Free core. Sellable plugins.
Whity Core is AGPL-3.0-only with one additional permission, the Whity Plugin Exception. You can self-host, modify and run the core commercially. If you build a plugin against the SDK, you can license and sell it however you like.
| Component | License | What that lets you do |
|---|---|---|
| Whity Core | AGPL-3.0-only + Plugin Exception | Self-host, modify, run commercially. Network-served modifications must offer their source. |
whity/plugin-sdk | MIT | Build against it with no copyleft obligation. |
| A plugin built on the SDK | Your choice | Closed-source, commercial, sold in a marketplace — the exception covers it. |
| UI, tokens, api-client packages | MIT | Reuse the design system and generated client freely. |
AGPL closes the SaaS loophole.
Under a plain GPL, modifying a program and only ever running it as a network service — never handing anyone a copy — creates no obligation to share the changes. AGPL's section 13 removes that gap: offer a modified Whity Core to users over a network, and you have to offer them its source too.
That is the whole bargain for the core: run it, modify it, deploy it, charge for hosting it — improvements you serve to users get shared back with them.
Plugins are yours.
Domain logic ships as plugins built against whity/plugin-sdk: interfaces, data shapes, HTTP contracts, no runtime dependency on core. The Whity Plugin Exception — an additional permission under AGPL section 7 — says a plugin that uses only the SDK's interfaces, and doesn't copy or incorporate core source, is not required to be AGPL.
A platform is worth what its ecosystem is worth.
An ecosystem needs plugin authors who can choose the terms of their own work — including selling it — without that choice being dictated by the licence of the host. Copyleft on the core keeps someone from taking Whity proprietary without contributing back; the exception keeps that protection from leaking into every plugin built on top.