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Dennis is an open-source artifact lifecycle and knowledge preservation engine designed to make software projects portable, reproducible, and verifiable. Instead of treating source code, documentation, configuration, and metadata as disconnected files, Dennis packages them into deterministic DEX (Dennis Exchange) artifacts that can be signed, verified, compared, versioned, and shared across teams and organizations. Built around the principles of reproducibility, integrity, and long-term knowledge preservation, Dennis helps developers capture not only what they built, but also the context in which it evolved. By combining deterministic packaging, cryptographic verification, artifact lineage, and extensible metadata, Dennis provides a solid foundation for modern development workflows while remaining CLI-first, provider-agnostic, and fully open source. Dennis is the core engine behind The Forge platform, but it is also a powerful standalone tool for developers who value transparency, porta
Features
- Deterministic DEX artifact generation
- Portable, self-contained project packaging
- Cryptographic artifact signing and verification
- Canonical JSON serialization for reproducible hashes
- Artifact integrity validation
- Artifact lineage and relationship tracking
- Knowledge preservation beyond source code
- Built-in artifact metadata management
- Extensible DEX manifest format
- Differential artifact comparison (canonical diff)
- Offline-first design
- CLI-first workflow
- Human-readable and machine-readable artifact manifests
- Reproducible software packaging
- Cryptographic checksum verification
- Cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows)
- Git-aware project discovery
- Incremental artifact generation
- Plugin-friendly architecture
- Provider-agnostic design
- Open artifact specification (DEX)
- Future Chronicle integration for historical knowledge
- Future KoR (Keeper of Records) support for immutable audit trails
- JSON-native APIs
- Automation-friendly command-line interface
- Fully open source