Where we came from
StarMynd built it. The open part became a foundation.
StarMynd came first. I founded it, and it is a company.
While we were building it, I saw a further role that needed filling. We did not want to be one more company pushing people onto a full AI operating system that it controls.
I am a CPA. I have worked as a CFO, and I have helped businesses build their technology. That work gave me a fiduciary mindset: you act for the business whose interests you hold, not for yourself. Seen that way, I realised a business owner could not agree to place their full sovereignty with a third-party company.
Then I saw what I believe is a new kind of risk. Before factories, someone who stole one AI agent or one written procedure could not replicate a business. A factory holds all of it: the knowledge, the automations and the governance between them, the best practices and the industry know-how, built up over years. Stealing it would be like taking every procedure, the whole team's way of working and the connections to the tools, all at once. A copier could buy the same tools and be ready to serve that business's customers the next day. Seeing that risk is what led us to form the Foundation.
We were already doing the work of giving people their own free factories. Inside a for-profit, that work would carry a conflict of interest. A for-profit company has to maximise shareholder value, and that would push the work in a different direction.
So we split it out into a non-profit, the Infinity OS Foundation. StarMynd stays a company. The two work together, and we say so. The factory belongs to the business that runs it.
How the two work together
The non-profit on the left, the company on the right. Your work moves between them in three steps.
The three steps, in words.
- StarMynd, for-profit. A secure data connection and data factory integration, so your factory can analyse all of your data, and do it well. StarMynd may host a factory temporarily during setup, but does not run factories long term.
- Infinity OS, from the non-profit Foundation. Factory standards and factory templates, the blueprints, free to install on hardware you control. The goal is that you own and run it yourself: even if you start from our blueprints and repositories, you end up owning your own factory. The Foundation keeps that software maintained and keeps the guides for it.
- StarMynd Consulting, for-profit. A network of registered partners, trained on StarMynd and Infinity OS, who help implement it for people across many industries.
Infinity OS is being built and is not released yet. The factory standard and the blueprints are planned, not published yet.
So whatStarMynd stays a company. The open work sits in a non-profit, so a for-profit's pull does not steer it.
Aligned by design
Seven principles, and how StarMynd's design honours each.
The Foundation holds itself to seven public principles. StarMynd is a company, but it was designed around the same ones. Here is each principle, named word for word, and how StarMynd's design honours it. Where we describe StarMynd's service, we describe what StarMynd offers.
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The third age of AI is the age of factories
StarMynd is built for factories, not for chat. It supplies what a factory needs around it: connections to your data, a place for credentials, and know-how for each tool.
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Option source: every business should be free to switch
StarMynd works with any model, closed, open or local, and with several at once. You can use it and leave whenever you want, and changing models does not mean rebuilding your connections.
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Your factory is yours; AI models plug in as service providers
Your factory stays on your own hardware or server. StarMynd may host a factory temporarily during setup, but does not run factories long term.
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Ready-made factories, built to an open standard
The standard and the blueprints are the Foundation's, open to anyone. Infinity OS also integrates natively with 1Password and Google Secret Manager, so nobody is forced to use StarMynd.
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People stay in charge
StarMynd offers one place for your credentials that you can see: you can see each AI request to use a secret, and change a credential once. You keep the keys.
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Every AI act on the books: intelligent bookkeeping
StarMynd offers a record of which AI asked for which secret, and when. It is one more line on the books.
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Teach first, then set the standard together
The Foundation keeps the free software and its guides. Marketing, consulting and implementation are StarMynd's, so the Foundation's own work stays education.
So whatNo lock-in. Start with StarMynd, move off any time, and your factory stays yours.
Integrated well, never required
StarMynd plugs in well. So do others.
One centre, many plugs.
Infinity OS sits at the centre: your factory, on your own hardware or server. What fills its slots plugs in around it. StarMynd's products integrate with Infinity OS because the two were built around each other. You do not need StarMynd, or any service, to use Infinity OS.
Credentials, with or without StarMynd.
For credentials, Infinity OS integrates natively with 1Password, for basic users, and Google Secret Manager, a developer tool for secrets. They store and serve secrets. Data connections, AI-ready tool guides and a data analyst per source are not part of what they do; for those, you can build your own, use your own team, use another provider, or use StarMynd.
We name these two because they show the Foundation is open: nobody is forced to use StarMynd.
Data connections and credentials: two slots every factory has to fill.
This is where StarMynd's business and the Foundation's work meet, so we set it out openly.
What a factory needs.
A factory needs connections to your data and tools. You can build and maintain them yourself, use the connectors that come with your AI provider, or use a service. StarMynd, which founded the Foundation, offers one: it maintains your connections in one place, works with any model, and has an automated onboarding. It is optional. Your factory and your operations stay on your own systems either way.
Why this fits our principles.
Building and maintaining every data connection and a secure credential store is a heavy burden for one business, and that burden is one reason businesses end up on the biggest AI platforms. A shared service that holds your connections and credentials in one place, where you can see each AI request to use a secret and change a credential once, works with any model, can be left at any time, and helps you run your factory on your own hardware or server keeps the choice with you. No one is required to use StarMynd.
Your options.
- Build your own. You or your developer build the connections and a credential store, and keep them working.
- Use what you already have. If you have a data team or a credential system in-house, point it at your factory.
- Use another provider. Any service you trust, including the connectors that come with your AI provider. For credentials, Infinity OS integrates natively with 1Password, for basic users, and Google Secret Manager, a developer tool for secrets.
- Use StarMynd. It founded the Foundation, so we say so. Start with it today and move off later, whenever you want.
Whichever you pick, start with a service if you like and move off any time; the factory stays yours. StarMynd's site: starmynd.com.
The full picture, as a short series: What every factory needs, Four ways to fill the gap and Start fast, then own it.
So whatIntegrated well, never required. The Foundation is open, and nobody is forced to use StarMynd.
Toward an independent foundation
Our transition toward an independent foundation.
For one company alone, keeping this work inside StarMynd could have been fine. An open standard is a question for many players. Nobody builds their business on an open tool one company controls, because that company can change the terms, fail or be sold. That is why companies like IBM, Google and Meta handed their projects to neutral foundations. See the precedents.
StarMynd is the Foundation's temporary steward while the open standard is adopted and proven. Like those companies, we intend to transition to an independent body over time, as it makes sense. We are not setting dates.
Until then, StarMynd funds and staffs the Foundation, and we say so on every page. If stewardship ever moves, no one is stranded: everyone keeps the copy they downloaded, and only the maintenance moves.
So whatA temporary steward, an independent body over time, and your copy stays yours whatever happens.
Disclosures and what stays true
Five things that do not change.
- Declared separate. We declare the Foundation and StarMynd separate. What the Foundation produces is the Foundation's.
- Built together, and we say so. StarMynd's products integrate with Infinity OS because the two were built around each other. They overlap, and each leads customers to the other.
- Others are welcome. We will not limit others from taking part, and we actively work to integrate with other providers.
- The business owns its factory. The factory architecture is designed to be owned by each business, not by StarMynd.
- Two roles, said openly. Andrew Warner sits on the Foundation's founding board and is the chief executive of StarMynd. He owes a duty to each, and discloses both roles. StarMynd integrates natively with Infinity OS, but the Foundation will not block competitors or pick winners.
Disclosure: StarMynd founded the Foundation, and funds and staffs it today. Infinity OS is being built and is not yet released.
The full rules are in How we work. Why others chose this structure before us: Precedents. Why we did, in Andrew's words: Andrew's letter.