I'm an engineer too. I've built on open source my whole career, and most of it is good: people giving away real work so the rest of us can build on it. But I've also watched this happen more times than I can count.
A project gets good. People show up. They file the bugs, write the docs, build the integrations, and answer each other's questions at midnight. Then one day the license changes, and the thing all those people helped build is suddenly behind a wall.
I hate it. Greedy companies always end up taking their toys back once the toys get good enough. That will never happen here. Period.
In fact, I plan to do the exact opposite. StateFrame is the first release, Momentum is next, and the list only grows from there. Over time, more of what I build ends up in the open, not less.
I don't expect you to take my word for it, so I put it in writing.
#What I'm promising
Every project I release under the AGPL comes with a pledge. That's StateFrame today, and Momentum when it lands. The full text is PLEDGE.md in each repository, and the short version lives on the open source page. In plain words:
Released means released. Every version I publish under the AGPL-3.0-only stays under it. I'm not going to pull that from anyone who follows the license.
No license switch later. I won't move a project to a source-available or other non-open license down the road. If it ships open, its future ships open.
The whole engine, not a teaser. The open release is the full engine, with the complete source, no later than anyone else gets it. There's no paid edition with the good parts held back. The only early access is for security fixes, which may go to affected users up to 30 days before the public release, and for me testing builds before they ship.
Your contributions stay open. If a release has your code in it, that release ships under the AGPL.
Fork it without asking. You can fork any project and ship your own version under your own name, as long as you follow the license and keep its notices. That right comes with the license. It's not mine to take back.
Open even if I stop. If I ever stop maintaining a project, the last release stays AGPL and anyone can pick it up. I'll say so in the repository and on this site within 30 days. No going quiet and letting it rot.
#About the CLA
I know a contributor license agreement makes people nervous, and I get it. CLAs are exactly how some companies pulled off their relicensing.
So here's the deal with mine. It takes about a minute and you keep your copyright. What it does is let Farside Research offer the same code under a commercial license as well. It is never used to take code out of the open. That's in the pledge too, on purpose.
#So why charge anyone?
Because somebody has to pay for the GPUs and the hours, and I'd rather it be companies building closed products than people working in the open.
If you're learning, doing research, building open source under the AGPL, or just running a release on your own machines, it's free. It stays free. The commercial license is for companies that want to ship it inside a closed product, or run a modified version for their customers without sharing the source.
It's from $9.99/mo for solo devs, priced by company size. One license covers every engine I've already released. It gets you the same code on different terms, not extra features, because there aren't any paid-only features to get. The details are on the licensing page.
That's the whole reason it exists. The license keeps the work going. It isn't there to lock anything up.
#I want you on the team
This is the part I care about most.
Right now Farside Research is one person. I can build a lot with the tools I have, but I can't see every bug, every edge case, or every good idea about how agents should keep track of their work. You can.
Bug reports, small fixes, docs, new benchmarks, a weird idea you've been chewing on: all of it is welcome, and first-timers especially. Open an issue or a pull request on GitHub. Try to break it. Tell me where I'm wrong. Benchmark it against whatever you want and publish what you find, good or bad.
And if you ever decide I'm doing it wrong, fork it. That's your right, and I'll respect it.
What gets released stays open. You have my word, and you have it in writing.