The code belongs to the community. Not to whoever shows up with a credit card.
The code is public for everyone, always: see it, use it, change it, add to it, build on it, fork it. Run Seat Four free at your own venue. What nobody gets to do is put a new logo on it and sell it back to the people who built it. Here is the plan, the catches, and the part where we admit what the label really is.
This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice and not the license text. The license text is the only thing that counts, and the final one has not been chosen yet.
Free for venues. Open to read. Closed to resellers.
We want the people who run venues to own the tool. That means keeping the one door shut that every successful free project eventually gets pushed through.
Venues: free
Use it to run your own venue, for-profit or not. The license asks nothing for running your own business.
Everyone: read, fork, change
The source is there to read. Fix it, bend it to your room, make your own version.
Nobody: sell it or host it as a rival
No resale, no rebrand, no competing hosting. The license counts rivals even when they are free.
PolyForm Shield 1.0.0
A ready-made license written by lawyers, so we are not inventing legal text on a napkin. It is the shortest match for what we want, and it has no expiry date.
Runner-up The Functional Source License. Same idea, but each version turns into Apache 2.0 after two years. The catch: a rival could then host a two-year-old version.
Any purpose is a permitted purpose, except for providing any product that competes with the software or any product the licensor or any of its affiliates provides using the software.
Translation: use it for your venue. Do not turn it into a rival.
- 1A planShield recommended. You are here.
- 2Lawyer reviewLicense, contributor agreement, name.
- 3Final license chosenDecided before any code goes public.
- 4Code publishedUnder the license picked in step 3.
Can I...?
Tap a question. Answers come from the Shield text. Where we have not verified a point ourselves, we say "Ask us" instead of bluffing.
Yes. Under the plan, any purpose is allowed except providing a product that competes with Seat Four. Running your own venue is not a product.
For-profit is fine. That is the whole point.
Based on the PolyForm Shield 1.0.0 text. A plan, not final. Not legal advice.
That is all of them. Still stuck on a scenario? Ask us and we will add it here.
AGPL locks the code open. Not the cash register.
AGPL was our first plan, and it is a fine license for many projects. It stops someone from closing the code. It does not stop them from charging for it. Section 4 says it plainly: "You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey."
Under AGPL, a hosting company could take Seat Four, hang its own logo on it and bill your venue every month. The license says that is fine. We do not.
Tap the goals you care about. The table lights up the licenses that meet them.
Swipe sideways to see every column.
| License | Venues use it free | Resale and paid hosting by others blocked | OSI open source | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGPL-3.0Our first plan | Yes | No, anyone may charge for hosting | Yes | Does not stop resale |
| PolyForm Shield 1.0.0Ready-made, lawyer-drafted text | Yes | Yes, permanently, even free hosting | No, source-available | Our plan |
| Functional Source LicenseFSL, turns into Apache 2.0 after 2 years | Yes | Yes, for 2 years per version | Each version, after 2 years | Runner-up |
| Elastic License 2.0Adds limits on license keys and notices | Yes | Yes, for hosted or managed services | No, source-available | Also fits, more fine print |
| PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0Charities and hobbyists, not businesses | No, a for-profit venue is not covered | Yes, commercial use barred | No | Blocks venues |
Source-available. Not "open source".
We could call it open source and hope nobody checks. Somebody always checks. So here it is straight.
What "open source" means
The Open Source Initiative keeps the official definition. One rule is that a license "shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software." Any license that blocks resale, ours included, cannot carry the label.
- Anyone may use it, change it and share it.
- Anyone may also resell it or host it for money.
What we chose instead
We picked freedom for venues over the label. The code is free to read and free to run in your own business, and a stranger cannot wrap it in a logo and sell it back to you.
- We will say "free and source-available" on this site.
- We will not say "open source" about our own code.
The cost: some grant programs and some people only count OSI licenses. We say that out loud in the nonprofit section below.
Not a stranger with a hosting plan. The project, yes.
Someone has to pay for the development. We would rather that be optional services from the project than a pricing page where the software used to be.
Run it for your own business. No license fee.
No selling it, no hosting it for others, no rebranded copies.
Paid hosting and management, to fund development. The project holds the copyright, and contributors agree to that up front (see Contributing).
How the money would work
A plan, in four steps. Nothing here is on sale today.
Help if you want it. Strings never.
If the project ever sells hosting or management, these four promises come attached. They match what we say on the AI voices page.
