Stack).
I used to think that Gitcoin becoming a DAO meant that Gitcoin had to move from being a cathedral to being a bazaar… I no longer think that is the case. I think that Gitcoin accomplished prettymuch everything it set out to do at DAO launch and did it better cathedral style in 2023 than it did in 2021-2023 when it was trying to become more of a bazaar. It was a bridge to far to think that we could innovate on software development AND DAO style governance and the results in market from the 2021-2023 time show it.
That said, I’m excited about the bazaar like attributes that seem to be growing and thriving around the GG ecosystem and Allo. The synergy between the bazaar and the cathedral is at the heart of why Gitcoin and Allo can succeed together. In the coming weeks, I’ll be proposing the formalization of a structure that can enable this success.
We can push the boundaries of what’s possible (the bazaar) without losing the foundation that makes it all accessible (the cathedral). “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” isn’t just an essay about software; it’s a philosophy about how collaboration can shape the future—and I can’t wait to see what this community builds next.
Let’s keep shipping in both ways!
