# Open Code — Fractera's license model

> Raw reference for the news post *"Fractera Moves to Open Code"*
> (https://www.fractera.ai/en/news/open-code-license-agentic-engineering).
> Activate this document on the /documents page of a deployed workspace to ingest it into
> Company Memory (LightRAG) so every agent can recall it.

## TL;DR

- **Core** (`Agent-Engineering-Infrastructure`) = **PolyForm Small Business 1.0.0** — source-available, which we call **Open Code**.
- **Free** to copy, modify and use commercially for **individuals and small businesses**: fewer than **100** total people **AND** under **$1,000,000** annual revenue.
- **Large corporations** (above that threshold) need a **separate commercial license** — contact **admin@fractera.ai**.
- The restriction is **permanent** (no automatic conversion to open source).
- **Starters** (e.g. `fractera-next-starter`) stay **MIT**.
- **L1 Easy Starter** service stays **closed** (never published).

## Why "Open Code" and not "open source"

"Open source" is a defined term (the Open Source Definition, OSI). Two of its clauses forbid:

- **§5** — discrimination against any person or group;
- **§6** — discrimination against any field of use (e.g. "not for commercial use", "not for corporations").

Open Code restricts large corporations, so by that strict definition it is **not** open source — it is **source-available**. Calling it "open source" would be inaccurate and is exactly the "open-washing" the developer community pushes back on. So we use a precise, honest name: **Open Code**. Every line stays public to read, audit, fork and self-host; the only boundary is commercial use by large corporations.

## The boundary in one line

> Free to copy, change and use commercially — for everyone except large corporations, who need a commercial license. The code stays fully open to read, audit and self-host.

## What changes for whom

| You are… | Under Open Code |
|---|---|
| Individual / freelancer | Free — copy, change, self-host, build products, run a business. |
| Startup / small business (<100 people AND <$1M/yr) | Free — same freedoms as MIT. |
| Large corporation (≥100 people OR ≥$1M/yr) | Need a commercial license — contact admin@fractera.ai. |
| Anyone, for reading/auditing the code | Always free — the source is fully public. |

## Why now

A permissive license (MIT) lets a large, well-funded company take the whole project, rebrand it and resell it at scale without giving anything back. Ahead of revealing the technology behind **self-replicating MCP coding agents** — which pushes development speed up by several orders of magnitude — Fractera draws a clear commercial boundary so the largest players license commercial use, while independent builders and small teams keep every freedom they had under MIT.

## What a license can and cannot protect

A license protects the **code** (copyright), not the **idea** — only a patent protects an idea, and a patent requires publishing the idea to the world. Open Code does not hide anything; it defines **who gets to profit commercially** from the work at scale.

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Full license text: `LICENSE` in the core repository — https://github.com/Fractera/Agent-Engineering-Infrastructure/blob/main/LICENSE
PolyForm Small Business 1.0.0: https://polyformproject.org/licenses/small-business/1.0.0/
Commercial license enquiries: admin@fractera.ai