Licensing

The short version

Gryt is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0), with one exception covered below. Here's what that means in plain English:

You can:

• Use Gryt for free for personal, educational, or non-commercial purposes
• Self-host your own Gryt instance
• Read, study, and learn from the source code
• Modify the code to fit your needs
• Share your modified version with others

You must:

• Share any changes you make to Gryt under the same AGPL-3.0 license
• If you run a modified version of Gryt as a public service (e.g. a hosted platform), you must make your modified source code available to your users
• Keep the copyright notices and license intact

You cannot:

• Take Gryt's code, make it closed-source, and sell it
• Run a commercial service based on Gryt without either following the AGPL-3.0 terms or purchasing a commercial license

The exception: the component library

@gryt/ui and @gryt/ui-native are MIT, not AGPL. They live together in Gryt-chat/ui, which is the only Gryt repository that is not AGPL.

The reason is what they are. A component library is meant to be picked up and used in whatever somebody is building, including things with nothing to do with Gryt, and the AGPL would rule that out for most of them. Everything that makes up a running Gryt — the client, the server, the SFU, the identity service, the image worker, the CLI and @gryt/voice — is AGPL.

Why AGPL-3.0?

We love open source. We want everyone to be able to use, study, and improve Gryt. But we also want to make sure that if someone builds a business on top of our work, they either contribute back to the community or support the project financially.

The AGPL-3.0 protects the project by ensuring:

• No closed-source forks — If someone modifies Gryt and distributes it, those modifications must stay open source.
• No free-riding SaaS — If someone runs a modified Gryt as a hosted service, they must share their changes. This prevents companies from taking the code, adding features behind closed doors, and competing with the community project.
• Patent protection — Contributors automatically grant a patent license, so users don't have to worry about patent claims.

Commercial use

If you're a company and you want to:

• Use Gryt in a commercial product
• Offer Gryt as a hosted service without open-sourcing your infrastructure
• Embed Gryt into proprietary software

You'll need a commercial license. This is a separate agreement that removes the AGPL-3.0 obligations.

Reach out at [email protected] to discuss commercial licensing.

Contributing

When you contribute to Gryt (e.g. by submitting a pull request), your contribution is licensed under the same AGPL-3.0 terms. This keeps things simple and ensures the whole project stays under one consistent license.

Common questions

Can I self-host Gryt for my team at work?

Yes, as long as you follow the AGPL-3.0 terms. If you modify the code, you need to make those modifications available under the same license. If you're using it unmodified, you're good to go.

Can I build a product that uses Gryt?

If your product is also open source under a compatible license, absolutely. If your product is closed-source or commercial, you'll need a commercial license.

Does this affect plugins or themes I build?

It depends on how tightly integrated they are. Standalone plugins that communicate through a public API are generally fine. Code that directly modifies or extends Gryt's internals would fall under the AGPL-3.0. When in doubt, ask us.

I just want to use Gryt with my friends. Do I need to worry about any of this?

Nope. Self-host it, use it, have fun. The license only matters when you start distributing modified versions or running it as a commercial service.

Full license text

The complete AGPL-3.0 license is available in the LICENSE file in the repository.