Legal
License
A plain-language summary. The full legal text governs; links below.
This page is a summary for convenience and is not the license itself. The
canonical LICENSE in the repository controls.
Community edition — AGPLv3
The Tessera Community edition is free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. In short, you may:
- Run the software for any purpose, including commercially.
- Study and modify the source code.
- Redistribute copies and your modifications.
The AGPL's key condition: if you run a modified version as a network service, you must offer that service's users the corresponding source. Because Tessera is local-first, most users never trigger this — but self-hosters offering it to others do. See the full AGPLv3 text.
Pro edition — commercial EULA
The Pro tier is sold under a commercial end-user license. Summary terms:
- One-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring billing.
- Perpetual for the major version you bought — yours to keep and use offline.
- Per-user / per-household license for personal use; the key is for you, not for redistribution.
- Soft upgrade gate — a newer major may prompt to upgrade; it never disables your installed version.
- Offline validation — Pro does not phone home to verify your license.
Contributions
Contributions are welcome under the project's Contributor License Agreement, which
keeps the open-core model sustainable. See CLA.md in the repository.
Trademarks
The Tessera name and logo are not licensed under the AGPL. You may build and redistribute the source, but please don't imply official endorsement.
Licensing questions? Email admin [at] gettessera.xyz .