max / synckit

Relicense the SDK to MIT: the perimeter is the server, not the protocol SyncKit was PolyForm Noncommercial because the licensing rule asks whether the software is what the unit charges for, and that got answered at the granularity of the repo. MNW does not charge for SyncKit. It charges for hosted sync, and what a competitor would have to run to sell that is the sync server, which lives in MNW/server/src/routes/synckit and is PolyForm already. This repo is only the client SDK. A noncommercial clause here defended nothing and taxed the one thing that should be easy, which is a commercial application integrating. It surfaced from underneath while wiring bom-sync: Buckets of Money is MIT, synckit was not, and the rule against mixing PolyForm into a permissive product blocked the dependency. The rule was working; the input was wrong. Both crates go MIT. The perimeter, confirmed explicitly because it gives something up: integrating the SDK commercially is unconditioned, running the server is fine for noncommercial purposes and needs an arrangement otherwise, and pairing this SDK with a server someone wrote themselves is outside the line and deliberately allowed. CLA.md is untouched. Its "commercial or noncommercial" language is about the grant to Make Creative, not the outbound license. Reasoning in wiki licensing-strategy; CLAUDE.md updated to match.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Max Johnson <me@maxj.phd> · 2026-08-07 19:04 UTC

Signed with PGP, not checked

Commit: 82d6694a3a3fe63100f4a4e7b3a47f8d765129ef

Parent: b72ee3f

7 files changed, +72 insertions, -354 deletions

M LICENSE +17 -116

			@@ -1,120 +1,21 @@
1		-	Required Notice: Copyright 2026 Make Creative, LLC (https://makenot.work)
	1	+	MIT License
2	2
3		-	PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0
	3	+	Copyright (c) 2026 Make Creative, LLC
4	4
5		-	<https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0>
	5	+	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
	6	+	of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
	7	+	in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
	8	+	to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
	9	+	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
	10	+	furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
6	11
7		-	Acceptance
	12	+	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
	13	+	copies or substantial portions of the Software.
8	14
9		-	In order to get any license under these terms, you must agree to them as
10		-	both strict obligations and conditions to all your licenses.
11		-
12		-	Copyright License
13		-
14		-	The licensor grants you a copyright license for the software to do
15		-	everything you might do with the software that would otherwise infringe
16		-	the licensor's copyright in it for any permitted purpose. However, you
17		-	may only distribute the software according to Distribution License and
18		-	make changes or new works based on the software according to Changes and
19		-	New Works License.
20		-
21		-	Distribution License
22		-
23		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to distribute
24		-	copies of the software. Your license to distribute covers distributing
25		-	the software with changes and new works permitted by Changes and New
26		-	Works License.
27		-
28		-	Notices
29		-
30		-	You must ensure that anyone who gets a copy of any part of the software
31		-	from you also gets a copy of these terms or the URL for them above, as
32		-	well as copies of any plain-text lines beginning with "Required Notice:"
33		-	that the licensor provided with the software. For example:
34		-
35		-	Required Notice: Copyright Yoyodyne, Inc. (http://example.com)
36		-
37		-	Changes and New Works License
38		-
39		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to make changes
40		-	and new works based on the software for any permitted purpose.
41		-
42		-	Patent License
43		-
44		-	The licensor grants you a patent license for the software that covers
45		-	patent claims the licensor can license, or becomes able to license, that
46		-	you would infringe by using the software.
47		-
48		-	Noncommercial Purposes
49		-
50		-	Any noncommercial purpose is a permitted purpose.
51		-
52		-	Personal Uses
53		-
54		-	Personal use for research, experiment, and testing for the benefit of
55		-	public knowledge, personal study, private entertainment, hobby projects,
56		-	amateur pursuits, or religious observance, without any anticipated
57		-	commercial application, is use for a permitted purpose.
58		-
59		-	Noncommercial Organizations
60		-
61		-	Use by any charitable organization, educational institution, public
62		-	research organization, public safety or health organization,
63		-	environmental protection organization, or government institution is use
64		-	for a permitted purpose regardless of the source of funding or
65		-	obligations resulting from the funding.
66		-
67		-	Fair Use
68		-
69		-	You may have "fair use" rights for the software under the law. These
70		-	terms do not limit them.
71		-
72		-	No Other Rights
73		-
74		-	These terms do not allow you to sublicense or transfer any of your
75		-	licenses to anyone else, or prevent the licensor from granting licenses
76		-	to anyone else. These terms do not imply any other licenses.
77		-
78		-	Patent Defense
79		-
80		-	If you make any written claim that the software infringes or contributes
81		-	to infringement of any patent, your patent license for the software
82		-	granted under these terms ends immediately. If your company makes such a
83		-	claim, your patent license ends immediately for work on behalf of your
84		-	company.
85		-
86		-	Violations
87		-
88		-	The first time you are notified in writing that you have violated any of
89		-	these terms, or done anything with the software not covered by your
90		-	licenses, your licenses can nonetheless continue if you come into full
91		-	compliance with these terms, and take practical steps to correct past
92		-	violations, within 32 days of receiving notice. Otherwise, all your
93		-	licenses end immediately.
94		-
95		-	No Liability
96		-
97		-	As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty
98		-	or condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages
99		-	arising out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under
100		-	any kind of legal claim.
101		-
102		-	Definitions
103		-
104		-	The licensor is the individual or entity offering these terms, and the
105		-	software is the software the licensor makes available under these terms.
106		-
107		-	You refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these terms.
108		-
109		-	Your company is any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of
110		-	organization that you work for, plus all organizations that have control
111		-	over, are under the control of, or are under common control with that
112		-	organization. Control means ownership of substantially all the assets of
113		-	an entity, or the power to direct its management and policies by vote,
114		-	contract, or otherwise. Control can be direct or indirect.
115		-
116		-	Your licenses are all the licenses granted to you for the software under
117		-	these terms.
118		-
119		-	Use means anything you do with the software requiring one of your
120		-	licenses.
	15	+	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
	16	+	IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
	17	+	FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
	18	+	AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
	19	+	LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
	20	+	OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
	21	+	SOFTWARE.

