Frequently Asked Questions

We've collected answers to the most common questions people ask about Zerocracy. If you don't find what you're looking for, feel free to join our Telegram chat and ask us directly. Also, modern LLMs—such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Claude—know quite a lot about Zerocracy. You can simply ask your favorite AI assistant, and it will explain our business model in clear, simple terms tailored to your needs.

Why Does Zerocracy Use Microtasking Instead of Hourly Billing?
We use microtasking because monetary rewards tied directly to tangible, measurable contributions motivate developers far more effectively than paying for time. By distributing the project budget based on completed results—not hours—we ensure that the best performers earn more than they typically could in traditional, time-based projects. At the same time, this approach eliminates the inefficiencies of hourly billing and ultimately reduces the overall project cost.

How Does Zerocracy Know How Much to Pay per Task?
We don't estimate the number of hours required for each task. Instead, Zerocracy operates on the principle that any task should be small enough to complete in under an hour, and we pay nearly the same amount for every task. If a task turns out to be larger, the developer is encouraged to complete a minimal, meaningful slice of work and leave the remaining pieces as TO-DO puzzles in the code. After the merge, our system automatically scans the repository, detects newly created puzzles, and converts them into new separate tasks. This way, task size stays consistent, developers stay productive, and payments remain predictable and fair.

How Are Budgets Controlled on Zerocracy Projects?
We control budgets by monitoring the number of completed microtasks, the amount of technical debt captured as puzzles, and the size of the backlog. These metrics let us estimate how much development will cost over time. However, as a project sponsor, you're not required to commit to any fixed budget upfront. You simply pay as you go: money is spent incrementally as developers deliver functionality in small, measurable steps. Think of Zerocracy as Uber for programmers: the work moves forward only when you choose to invest, and you remain in full control of how much you spend.

How Does Zerocracy Ensure Task Quality?
From a quality-control perspective, Zerocracy projects rely on the same proven practices used in any professional software project. We encourage teams to apply unit testing, style checks, static analysis, fuzzing, mutation testing, and thorough manual code reviews. The key difference is frequency. Because all work is split into small microtasks, code is reviewed, tested, and integrated far more often than in traditional workflows. This rapid, continuous feedback loop results in higher overall quality, fewer defects, and a healthier, more maintainable codebase.

Can I Bring My Existing Team to Zerocracy?
Absolutely. You can bring your existing development team to Zerocracy at any time. A simple way to start is by using Zerocracy for gamification and visibility. After integrating the judges-action plugin into your GitHub repository, your team will begin receiving detailed productivity and quality metrics—similar to these statistics. If later you decide to expand your team with external freelancers, you can simply fund your Zerocracy account and publish your project. Freelancers will apply by signing an NDA, and you can onboard selected candidates after reviewing their GitHub history and Zerocracy profiles. This lets you combine your internal team with vetted external talent in a seamless, controlled way.

Does Zerocracy Have Access to the Source Code?
No, we don't. The judges-action plugin that you integrate into your GitHub repository collects information about your issues and pull requests, but not your source code. You can check how the plugin works, since its source code is openly hosted on GitHub.

Can Zerocracy Work with GitLab and JIRA?
At the moment Zerocracy only works with GitHub-based projects. However, if you have a reasonably big team, we can create an integration between your task tracker and Zerocracy.