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Licensing and editions

How AfterGlow is licensed and paid for: the open-core model the captain decided on 2026-10-15. This page says what is free, what each paid module adds and why, what the GPL covers, how the official build is put together, and what contributors sign. The seams the code needs for it are designed in docs/blueprints/suite/editions.md.

This page describes the plan in plain words. It is not legal advice, and the legal texts (the license, the CLA, any module terms) are what bind. Anything marked legal review must be checked by a lawyer before it is relied on.

The short version

  • The core is free and open source, forever. Every app (Flare, Design, Photo, Library, Halo) and the AfterGlow shell, with every manual tool in every app, is GPL-3.0. You never need an account to use it.
  • Three paid modules sit next to the core, closed source, shipped only in the official build: Team, AI and Enterprise.
  • No module takes a tool away from the core. A paid module adds a service (a server, a model, an admin console); it never locks a manual tool that the core already has.
  • One owner holds the copyright of the core, which is what makes the combination legal. So every outside contributor signs a CLA (below).

The editions

Edition Who it is for What it is Price
Core Everyone The five apps and the AfterGlow shell, every manual tool, local files, local co-editing between Macs on the same network (see Team). GPL-3.0, built from this repo and creative-core. Free. No account.
Core + Team People who work with others Core plus the Team module A small subscription, openly described as "this funds the suite"
Core + AI People with a Paw OS subscription Core plus the AI module Included with Paw OS
Core + Enterprise Large companies Core plus the Enterprise module (usually with Team, often with AI) A contract per company

Modules combine: one install can carry Team and AI, or all three.

Core (free, GPL-3.0)

Everything you need to do the work by hand, in every app:

  • Open, create, edit, undo and save documents in all five apps, with every tool the palettes show.
  • The AfterGlow home, recents, switching, hand-offs between apps, the shared asset library, settings, onboarding and the updater.
  • Import and export in every format the apps support.
  • Local co-editing: two or more Macs on the same network may edit one document together with no server in between. This may stay free; the captain keeps it in the core unless a later decision moves it.

What the core never does: ask you to sign in, phone home for a license, count seats, or switch a tool off because you didn't pay.

Team (paid, closed)

What it adds:

  • Hosted sync: your documents and asset libraries on our servers, the same on every Mac you sign in on.
  • Live co-editing over the internet: several people in one document at once, with presence (who is here, where their cursor is).
  • Shared libraries: colours, vector art, images and animations shared by a team, kept in step.
  • Comments: on a document, a layer, a frame or a region.
  • Version history: every saved state on the server, browsable and restorable.

Why it is paid: it needs servers that cost money to run every month. The subscription is small and says what it is for: this funds the suite. The people who pay for Team are paying for the free core too, and we say so.

AI (comes with Paw OS)

What it adds: AI features in every app (for example generating, selecting, masking, describing or cleaning up), reached through the user's Paw OS account. A Paw OS subscription unlocks AI in every AfterGlow app; there is no separate AfterGlow AI price.

Why it is separate: the models and the compute live behind the Paw OS account, not in the app. Every manual tool stays in the core; AI is an extra way to do some jobs faster, never the only way to do a job.

Enterprise (paid, closed)

What it adds:

  • Single sign-on (SSO) with the company's identity provider.
  • Fleet deployment: install, configure and update AfterGlow across many Macs from a management tool.
  • Admin and policy controls: which modules and features are on, where documents may be stored, which accounts may sign in.
  • Audit logs: who did what, when, for the company's records.
  • Support: a support agreement with response times.

Why it is paid: this is how large companies pay for the suite. They need the controls and the support, and they can afford them. There is no revenue-based license: a company of any size may use the free core under the GPL, and pays only if it wants Enterprise (or Team, or AI).

What the GPL covers, and what it doesn't

Covered by GPL-3.0 (the LICENSE file in this repo and in creative-core):

  • All source in qbtrix/creative-apps and qbtrix/creative-core: the five apps, SuiteUI, the Models, the AfterGlow shell, the engines, the tests and the scripts.
  • The edition protocols (the seams in docs/blueprints/suite/editions.md) and their free defaults. They live in this repo, so anyone can read exactly what a paid module can and cannot reach.
  • The additional terms in ADDITIONAL-TERMS.md, made under GPL-3.0 section 7: keep the copyright and author notices, don't misrepresent the origin and mark modified versions as different, and no trademark rights in the names and icons. LICENSE itself is the unchanged GPL-3.0 text.
  • The public build you make from these repos. You may run it, study it, change it, and share it, changed or not, under the GPL's terms (above all: pass on the source and the same freedoms).

Not covered by the GPL:

  • The paid modules (Team, AI, Enterprise). They are closed source, owned by the copyright owner, and shipped under their own terms in the official build only.
  • The hosted services (Team's servers, Paw OS). The GPL is about software you receive, not a service you use over the network.
  • The names and marks "AfterGlow", "Flare", "Design", "Photo", "Library", "Halo" and "Paw OS", and the official icons. The GPL licenses code, not trademarks. A fork must use its own name and icons and may say "based on AfterGlow"; docs/trademark-policy.md says what is allowed and what needs written permission (draft, legal review).
  • Your documents. Files you make with the apps are yours; the GPL does not reach them.

How the official build combines the core with the closed modules

  1. The core is the same in both builds. The official build compiles the core from the same public commit as the public build, with the same project files. Nothing in the core is different, hidden or removed.
  2. Each paid module is a separate, signed bundle placed inside AfterGlow.app next to the core (Contents/PlugIns/). It conforms to the public edition protocols and registers itself when AfterGlow starts. The editions blueprint says how.
  3. Without a module, the core runs complete. Every control that needs a missing module is disabled and its tooltip says why (for example "Comments need AfterGlow Team."), so no control is ever dead. The core's own tools never depend on a module.
  4. Why this is allowed. The GPL binds people who receive the core under it. The copyright owner, who holds the copyright of the whole core, can also license the core to itself on other terms, and so may ship it next to closed modules that load into the same process. That is only true while one owner holds all the copyright, which is why contributors sign the CLA. Legal review: confirm this for the exact build shape (modules loaded in-process from Contents/PlugIns/).
  5. What this means for others. Someone else who builds a closed module that loads into the GPL core is not the copyright owner, so the GPL's terms apply to that combination. Modules built by others for their own copy should be GPL-compatible. Legal review: state this precisely in the module terms.

Contributing: the CLA

Every outside contribution (code, docs, art, tests) to qbtrix/creative-apps or qbtrix/creative-core needs a signed Contributor License Agreement before it is merged. The agreement is in CLA.md; how to sign is in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Why: the open-core model works only while one owner holds the right to license all of the core, both as GPL to everyone and on other terms in the official build. Without a CLA, each contributor would hold the copyright of their part under the GPL alone, and the official build could no longer ship it next to the paid modules.

What the CLA does not do: it does not take your copyright away (you keep it, and may use your contribution however you like), and it does not change the core's license. Everything you contribute is still released to everyone under GPL-3.0.

The CLA is a draft based on a standard individual agreement and needs legal review before it is used (see the top of CLA.md).