Public License · Version 3

CaelLab BY-SA Code License

An attribution and share-alike license for code. Use it, modify it, ship it, sell it — as long as you credit the author and keep the whole of your modified version open on the same terms.

Attribution required Share-alike on the whole work Source goes with the build Patent grant included Commercial use allowed

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Plain text: https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt · First published September 30, 2026

CaelLab Deed

This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license below.

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the work, in source or built form, in any medium or format.
Adapt — remix, transform, translate, and build upon the work.
Use commercially — for personal, commercial, or non-commercial purposes.
Run it privately — including on your own servers, without publishing your changes.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution (BY) — keep the copyright notice, credit the author, link to this license, and state whether you made changes.
ShareAlike (SA) — release your modified version — the whole of it, not only the files you changed — under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3, or a later version if the work says "or any later version", with no additional restrictions.
Source code available — if you distribute the work or a modified version in built form, the complete corresponding source of that version goes with it, under this license.
License preservation — the copyright notice and this license must be included in all copies or substantial portions of the work.

Notices:

No trademark rights are given. This license grants copyright and patent rights only.

A patent license is granted, and it ends if you file a patent suit over the work.

The work is provided "as is", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, and the contributors are not liable for damages arising from its use.

Full License Text

Reproduced verbatim from the canonical plain text file. The text of this license is itself released under the CaelLab Zero Subject License.

