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Hookfish is licensed under the Functional Source License 1.1 with an attribution requirement. It is source-available, not open source: everything is permitted except reselling Hookfish itself, and end-user-facing applications must carry a credit. This page summarizes the license. The LICENSE file is what governs.

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What you may do

You may use, copy, modify, create derivative works from, and redistribute Hookfish for any Permitted Purpose. A Permitted Purpose is any purpose other than a Competing Use, and specifically includes:
  • Running Hookfish for your internal use and access, self-hosted on any backend.
  • Embedding Hookfish in a commercial product that is not a broker product.
  • Non-commercial education and non-commercial research.
  • Professional services you provide to someone else using Hookfish under the same license.
Self-hosting is explicitly permitted, including inside a company that competes with us in other markets.

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What a Competing Use is

A Competing Use means making Hookfish available to others in a commercial product or service that substitutes for Hookfish, substitutes for another product or service we offer using Hookfish, or offers substantially similar functionality. Selling a hosted OAuth and secret broker built on Hookfish is a Competing Use. Running that same broker for your own application is not.

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When you must credit Hookfish

If you make a product or service built with Hookfish available to people outside your own organization through an interface they use directly — a website, a web or mobile application, a desktop application, or a command-line tool — you must credit Hookfish somewhere those users can reasonably find it. A credit qualifies when it:
  1. Names Hookfish, for example Powered by Hookfish.
  2. Links to https://github.com/hookfish/hookfish.
  3. Sits somewhere reachable: an about page, a settings, credits, or acknowledgements screen, an open-source or third-party licenses page, a colophon, a footer, or published documentation.
The credit does not have to appear on every screen. No credit is required for internal use, non-commercial education, or non-commercial research. hookfish init writes this requirement into the generated project’s AGENTS.md and README.md so coding agents and contributors keep it in view.

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Conversion to Apache 2.0

Every version of Hookfish becomes available under the Apache License 2.0 on the second anniversary of its release. From that date, that version carries no Competing Use restriction and no attribution requirement. Newer versions stay under the Functional Source License until they reach their own conversion date.

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Waivers and commercial licenses

To request an attribution waiver, or a commercial license permitting a Competing Use, open an issue.