Help build it
FreeSDN accepts no money: no sponsors, no Patreon, no 'buy me a coffee.' That is a deliberate choice. It keeps the project's incentives clean and its recommendations honest. There are two ways to help instead, both optional, and both with outsized impact.
The fastest path to better vendor support
FreeSDN adapters are only as deep as the hardware they can be tested against. The Omada adapter is the reference because we run Omada in production every day. Other adapters are thinner simply because that gear has never sat on the bench.
If your vendor is on the wishlist below and you have a spare unit gathering dust, donating it is what turns guesswork into a verified, maintained adapter.
How it works
- 1Email hardware@freesdn.org and tell us what you have.
- 2Arrange shipping. You cover the cost, and the gear does not come back to you.
- 3The device gets integrated, tested, and verified against the production contract.
- 4That vendor becomes permanently supported: in the codebase, in the docs, and in CI.
- 5You get credited on the Supporters Wall, if you want to be.
The terms, read these before you ship
- Ownership transfers permanently. The device does not come back.
- During integration and reverse-engineering it may be modified, reflashed, factory-reset, or bricked. That is expected and accepted.
- There is no compensation, no warranty, and no returns.
- What you get in return: that vendor supported for everyone, for as long as FreeSDN ships.
Donors who want credit get a spot on the Supporters Wall: your name, your org, a pseudonym, or stay anonymous. Your call.
The gaps that matter most right now
Roughly in priority order. Some of these would deepen an existing adapter; others would start a brand-new one. Either way, a single donated unit can move the needle for everyone running that gear.
| Hardware | What a donation unlocks |
|---|---|
| Ubiquiti UDM-Pro, a US-series switch, and a U6 access point | Deepens the UniFi adapter with real-hardware write verification. |
| MikroTik CRS326 or CCR2004 | Switch-fabric coverage plus CAPsMAN wireless on top of the routing adapter. |
| HPE Aruba CX 6100 or an Instant AP | Bootstraps an Aruba adapter, a major enterprise switching gap today. |
| Cisco Catalyst 1000 or 9000 | Bootstraps a Cisco adapter, another major gap. |
| Fortinet FortiGate (any model) | A new firewall adapter, popular across SMB and mid-market. |
| Sophos XGS (any model) | A new Sophos firewall adapter. |
| TrueNAS Mini or a SCALE system | Wires up the storage write surface and backup integration. |
| QNAP or Synology NAS | A new storage adapter; the data model already exists. |
| ZKTeco reader or a 2N IP intercom | Door endpoints return 501 today; one real device unblocks the access module. |
| Dahua NVR or camera | A Dahua adapter alongside the existing Hikvision one. |
| Meraki MX or MS (no subscription needed to donate) | A Meraki adapter against a stable, well-documented API. |
| Juniper Mist AP or EX switch | Bootstraps a Juniper adapter. |
Not seeing your hardware? Email hardware@freesdn.org anyway. If it fits the platform's scope, it goes on the list.
The second way to help, and a direct one
FreeSDN is developed with heavy help from AI tooling, specifically Claude Code (Anthropic) and OpenAI Codex. For a small project covering this much surface area, that is how the audit cycle, the test coverage, and the security reviews stay continuous.
If you want to fuel that pipeline directly, you can gift a subscription. Those are the only two tools used: no other models, no cloud credits, no crypto.
Claude
Gift a subscription to fuel@freesdn.org
OpenAI Codex
Gift a subscription to fuel@freesdn.org
It is the most direct contribution there is, short of donating hardware. More on the philosophy is on the About page.
Credit where it is due
This wall recognizes hardware donors who opt into public credit. It will be populated at launch as donations arrive. Prefer to stay anonymous? That is always fine, and the default if you do not say otherwise.
The wall is empty, for now
Donate hardware and you can be the first name on it, under your name, your org, a pseudonym, or no name at all.
Be the firstNone of these require shipping anything
File a bug report
The highest-value contribution that costs nothing. Accurate reports with reproduction steps get fixed; vague ones do not.
Open an issue on GitHubTest against real hardware
Run FreeSDN against your gear and tell us where it does not match what the docs claim. Those contradictions are exactly what we need.
Supported vendorsReport a vulnerability
Please do not open a public issue. Email us privately with details and steps to reproduce, and give us time to remediate first.
security@freesdn.orgSpread the word
Star the repo. Share it with someone running a mixed-vendor network who would benefit from a single pane. The project grows by word of mouth.
Star on GitHubCode pull requests are not merged, on purpose
Every line of FreeSDN is authored and reviewed in-house. That is not a limitation, it is the trust model: a controlled supply chain with no drive-by external contributions, and an architecture that stays coherent because every layer is owned and maintained internally.
If you have built something on top of FreeSDN and want it in the ecosystem, the right path is the typed plugin SDK. Build your plugin and keep it yours; the SDK is designed for exactly that. Bug reports, hardware donations, and security disclosures are not code, and they are all very welcome.
The right inbox
Hardware donations. Start here.
Claude or Codex subscription gifts.
Security vulnerability disclosures.
General questions, press, and everything else.
Have something to donate?
A device, a subscription, a solid bug report. All of it moves FreeSDN forward.