# Licence

> The Community Edition is GNU AGPL v3.0 — what that permits and what it obliges.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/llms.txt).

Source: https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/community/project/licence

---
Orangescrum Community Edition is licensed under the
**GNU Affero General Public License v3.0**.

> **Not legal advice**
>
> This page summarises the licence in plain terms. The
> [full text](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html) is what governs,
> and if the distinction matters to your business, talk to a lawyer.

## What you may do

- **Use it commercially**: Run it inside a business, for profit, at any scale. No fee, no seat count.

- **Modify it**: Change anything. Fork it. Strip parts out.

- **Distribute it**: Share the original or your modified version.

- **Run it privately**: Purely internal use with no obligation to publish anything.

## What you must do

The AGPL's distinguishing clause is **section 13**, the network clause:

> **Offering it over a network counts as distribution**
>
> If you modify Orangescrum and let people use it **over a network** — even
> without shipping them any files — you must offer those users the complete
> source of your modified version. This is what separates the AGPL from the
> ordinary GPL, where private SaaS use creates no obligation.

Concretely:

| Obligation | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| **Publish source** | Modified versions offered over a network must have their source available to those users |
| **Same licence** | Derivative works must also be AGPL v3.0 |
| **State changes** | Say what you modified |
| **Keep notices** | Retain copyright and licence notices |

## Does this affect me?

**We run it unmodified for our own team**

    No obligation to publish anything. Using the software — modified or not —
    purely internally does not trigger section 13, and unmodified use triggers
    nothing at all.

**We modified it for our own team only**

    Section 13 is about users interacting with it over a network. Your own
    employees using your internal instance are such users — the safe reading is
    that you must make the modified source available to them. In practice that
    is a repository they can reach.

**We want to offer it to customers as a hosted service**

    Then you must publish your modified source to those customers under the
    AGPL. If that is unacceptable, you need a commercial licence — talk to
    Orangescrum.

**We want to build a proprietary product on top**

    The AGPL does not permit that. A commercial licence does.

## Why dual licensing exists

Andolasoft Inc. distributes both this AGPL edition and a commercially licensed
edition from a shared codebase. That is why contributions require a
[CLA](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/community/project/contributing) — the company needs permission to
use contributed code in both. **You keep the copyright to your work.**

## Trademarks

The licence covers the code, not the name. "Orangescrum" and its logo are
trademarks. A fork must not present itself as Orangescrum in a way that implies
endorsement.

## Commercial licensing

If the AGPL does not fit — you need to build something proprietary, or offer a
hosted service without publishing your changes — a commercial licence is
available.

- [Compare editions](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/plans/editions): What the commercial editions add.

- [Talk to us](mailto:sales@orangescrum.com): Commercial licensing enquiries.