# Licensing

Bivvy is **source-available** under the **Functional Source License (FSL) 1.1** and automatically converts to **Apache License 2.0** after a set period.

## Quick summary (human-readable)

You **can**:
- Use Bivvy for personal projects, open-source projects, and commercial/internal work.
- Fork it, modify it, and run it in CI/CD.
- Contribute improvements back (PRs welcome).

You **can’t** (during the initial FSL period):
- Offer Bivvy (or a substantially similar fork) as a **competing product or hosted service**.

After the conversion date, Bivvy becomes **Apache 2.0**, and those restrictions no longer apply.

> This page is a plain-English summary. The license text in the repository is the source of truth.

## Why we chose this

Dev environment tooling is easy to clone and resell as a service.
FSL lets us keep the code fully visible and accessible while protecting Bivvy from “hosted clone” competition long enough to build an awesome product that anyone can use.

## Conversion timeline

- **Initial license:** FSL 1.1
- **Conversion license:** Apache 2.0
- **Conversion period:** 2 years after each release (see [repository](https://github.com/bivvy-dev/bivvy/blob/main/LICENSE) for exact terms)

## Questions / special cases

If you’re unsure whether your use case is allowed (especially if you’re planning a hosted offering),
open an issue or reach out: **[support@bivvy.dev](mailto:support@bivvy.dev)**.
