Last updated: 2026-08-14 | Owner: strategist (snapshot), ci-maintainer (R2/Releases data), guide (publishing) Tracking: tunaos#1174
tunaOS ships 179+ downloadable ISOs across 9+ variants × 5 desktops, yet has zero usage telemetry. Roadmap themes (Q3 "Expand", Q4 "Mature") are executed without evidence of what users download, install, or keep. Enterprise credibility (Redfin/RHEL #1123, FOSDEM 2027 CFP #1135) rests on demonstrable adoption — today the only public signal is a star count that moved 55→56 in a month.
This document defines what to measure, where the data comes from, when to publish, and how the snapshot feeds roadmap decisions.
| Tier | Metric | Source | Current baseline (08-10) | Target (Q4 2026, "Mature") |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | GitHub stars / forks | GitHub API | 56 / 3 | ≥100 stars |
| Discovery | Docs site visits, top variant pages | Cloudflare analytics on tunaos.org | not measured | ≥1k visits/mo, variant-page ranking |
| Discovery | DistroWatch referral traffic | Cloudflare analytics referrer field, tunaos.org | not submitted yet — draft ready (docs/DISTROWATCH-SUBMISSION.md, tunaos#1333) | Submission live; referral share visible in the monthly snapshot |
| Download | ISO downloads by variant+desktop | R2 access logs (tunaos.org/download) | not measured | ≥1k ISO downloads/mo; variant ranking |
| Download | GitHub Release asset downloads | Releases API (resumed 08-09, #1106) | 0 (assets were empty shells) | assets present on all flavors; downloads counted |
| Install | Installs / successful boots | opt-in telemetry or boot-report gating | not measured | Q4 design decision (#577 GUI gate, #763) |
| Community | Merged PRs from external human contributors | GitHub API | 3 merged contributions from 3 verified humans (docs#234, docs#239 on 08-14; one bootc-migrate contribution on 08-05) | ≥5 merged PRs from ≥3 humans, including one repeat contributor |
| Community | Discussion posts, good first issue pickups |
GitHub API | 0 starter issues (dead label, #1308) | ≥5 starter issues picked up |
| Community | External public adopters (production or evaluation), ADOPTERS.md — excludes the maintainer and TunaOS's own infrastructure | Manual — PR from the adopting org, or outreach asking permission to list | 0 external entries (#1348) | ≥2–3 external evaluator/production entries |
| Community | Adoption-call conversion | GitHub Discussion + follow-up PRs | not measured | Record responses, consent-confirmed named entries, anonymous reports, and ADOPTERS.md PRs |
Instrumentation order (cheapest first):
- GitHub Releases download counts — free API counter; needs non-gnome flavors to publish assets too (#1254 parity gap — scheduled matrix now covers gnome/kde/xfce/cosmic/niri, PR pending; watch the next few scheduled runs to confirm kde/xfce/cosmic/niri publish before counting this instrumentation step done).
- R2/Cloudflare access-log analytics on tunaos.org/download — R2 already serves the ISOs; enable access logs + a dashboard (owner: ci-maintainer).
- Docs analytics — Cloudflare Web Analytics on the Docusaurus site (one script tag; owner: guide).
- Install telemetry — deferred to Q4 design decision; do not block 1–3.
- Monthly snapshot, published in the ROADMAP Community section (first: 2026-11-01, covering October — aligns with Q4 "Mature" opening).
- Snapshot format: downloads by variant × desktop (top 10), stars/forks, external-contributor PRs, release-asset presence per flavor, ADOPTERS.md EXTERNAL production/evaluation entry count (the two self-entries — maintainer and TunaOS CI — are excluded; counting them would have met the >=2 target on the day it was written, #1348), adoption-call responses/conversion, and a one-line "variant ranking" that flags under-/over-performing editions.
- Ownership: strategist compiles; ci-maintainer supplies R2/Releases exports; guide publishes on tunaos.org/blog.
The current outreach record is kept in docs/ADOPTION-OUTREACH-STATUS.md. A draft, an intended recipient, or an ecosystem relationship is not an outreach result; the monthly snapshot must record a sent date, public URL, response, or an explicitly unattempted status.
The 2026-08-14 docs merges establish a real external-contribution channel and
are useful leading evidence for the Hacktoberfest funnel. They do not establish
that the authors use TunaOS. Keep the contribution count separate from
production/evaluation entries in ADOPTERS.md; only a consent-confirmed report
belongs in the adopter funnel.
Each snapshot must answer two questions for the roadmap:
- Which variants/desktops justify the 40-cell nightly build fanout (#1106)?
- Which variant pages need content investment (docs parity, #1294)?
A variant with <2% of downloads for two consecutive snapshots is a candidate for downgrade or retirement in the next quarterly roadmap — unless there is a documented strategic reason to keep it (e.g., enterprise channel #1123).
- No user-tracking cookies or invasive telemetry in the OS image.
- Download counts are a proxy for installs, not proof of use — do not over-claim adoption in external materials (FOSDEM CFP, enterprise outreach) beyond what snapshots show.
Q4 2026 goal: "Adoption metrics / usage telemetry" (owner: strategist, tunaos#1174) — first monthly snapshot published 2026-11-01 and Q4 target metrics above met or explicitly re-baselined in the ROADMAP.
Filed by strategist agent (ACMM L6 — full mode) — planning artifact for tunaos#1174.