M README.md +13 -3

			@@ -18,6 +18,16 @@
18	18		Working on the code: `CONTRIBUTING.md` covers the crate boundary, the feature
19	19		flags, how to run each test configuration, and the test conventions.
20	20
	21	+	## License
	22	+
	23	+	MIT, both crates. Integrating SyncKit into an application carries no condition on
	24	+	what that application charges for.
	25	+
	26	+	The restriction is on hosting, and it is not in this repo. The sync server lives
	27	+	in the MNW server under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0: run one for noncommercial
	28	+	purposes freely, but selling hosting on it needs a different arrangement. Pairing
	29	+	this SDK with a server you wrote yourself is outside that perimeter and fine.
	30	+
21	31		The synckit server still lives in the MNW server. Splitting it into a
22	32		standalone service on its own VPS is a separate, later effort. See the wiki
23	33		note `mnw-strategy-synckit-vps-separation`, triggered by the first external
			@@ -25,9 +35,9 @@
25	35
26	36		## Contributing
27	37
28		-	This project is licensed under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0. Make Creative, LLC owns
29		-	the codebase and needs to hold clear title to all of it, so contributions work a
30		-	little differently here than on a permissively licensed project.
	38	+	This project is licensed under MIT. Make Creative, LLC owns the codebase and needs
	39	+	to hold clear title to all of it, so contributions still work a little differently
	40	+	here than on most permissively licensed projects.
31	41
32	42		Found a bug, or something small and obviously wrong? Open a bug report rather
33	43		than sending a patch. A clear report of what you did, what happened, and what you

M synckit-client/Cargo.toml +1 -1

			@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
2	2		name = "synckit-client"
3	3		version = "0.7.0"
4	4		edition = "2024"
5		-	license = "LicenseRef-PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0"
	5	+	license = "MIT"
6	6		description = "SyncKit client SDK with end-to-end encryption"
7	7
8	8		[features]

