This guide will walk you through the initial steps needed to become a lifter, and further help you familiarize yourself with the lifter UI.
If you have any questions at all throughout the process, please contact us at lift@tidelift.com.
Getting started
- If you’re not already a lifter, please apply to become a lifter at https://tidelift.com/about/lifter. Alternatively, you can search for the package you’re applying to lift at https://tidelift.com/lifter/search.
- Once your Tidelift account has been approved and created, you’ll need to upload your package to the appropriate platform repository (Maven, npm, RubyGems, etc.) if you haven’t done so already. Please note that steps for uploading packages vary from platform to platform, and so you’ll need to check with your platform on how to do this. For example, npmjs’ instructions can be found here:
https://docs.npmjs.com/creating-and-publishing-scoped-public-packages
NOTE: It can take up to 72 hours for Libraries.io to pick up the package and for it to become available in Tidelift. - You can then check to see if the package is available by going to https://tidelift.com/lifter/lift-new and searching via your username on the appropriate platform (npm, rubygems, etc.). In the search results, you should see the packages associated with your user:
- Once the package is available in Tidelift, you can then select the package and click on “LIFT YOUR PACKAGE” to request to lift it. If you encounter an error when viewing the package details, the package is not yet available.
When the package is available, you’ll see a page in the app giving you the option to lift the package.
NOTE: If you’re unable to view the package details after 72 hours, please reach out to our Support Team at lift@tidelift.com for assistance. - After requesting to lift the package, you should be redirected to your lifter dashboard where you’ll see a modal indicating that Tidelift has received your request to lift the package:
To check the status of your request, you can go to https://tidelift.com/lifter/package. This page will show you all packages associated with your account. Anything that is still pending will have a status of “We are reviewing your application and will be in touch shortly”: - After applying to request your package, you should receive an email from Tidelift regarding your request to lift your package. The subject of the email should be “Thanks for applying to lift [package_name] with Tidelift.” In the email, you'll find a link to the required lifter agreement. Once submitted, we will process your request within 3-5 business days.
If your request hasn’t been approved after 5 business days, please reach out to our Support Team at lift@tidelift.com for assistance. - Once your request has been approved, you’ll see a notification stating that we’ll let you know when income is available:
If your request has not yet been approved, you’ll see a message stating that you’ve applied to lift the package: - After you’ve been approved, if this is the first package you’re applying for, you should receive an email regarding setting up your Hyperwallet account. Hyperwallet is the payment vendor we use to pay our lifters. Please refer this article for more information:
https://support.tidelift.com/hc/en-us/articles/9899525707028#getting-paid-with-hyperwallet-0-0
The lifter interface
As a lifter, you can access the lifter interface by going to the lifter dashboard at https://tidelift.com/lifter. The dashboard will list any outstanding tasks you may have. You will need to address any outstanding tasks to ensure your packages are up-to-date and meet Tidelift’s standards; you’ll also see a summary of your income and packages you’ve applied to maintain that have yet to be approved:
On the left side of the lifter interface, you can use the navigation menu to access different sections of the UI.
Packages
Clicking on the “Packages” section will take you to the packages main page (https://tidelift.com/lifter/package). This will list all packages associated with your lifter account. Clicking on any package on the page will take you to the package overview page.
When on a package, in the navigation menu on the left, you’ll then see additional sections appear: Tasks, Dependencies, and Version Guidance.
The “Tasks” section will contain any tasks that need to be addressed for the package. This will include vulnerabilities that have been discovered in the package’s current version and basichousekeeping tasks (setting a version scheme, verifying licenses, creating a security maintenance plan, etc).
The “Dependencies” section shows all of the packages your package lists as dependencies. Please note that if a dependency has vulnerabilities and is considered not secure, this won’t necessarily mean the package that uses the dependency will be flagged as having vulnerabilities as well; this is dependent on the vulnerability. However, if it is determined that a vulnerability in a dependency affects your package as well, this will be listed in the “Tasks” section.
The “Version Guidance” section will show the version that Tidelift will advise users to use based on latest releases and known vulnerabilities.
Addressing tasks
In order to keep your packages up-to-date, it is important to address all outstanding tasks as they appear. To complete a task (either in the lifter dashboard or in the Packages section), click on the task and follow the steps outlined in the slide-out modal.
For example, when attempting to verify a license, you’ll see the following:
(Please note that this is a sample project, and the mismatch between the license listed in the package manager and the repository is intentional.)
You can then select the appropriate option for the license and then click the “Save & Finish” button to complete the task.
Tidelift does not automatically complete tasks that were addressed in an updated version of your package. You will still need to manually go in and complete these tasks in the lifter UI.
For more information on the standard lifter tasks, feel free to check out this article: https://support.tidelift.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406288074260-Lifter-tasks-overview#lifter-tasks-overview-0-0
Income
The “Income” section contains payment information for each package your account is maintaining. Please note that packages can have multiple maintainers; in situations like these, you’ll need to send a request to lift@tidelift.com get that adjusted for all involved maintainers; we may need to verify payment change requests in certain cases. Please refer to this article for more details on our payment process:
https://support.tidelift.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406294816916-How-we-pay-lifters