Business Source License 1.1Source-available today.
Source-available today.
Apache 2.0 in four years.
BSL is not a marketing license. It is a promise with a legal deadline. Here are the eight questions we hear most often.
- Q01Can I use Maxim commercially?
- Yes, for most use cases. Internal tooling, client engagements, research, education, commercial services that integrate Maxim, and forking for internal use are all permitted. The one exception is offering a competing pack catalog or a competing behavioral intelligence framework on a paid basis to third parties.
- Q02When does Maxim become Apache 2.0?
- Four years after each version is first publicly distributed. Maxim v1.0.0 (released 2026-04-21) becomes Apache 2.0 on 2030-04-21. Each version has its own four-year clock. The conversion is automatic — not optional on the Licensor side.
- Q03Can I fork Maxim?
- Yes. Forking for internal use is explicitly permitted. Redistributing modified copies is also permitted, provided Maxim is not the primary commercial offering of the redistribution.
- Q04Can I resell or rebrand Maxim as my own product?
- No, not during the BSL period. Reselling Maxim or rebranding it as a competing behavioral intelligence framework is the specific case BSL prevents. After the Change Date, this restriction lifts.
- Q05Are the paid packs covered by BSL?
- No. Commercial pack content (L1, L2, L3 packs) is separately licensed per-purchase via Stripe and remains proprietary. The packs are not source-available under BSL — they are commercial content under their own license terms.
- Q06Can I contribute a PR?
- Yes. Contributions to the core framework are BSL-licensed along with the rest of the core. Community-authored packs ship under whatever license the pack author chooses — see ADR-008 for the Community Pack System boundary.
- Q07Is BSL OSI-approved?
- No. The Open Source Initiative has not approved BSL 1.1 because it restricts certain commercial uses. BSL is source-available — you can read, modify, and use the source under the terms — but it is not open source in the OSI sense until the Change Date (when it becomes Apache 2.0).
- Q08Where can I reach out for alternative licensing?
- Our contact page. If your use case does not fit the Additional Use Grant and you need a custom license, we will respond within two business days.
Full license text lives at github.com/DrNabeelKhan/maxim/blob/main/LICENSE. BSL 1.1 is ratified by ADR-005 in the Maxim canonical ledger.