Licensing
CommandLayer is designed as a **public semantic layer** for autonomous agents: schemas are permanently free; economics live entirely in execution.
| Component | License | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Commons (schemas) | MIT | Free forever. Anyone can build, sell, or modify agents that use Commons verbs — without permission. |
| Commercial (schemas) | Apache-2.0 |
Free to use and extend. Clear patent rights. Standard for economic verbs like authorize or purchase.
|
| Agent Cards | Apache-2.0 | Identity metadata, discovery, routing info — free and open, but with enforcement against misrepresentation. |
| Runtime (execution) | BUSL-1.1 |
Open to use, but production deployment requires a commercial agreement once revenue scales. Keeps economic value in execution, not semantics. |
Why this structure?
Verbs and schemas are infrastructure — the shared language. They must remain public goods. Runtime is where **guarantees, routing, uptime, and paid flows** happen — so that’s where monetization belongs.
Developer freedom
- Build agents under MIT/Apache-2.0 without restriction.
- Run any Commons or Commercial verbs locally for free.
- Use Agent Cards to broadcast capability to registries.
- Opt into Runtime only when SLAs or value transfer matter.
In short: CommandLayer will never charge for semantics. The business is in making the agent economy execute.