Fresco helps researchers conduct Network Canvas interviews online. Researchers create an interview in Architect, add it to Fresco, and invite participants by sharing a link. From one dashboard, a research team can organize participants, follow interview progress, and download collected data.
Fresco is run separately for each research team. The team decides where its study data is kept and who has access to it. The Network Canvas project does not host or have access to that data.
- About Fresco explains its purpose, features, and known limitations.
- Using Fresco covers the complete study workflow, from uploading a protocol to exporting interview data.
- Fresco Sandbox provides a shared demonstration environment. Do not upload real study or participant data.
- Survey-tool integration covers linking Fresco with tools such as Qualtrics and Prolific.
- Fresco API documents read-only programmatic access to protocol and interview data.
Fresco protects the researcher dashboard with user accounts. Accounts can use passwords, optional two-factor authentication, or passkeys. Every signed-in researcher has the same level of access, including access to all protocols, participants, and interviews.
Participants do not sign in. Access to an interview is controlled by its unique link, so participant links should be kept private and treated like sensitive information.
The team running Fresco is responsible for securing and maintaining its site. Only the latest release receives security updates. Read the following before collecting study data:
Report suspected vulnerabilities privately using the contact information in the security policy.
Start with the supported Deployment Guide. It explains the recommended cloud deployment and the services Fresco requires.
For institutional infrastructure, a private cloud, or a VPS, use the Advanced Deployment guide. It covers Docker, PostgreSQL, object storage, TLS, and maintenance. Additional resources include:
The repository contains three production Docker Compose configurations:
| Resource | Storage configuration |
|---|---|
docker-compose.prod.yml |
Bundled, private MinIO storage |
docker-compose.external-s3.yml |
An external S3-compatible object store |
docker-compose.uploadthing.yml |
UploadThing-managed object storage |
See .env.example for application settings and storage
variables, and SECURITY.md for Fresco's security model and
vulnerability-reporting process. Follow the deployment documentation before
using these files in production.
Fresco is developed in the
Network Canvas monorepo.
The standalone complexdatacollective/Fresco repository is a release mirror,
not the source of truth for development.
Follow the monorepo Getting Started instructions to install the required Node.js and pnpm versions. From the monorepo root, the main Fresco commands are:
pnpm --filter fresco dev
pnpm --filter fresco test
pnpm --filter fresco typecheck
pnpm --filter fresco buildBefore contributing, read the project-wide contribution guidance. Bug reports and feature requests belong in the monorepo's issue tracker.