SOM defines the messages, not the infrastructure. A publisher or its operator must run the broker, delivery, ordering, identity, authorisation and support around them.

Is the SOM bus a certification?

No — SOM defines no conformance tiers; results state exactly which suite passed.

Where does test data live?

AWS eu-west-1, synthetic data only, payloads kept 7 days.

Story Object Model / SOM

The Story Object Model, run in production.

01 / The standard

What is the Story Object Model?

The Story Object Model is an open message standard for newsrooms. SOM 1.0 was published on 12 September 2026. The specification is available on GitHub.

Every message is a JSON envelope around a payload. The envelope carries som_version, message_id, correlation_id, message_type, timestamp, originating_system and topic.

Message families include story.context — full snapshots with an increasing sequence_number — telling.*, link.*, delivery.media_available, skill.warning.raised and system.audit.

02 / Operations

What SOM leaves to the bus

SOM defines no broker, delivery guarantees, ordering, identity or authorisation. Someone has to run that.

03 / Managed service

The SOM test bus

The conformance gateway checks every message against the SOM 1.0 schemas. It provides ordered per-story delivery, identity and grants, with verdicts that name the rule that passed or failed.

Vendors can test today. Publishers can run it in production in their own AWS account, operated by RND.

Request access to the SOM bus →

04 / Field notes

From the operator’s chair.

24 September 2026

A bus you are allowed to break

Ten days ago we wrote that somebody has to run the bus. So we built one, put it online, and broke it. Here is SOM 1.0 from the operator's chair — and why you can now break it too.

Read the field note →

14 September 2026

Who runs the bus?

The Story Object Model gives a newsroom one shared description of a story, and it does that well. What it deliberately does not give you is a broker, a delivery guarantee, an authentication model, or an answer at three in the morning. That half is an operations problem — and operations is what we do.

Read the field note →

05 / FAQ

Questions about the SOM bus.

What is the Story Object Model?: The Story Object Model is an open message standard for exchanging structured story context between newsroom systems.
Who runs a SOM bus?: SOM defines the messages, not the infrastructure. A publisher or its operator must run the broker, delivery, ordering, identity, authorisation and support around them.
Is the SOM bus a certification?: No — SOM defines no conformance tiers; results state exactly which suite passed.
Where does test data live?: AWS eu-west-1, synthetic data only, payloads kept 7 days.

SOM is an open standard maintained by the SOM working group. RND Solutions' bus is not endorsed by it.