Your clients, calls and recordings stay in your database, in your name. Not ours. Not anyone's.
Everything runs on a server and accounts you control. We help you set them up; we never hold them.
No annual terms. No auto-renew trap. No cancellation fee. Stop whenever you want.
Every setup is documented in plain language so you, your nephew or any IT person can take it over.
The first service we are exploring is managing a server you control. If the project ever offers hosting on infrastructure it runs, that would be your choice, never a default.
We are exploring one. We have decided nothing.
The idea: a community-owned home for the code, with room to seek grants and a way to fund development and management services. This page claims no tax status and asks for no donations.
- Venues use it free. Yes.
- Resale and paid hosting by others blocked. Yes.
- Grant programs that only accept OSI licenses. Closed. For example, the Digital Public Goods Standard says that for software it only accepts OSI-approved licenses.
- Venues use it free. Yes.
- Resale and paid hosting by others blocked. No. Anyone could host it and charge for it.
- Grant programs that only accept OSI licenses. Open.
Charity rules have their own tests, and a project whose users are for-profit businesses gets a close look. Other structures exist. We will find out before we pick one.
Some programs require an OSI license. Others have their own rules. It depends on the funder, and we have not checked them all.
Income from services has its own rules for nonprofits. That is a question for people who do this for a living.
We will choose the structure with advisors: a lawyer who knows software licensing, and a nonprofit tax specialist.
You keep your work. The project keeps its promise.
If you want to contribute code, you will sign a contributor license agreement, called a CLA. In plain words, here is what it does and why.
The CLA, in plain words
- You keep the rights to your own work. You can reuse what you wrote however you like.
- The project gets a broad, permanent license to it. That is what lets the project host contributed code for paying customers and fund itself.
- It can move with the project. We want the agreement to allow a handover to a successor, such as a future nonprofit.
- A lawyer writes the real text. You will see it before you sign anything.
Why bother? As we understand it, without a CLA your contribution would arrive only under the public license. The project itself would then be bound by the "no hosting for others" rule for that code.
The name stays home
Under our plan, the Seat Four name and logo stay with the project. A fork needs its own name.
Fork it, rename it, run it. Just do not pretend to be us. That also protects you from someone else doing it to your venue's software.
The honest answers
Is Seat Four open source?
Not under this plan. The plan is a source-available license: anyone can read, fork and change the code, but nobody can sell it or host it for others. The official open source definition says a license "shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software", so we will not use the label. Today the code is private and not released, so there is no public license yet.
Has the license been chosen?
No. The recommendation is PolyForm Shield 1.0.0, with the Functional Source License as runner-up. The final license is chosen with a lawyer before the code is published.
Can my venue use it free if we make money with it?
Yes, that is the point. Under the recommended license, any purpose is allowed except providing a product that competes with Seat Four. Running your own venue is not a competing product.
What if I hire an IT person or company to set it up?
Go for it. Anyone can install it, and IT people and companies can charge their clients for installing, setting up and supporting it. They just cannot sell Seat Four itself or host it as their own product. We will write this plainly into the final license text.
Can I fork it?
Yes. Everyone can see the code, use it, change it, add to it, build on it and fork it. A fork just cannot be sold or run as a paid product that competes with Seat Four. Share the license along with it.
Will you ever take the code away or lock it?
No. The code stays public, for everyone, always. If we add services, they exist to make Seat Four easier to run, never to take something away.
Will the project charge for hosting?
We are exploring paid hosting and management run by the project, to fund development. It would come with the promises on this page: we never own your data, we never tie you to a contract and we never lock you in, and any hosting on the project's own servers would be your choice. Running it yourself stays free.
What if a venue breaks a rule by accident?
In the PolyForm Shield text, after you are notified in writing you have 32 days to come back into compliance and keep your license. That is the recommended license, not a final one.
Do the other tools Seat Four connects to fall under this license?
No. They keep their own licenses. This plan covers Seat Four's own code only.
Is Seat Four a nonprofit?
We are exploring a nonprofit home and grants. This page claims no tax status, and nothing on it is a request for donations.
What about AGPL plus Commons Clause?
Commons Clause blocks selling, including paid consulting and support, which would catch the local IT person we do not want to block. It also has a history of being argued in court. We looked at it and passed.
This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice and not the license text. Talk to a lawyer before you rely on any of it for your own business.
Got a view on the license? Tell us before it is final.
Join the beta list. Venue owners, developers and people who read licenses for fun are all welcome at this table.