A Citizen-Led National Archive of India's Air Quality Crisis

JanVayu (जनवायु — "People's Air") is a non-partisan, citizen-led initiative to build India's first comprehensive public archive documenting the air quality crisis — its data, its victims, its policies, and its public memory.

This is not a campaign. It is a record.

Live at https://www.janvayu.in

JanVayu is designed as a lightweight, zero-framework architecture with server-side feed aggregation:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Client (Browser)                    │
│  Single-page HTML app · Chart.js · Leaflet.js · WAQI   │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                           │
              HTTPS (Netlify CDN)
                           │
┌──────────────────────────▼──────────────────────────────┐
│                   Netlify Functions                      │
│                                                          │
│  Scheduled (cron)              On-demand (API)           │
│  ┌──────────────────┐   ┌───────────────────────────┐   │
│  │ scheduled-fetch   │   │ reddit-feed.js            │   │
│  │ (every 4 hours)   │   │ twitter-feed.js           │   │
│  │                   │   │ news-proxy.js             │   │
│  │ daily-digest      │   │ instagram-feed.js         │   │
│  │ (8 AM IST daily)  │   │ feed-status.js            │   │
│  └────────┬──────────┘   │ subscribe.js              │   │
│           │              └─────────────┬─────────────┘   │
│           │                            │                  │
│           ▼                            ▼                  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐         │
│  │           Netlify Blobs (Cache)              │         │
│  │  Feeds cached as JSON · Strong consistency   │         │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘         │
│                                                          │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐         │
│  │         Resend (Email Delivery)              │         │
│  │  Daily AQI digest to subscribers             │         │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key design decisions:

• Single HTML file — the entire front-end is one index.html with inline CSS and JS. No build step, no bundler, no framework.
• Server-side proxying — social media and news APIs are fetched via Netlify Functions to avoid CORS issues and protect API keys.
• Blob caching — the scheduled function pre-fetches all feeds every 4 hours and writes results to Netlify Blobs. On-demand API functions read from the blob cache, resulting in instant responses.
• Client-side AQI — the WAQI API is called directly from the browser every 10 minutes (the token is a free-tier public key).
• Email digests — a scheduled function runs daily at 8:00 AM IST (2:30 AM UTC), reads subscribers from Blobs, fetches current AQI, and sends personalized HTML emails via Resend.

JanVayu/
├── index.html                          # Main website (single-page application)
├── favicon.svg                         # Site favicon
├── package.json                        # Node.js dependencies (Netlify Blobs, Resend)
├── netlify.toml                        # Netlify build & deploy configuration
├── .gitignore                          # Ignored files (node_modules/, .netlify/)
├── CNAME                               # Custom domain configuration
├── README.md                           # This file
├── CONTRIBUTING.md                     # Contribution guidelines
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md                  # Community standards
├── LICENSE                             # MIT (code) + CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (content)
├── blog/                               # Blog (Docsify-powered, Markdown posts)
│   ├── index.html                      # Docsify blog config
│   ├── _sidebar.md                     # Blog navigation
│   ├── README.md                       # Blog home page
│   └── posts/                          # Blog posts (YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md)
├── downloads/                          # Downloadable reports and datasets
├── netlify/
│   └── functions/                      # Netlify serverless functions
│       ├── scheduled-fetch.mjs         # Cron: fetches all feeds every 4 hours
│       ├── daily-digest.mjs            # Cron: sends daily AQI email digest
│       ├── reddit-feed.js              # API: serves cached Reddit posts
│       ├── twitter-feed.js             # API: serves cached Twitter/X posts
│       ├── news-proxy.js               # API: serves cached news articles
│       ├── instagram-feed.js           # API: serves cached Instagram posts
│       ├── feed-status.js              # API: reports feed freshness and health
│       ├── subscribe.js                # API: manages email subscriptions
│       └── blob-store.js              # Shared: Netlify Blobs store helper
└── node_modules/                       # Dependencies (git-ignored)

The following environment variables must be configured in the Netlify dashboard for full functionality:

Note: The WAQI API token (1f64cc8563a165dc5a6ce48f7eeb9ba0221b63f3) is a free-tier public key embedded in the client-side code. It is rate-limited by WAQI and does not require server-side protection.

