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Open Source Model and Licensing

Public licences

Original software uses GNU AGPL version 3 only. Original documentary specifications, guidance and graphics use CC BY-SA 4.0. The licensing guide defines material and path assignments and links to the complete, unchanged standard texts.

AGPL governs covered software distribution and modified network-interactive versions. CC BY-SA governs protected documentary expression and shared adaptations. These licences do not require every private productive use or independently written implementation of ideas to be published. Compliant commercial use is permitted; no extra approval condition is added to the public grants.

Curated databases use ODbL only when an explicit database notice designates them. Database contents and third-party source material may have separate terms; facts, analysis outputs and synthetic fixtures are not automatically ODbL databases.

Ownership, contributions and alternative licences

Robert Schaub remains the sole copyright holder of his own protectable original contributions; other contributors retain copyright in theirs. The contributor copyright agreement requires explicit acceptance for identified contributions by people other than Robert and grants Robert nonexclusive public- and alternative-licensing permission. Acting for an association does not itself transfer copyright.

Robert may individually agree alternative licences, including closed-use permissions, for rights he controls. Scope, duration and compensation are negotiated in writing. No exception is promised. Third-party rights must be cleared separately.

Third-party components

Dependencies, quotations, external model services, model weights and third-party data retain their own terms and notices. Check compatibility for the actual combined work and distribution. A project licence does not grant rights to an external provider's technology or require every independent dependency to adopt the project's licence.

Preserve applicable copyright, attribution and licence notices. Project names, logos and trust marks do not confer branding permission, endorsement or certification.

6. AI Models and Licensing (AKEL)

AKEL (AI Knowledge Extraction Layer) may rely on different types of models. Licensing and transparency rules are crucial here.

6.1 Open vs Proprietary Models

AKEL may use:

  • Open-source models (preferred):
    • weights and code are openly available under compatible licenses,
    • prompts, evaluation logic and integration code are made public where licenses permit.
  • Proprietary / hosted models (allowed but constrained):
    • used only when necessary for quality or feasibility,
    • must be clearly disclosed to the user at point of use,
    • AKEL must label which parts of its output derive from proprietary tools,
    • surrounding integration logic remains open (AGPL-3.0-only for original project software; compatible terms for third-party components) and is documented.

Rules:

  • No deployment may suggest "fully open" AI if proprietary models are used without disclosure.
  • For high-impact reasoning (e.g. health, politics, safety-critical topics), open, auditable models are preferred wherever feasible.
  • Where proprietary models are unavoidable, additional care is taken to:
    • document limitations,
    • avoid overstating certainty,
    • and keep reasoning layers as transparent as possible.

AI-generated knowledge must be tagged authorType = AI.

6.2 Prompts, Pipelines and Integration Code

  • Orchestration code, pipelines and evaluation logic around AKEL are treated as part of the open FactHarbor codebase (AGPL-3.0-only).
  • Where prompts or model configurations are licensed in a way that restricts publication, this must be documented clearly, and safe abstractions should be used in public documentation.

6.3 AI Prompts and Orchestration

  • Prompts, system instructions, and orchestration code are considered Code and licensed under AGPL-3.0-only, to the extent protectable.
  • They must be visible in the repository to ensure the system is not a 'black box'.
  • If a proprietary model requires a prompt that cannot be shared (e.g. contractual restriction), that component cannot be part of the open core.

7. Third-Party Libraries and Components

FactHarbor depends on third-party libraries under:

  • permissive licenses (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD), and/or
  • other compatible open-source licenses.

Requirements:

  • All dependencies must be license-compatible with:
    • the AGPL-3.0-only-licensed code,
    • and the overall FactHarbor licensing strategy.
  • License information is documented in:
    • /LICENSE and, where applicable, /NOTICE,
    • and a dedicated "Third-Party Licenses" section in project documentation.

FactHarbor actively avoids dependencies that:

  • restrict redistribution in ways incompatible with open-source norms,
  • prevent network users from accessing the relevant source,
  • or conflict with the project's transparency and licensing goals.

8. Repository Standards

Each official FactHarbor repository must follow a minimum standard.

8.1 Required Files

Each repository should contain at least:

  • README – purpose, scope, status, and how to use it.
  • LICENSE – the applicable license(s) for the repository.
  • CONTRIBUTING – how to propose changes; coding/writing guidelines.
  • CODEOWNERS – who is responsible for which parts.
  • CHANGELOG – human-readable log of important changes.
  • SECURITY (or SECURITY.md) – how to report vulnerabilities and how they are handled.

8.2 Prohibited Content

FactHarbor repositories must not contain:

  • purely ideological advocacy texts unrelated to the project's purpose,
  • opaque binaries or artefacts that cannot reasonably be inspected or reproduced,
  • embedded secrets (API keys, passwords, private tokens),
  • content that materially contradicts the stated licenses or governance rules.

Separate policies

Organisational publication commitments are governed by the Transparency Policy. Data-handling provisions are in the Privacy Policy. Product-use guidance is in License and Disclaimer. Those documents do not amend the public copyright licences.