Silex & the NGI Zero Commons Fund
Silex is funded by a grant from the NGI Zero Commons Fund, for work that makes the project more self-reliant and more open. This page tracks it, live.
An EU-supported push to make Silex more libre
NLnet project 2025-10-133
This work was made possible with a donation from NGI Zero Commons Fund. NGI Zero Commons Fund is part of the European Commission's Next Generation Internet initiative, established under the aegis of the Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT). Additional funding is made available by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
The NGI Zero Commons Fund is administered by NLnet. Horizon Europe research and innovation grant agreement 101135429. The funded work is registered as project 2025-10-133. Read more about the NGI Zero Commons Fund and about the Next Generation Internet initiative.
The grant funds a defined scope of work, listed on this page: a desktop application you run yourself, a community translation workflow, and a move of the whole project onto libre infrastructure. Silex as a whole is not funded by this grant: the rest of the project is funded from other sources, including Alex Hoyau's client work.
This page tracks that work and is updated as milestones are reached. Last updated: 29 July 2026.
What the grant funds
Five workstreams, tracked live on GitHub under the nlnet label.
1. Silex Desktop
A local-first desktop app: it publishes straight to your own git forge, keeps your files under your control, and works without an account.
In progress
2. Editor internationalization
The editor becomes translatable end to end, with a community translation workflow via Weblate and a CI safeguard that catches any untranslated string.
Planned
3. Move to a libre forge
The code and its submodules move from GitHub to a libre forge, with the release pipeline and the desktop updater. A read-only mirror stays for visibility.
In progress
4. Libre package registry
Packages are published through a libre registry the project hosts and controls, so a fresh install resolves the project's own packages from libre infrastructure.
Planned
5. Replace Google Fonts
A libre font infrastructure for both the editor and the end-user font picker, so a fresh install loads fonts without any request to Google.
Planned
Follow, contribute, and about NLnet
Silex is free software (AGPL) built by the Silex Labs association and its community. The internationalization and move-to-libre-infrastructure work is what this grant makes possible.
- Source code and issues: github.com/silexlabs/Silex
- Community forum: community.silex.me
- Mastodon: @silex@fosstodon.org
- Translations: announced here and on the forum once the Weblate workflow is live
NLnet is a foundation that funds work to reclaim the public nature of the internet. The NGI Zero Commons Fund supports free and open source projects that strengthen the internet as a public good, with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet initiative.