Robur is a non-profit software cooperative that develops secure, reliable and sustainable open-source infrastructure. We specialise in OCaml, MirageOS unikernels, systems programming, software security and long-term maintenance for organisations that rely on dependable digital infrastructure.
We are a non-profit open source software cooperative whose mission is to develop robust and secure digital infrastructure. We help organisations and individuals reliably operate their own infrastructure by producing correct, surprise-free software to be deployed in real environments. Our software is designed for organisations where security and reliability are essential.
We write all our code in OCaml, a high-level memory-safe programming language. In addition each piece of software leverages MirageOS (a minimal operating system) to produce bespoke applications tailored to only contain their required functionality. Each service runs as a virtual machine typically around 1-10 MB in size, much smaller than a UNIX / Linux system, and it boots within milliseconds.
Where other approaches try to patch general-purpose operating systems by adding more layers, we strive to build a secure system from the ground up.
Our approach provides several security and ease-of-use benefits:
We work with clients, partners and funders to design and develop open-source protocols and applications within this approach.
If you are interested in seeing how we can assist you in improving your organisation's digital infrastructure please see our services.
If you like our approach to open source software and want to support our work please consider a donation.
Or if you are a funder of open source projects focused on security and reliability and like our approach we would love to hear from you.
We design, develop and audit reliable software systems (and systems software), with a focus on security, sustainability, and long-term operation.
With your help we understand the needs of your organisation, and your software infrastructure. We consult you to improve resource usage, security, ease of use, and ease of maintenance.
We develop applications in OCaml using MirageOS that give you high assurance of their security and functionality, which seamlessly integrate in your existing infrastructure. Here are some of our projects.
We build systems from small, understandable components. By reducing complexity and keeping control close to the foundations, we create software that is easier to maintain, audit and trust.
We provide code auditing services, particularly focusing on security and reducing codebase size. Our team has extensive experience working with OCaml and C.
We focus on software that keeps working when it matters. Our systems are designed for security, correctness and long-term operation, helping organisations build dependable infrastructure they can rely on.
We maintain and contribute to a range of open-source projects focused on secure, reliable and sustainable digital infrastructure.
Current and past projects.
Binaries we build and host.
Robur is a project of Änderwerk, a charity registered in Germany. Donations to robur are tax-deductible in Europe.
DONATE NOWWe have GitHub sponsors enabled, so you can easily send money that way. Please keep in mind that GitHub and stripe take a cut, and we can't offer donation receipts for that.
SPONSOR USWe work with research institutions, public-sector organisations, infrastructure providers and technology companies that depend on reliable software. We value long-term collaborations and sustainable engineering over one-off engagements.
Robur is a software development cooperative specializing in robust and secure digital infrastructure written in OCaml.
Dinosaure wants the majority of its services to be unikernels in OCaml. A big reader of RFCs, it implements protocols and formats in OCaml. He has been participating in MirageOS for quite some time and continues to promote its use and develop usable unikernels such as paste.osau.re, bob, and his blog.
Hannes enjoys living in Berlin, Germany. Until the end of 2017, he used to be a research associate at the University of Cambridge in the rems project. He enjoys writing code, and also traveling and repairing his recumbent bicycle, and being a barista.
Hannes did his PhD in computer science about formal verification of imperative code (using a higher-order separation logic and the theorem prover Coq). Hannes co-authored not-quite-so-broken TLS, a TLS implementation from the ground up in OCaml, and contributes to the MirageOS project as a core team member. He is working on various projects, including opam signing and netsem, an executable formal model of TCP/IP which serves as a test validator.
His blog is at https://hannes.robur.coop.
Pixie comes from a web development background. Pixie started with functional programming, particularly with OCaml in 2023 as an Outreachy intern working on Persistent storage in MirageOS, which was supervized by Reynir, and Sonja Heinze. Pixie loves to learn new things, and is currently working on building tools that make technology accessible to everyone. Aside from that, Pixie is also interested in improving editor tools and improving the developer experience for OCaml.
Pixie enjoys a wide range of artistic expression such as music, photography, and loves taking adventures.
Reynir enjoys spending time in and tending to their permaculture garden in rural Denmark. He likes cycling and bouldering. He has a blog at reyn.ir with posts from time to time.
Reynir studied computer science at Aarhus University with an interest in programming languages and formal verification. After some years working in industry with heterogeneous Unix systems followed by two years of various volunteer work he joined Robur in 2020. He is still heavily involved as a developer and system administrator in data.coop, an association that collectively owns and runs servers offering digital services for their members.
