I am worried about how the CRA might impact me, and so I am considering shutting down my open source projects. Should I do that?

The CRA should have zero or minimal impact on most open source developers, so you should probably not shut down your open source projects because of the CRA. There are several reasons for this:

First, the CRA likely does not apply to you.

• If you’re just a contributor, the CRA explicitly exempts you. For more detail, see Am I subject to the CRA if I only contribute to an open source project?
• If you’re a maintainer, and you do not “monetise” your FOSS codebase, the CRA explicitly exempts you. For more detail, see Am I subject to the CRA if I maintain, but do not monetize, an open source project?
• If you’re a maintainer, and you do monetise your FOSS codebase, you may still be exempted, depending on exactly how you are monetizing the codebase and your participation in it. For more detail, see Am I subject to the CRA if I maintain and monetise an open source project?

Second, even if the CRA does ultimately apply to you, penalties for solo and small-team maintainers are unlikely to be severe. For more detail, see If I maintain an open source codebase, and am treated as a “manufacturer” or “steward”, what penalties could I face for violating the CRA?

As a result, we would strongly urge you not to shut down any open source projects (or your participation in those projects) just because of the CRA.