Proof of work, and when a video is required
Every proof needs evidence a non-technical buyer can judge. Some sources verify automatically; the rest need a short demonstration video.
A proof of work is a specific thing you built, linked to evidence that you built it. Proofs are what the Rework Score, your trust tier and marketplace ranking are computed from, so they are the highest-leverage thing on your profile.
The rule for evidence is simple: a buyer must be able to judge the work without taking your word for it. Some sources let us confirm that automatically — a GitHub repository or a Hugging Face model carries authorship we can check. Others cannot be checked that way, and for those a short video of the thing working is what stands in for the check.
When a video is required
The submission already is a video
Nothing more is asked for - a demonstration of a demonstration is not evidence of anything.
We can check the source automatically
Optional at submission: GitHub commit, GitHub pull request, GitHub repository, Hugging Face model. If the automatic check does not confirm your authorship, you are asked for a video then - the proof is not rejected for missing one.
Everything else
A demonstration video is required before you can submit. Nothing else can establish the claim, so a reviewer would otherwise be judging a link.
A GitHub repository submitted today is conditional; a live site is required.
If a source is auto-verifiable, we do not ask for a video up front — that would be asking you to prove something we can already confirm. But if the automatic check does not come back clean, you are asked for the video then, rather than having the proof rejected with nothing for a reviewer to watch.
What makes a good demonstration video
Keep it under three minutes and record the thing running, not a slide about it. Two audiences have to follow it:
- A technical reviewer needs to see it actually work — real input going in, real output coming out, no cuts across the interesting part.
- A non-technical buyer needs to understand what problem just got solved. One sentence at the start covering what this is and who it is for does most of that work.
Screen recording with your voice over it is enough. Production value is not scored.
Reusing the same video across several proofs gets flagged. Each proof is a different piece of work, so each one needs its own demonstration.
Where proofs are submitted
Everything runs from /proofs. Pick the source, paste the link, add the video if you are asked for one, and submit. You will see the proof in your list straight away with its status.
If a proof is rejected
You get the reviewer's reason, and the proof stays in your list so you can fix and resubmit rather than starting again. The most common reason by a distance is evidence a reviewer could not open or could not follow — a private repository, a dead link, or a video that shows the interface but never the thing working.
A rejected proof does not count toward your tier and its skills are removed from your marketplace profile until it passes.