M synckit-client/LICENSE +17 -116

			@@ -1,120 +1,21 @@
1		-	Required Notice: Copyright 2026 Make Creative, LLC (https://makenot.work)
	1	+	MIT License
2	2
3		-	PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0
	3	+	Copyright (c) 2026 Make Creative, LLC
4	4
5		-	<https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0>
	5	+	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
	6	+	of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
	7	+	in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
	8	+	to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
	9	+	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
	10	+	furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
6	11
7		-	Acceptance
	12	+	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
	13	+	copies or substantial portions of the Software.
8	14
9		-	In order to get any license under these terms, you must agree to them as
10		-	both strict obligations and conditions to all your licenses.
11		-
12		-	Copyright License
13		-
14		-	The licensor grants you a copyright license for the software to do
15		-	everything you might do with the software that would otherwise infringe
16		-	the licensor's copyright in it for any permitted purpose. However, you
17		-	may only distribute the software according to Distribution License and
18		-	make changes or new works based on the software according to Changes and
19		-	New Works License.
20		-
21		-	Distribution License
22		-
23		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to distribute
24		-	copies of the software. Your license to distribute covers distributing
25		-	the software with changes and new works permitted by Changes and New
26		-	Works License.
27		-
28		-	Notices
29		-
30		-	You must ensure that anyone who gets a copy of any part of the software
31		-	from you also gets a copy of these terms or the URL for them above, as
32		-	well as copies of any plain-text lines beginning with "Required Notice:"
33		-	that the licensor provided with the software. For example:
34		-
35		-	Required Notice: Copyright Yoyodyne, Inc. (http://example.com)
36		-
37		-	Changes and New Works License
38		-
39		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to make changes
40		-	and new works based on the software for any permitted purpose.
41		-
42		-	Patent License
43		-
44		-	The licensor grants you a patent license for the software that covers
45		-	patent claims the licensor can license, or becomes able to license, that
46		-	you would infringe by using the software.
47		-
48		-	Noncommercial Purposes
49		-
50		-	Any noncommercial purpose is a permitted purpose.
51		-
52		-	Personal Uses
53		-
54		-	Personal use for research, experiment, and testing for the benefit of
55		-	public knowledge, personal study, private entertainment, hobby projects,
56		-	amateur pursuits, or religious observance, without any anticipated
57		-	commercial application, is use for a permitted purpose.
58		-
59		-	Noncommercial Organizations
60		-
61		-	Use by any charitable organization, educational institution, public
62		-	research organization, public safety or health organization,
63		-	environmental protection organization, or government institution is use
64		-	for a permitted purpose regardless of the source of funding or
65		-	obligations resulting from the funding.
66		-
67		-	Fair Use
68		-
69		-	You may have "fair use" rights for the software under the law. These
70		-	terms do not limit them.
71		-
72		-	No Other Rights
73		-
74		-	These terms do not allow you to sublicense or transfer any of your
75		-	licenses to anyone else, or prevent the licensor from granting licenses
76		-	to anyone else. These terms do not imply any other licenses.
77		-
78		-	Patent Defense
79		-
80		-	If you make any written claim that the software infringes or contributes
81		-	to infringement of any patent, your patent license for the software
82		-	granted under these terms ends immediately. If your company makes such a
83		-	claim, your patent license ends immediately for work on behalf of your
84		-	company.
85		-
86		-	Violations
87		-
88		-	The first time you are notified in writing that you have violated any of
89		-	these terms, or done anything with the software not covered by your
90		-	licenses, your licenses can nonetheless continue if you come into full
91		-	compliance with these terms, and take practical steps to correct past
92		-	violations, within 32 days of receiving notice. Otherwise, all your
93		-	licenses end immediately.
94		-
95		-	No Liability
96		-
97		-	As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty
98		-	or condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages
99		-	arising out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under
100		-	any kind of legal claim.
101		-
102		-	Definitions
103		-
104		-	The licensor is the individual or entity offering these terms, and the
105		-	software is the software the licensor makes available under these terms.
106		-
107		-	You refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these terms.
108		-
109		-	Your company is any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of
110		-	organization that you work for, plus all organizations that have control
111		-	over, are under the control of, or are under common control with that
112		-	organization. Control means ownership of substantially all the assets of
113		-	an entity, or the power to direct its management and policies by vote,
114		-	contract, or otherwise. Control can be direct or indirect.
115		-
116		-	Your licenses are all the licenses granted to you for the software under
117		-	these terms.
118		-
119		-	Use means anything you do with the software requiring one of your
120		-	licenses.
	15	+	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
	16	+	IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
	17	+	FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
	18	+	AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
	19	+	LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
	20	+	OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
	21	+	SOFTWARE.

M synckit-client/README.md +6 -1

			@@ -85,4 +85,9 @@
85	85
86	86		## License
87	87
88		-	PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0
	88	+	MIT. SyncKit is the client SDK, and integrating it into a commercial application
	89	+	carries no licensing condition.
	90	+
	91	+	The sync server is a separate matter. It lives in the MNW server under PolyForm
	92	+	Noncommercial 1.0.0, so you may run one for noncommercial purposes but not sell
	93	+	hosting on it.

