Manage your bank
Add a seed or seedling with just a photo and a name — no Latin required. Note the year, how much you have, where it came from, germination tests. Search, filter, snap now and name later.
Your seed bank in your pocket
Keep and share traditional seeds and seedlings — offline, encrypted, no account.
Every traditional seed is a letter written by thousands of generations, passed from hand to hand. Tane helps people and seed-saver collectives keep a friendly inventory of their bank, decide what they offer, and share it locally — without a central intermediary that could control it, censor it, or be fined for it.
Tane (種, “seed”; from tanemaki 種まき, “to sow seeds”) is a local-first, decentralized app for keeping and sharing traditional seeds and seedlings. It works with zero network — and connects you to a neighborly seed-sharing network when you want it.
Watch the video #
Three minutes on why traditional seeds matter, and what Tane does with them.
Play the videoRead what is said
Every traditional seed is a letter written by thousands of generations.
Today a handful of companies control much of the world's seed.
Many are designed not to reproduce well: they have to be bought again every season, and for many farming families that means going into debt.
And sharing them — farming's oldest practice — has been fenced in by official catalogues, patents and permits.
And yet the seeds we have always grown are a commons: everyone's, and no one person's alone.
Defending it means going back to a free model, passed from hand to hand, instead of a private one held by a few.
Your seed bank in your pocket
Tane is a free app to look after your traditional seeds and seedlings and, if you want, share them directly with the people near you.
How much is left, and from what year? Note it in seconds: a photo and a name.
A whole shelf at once? Photograph them all and name them later. Or import the list you already keep in a spreadsheet.
In simple units, if that suits you: cobs, handfuls, jars or packets.
And when do you sow this one? Tane tells you what to sow, transplant or harvest each month.
Seed ages and loses strength. Tane warns you in time to renew it.
How do you save this one? Tane tells you if it crosses, how far apart to keep it and how many plants you need.
Print labels for your packets and jars, each with a code that finds its record again. And a catalogue for the seed swap.
Who has spare what you are short of? You pick your area and how far to search, and what you offer travels over community servers to whoever needs it.
Looking for something nobody has yet? Save the search and Tane tells you when it turns up nearby.
You can also share it in exchange for seed returned once it is harvested — so every loan multiplies the commons.
You write to each other privately and arrange to meet. No middleman, no commission.
No account and no central server: it travels through community servers anyone can run.
Tane is Japanese for seed: it recalls rice vouchers that passed from hand to hand, an “I'll give it back” that was enough to keep the grain moving.
Free software, no ads, no commissions. Download it and keep the seed alive and being shared.
To those who kept these seeds and passed them hand to hand for centuries, and to the languages that named them:
Where Tane is right now #
The inventory works today: keep your seeds offline, encrypted, with no account — the app doesn't connect to anything until you join the sharing part. The neighbourly sharing layer — offers, messaging and trust — is now arriving, in beta.
Yours, and only yours
Your seed book works with no internet at all, and Tane doesn't connect to anything until you join the sharing part. No account, no sign-up, no trackers. Everything is encrypted on your device. Keep an encrypted backup and a printed recovery sheet to restore your whole bank on a new device.
Share, as it's always been done
Mark what you have spare to give away, swap or sell. Someone nearby finds it and contacts you — no middleman. Print a catalog of what you share to take to a seed fair.
What you can do with Tane #
One quiet app for the whole life of a seed — keeping it, caring for it, and passing it on.
Your seed bank, in your pocket
- Add a seed in seconds — a photo and a name is all you need.
- Track each batch by year and amount, in real units: cobs, pods, a handful, a jar.
- Keep photos, notes and germination tests for every variety.
- Give a seed several names, in several languages.
Care and timing
- Seed-saving guidance for each crop: pollination, isolation, how many plants, drying.
- A this-month calendar: what to sow, transplant or harvest for seed.
- Friendly warnings when a seed is getting old, so you renew it in time.
On paper, and off the grid
- Printable labels and cards for your packets and jars, each with a code to scan.
- One tap saves a sealed backup; a recovery card brings everything back.
- Works fully offline, with no account. Your data stays on your phone unless you send it.
Share and stay connected
- Offer spare seed to give away, swap or sell — and see what others share.
- Save a search and get notified in the app as soon as a match shows up nearby.
- Private messages to arrange a swap, person to person.
- Vouch for people you've met and see who you can trust.
- Make a plantaré promise: agree to return part of what you multiply.
- Keep everything in sync across your own devices.
A look inside #
International by design
Right-to-left and non-Latin scripts are first-class. Here is the inventory in Arabic.
Why Tane is different #
- No center: no company can shut it down, censor it, or be fined for it.
- Anti-monopoly by design — sharing seeds multiplies the commons instead of depleting it.
- Spreads like a seed, person to person; what you share travels through community servers anyone can run — not a company's central server.
- Free software (AGPL-3.0). No ads, no commissions, no business model.
Questions #
- Is it free?
- Yes. Free software (AGPL-3.0), no ads, no commissions, no data selling.
- Do I need an account?
- No account and no sign-up. Your seeds stay on your device, and Tane doesn't connect to anything until you join the sharing part — then it uses community servers you can change or switch off.
- Does it work offline?
- Fully. The internet only enriches it; everything essential works with no connection.
- Is it legal to share seeds?
- Giving and swapping between growers is broadly allowed; selling can be regulated. You are responsible for what you share — see the notice on seed legality. →
- What about my privacy?
- Data is encrypted on your device and only what you explicitly share ever leaves it. See the privacy policy. →
Get involved #
Tane has no business model — it lives on volunteers, communities and public tech grants. You can help:
Rate the app
A few kind words in the store you installed it from help other people find it.
Pass it on
Send Tane to someone who saves seeds. Word of mouth is the whole distribution plan.
Translate
Bring Tane to your language. Translation files are simple; patches are welcome.
Report a problem
Tell us what broke, or ask for something you are missing.
Contribute code
Flutter/Dart, free software. Design docs and tests included.
Try it with a seed group
Use it in a real seed network or fair and tell us what breaks or what's missing.
Support it
No ads, no commissions. Help fund the work or point us to grants for the commons.