Install Pando

Licensing

Pando is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3, and is also available under a commercial license.

This page describes which one applies to you. LICENSE is the full AGPL text and is what actually governs; this is a summary, not legal advice.

Running Pando#

Running Pando to host your own applications — for yourself, your team, your company, or your customers — is covered by the AGPL at no cost and with no further obligation. You can modify it, run the modified version, and keep those modifications private.

The AGPL's network clause (§13) applies to Pando itself, not to the applications Pando hosts. Deploying your company's internal tools behind Pando does not place those tools under the AGPL.

Contributing#

Adapters are compiled into the binary rather than loaded as plugins, so new runtime, routing, builder, secrets, services, identity or notification providers are contributed as pull requests.

Because Pando is dual-licensed, contributions must be available under both licenses. By opening a pull request, you agree that your contribution may be distributed under the AGPL and under the commercial license. You retain copyright in your contribution. There is no CLA and no copyright assignment.

If those terms don't work for you, raise it in the pull request before it is merged.

Redistributing or reselling Pando#

Under the AGPL, if you distribute Pando or operate a modified version as a service that other people use, those users must be able to obtain the source of the version you are running, including your modifications. This applies to Pando's source, not to the applications it hosts for you.

A commercial license removes that requirement. It covers:

  • Operating Pando as a hosted service without publishing your modifications.
  • Embedding Pando in a proprietary product distributed to customers.
  • Shipping Pando inside an appliance or image under your own terms.
  • Organizations whose policies or contracts prohibit copyleft dependencies.

Terms are negotiated case by case. Open an issue describing what you intend to do, or contact bemeek-io.

Which license applies#

The AGPL, unless you hold a signed commercial agreement. No file in this repository is under different terms from the rest, and nothing here is commercially licensed by default.

Why AGPL first#

Relicensing from AGPL to a permissive license is possible with the agreement of the copyright holders. Going the other direction is not, because every copy already distributed stays permissive. Starting with the AGPL keeps both options available, and the commercial license covers the cases the AGPL does not.

Third-party components#

Dependencies retain their own licenses. Two ship as files in this repository rather than being fetched at build time:

  • Webfonts — Newsreader, Public Sans and IBM Plex Mono, in .claude/skills/pando-design/assets/fonts/, each under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The license text and copyright notices are in OFL.txt alongside them.
  • Go and npm dependencies — listed in go.mod and console/package.json.