diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 61905ee..4d00b48 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -920,6 +920,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "url",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "filetime"
+version = "0.2.16"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c0408e2626025178a6a7f7ffc05a25bc47103229f19c113755de7bf63816290c"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "redox_syscall",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "firestorm"
 version = "0.5.0"
@@ -2054,6 +2066,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "mktemp",
  "serde",
  "serde_yaml",
+ "tar",
  "thiserror",
  "tokio",
  "url",
@@ -2860,6 +2873,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-xid",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tar"
+version = "0.4.38"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4b55807c0344e1e6c04d7c965f5289c39a8d94ae23ed5c0b57aabac549f871c6"
+dependencies = [
+ "filetime",
+ "libc",
+ "xattr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tempfile"
 version = "3.3.0"
@@ -3667,6 +3691,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "xattr"
+version = "0.2.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6d1526bbe5aaeb5eb06885f4d987bcdfa5e23187055de9b83fe00156a821fabc"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "yaml-rust"
 version = "0.4.5"
diff --git a/federate/federate-core/src/lib.rs b/federate/federate-core/src/lib.rs
index 04da48a..ed59f39 100644
--- a/federate/federate-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/federate/federate-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  */
 use std::path::Path;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::result::Result;
 
 use async_trait::async_trait;
@@ -57,4 +58,7 @@ pub trait Federate: Sync + Send {
         name: &str,
         hostname: &str,
     ) -> Result<(), Self::Error>;
+
+    /// publish results in tar ball
+    async fn tar(&self) -> Result<PathBuf, Self::Error>;
 }
diff --git a/federate/federate-core/src/tests.rs b/federate/federate-core/src/tests.rs
index 0455eb4..db20111 100644
--- a/federate/federate-core/src/tests.rs
+++ b/federate/federate-core/src/tests.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ pub async fn adding_forge_works<'a, T: Federate>(
 
     // add repository
     ff.create_repository(&add_repo_msg).await.unwrap();
+
+    // tar()
+    ff.tar().await.unwrap();
+
     // delete repository
     ff.delete_repository(add_repo_msg.owner, add_repo_msg.name, add_repo_msg.hostname)
         .await
diff --git a/federate/publiccodeyml/Cargo.toml b/federate/publiccodeyml/Cargo.toml
index f189f55..f19d13b 100644
--- a/federate/publiccodeyml/Cargo.toml
+++ b/federate/publiccodeyml/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ serde_yaml = "0.8.24"
 tokio = { version = "1.18.2", features = ["fs"]}
 thiserror = "1.0.30"
 url = { version  = "2.2.2", features = ["serde"] }
+tar = "0.4.38"
 
 [dependencies.db-core]
 path = "../../db/db-core"
diff --git a/federate/publiccodeyml/src/lib.rs b/federate/publiccodeyml/src/lib.rs
index 9d63aa9..c3b6ff3 100644
--- a/federate/publiccodeyml/src/lib.rs
+++ b/federate/publiccodeyml/src/lib.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ pub const INSTANCE_INFO_FILE: &str = "instance.yml";
 pub const USER_INFO_FILE: &str = "user.yml";
 pub const REPO_INFO_FILE: &str = "publiccode.yml";
 
+pub const CONTENTS_DIR: &str = "uncompressed";
+
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct PccFederate {
     pub base_dir: String,
@@ -43,15 +45,21 @@ pub struct PccFederate {
 
 impl PccFederate {
     pub async fn new(base_dir: String) -> FResult<Self> {
-        let path = Path::new(&base_dir);
-        if !path.exists() {
-            fs::create_dir_all(&path).await?;
+        let x = Self { base_dir };
+        x.get_content_path(true).await?;
+        Ok(x)
+    }
+
+    pub async fn get_content_path(&self, create_dirs: bool) -> FResult<PathBuf> {
+        let path = Path::new(&self.base_dir).join(CONTENTS_DIR);
+        if create_dirs {
+            self.create_dir_if_not_exists(&path).await?;
         }
-        Ok(Self { base_dir })
+        Ok(path)
     }
 
     pub async fn get_instance_path(&self, hostname: &str, create_dirs: bool) -> FResult<PathBuf> {
-        let path = Path::new(&self.base_dir).join(hostname);
+        let path = self.get_content_path(false).await?.join(hostname);
         if create_dirs {
             self.create_dir_if_not_exists(&path).await?;
         }
@@ -166,4 +174,24 @@ impl Federate for PccFederate {
         let path = self.get_repo_path(name, owner, hostname, false).await?;
         self.rm_util(&path).await
     }
+
+    async fn tar(&self) -> Result<PathBuf, Self::Error> {
+        use std::fs::File;
+        use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
+
+        use tar::Builder;
+
+        let now = SystemTime::now()
+            .duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH)
+            .unwrap()
+            .as_secs();
+
+        let path = Path::new(&self.base_dir).join(format!("{now}.tar"));
+        let file = File::create(&path)?;
+        let mut a = Builder::new(file);
+        a.append_dir_all(".", self.get_content_path(false).await?)
+            .unwrap();
+        a.finish().unwrap();
+        Ok(path)
+    }
 }