• Node.js 18+
• Netlify CLI (npm install -g netlify-cli)
• A Resend account (for email digest functionality)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/JanVayu/JanVayu.git
cd JanVayu

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set environment variables (create a .env file or configure in Netlify CLI)
export RESEND_API_KEY="your_resend_api_key"
export RESEND_FROM="your_verified_sender@example.com"
export BLOB_TOKEN="your_netlify_personal_access_token"
export NETLIFY_SITE_ID="your_netlify_site_id"

# Start local development server with Netlify Functions support
netlify dev

The site will be available at http://localhost:8888. Netlify Dev emulates the serverless functions locally so you can test the full stack.

If you only need the front-end (no social feeds or email digests):

# Serve index.html with any static file server
npx serve .
# or
python3 -m http.server 8000

The AQI dashboard will work without any server-side setup since it calls the WAQI API directly from the browser.

JanVayu integrates 160+ verified public data sources, including:

Full phased roadmap: docs/wiki/Roadmap.md · tracked on GitHub Issues.

Recently shipped (v26.6.25): the Ward-Level Atlas — every municipal ward across 10 major cities, with four switchable layers (live PM2.5, satellite heat, green cover, built-up), ward search / locate-me, and a per-ward correlation view, plus an Urban Heat Island panel.

Next up:

• More cities — now 14 (added Kanpur, Varanasi, Bhopal, Faridabad); extending further as open ward boundaries are sourced (Agra, Lucknow, Patna still lack open files).
• Time-aware heat — seasonal-median land-surface temperature to reduce single-day noise.
• Platform-wide: 100+ CPCB cities, full WCAG 2.1 AA, AQI forecast horizon, push notifications.

Two earlier roadmap ideas were dropped as not feasible on open data: satellite-derived per-ward PM2.5 (no openly-fetchable ~1 km PM2.5 raster) and a Surat ward map (no open boundary file) — Chandigarh was added as the 10th city instead.

We welcome contributions from:

• Researchers — datasets, papers, analysis
• Journalists — investigations, verified reports
• Developers — code, visualizations, tools
• Citizens — testimonies, local documentation, translations
• Designers — accessibility, communication

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines and the Collaborator Statement of Work for detailed workstream descriptions.

JanVayu is a non-partisan initiative. It is not affiliated with any political party, government body, or corporate entity.

Editorial decisions are guided by:

• Factual accuracy and verification
• Source transparency
• Respect for affected communities
• Accessibility across languages and regions

This project was previously known as "Vayu Smriti" (वायु स्मृति). Following community feedback and a vote, it was renamed to JanVayu (जनवायु) in January 2026 for better linguistic inclusivity across India's diverse language communities.

JanVayu is designed to be forked for other cities, regions, or countries. Total cost to run a fork: $0/month on free tiers (WAQI, Groq, Resend, Netlify).

See FORKING.md for a complete guide — what to change, API keys needed, and attribution requirements.

If you create a fork, let us know — we'll list it in the README.

• Code: MIT License — use freely, modify, redistribute
• Content/Documentation: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — share with attribution, non-commercial, same license
• Data: Individual sources retain original licenses

See LICENSE for details. If you fork this project, please credit JanVayu as the upstream source.

• Email: contribute@janvayu.in
• Website: https://www.janvayu.in
• GitHub: github.com/JanVayu/JanVayu

JanVayu is a public interest project. If you wish to support:

• Contribute data or expertise — see Contributing above
• Report issues — Open an issue
• Spread awareness — Share the website

JanVayu is built on the principle that public memory is a prerequisite for public accountability.

जनवायु — क्योंकि हवा सबकी है।