> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stackra.figentra.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# 0024 — MIT license, with stated exclusions

> Accepted · 2026-10-19

> [!NOTE]
>
> Amended by [0195](/adr/0195-organisation-legal-and-release-communication): the licence split and
> the contributor agreement (DCO).

## Context

The repository is public. The root `LICENSE` says "All rights reserved" and every member's `package.json` says
`"license": "UNLICENSED"`, because the earlier plan kept everything private. Products in other repositories install
these packages ([0023](/adr/0023-stackra-is-a-framework)), and a framework nobody may legally use is not a framework.
Some files in the tree are not ours to license: fonts arrive under the SIL Open Font License, and brand marks must not become free to reuse.

## Decision

1. **Code is MIT.** The root `LICENSE` is the MIT text. Every member's `LICENSE` stays a byte-identical copy of it
   ([0013](/adr/0013-versioning-and-release)), and every `package.json` says `"license": "MIT"`.
2. **Brand assets are excluded: all rights reserved.** Logos, marks and social images carry a `NOTICE` in their own folder
   (for `@stackra/brand`, `assets/NOTICE`) stating the exclusion. The member `LICENSE` stays the root copy; the `NOTICE` narrows it.
3. **Fonts keep their own licence.** Geist, Geist Mono and IBM Plex Sans Arabic ship with their OFL texts beside the files
   (`assets/public/fonts/OFL-*.txt`), as today.
4. **Code from paid licences is never committed.** HeroUI Pro, Uniwind Pro and similar are consumed as dependencies only;
   no copied component, generated source or licence key enters the tree.
5. **A new exclusion needs a `NOTICE` in its folder** in the same change that adds the files.

## Consequences

* Anyone may use the code; nobody may reuse the Stackra marks.
* This reverses the earlier "all private (UNLICENSED)" plan. The validator, `/standards/members` and the scaffold
  templates change together when this ADR is accepted.
* The copyright line in the MIT text names Figentra Technologies FZ-LLC, as the current `LICENSE` does.

## Enforcement

Planned — `tools/scripts/validate-repository.mjs` (`checkFiles`) currently requires `license` to be `"UNLICENSED"`; it
changes to expect `"MIT"` and keeps the `LICENSE`-equals-root check. Planned — a check that `packages/experience/brand/assets/NOTICE` exists.
Nothing checks rule 4 today; gitleaks does not detect copied source.

## Supersedes and sources

Supersedes: none. Changes the licence rule documented in `/standards/members`. Sources: owner decision in chat, 2026-10-19;
`packages/experience/brand/assets/public/fonts/OFL-*.txt`.


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