Proposed Labs Project Contribution: Open Workspace

[saracgil]

Contribution Prerequisites

• I have read FINOS Contribution Requirements.
• I confirm I am contributing on behalf of a FINOS member OR I will seek a maintainer from a member during socialization.
• I have reviewed the FINOS Contribution Process.
• I have reviewed the FINOS Project Lifecycle stages.
• I am familiar with FINOS Governance and Maintainer Responsibilities.

Target Lifecycle Stage

Labs

FINOS Member Organization Name

BrightQuery

Name

Open Workspace

Slug

open-workspace

Business Problem & Solution

Financial services firms need a vendor-neutral, browser-based way to create analytical experiences around their own data, tools, and working practices, rather than being limited to the interface and workflow model of any one provider. OpenBB Workspace is an open and extensible analytics workspace that financial services firms can self-host. It enables each institution to connect its own data sources, internal tools, and AI agents within a security, compliance, and governance framework suited to regulated environments. The workspace provides a collaborative environment for building and sharing workflows, while allowing institutions to retain control of their data and operating environment. A FINOS donation would make this foundation available for the community to inspect, govern, improve, and extend for regulated financial use.

Mission Statement

The mission of the project is to provide an open and extensible analytics workspace that financial services firms and institutions can self-host and connect to their own data sources, internal tools, and AI agents.

Existing Materials

Source code

The Apache v2 Licensed Source code for OpenBB Workspace is here (private) and the components that build and run it. It is private as of this submission, and finos-admin can be granted access as requested. This monorepo contains the following components:

• frontend/ | The Workspace frontend, built with React 18, TypeScript, and Vite.
• backend-api/ | Backend API, built with FastAPI and SQLAlchemy, plus the admin CLI and admin dashboard.
• lite/ | Docker packaging that assembles a lightweight version from the backend and frontend.
• excel-add-in/ | Excel add-in, built with Office.js, TypeScript, and React.

This code will be made public as a final snapshot for historical purposes as OpenBB Inc sunsets (see blog) so, if the contribution is accepted, this should be a fork rather than a repo transfer.

Logo Donation

OpenBB Inc, which will no longer be in operation, would like to donate the current logo (graphics only, no wordmark) which is extensively used in the UI. @DidierRLopes (CEO) will be able to sign the relevant agreements until Sept 26th.

Naming

To avoid confusion with the previous (commercial version) of this product, in order to avoid conflicts, per FINOS / LF trademark guidance, we propose a new project name to be adopted. Alternative names for the project, in order of preference, if there is a trademark issue with the proposed name:

• Open Workspace
• Open Financial Workspace
• Blue Butterfly, aligned with a potential logo donation if the prior OpenBB butterfly logo changes from black to blue
• OSF Workspace, where OSF stands for Open Source Financial
• Financial WorkTab, a reference to browser terminology
• Open LaunchPad, reflecting comparisons to Apple, Android, and Bloomberg LaunchPad

Additional Information (Optional)

N/A

Maintainer Team

Name	Affiliation	Email	GitHub Username
Ihsan Saracgil	BrightQuery	saracgil@gmail.com	@saracgil
Darren Lee	BrightQuery	dlee@brightquery.com	@deeleeramone
Jethin Abraham	BrightQuery	jabraham@brightquery.com	@jethin-bq
Duy Ton	BrightQuery	duy@brightquery.com	@bq-dt2025
Sriram Bajrang	BrightQuery	sriram@brightquery.com	@SriramBajrang1

We encourage interested firms to comment on this issue to put forward further contributors, maintainers.

Steering / Advisory Committee

Besides maintainers, we would like to explore the formation of advisory/steering committee as part of the project governance to solicit input from the FINOS community. If you are an interested FINOS Member / financial institution, please put forward your name / your organization in the comments below.

Compliance & Requirements Agreement

• I understand that before being able to contribute all maintainers and contributors will need to be covered by a Contributor License Agreement or commits must satisfy the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) requirements.
• I confirm that software will be covered by the Apache 2.0 License and any third-party code is compatible.
• I have selected the appropriate lifecycle stage based on that stage's requirements. I agree and commit to the Acceptance & Maintenance Requirements for my target stage.

Administrative Consent & Transfer Authorization

• I agree to grant 'finos-admin' Admin/Owner access to the repository for security auditing and setup.
• I authorize the transfer (or fork) of this code/repository to the FINOS GitHub organization upon project acceptance.
• I confirm I have the legal authority (individual or corporate) to grant these permissions.

Socialization Acknowledgement

• I understand I may need to socialize this proposal to community@finos.org before approval to gauge community interest.

[DidierRLopes]

As founder & CEO of OpenBB. I approve this!

[petepetersen423]

Love to contribute and advise

[jplehnbq]

Hi everyone! This is Jose Plehn, Founder and CEO of BrightQuery ("BQ"). BQ is super excited about helping preserve and expand the amazing Workspace platform founded by Didier Lopes of OpenBB. Workspace will grow immensely under FINOS stewardship, and BQ is happy to serve. We are hoping others can step forward and assist with maintaining and expanding the capabilities of Workspace. We are also looking for folks to serve as Advisors to help guide its development. Please feel free to reach out to Gab or me directly (jplehn@brightquery) if you are interested in supporting this work!

[TheJuanAndOnly99]

Thank you @saracgil for your contribution proposal! Can you please grant access to the codebase to the @finos-admin user? We'll also reach out via email with next steps.

[piiq]

Hi @TheJuanAndOnly99
The @finos-admin account was granted access. Please accept the invite.

[TheJuanAndOnly99]

Thank you @piiq I can confirm that we have access now.

[DidierRLopes]

Here are the logo assets:

[TheJuanAndOnly99]

Hi @saracgil + team,

I’ve performed an initial license scan on the repository.

The overall structure and outbound Apache-2.0 licensing look great, but the scan flagged several strict "Category X" licenses in the runtime code.

I'm attaching the report findings with remediation suggestions Open Workspace License Scan Findings & Remediation Report.md.

Can you work on this on your fork? Otherwise if you allow us to fork the repo (seems forking is disabled currently) we can create a private fork in the finos-labs GitHub org where you can work.