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CaelLab BY-SA Code License Version 3 September 30, 2026 https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3 TERMS AND CONDITIONS 0. DEFINITIONS "License" means the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3, whose text is published at https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt, and any later version of it as defined in Section 6. "Steward" means CaelLab, which publishes and maintains this License under https://www.caellab.com/license/, together with any successor that CaelLab names. Publishing this License does not make the Steward the Licensor of any Work; the Steward is the Licensor of a Work only if it has itself applied this License to that Work. "Licensor" means the individual or legal entity that holds copyright in the Work and grants this License. "You" and "Your" mean an individual or legal entity exercising rights under this License. "Work" means the software, source code, markup, stylesheets, scripts, configuration files, assets, and documentation to which the Licensor has attached this License. "Source Code" means the preferred form of the Work for making modifications to it, together with the build scripts, dependency manifests, and documentation needed to reproduce a corresponding Object Code. "Object Code" means any form of the Work other than Source Code, including compiled, minified, bundled, transpiled, or otherwise generated forms. "Modified Version" means any work based on or derived from the Work in which the Work has been translated, adapted, altered, or extended. A work that merely links to, references, or aggregates the Work without modifying it is not a Modified Version. "Distribute" means to reproduce, publish, upload, transfer, or otherwise make the Work or a Modified Version available to any third party, including by publishing it in a repository, shipping it inside a product, or bundling it with a template, theme, or application. Making copies for Your own internal use, or running the Work on Your own systems to process data or serve requests, is not Distribution for the purposes of this License. "Contribution" means any work of authorship, including the original Work and any modification or addition to it, that is intentionally submitted to the Licensor for inclusion in the Work. "Contributor" means the Licensor and any individual or legal entity on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by the Licensor and incorporated into the Work. 1. COPYRIGHT LICENSE Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor grants You a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free copyright license to reproduce, modify, prepare Modified Versions of, publicly display, publicly perform, Distribute, and otherwise use the Work for any purpose, including commercial purposes. The rights granted in this Section do not include the right to sublicense. Permission for any third party to use the Work must be granted under this License. 2. PATENT LICENSE Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor grants You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this Section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s) with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You institute patent litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed. 3. CONDITIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION This License exists to keep the Work open: anyone may use it, and anyone who passes it on must pass it on with the same freedoms. If You Distribute the Work or a Modified Version, the following conditions apply. 3.1 Attribution. If You Distribute the Work or a Modified Version, You must: (a) retain all copyright, patent, and attribution notices from the Source Code of the Work, including this License; (b) credit the Licensor by name, or by the nickname the Licensor uses, and identify the title of the Work; (c) include a copy of this License; (d) include a prominent statement that You modified the Work, and identify the files or parts You changed, when You have done so; and (e) where the Work is Distributed over a network, link to the URL of this License: https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt 3.2 Source Code Availability. Any Distribution of the Work or a Modified Version in Object Code or any other non-Source form must be accompanied by the complete corresponding Source Code of the same version, made available under this License, at no additional charge, through a publicly accessible location or by another reasonable means. If the Work is Distributed as part of a larger work, the corresponding Source Code of the Work must also be made available. 3.3 ShareAlike. The parts of a Modified Version that are the Work, and the parts that are changed from the Work, must be licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3. Where the Work says "or any later version", a later version of this License as defined in Section 6 may be used instead. A Modified Version may be Distributed only under the version so determined, and You must license the entire Modified Version, as a whole, under it to anyone who comes into possession of a copy. This License therefore applies to the whole of a Modified Version and to all of its parts, however they are packaged, and no part of a Modified Version may be licensed on any other terms, whether You changed that part or not. You may not impose any further restrictions, additional license terms, or technological measures on the Work or a Modified Version that would limit the rights granted by this License. 3.4 Third-Party Material. You may combine the Work with material under another license, provided that You comply with that license and that recipients of the combined work can still exercise the rights granted by this License in the Work itself. Where a combination forms a larger work that is a Modified Version, Section 3.3 applies to that larger work as a whole. Distributing the Work together with other separate and independent works, which are not by their nature extensions of the Work and are not combined with it to form a larger work, does not bring those other works under this License, provided that the distribution does not limit the rights of its recipients beyond what the individual works permit. 4. CONTRIBUTOR REPRESENTATIONS You represent that You are legally entitled to grant the rights granted in this License for each of Your Contributions. If Your employer or educational institution has rights to intellectual property that You create, You represent that You have received permission to make the Contribution on behalf of that party, or that the party has waived such rights. 5. NO TRADEMARK LICENSE This License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor, except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of the Work. In particular, You may not use the name "CaelLab" to endorse or promote a Modified Version without prior written permission. 6. LATER VERSIONS OF THIS LICENSE The Steward may publish revised or new versions of this License from time to time. Each version is given a distinguishing version number. A "later version" is a version of this License that meets all of the following: (a) it is published by the Steward under https://www.caellab.com/license/, or at a URL that the Steward names as the successor to that address; (b) it carries a version number higher than the version You are following; and (c) the Steward designates it as a final release, and its version number carries no suffix or qualifier such as "-alpha", "-beta", "-rc", "-draft", "-preview", or "-experimental". Versions that are not final releases, including development, draft, preview, experimental, provisional, and modified versions, and versions released by anyone other than the Steward, are not later versions, whatever they are called. If the Work specifies that a later version of this License applies, such as "Version 3 or any later version", You may follow the terms of that version or the terms of any later version as defined above. If the Work specifies a version number and does not include "or any later version", You may follow only that version. 7. TERMINATION AND REINSTATEMENT 7.1 This License and the rights granted under it terminate automatically if You fail to comply with any of its terms and conditions. 7.2 Your rights are automatically reinstated: (a) as of the date the violation is cured, if You fully cure the violation within 30 days of becoming aware of it; or (b) permanently, if the Licensor expressly reinstates Your rights in writing. 7.3 When Your rights terminate under Section 7.1, the rights of any recipient who received the Work or a Modified Version from You remain in effect, provided that recipient remains in full compliance with this License. 7.4 Sections 0, 5, 8, 9, and 11 survive termination of this License. 8. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING, THE LICENSOR AND EACH CONTRIBUTOR PROVIDE THE WORK ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING THE APPROPRIATENESS OF USING OR REDISTRIBUTING THE WORK AND ASSUME ANY RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR EXERCISE OF PERMISSIONS UNDER THIS LICENSE. 9. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IN NO EVENT AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), CONTRACT, OR OTHERWISE, UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW (SUCH AS DELIBERATE AND GROSSLY NEGLIGENT ACTS) OR AGREED TO IN WRITING, SHALL ANY CONTRIBUTOR BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY CHARACTER ARISING AS A RESULT OF THIS LICENSE OR OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE WORK (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES), EVEN IF SUCH CONTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 10. ACCEPTANCE You are not required to accept this License. However, nothing else grants You permission to use, modify, or Distribute the Work. By exercising any of the rights granted in Sections 1 or 2, You accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this License. 11. SEVERABILITY AND INTERPRETATION If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, that provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. Nothing in this License is intended to restrict any use of the Work that is permitted by applicable law without a license, including fair use and fair dealing. This License does not create any obligation on the part of the Licensor to provide support, maintenance, updates, or new versions of the Work. 12. HOW TO APPLY THIS LICENSE To apply this License to Your Work, attach the following notice, replacing the bracketed fields with Your own information: Copyright (c) [YEAR] [AUTHOR] Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3. Source: [URL] Adding "or any later version" is recommended, so that recipients can follow future final versions on their own, without waiting for You to update every copy: Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3 or any later version. Only final versions published by the Steward under Section 6 can be followed this way. Leave "or any later version" out to keep recipients on this exact version. END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Download LICENSE File Open Plain Text

What You Must Do

Four obligations, all of which trigger only when you distribute the work or a modified version.

Credit the author. Keep the copyright notice and the license text intact, name the Licensor, and link back to the original when you publish over the network.

Mark your changes. Say that you modified the work and identify which files you changed.

Ship the source. If you distribute a build, bundle, or minified copy, the complete corresponding source of that same version goes with it, under this license.

ShareAlike. The whole modified version — not only the files you changed — must be released under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3, or a later final version of it if the work says "or any later version". That keeps the result free and open source. No extra restrictions, no DRM on top.

What's New in Version 3

Version 3 restates the Version 2.0 obligations in the CaelLab house style, and tightens ShareAlike the way GPLv3 does: the whole work, and pinned to the version you received it under.

