| title | License |
|---|---|
| description | Nixopus is dual-licensed: AGPL-3.0 for open source use, with a separate commercial license for enterprises and teams. |
Version: 1.1 Effective Date: April 2026 Copyright Holder: Raghavendra Bhat, trading as Nixopus Contact: support@nixopus.com Governing Law: Laws of India Dispute Forum: Arbitration, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
This document governs all use of the Nixopus software and platform. By downloading, installing, accessing, or using Nixopus in any form, you accept this Agreement. If you do not accept all terms, you must immediately cease use and destroy all copies.
Nixopus is an autonomous infrastructure and deployment platform that provides AI-assisted infrastructure execution, framework-agnostic hosting, and self-hosted or managed deployment options.
The software is distributed under a dual-licensing model. The open-source tier is the GNU Affero General Public License, Version 3 (AGPLv3), with no additional restrictions. The commercial tier provides an alternative for organisations that cannot or do not wish to comply with the AGPLv3's copyleft obligations, or that require proprietary features, enterprise support, or managed hosting.
This Agreement is intended to have global legal effect, drafted with awareness of the Berne Convention, the TRIPS Agreement, the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and applicable data-protection frameworks (GDPR, India's DPDPA 2023, CCPA). Users are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable laws in their jurisdiction.
All Contributors must execute the Nixopus Contributor License Agreement (CLA) before any Contribution is merged. The CLA grants the Licensor the right to dual-license Contributions.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Agreement | This License Agreement in its entirety. |
| Licensor | Raghavendra Bhat, trading as Nixopus, and any entity that succeeds to the Licensor's intellectual property rights in the Software. |
| Software | The Nixopus codebase, including the deployment engine, agent framework, CLI, APIs, configuration tooling, editor extensions, documentation, and all other components made available by the Licensor under this Agreement. |
| Proprietary Components | Elements of the platform described in Section 12 that are not released under the AGPLv3 and are available only under a valid Commercial License or paid Managed Service subscription. |
| Licensee / You | Any person or entity that obtains, accesses, installs, or uses the Software. |
| Derivative Work | Any software, product, or service that incorporates, links against, modifies, or is derived from the Software. |
| Network Use | Making the Software available to third parties over a network, including as a hosted service, SaaS, or managed offering, as contemplated by Section 13 of the AGPLv3. |
| Open-Source License | The GNU Affero General Public License, Version 3.0 (SPDX: AGPL-3.0-or-later), available at gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html. |
| Commercial License | The alternative proprietary license granted under Section 7 of this Agreement. |
| Managed Service | The cloud-hosted version of Nixopus at dashboard.nixopus.com. |
| Self-Hosted Deployment | An installation of the Software on infrastructure owned or controlled by the Licensee. |
| AI Features | Autonomous deployment agents, AI chat interfaces, configuration-generation logic, self-healing pipelines, and any other AI/ML components in the platform. |
| Contribution | Any original work of authorship submitted for inclusion in the Software. |
| Contributor | Any individual or entity that submits a Contribution. |
| CLA | The Nixopus Contributor License Agreement, a prerequisite for all Contributions. |
| Enterprise License Agreement / ELA | A separately negotiated agreement for on-premises or private cloud deployment. |
| Order Form | A written or electronic document specifying scope, subscription period, fees, and other commercial terms for a Managed Cloud subscription. |
| Customer Data | Any data, content, code, configurations, or applications uploaded to or processed by the platform by the Licensee. |
The Software is available under mutually exclusive licensing tiers. A Licensee is governed by exactly one tier at any given time.
| Tier | Applicable License |
|---|---|
| Open-Source Tier (Part A) | AGPLv3: free of charge, subject to copyleft obligations |
| Managed Cloud Tier (Part B) | Nixopus Managed Cloud Subscription: fee-bearing, subject to Order Form |
| Enterprise / On-Premises Tier (Part C) | Nixopus Enterprise License Agreement (ELA): fee-bearing, individually negotiated |
You are governed by the open-source tier (Part A) unless and until you have entered into a valid Order Form (Part B) or Enterprise License Agreement (Part C) with the Licensor.
No rights are granted by implication, estoppel, or otherwise. Rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Licensor.
Subject to the full text of the AGPLv3 (incorporated by reference), the Licensor grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, copy, modify, merge, distribute, sublicense, and create Derivative Works of the Software, provided that all such activities comply with the AGPLv3.
The complete AGPLv3 text is in the repository at LICENSE.md.
This License does not grant any right to use the Licensor's trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names except as required for reasonable attribution.
