https://github.com/darkroomengineering/license
https://github.com/darkroomengineering/license
Last synced: 4 months ago
JSON representation
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/darkroomengineering/license
- Owner: darkroomengineering
- License: other
- Created: 2025-04-08T16:43:45.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-04-08T16:58:12.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-06-18T17:56:17.529Z (12 months ago)
- Size: 6.84 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE.md
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README
# darkroom.engineering License
**tl;dr:** you can use our tools for free—personally, professionally, and even in client work—but if you’re selling something built on top of our open source, we ask that you sponsor us. fair’s fair.
---
## why this license exists
we’ve released a lot of open source tools over the years. some have ended up in free community projects, others in internal workflows, and that’s awesome. it’s why we do this.
but more than a few have been flipped, reskinned, and sold in marketplaces with zero credit, contribution, or support for the work that made them possible. and hey—respect the hustle—but that’s not sustainable.
we’re not trying to gatekeep. we’re just saying:
**if you’re making money on something we built, help keep the lights on.**
---
## what this license allows
pretty much everything you'd want to do in good faith:
- using our code in your personal stuff ✅
- using it for client work ✅
- publishing free plugins, templates, or tools built with it ✅
- forking it, learning from it, breaking it, rebuilding it ✅
just include attribution and don’t sell copies of our work without checking in first.
---
## when you need a sponsorship license
if you're doing any of the following, we ask that you [get a sponsorship license](mailto:sponsor@darkroom.engineering):
- selling themes, templates, or plugins using our code
- packaging our tools in a product you sell to others
- reselling work built heavily on this without significant changes
- including it in a SaaS offering that customers pay for
we’ll keep it straightforward and reasonable. no surprise fees or weird clauses. we just want to make sure the folks benefitting commercially from our work are also supporting it.
---
## how this is different from MIT
we started with MIT, because we like the freedom it gives.
this license keeps most of that—but it **adds a line in the sand** when it comes to commercial resale.
if that bugs you, we get it. but after seeing our stuff end up in paywalled products with no credit, we decided this was the middle ground that made sense.
---
## want to use this license for your own project?
go for it. just change the name and contact info. and maybe buy us a coffee if it saved you some legal back-and-forth ☕