0017. License: AGPL-3.0-or-later + DCO
- Status: Accepted
- Date: 2026-11-06
Context — what it has to do
Section titled “Context — what it has to do”- Keep the project free. The real risk is someone improving the code and running it as a closed paid service without giving anything back.
- Not get in the way of people self-hosting it, or of contributors.
- Be compatible with every dependency. They are MIT, BSD, Apache-2.0 or ISC; simple-icons is CC0; the fonts are OFL.
- Never need changing: there is no plan to charge or to offer paid editions.
Options
Section titled “Options”| MIT / Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 (Wallos) | AGPL-3.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting, private modifications | Free | Free | Free |
| Closed SaaS built on our code | Allowed | Allowed (GPL only triggers on distribution) | Must publish its source |
| Norm in self-hosted software | — | — | Immich, Nextcloud, Grafana, Mastodon, Plausible, Bitwarden server |
Decision
Section titled “Decision”- AGPL-3.0-or-later.
- Developer Certificate of Origin: every commit carries
Signed-off-by(git commit -s). - No CLA. A CLA only serves to relicense later, and it deters contributors.
Consequences — cost we accept
Section titled “Consequences — cost we accept”Some companies avoid AGPL code. They are not our audience.
Revisit when
Section titled “Revisit when”We want the app embedded in commercial products. That would mean Apache-2.0, and every contributor would have to agree.