01 — Foundational infrastructure
The Spine
Architecture, identity, trust, permissions, data, security and the shared services a coherent system depends on.
The foundationsA JOWIH Foundation research & engineering programme
Shared foundations.
Independent possibilities.
We're researching and engineering the digital infrastructure that could help Africa's people, services and institutions work better together.
An emerging programme. An open invitation. A foundation still being engineered.
An idea of what could be possible. Not the infrastructure itself.
01 / The vision
Not another app.
A foundation for many.
ASTA OS is envisioned as a shared digital infrastructure and orchestration environment—not a conventional desktop or mobile operating system, and not a single consumer product.
The programme explores how people, businesses, governments, institutions and independent developers might connect through secure, authorised interfaces. Participating services should retain their own identity, operations and independence.
Explore the architecture02 / Three connected workstreams
Design the whole.
Build from the foundations.
One coherent architecture—researched and refined across three connected disciplines.
02 — Interoperability
The Nerves
Protocols, APIs and digital rails that let independent services, institutions and physical systems connect.
The connections03 — Intelligence & orchestration
The Brain
Search, knowledge, AI and agents that use authorised capabilities and keep people accountable.
The intelligenceThese are charter-defined research workstreams—not claims that these systems are already built. Technical choices, capabilities and performance targets require evidence and validation.
03 / A first-party Super App MVP
A glimpse of a product.
Not the platform beneath it.
These screenshots are early explorations from the Jowih Super App MVP: a first-party showcase of what connected digital experiences might make possible.
The MVP is not ASTA OS, does not demonstrate ASTA interoperability, and is not the foundation of the programme. ASTA OS is being architected independently. The concept may inform a future first-party application designed to operate on ASTA OS.
04 / A research-led path
Evidence first.
Implementation with intent.
The charter's proposed phases guide the work—from defining the problem through verification and engineering readiness. The sequence is a planning hypothesis, not a delivery promise.
- 0
Establish
Scope, questions, assumptions & community.
- I
Research
Requirements, identity, trust & security.
- II
The Spine
Core services, data & infrastructure.
- III
The Nerves
APIs, rails & ecosystem connections.
- IV
The Brain
Search, intelligence & agent controls.
- V
Validate
System-wide integration & verification.
- VI
Get ready
Tools, testing & an implementation plan.
- VII
Implement
Controlled engineering against reviewed designs.
Principles, not shortcuts
Security & privacy by design · Least privilege · Independent services · Open interfaces · Evidence before commitment · Human accountability
05 / Open to every discipline
Different expertise.
A shared undertaking.
This is not a developers-only project. ASTA's charter calls for disciplines to work together from the beginning.
- Systems & software engineering
- Security & cryptography
- Data, privacy & governance
- AI, search & agent systems
- Networks, cloud & reliability
- APIs & interoperability
- Finance & digital payments
- Research, testing & quality
- Design & accessibility
- Economics & incentives
- Technical writing
- Open-source community
A dedicated invitation to legal practitioners
Help us ask the right questions before the stakes get higher.
Lawyers and legal researchers can help examine intellectual property, open-source licences, privacy, cross-border data, jurisdictional obligations, contributor agreements and governance.
The policies are version 0.1 working drafts—not legal advice, adopted terms or substitutes for review by qualified counsel.
Questions are a good place to start.
Come think it through with us.
06 / Participation with clear boundaries
Open collaboration.
Informed participation.
Connection is not ownership.
The proposed integration policy preserves the independent ownership and operation of third-party services unless a separate written agreement says otherwise.
Access is never automatic.
Joining the ecosystem does not by itself grant access to platform data or services. Authorisation, security, privacy and applicable agreements still matter.
Contributions have clear terms.
Community participation alone does not transfer intellectual property or create a royalty entitlement. Qualifying work and any financial arrangements require separate assessment and properly executed agreements.
Important: The master charter and the integration, contribution/IP and contributor recognition/royalty policies are version 0.1 working drafts. Each remains subject to the relevant institutional, technical, legal or financial review. No fixed royalty rate or automatic entitlement is promised.
07 / Follow the work
Read the thinking.
Track what changes.
The ASTA-OS GitHub organization is the destination for open engineering work and versioned programme documents. As research is reviewed and published, follow the repository for the current version—rather than relying on an outdated copy.
Visit the ASTA-OS organizationBuild the foundations together