License

kovra is source-available, published by Kaeus Inc under the Business Source License 1.1 (BSL).

What that means in practice

• You get the source. Read it, build it, modify it, and run it yourself.
• You can use it for development — the local tool, the CLI, the vault, the MCP server — which is exactly what these docs describe.
• Each version becomes fully open four years after its release: on that version’s change date it converts to the Apache License 2.0.

The BSL exists to keep kovra’s source open and inspectable — important for a tool you trust with secrets — while giving the project a sustainable runway. The one thing it withholds, until the change date, is the right to offer kovra as a competing commercial hosted service.

The license text is authoritative

This page is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. The LICENSE file in the repository is the controlling document — including each version’s precise change date and any additional use grant. If anything here and the LICENSE disagree, the LICENSE wins.

Open-core

kovra-core — the local tool documented here — is the source-available part. Premium, organizational features may live in a separate component under different terms; nothing in these docs depends on it.