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The OpsDev.nz Collective

OpsDev.nz is the operations and platform engineering collective inside StartMeUp.NZ. We build tooling, maintain infrastructure, and provide the operational backbone that lets other collectives focus on their mission instead of their DNS config.

We are collective zero under the StartMeUp.NZ fiscal host (SMUNZ) — the first collective hosted there, and the operational backbone that future SMUNZ collectives rely on.

What we do

We build and maintain Python modules

Small, focused tools that solve real operational problems. Current modules include OpenCollective automation (oc-opsdevnz), 1Password secret resolution (op-opsdevnz), DNS management (octodns-metaname), and daily worklog tooling (worklog-opsdevnz). More are in development.

We research and develop new tooling

New modules are incubated here as prototypes, evaluated against our own infrastructure, and graduate to public releases when they're ready. The spin-out model below covers what happens when a tool grows beyond OpsDev.nz.

We're part of the communities behind the tools we depend on.

We've made small contributions to OctoDNS. We use Zensical and OpenCode every day and hope to contribute back to those projects when we can.

We provide operational infrastructure to collectives

We are building the automation and AI-driven workflows SMUNZ needs to operate. We will support other collectives that are onboarded under the SMUNZ fiscal host. DNS-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, secret management, hosting, funds reconciliation etc. the unglamorous plumbing that keeps a collective running. New collectives get their first year of service at no cost.

We organise community events

DevOpsDays Wellington, Software Freedom Day, and others — to create spaces where people talk about what they're building and how we can help. These events are incubated within OpsDev.nz and designed to spin out into their own collectives. We stay on as operational support, the same way we would for any collective in the SMUNZ network.

Explore

  • Runbooks — DNS workflows, secret-resolution diagrams, and testing guidance.
  • Modules — Overview of each OpsDev.nz Python package.
  • Worklogs — Daily logs of what we're working on.
  • Releasing guide — How we version, tag, and publish modules.
  • Source on GitLab — Issues, merge requests, and CI history.

Who our work is for

  • Open source projects and tools that need operational improvements — features, fixes, maintenance — and want to fund that work through donations or sponsorship rather than hiring internally.
  • Collectives and early-stage ventures under SMUNZ who need DNS, secrets, CI/CD, and hosting infrastructure without building an ops team from scratch.
  • Organisations that value operational transparency and want to support infrastructure work that benefits the wider Aotearoa New Zealand startup and FOSS ecosystems.

How we're funded

Three revenue streams, none dependent on a single source:

1. Donations & sponsorships

Via OpenCollective. Individuals and organisations who use our modules, attend our events, or believe in the mission can contribute. Sponsorships are available for organisations that want to be visibly associated with the work.

2. Collective services

We charge a platform fee to collectives hosted under SMUNZ for the operational services we provide (DNS, CI/CD, secrets, hosting, reconciliation). Year 1 is free — a year of service to get new collectives running. Year 2+ scales with the collective's budget.

3. Contracting

Our founder, John Billings, contracts as an individual operator. When contract work is found through OpsDev.nz visibility — someone discovers our work and says "we need that person" — a portion of that income flows back to SMUNZ as a payroll allocation. This supports the collective's ongoing operations and keeps the modules maintained.

What we're not

Not a dev shop. We don't build whatever you pay for. We work on things that align with our mission: open tooling, operational infrastructure, and support for the NZ startup ecosystem.

Not an events company. We incubate events and spin them out. Our role is operational support: logistics, infrastructure, the backbone. The community runs the event.

Not venture-backed. We're bootstrapped, lean, and designed to stay that way. Our burn rate is published on the operating costs page.

The spin-out model

Projects, events, and modules can outgrow OpsDev.nz. When they do, they can:

  • Become a collective with SMUNZ
  • Move to another fiscal host like Gift Collective or the Open Source Collective
  • Incorporate on their own

OpsDev.nz continues to provide platform engineering support. Projects that stay with SMUNZ follow the standard model: year 1 is free, year 2+ scales with the collective's budget. Projects that spin out to another host or incorporate independently engage us on a subscription or contract basis.

This is what we mean by "community enablement." We don't run things on your behalf. We give you the infrastructure to run them yourself, and we stick around to support you along the way.

Joining the collective

OpsDev.nz is itself a collective under SMUNZ. Read our collective onboarding record for the full qualification. This describes what SMUNZ looks for and how we meet the criteria. If you're interested in contributing as a developer, a technical writer, an event organiser, or a subject matter expert, you can start by reading the worklogs to see what we're working on, then reach out. AI agents and tooling are welcome to read the worklogs too — the same context helps.

We're building this in the open. The source is on GitLab and the modules are on GitHub. Contributions are welcome. Commits must be signed by a human.