Help us find what’s broken
Seven programs are finished enough to be useful and rough enough to still break. We would rather find that out from you than from a stranger later. There is no signup form, no account and no Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) — you send an email, we send you the software and a short note on what would help most.
Tell us roughly what you do and which one interests you. That is the whole application.
Being a tester here means using it and saying what happened
No test scripts to follow and no forms to fill in. Use it for something you genuinely care about, and tell us where it got in your way.
- Try it on a real task, not a toy one — that is where the problems live
- Tell us when it broke, and roughly what you were doing at the time
- Say when something is confusing. Confusing is a bug
- Do not put it in front of customers or patients yet. It is not ready for that
“I could not work out how to start” is one of the most useful messages you can send. It means the documentation is wrong, and that is our problem to fix.
- The software, free, and free to keep using under its open licence
- Your name in the credits, if you want it there
- Real influence on what gets built next — there is no committee to go through
- A straight answer every time, including “you are right, that is bad”
If you are a business weighing this up for real work, say so. We would rather talk about whether it genuinely fits than collect another signup.
Pick the one that matches your day
Each of these is at a different stage. We have said plainly which are ready for you to use and which need someone who is comfortable with rough edges.
ParanoidBSD — an operating system that is harder to break into
There is no disk you can install yet, so testing here means reading rather than running: looking over the design, the checks, and the record of what has been converted so far, and telling us where the reasoning does not hold up.
Good fit if: you build or secure operating systems, or you buy them and have to justify the choice.
Test this oneCypha — a small Artificial Intelligence (AI) that keeps learning
Point it at your own data and see whether it holds up against whatever you use now. We especially want to hear where it loses, and on what kind of problem.
Good fit if: you work with data or machine learning, or you have a device too small for the usual tools.
Test this oneRetDec Imortek — works out what a program does without its source code
Give it something you already understand and check whether it agrees with you. The failures we most want are the confident wrong answers, not the blank ones.
Good fit if: you analyse malware, audit software, or maintain a system whose source code is long gone.
Test this oneMathScript — a complete maths toolkit in one piece
Take a calculation you already trust, run it through this, and tell us if the answer moves. Slow is worth reporting too, not just wrong.
Good fit if: you write software that does serious maths, especially somewhere you cannot freely install things.
Test this oneAEGIS — hides who is talking, not just what was said
Run it between a few machines and try to work out, from the outside, who was talking to whom. If you can tell, we need to know how.
Good fit if: you protect sources, run security for an organisation, or share sensitive data with people you also compete against.
Test this oneSENTINEL — finds patterns in crime data and shows its working
A normal desktop program with buttons and maps. Load real records, see whether what it points at matches what you already knew, and tell us where it wasted your time.
Good fit if: you are a crime analyst, a fraud investigator, or you research policing. No programming required.
Test this oneCell AI — AI built a completely different way
This one does not beat the usual approach and does not claim to. Testing it means poking at where it fails and helping work out whether the idea underneath is worth more.
Good fit if: you research AI, model living systems, or teach either.
Test this oneNot sure? Start in your browser
Every product page on this site has a working version of the thing running on it — no download, no account. It is the quickest way to find out whether any of this is for you.
Good fit if: you would rather look before emailing anybody.
Browse the productsThe honest caveats
This is unpaid, and we will not pretend otherwise
It will break, and some of it will be your fault to find
You keep your data, and we do not want it
Free for most people, paid only above a threshold
One person answers the email
Two sentences is a complete application
What you do, and which one caught your eye. That is genuinely all we need to send you something useful and tell you where to start.