AGPL Compliance Guide

May 15, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Ech0 is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later. This guide explains the practical requirements for using, modifying, and distributing Ech0.

This document is not legal advice. It is a project-level compliance guide for operators, downstream developers, and vendors.

What AGPL Requires

If you modify Ech0 and make it available to users over a network, including as source code of your modified version under AGPL-3.0-or-later.

You must also preserve copyright notices, license notices, and source-code access information.

Common Cases

Unmodified Self-Hosting

You may run an unmodified Ech0 release for yourself or your organization. Keep the license and copyright notices intact.

Modified Self-Hosting or SaaS

If you change Ech0 and let users access that modified service over a network, you must provide the complete corresponding source code for the deployed version. This includes backend changes, frontend changes, build scripts, and other files needed to build and run the modified version.

Container Images and Binary Distribution

If you distribute Ech0 binaries, container images, packages, or installers, you must preserve the license notices and provide the corresponding source code for the distributed build.

White-Label or Proprietary Forks

White-label deployments and proprietary forks are still subject to the AGPL if they are based on Ech0. If you do not want to publish your modifications under AGPL-3.0-or-later, request a commercial license instead.

Minimum Compliance Checklist

  • Keep the AGPL-3.0-or-later license notice.
  • Keep Ech0 copyright notices and attribution.
  • Provide a clear source-code link to users of the network service.
  • If modified, publish the complete corresponding source code for the exact deployed version.
  • License your modifications under AGPL-3.0-or-later unless you have a separate commercial license.
  • Do not remove source-code access information from the About page, API metadata, CLI output, or documentation.

Commercial License

For proprietary products, closed-source hosted services, white-label deployments, or other use cases where you do not want to release your modifications under AGPL-3.0-or-later, see:

../../COMMERCIAL.md