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MessageFoundry Commercial License

⚠️ Not yet a binding offer — terms pending legal review. This document describes the intended commercial-licensing posture for MessageFoundry. The specific terms (grant scope, fees, support, and usage thresholds) are not finalized and are subject to legal review before any commercial license is offered or executed. Nothing here is an offer, a contract, or legal advice. For current, binding terms, contact the maintainer (see How to inquire).

The short version

MessageFoundry is open source under the GNU AGPL-3.0-or-later (see LICENSE). For most adopters — running the unmodified engine inside your own network to integrate your own systems — the AGPL imposes no source-disclosure obligation on you, and no commercial license is required.

A separate commercial license is intended for organizations whose use the AGPL does not comfortably cover (see Who needs one). MessageFoundry follows the standard open-core / dual-licensing model: the same engine is offered both under the AGPL and, separately, under commercial terms. The project's ability to dual-license comes from the contributor relicensing grant in the Contributor License Agreement (an Apache-ICLA-derived template that is itself pending legal review).

Who needs a commercial license

In the project's understanding of the AGPL — this is not legal advice, so confirm your own situation — you do not need a commercial license to:

  • Run the unmodified MessageFoundry engine inside your organization (including as a network service) to integrate your own systems.
  • Author your own Connections / Routers / Handlers in a separate --config repo. The project's position is that adopter config loaded via --config is a separate work, not a derivative of the AGPL engine — see docs/DUAL_LICENSING_PLAN.md. (This position is itself pending legal review.)

You may need one if you intend to:

  • Modify the engine and distribute it, or operate your modified version as a network service, without meeting the AGPL §13 obligation to provide your modified source to that service's users.
  • Embed or redistribute the engine inside a proprietary product under terms incompatible with the AGPL's copyleft.

If you are unsure whether the AGPL covers your use, ask before assuming you need a commercial license.

What it would cover (intended, not final)

A commercial license is intended to grant rights in addition to the AGPL — for example, the right to modify and distribute or network-operate the engine without the AGPL §13 network-source obligation — under negotiated terms. Fees, support levels, the precise grant, and any usage thresholds are not yet established. Do not rely on any specific terms until they are published and counsel-reviewed.

How to inquire

Commercial licensing is handled by MessageFoundry Organization, the project's owner and steward. To inquire, contact the maintainer:

A dedicated commercial-licensing contact address will be published when the offering is finalized.

See also

  • LICENSE — the AGPL-3.0-or-later text (your rights today).
  • CLA.md — the contributor relicensing grant that enables dual-licensing.
  • docs/DUAL_LICENSING_PLAN.md — the dual-licensing posture and the open legal questions it depends on.
  • GOVERNANCE.md — how the project is governed.