M synckit-config/Cargo.toml +1 -1

			@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
2	2		name = "synckit-config"
3	3		version = "0.1.2"
4	4		edition = "2024"
5		-	license = "LicenseRef-PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0"
	5	+	license = "MIT"
6	6		description = "Local key/value app settings with sync postures. The store half of SyncKit's config sync, usable with no network."
7	7
8	8		[dependencies]

M synckit-config/LICENSE +17 -116

			@@ -1,120 +1,21 @@
1		-	Required Notice: Copyright 2026 Make Creative, LLC (https://makenot.work)
	1	+	MIT License
2	2
3		-	PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0
	3	+	Copyright (c) 2026 Make Creative, LLC
4	4
5		-	<https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0>
	5	+	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
	6	+	of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
	7	+	in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
	8	+	to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
	9	+	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
	10	+	furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
6	11
7		-	Acceptance
	12	+	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
	13	+	copies or substantial portions of the Software.
8	14
9		-	In order to get any license under these terms, you must agree to them as
10		-	both strict obligations and conditions to all your licenses.
11		-
12		-	Copyright License
13		-
14		-	The licensor grants you a copyright license for the software to do
15		-	everything you might do with the software that would otherwise infringe
16		-	the licensor's copyright in it for any permitted purpose. However, you
17		-	may only distribute the software according to Distribution License and
18		-	make changes or new works based on the software according to Changes and
19		-	New Works License.
20		-
21		-	Distribution License
22		-
23		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to distribute
24		-	copies of the software. Your license to distribute covers distributing
25		-	the software with changes and new works permitted by Changes and New
26		-	Works License.
27		-
28		-	Notices
29		-
30		-	You must ensure that anyone who gets a copy of any part of the software
31		-	from you also gets a copy of these terms or the URL for them above, as
32		-	well as copies of any plain-text lines beginning with "Required Notice:"
33		-	that the licensor provided with the software. For example:
34		-
35		-	Required Notice: Copyright Yoyodyne, Inc. (http://example.com)
36		-
37		-	Changes and New Works License
38		-
39		-	The licensor grants you an additional copyright license to make changes
40		-	and new works based on the software for any permitted purpose.
41		-
42		-	Patent License
43		-
44		-	The licensor grants you a patent license for the software that covers
45		-	patent claims the licensor can license, or becomes able to license, that
46		-	you would infringe by using the software.
47		-
48		-	Noncommercial Purposes
49		-
50		-	Any noncommercial purpose is a permitted purpose.
51		-
52		-	Personal Uses
53		-
54		-	Personal use for research, experiment, and testing for the benefit of
55		-	public knowledge, personal study, private entertainment, hobby projects,
56		-	amateur pursuits, or religious observance, without any anticipated
57		-	commercial application, is use for a permitted purpose.
58		-
59		-	Noncommercial Organizations
60		-
61		-	Use by any charitable organization, educational institution, public
62		-	research organization, public safety or health organization,
63		-	environmental protection organization, or government institution is use
64		-	for a permitted purpose regardless of the source of funding or
65		-	obligations resulting from the funding.
66		-
67		-	Fair Use
68		-
69		-	You may have "fair use" rights for the software under the law. These
70		-	terms do not limit them.
71		-
72		-	No Other Rights
73		-
74		-	These terms do not allow you to sublicense or transfer any of your
75		-	licenses to anyone else, or prevent the licensor from granting licenses
76		-	to anyone else. These terms do not imply any other licenses.
77		-
78		-	Patent Defense
79		-
80		-	If you make any written claim that the software infringes or contributes
81		-	to infringement of any patent, your patent license for the software
82		-	granted under these terms ends immediately. If your company makes such a
83		-	claim, your patent license ends immediately for work on behalf of your
84		-	company.
85		-
86		-	Violations
87		-
88		-	The first time you are notified in writing that you have violated any of
89		-	these terms, or done anything with the software not covered by your
90		-	licenses, your licenses can nonetheless continue if you come into full
91		-	compliance with these terms, and take practical steps to correct past
92		-	violations, within 32 days of receiving notice. Otherwise, all your
93		-	licenses end immediately.
94		-
95		-	No Liability
96		-
97		-	As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty
98		-	or condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages
99		-	arising out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under
100		-	any kind of legal claim.
101		-
102		-	Definitions
103		-
104		-	The licensor is the individual or entity offering these terms, and the
105		-	software is the software the licensor makes available under these terms.
106		-
107		-	You refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these terms.
108		-
109		-	Your company is any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of
110		-	organization that you work for, plus all organizations that have control
111		-	over, are under the control of, or are under common control with that
112		-	organization. Control means ownership of substantially all the assets of
113		-	an entity, or the power to direct its management and policies by vote,
114		-	contract, or otherwise. Control can be direct or indirect.
115		-
116		-	Your licenses are all the licenses granted to you for the software under
117		-	these terms.
118		-
119		-	Use means anything you do with the software requiring one of your
120		-	licenses.
	15	+	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
	16	+	IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
	17	+	FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
	18	+	AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
	19	+	LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
	20	+	OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
	21	+	SOFTWARE.