CIP Editing & our role in the Cardano standards process
There are a small number of CIP Editors from vastly different backgrounds. COSD, as a one-person consultancy and stake pool operation, has the unique distinction of offering founder Robert Phair (GitHub @rphair) to this self-organising (decentralised) team: since historically the Editors group has mainly been composed of representatives from Cardano's primary development agencies:
As the longest-term CIP editor to date, Robert is also the original author of the CIP Wiki which provides a complete introduction to Cardano standards, how they are agreed upon, what CIP editors do, and why these standards are important to Cardano's value, stability, and market share:
Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs): Wiki
From Robert…
My current niche in the CIP editing group — as daily repository maintainer, standards "librarian", meeting organiser, and developer relations focal point — has involved me personally in a great number of CIPs covering many subjects of interrelated Cardano standards. By steadily contributing writing and organisational support to this repository over my time as our "community" (i.e. professionally unaffiliated) editor, I have become its most prolific contributor:
Cardano Foundation CIP repository: List of contributors
I know of no blockchain equal to Cardano in non-competitive support for its own body of standards. A look through the PRs above will show many selfless reviewers and hugely helpful reviews free of commercial motivation. The "numbers" of my own contributions are only a reflection of my daily work to draw all these contributions together to support the overall value of the Cardano ecosystem, the Ada currency, and our growing decentralised application framework.
From late 2022 through late 2025, my work on the CIP editing team has been funded by popular vote through Project Catalyst, and continues to this day in full visibility and accountability to the Cardano Community:
GitHub: ongoing CIP Editing work reports, tasks & community outreach
