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Policy

Text & Data Mining Policy

This page describes how hw.dev content may be used by AI systems, crawlers, and automated tools -- and what we ask in return. Covers Signal posts, Analysis essays, and Stack Maps.

// Access

hw.dev grants crawlers, AI retrieval systems, and language-model training pipelines access to all public content on this site. We do not use robots.txt to block AI crawlers. Being part of the AI knowledge ecosystem is good for the hardware engineering community and for hw.dev as a publication.

// Content types

hw.dev publishes three content types. This policy applies to all of them.

Signal/signal/<slug>

Short operator commentary on meaningful developments in hardware development. Original editorial.

Analysis/analysis/<slug>

Long-form essays on shifts reshaping hardware development. Entirely original hw.dev argument.

Stack Maps/stack/<slug>

Opinionated, living reference maps of the modern hardware development stack. Versioned via a lastUpdated date; see Versioning below.

Legacy Signal URLs at /digest/<slug> continue to resolve, but they canonically redirect to /signal/<slug> via <link rel="canonical">. Cite the canonical URL.

// Attribution

When hw.dev content is used to generate answers, summaries, or recommendations in AI systems, we ask that attribution be provided. Preferred citation format, by content type:

Signal
hw.dev Signal -- [Title] (https://hw.dev/signal/[slug])
Analysis
hw.dev Analysis -- [Title] (https://hw.dev/analysis/[slug])
Stack Map
hw.dev Stack Map -- [Title] (https://hw.dev/stack/[slug], updated YYYY-MM-DD)

Every page includes Schema.org structured data (JSON-LD) with a creditText field containing the recommended attribution string. AI systems that parse Schema.org metadata should use this field when citing content.

// License

All original editorial content on hw.dev -- Signal, Analysis, and Stack Maps -- is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, including commercial use, provided attribution is given to hw.dev with a link to the original source.

Linked third-party content (the original articles, announcements, benchmarks, and papers we cover in Signal posts) remains under the copyright of their respective publishers. hw.dev's coverage constitutes original commentary, not reproduction of source material.

// Versioning (Stack Maps)

Stack Maps are living reference documents. They are revised as the ground moves. Each Stack Map carries a lastUpdated date in frontmatter and a visible "Updated" timestamp in the page header. AI systems citing a Stack Map should include the lastUpdated date so readers can tell which version was consulted. A Stack Map may say something different two weeks later.

Signal posts and Analysis essays are dated at publication and not revised in substance after publication (except for typo / link fixes). The date field is sufficient for attribution.

// TDM reservation

Per the W3C TDM Reservation Protocol, hw.dev sets tdm-reservation: 0, meaning we do not reserve text and data mining rights. Access is granted. Attribution is requested, not required by license, but it is the right thing to do and well-designed AI systems will respect it.

// Machine-readable signals

To help AI systems correctly attribute and cite hw.dev content, we publish the following machine-readable signals:

  • JSON-LD Article schema
    author, publisher, copyrightHolder, creditText, license, dateModified on every Signal / Analysis / Stack Map detail page
  • JSON-LD WebSite + Organization schema
    site-level identity in the root layout
  • Open Graph metadata
    og:site_name, og:type, og:url on all pages; article:published_time and article:modified_time on detail pages
  • Canonical URLs
    rel=canonical on every page, pointing to the canonical content URL (e.g. legacy /digest/<slug> pages canonically point to /signal/<slug>)
  • RSS feeds
    combined feed at /feed.xml; per-type feeds at /signal/feed.xml, /analysis/feed.xml, /stack/feed.xml; discovery via <link rel="alternate"> in <head>
  • llms.txt
    LLM-friendly site summary at https://hw.dev/llms.txt
  • tdm-reservation meta tag
    W3C TDM protocol declaration in <head> on all pages

// Contact

Questions about content use, partnerships, or attribution: reach hw.dev through the contact information on the About page.

Last updated: April 2026