Licensing
Kiki OS is open source where it matters for the platform and the ecosystem, and proprietary where the product is monetized. The policy is deliberate and applies to every repository.
By repository
| Repository | License | SPDX |
|---|---|---|
| kiki-os — OS images | GPL-3.0-or-later | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| kiki-wm — desktop / compositor | GPL-3.0-or-later | GPL-3.0-or-later |
kiki-agent — agentd | MIT | MIT |
| kiki-sdk — developer SDK | MIT | MIT |
| kiki-app — mobile app | MIT | MIT |
| kiki-cloud — backend | Proprietary | UNLICENSED |
The reasoning
Strong copyleft (GPLv3) for the OS and desktop. kiki-os and kiki-wm are the base platform. GPLv3 protects them against privatized forks — improvements to the OS and compositor stay open.
Permissive (MIT) for the agent, SDK, and app. kiki-agent, kiki-sdk, and kiki-app are meant for the widest possible adoption and embedding in third-party products. The SDK in particular must be permissive: a copyleft SDK would contaminate every app built with it. The value is in the cloud and the ecosystem, not in restricting the harness.
Proprietary for the cloud. kiki-cloud is the monetized SaaS — fleet management, OTA updates, the registry backend, billing. It's closed, while everything a device needs to run remains open.
What this means for you
- Running Kiki — the OS, desktop, agent, and SDK are free and open. A device works fully without any proprietary component.
- Building apps — the SDK is MIT, so you can build and ship under any license you choose. Your published app carries its own
licensefield — MIT, Apache-2.0, GPL, proprietary, whatever fits. The store records and surfaces it. - Using the cloud — the cloud is an optional, proprietary service with its own plans. You opt into it; you're never required to.
Apps choose their own license
The ecosystem doesn't impose a license on what you publish. Because the SDK is permissive, developers are free to license their apps, components, and schemas however they like. The license field in an app's manifest is authoritative, so users and other developers always know the terms.
Finding the licenses
Each repository carries its LICENSE file at its root. Rust workspaces declare the license in the workspace Cargo.toml; the mobile app declares it in package.json. When in doubt, the LICENSE file in the repo is the source of truth.