Change	2.0	3
Version numbering	2.0	3
Publication date on the text	None	September 30, 2026
Publisher named in the text	CaelLab throughout	Steward (Section 0)
Where later versions come from	"canonical URL" of one file	/license/ (Section 6a)
Purpose of the conditions	Not stated	Stated in Section 3
ShareAlike scope	The Modified Version	The whole work, as a whole
ShareAlike version	Any later final version	The version received, unless the work says "or later"
Attribution, source availability, patent, termination	Set out	Unchanged

Works already published under 1.0 or 2.0 stay under that version unless their copyright holder says otherwise. New works should adopt Version 3, or any later version.

Comparison

Version 3 next to the licenses it is usually weighed against.

Feature	MIT	Apache-2.0	GPLv3	CBSv3
Commercial use	✓	✓	✓	✓
Private use	✓	✓	✓	✓
Modification	✓	✓	✓	✓
Explicit patent grant	✗	✓	✓	✓
"or later version" clause	✗	✗	✓	✓
Sublicensing	✓	✓	✗	✗
Closed-source derivatives	✓	✓	✗	✗
SaaS use triggers copyleft	✗	✗	✗	✗
Termination with cure period	✗	✓	✓	✓
License length	Short	Medium	Long	Medium

How to Apply It

Put the full text in a file named LICENSE at the root of your project, and add a short header to each source file if you like.

JavaScript / TypeScript

// Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]
// Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3
// or any later version. https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt
// Source: https://github.com/you/repo

HTML

<!--
  Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]
  Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3
  or any later version. https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt
  Source: https://github.com/you/repo
-->

CSS / SCSS

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]
 * Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3
 * or any later version. https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt
 * Source: https://github.com/you/repo
 */

Python

# Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]
# Licensed under the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, Version 3
# or any later version. https://www.caellab.com/license/cbs-v3.txt
# Source: https://github.com/you/repo

We recommend "or any later version". It lets recipients move to each future final version on their own, so your code does not get stranded on Version 3 when CaelLab ships a new one — and Section 6 already limits what can be followed to CaelLab's own final, unsuffixed releases, so a fork or a preview build cannot slip in this way. Leave the phrase out only if you must pin an exact version, for example to keep builds reproducible or to satisfy an audit. Either way, this only applies if you are the copyright holder of the work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Short answers, with the section that decides each one.

Does this apply to websites and web apps?

Yes. The term "Work" is defined in Section 0 to cover any code, markup, stylesheets, scripts, or configuration files used to build or run a website or application.

Can I use this in proprietary software internally?

Yes. The ShareAlike obligation in Section 3.3 only triggers when you distribute the work to others. Section 0 also makes clear that running the work on your own systems is not Distribution.

If I only run it as a network service, must I publish my changes?

No. Running the work on your own systems, including serving it as a website or API, is not Distribution. If you want that obligation, use AGPL-3.0 instead.

Can I relicense a modified version as MIT?

No. Section 3.3 requires the entire Modified Version, as a whole, to stay under this license, and Section 1 does not grant sublicensing rights.

What does "or any later version" mean?

You may follow the rules of Version 3, or the rules of any final version CaelLab releases under a higher, unsuffixed version number. Development, draft, preview, experimental, and modified versions, including forks of this license text, are not "later versions". As an author, the clause means people using your code can upgrade without asking you. It is also what lets a derivative move on at all: without the phrase, Section 3.3 keeps it on the exact version it received the work under.

Can I use this for docs, images, or articles?

No. This license is written for code: it talks about Source Code and Object Code, and Section 3.2 requires source to travel with a build. The CaelLab BY-SA Content License is no longer recommended — use CC BY-SA 4.0 for non-code works.

Is the text on this page the license itself?

The binding version is the plain text file at /license/cbs-v3.txt; the copy on this page is reproduced from it for reading. When you cite the license, link to that URL, not to this page.

Can I modify the license text?

Yes. The text of this license is itself released under the CaelLab Zero Subject License, so you may copy and adapt it freely. A modified text is not the CaelLab BY-SA Code License, and the CaelLab name and marks are not licensed for presenting it.

Can I dual-license?

Only the copyright holder can. A licensor may offer the same work under another license in addition to this one, but a recipient of the work cannot add or swap licenses.

Is this an OSI-approved license?

No. It is a custom license, not reviewed or approved by the OSI or the FSF. Some organizations have policies that block custom licenses, so check before adopting it for critical projects.

CaelLab Notice

CaelLab is not a party to its public licenses. Notwithstanding, CaelLab may elect to apply one of its public licenses to material it publishes and in those instances will be considered the "Licensor." The text of this license is itself released under the CaelLab Zero Subject License, so it may be copied and adapted freely. Except for the limited purpose of indicating that material is shared under a CaelLab public license or as otherwise permitted by CaelLab, CaelLab does not authorize the use of the trademark "CaelLab" or any other trademark or logo of CaelLab without its prior written consent. For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph does not form part of the public licenses.

CaelLab may be contacted at caellab.com.