OpenLint is an open specification and toolbox for linting API artifacts: the rules that check whether an OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, Arazzo or other API document is valid, consistent and follows an organization's guidelines.

Today, most of this work runs on Spectral, an open source linter created by Stoplight, which is now owned by SmartBear. Spectral's ruleset format has become a de facto standard. Governments, banks and companies publish their API design rules as Spectral rulesets, and other tools import them. But the format was never specified, development has slowed, and it depends on one vendor's priorities. OpenLint is a community fork that turns that work into a shared, vendor-neutral standard.

We are building three things:

The project started in July 2026 and took the OpenLint name by community vote in September. Contributors include the people who built and maintained Spectral and the rulesets around it, maintainers of other API tools, and people from the public sector. The code is at github.com/openlint/openlint, and the community is at github.com/openlint/community and openlint.org.

Why Open Source Europe: most of the people doing the governance work are in Europe, and much of the demand comes from European public institutions that use API linting to enforce national API design rules. They need a standard no single vendor controls. We want a home that can hold the project's name and intellectual property, act as a neutral fiscal host, and fit the push for sovereign, European-governed open source infrastructure. We also considered the Linux Foundation and the OpenAPI Initiative. The community favors Open Source Europe.

With a home, we will set up open funding through Open Collective, ask organizations that depend on API linting to sponsor it, and use those funds to pay maintainers and to facilitate the community's meetings and work.