The binding obligations are those stated in the full AGPLv3 text. The following is a non-exhaustive summary for convenience:
- Source Code Availability: If You distribute the Software or a Derivative Work in binary form, You must provide the corresponding source code.
- Network Interaction (Section 13 AGPLv3): If You modify the Software and make it available over a network, You must offer users the corresponding source of Your modified version, at no charge.
- License Notices: All copies and Derivative Works must reproduce all copyright notices and this License notice.
- No Additional Restrictions: You may not impose further restrictions on the rights granted under the AGPLv3.
- Patent Retaliation: If You initiate patent litigation alleging the Software infringes a patent, Your license under the AGPLv3 terminates automatically.
Licensees who deploy a Self-Hosted instance for internal use within a single legal entity, without providing Network Use to third parties, are not required to publish their configurations or internal customisations. Distribution to third parties (including affiliated entities with separate legal personality) triggers AGPLv3 obligations.
If You distribute copies of the Software or any Derivative Work, You must:
- retain all copyright notices, License text, and warranty disclaimers;
- provide a copy of this Agreement with every distributed copy;
- license Derivative Works in source form under the AGPLv3;
- make source code available for Derivative Works distributed in binary form;
- not remove or obscure any copyright, trademark, or attribution notice;
- state clearly that the Derivative Work is derived from Nixopus; and
- not represent that the Licensor endorses Your Derivative Work.
Your use must comply with all applicable laws, including export control, data protection (DPDPA, GDPR, CCPA), AI regulations, anti-money-laundering, and consumer protection laws. Compliance is solely Your responsibility.
Regardless of tier, You must not use the Software to:
- operate or distribute malware, ransomware, spyware, or malicious software;
- facilitate unauthorised access to any computer system or network;
- process data in violation of applicable privacy law;
- deploy systems for mass surveillance, unlawful profiling, or oppressive social control;
- circumvent technological protection measures on third-party software; or
- violate any third-party intellectual property right.
AI Features generate outputs that are experimental and probabilistic. The Licensor disclaims any representation that AI outputs are accurate, complete, or fit for any purpose. You must independently verify all AI-generated configurations before applying them to production systems.
The Commercial License is available to any Licensee who executes a Commercial License Agreement or Order Form with the Licensor. It is designed for:
- organisations that cannot comply with AGPLv3 copyleft obligations;
- organisations embedding the Software into proprietary products;
- enterprises requiring contractual SLAs, support, or indemnification beyond the open-source tier.
Subject to acceptance of an Order Form and timely payment, the Licensor grants the Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide subscription license to:
- access and use the Nixopus Managed Service at dashboard.nixopus.com;
- use the Licensor's hosted infrastructure, AI token processing, and multi-server orchestration;
- access Proprietary Components designated in the Order Form; and
- use and distribute the Software in proprietary products without triggering AGPLv3 copyleft, to the extent permitted by the Order Form.
The Commercial Licensee must not:
- sub-license the Software or Managed Service without prior written approval;
- remove or obscure any proprietary, copyright, or trademark notice;
- represent that the Licensor endorses the Licensee's product; or
- use the Software to build a product that competes with the Software without a written OEM addendum.
Contact support@nixopus.com. The parties shall negotiate and execute a Commercial License Agreement or Order Form. In the event of conflict between this Agreement and the Commercial License Agreement, the Commercial License Agreement prevails.
The Licensor may, upon fifteen (15) days' written notice, audit the Commercial Licensee's use of the Software for compliance. Audits are conducted during normal business hours, no more than once per calendar year, at the Licensor's cost unless material non-compliance is found.
The AGPLv3 license is granted free of charge, including for Self-Hosted deployments.
The Managed Service uses credit-based pricing. Credits are prepaid and non-refundable once consumed. The Licensor may modify credit pricing with thirty (30) days' notice.
Fees are agreed in the applicable Order Form or ELA. All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes (GST, VAT, withholding). Where withholding is required, the Licensee shall gross up payments so the Licensor receives the net amount.
Each party is responsible for taxes on its own income and property. Indirect tax (GST/HST/VAT) is payable by the Licensee in addition to the fee, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
The Licensor shall provide the Managed Service with commercially reasonable availability. Customer Data is processed solely in accordance with the Order Form and the Privacy Policy.
The subscription continues for the period in the Order Form and auto-renews unless either party gives thirty (30) days' written notice before the end of the current period. The Licensor may terminate immediately if: (i) the Customer materially breaches and fails to remedy within fourteen (14) days; (ii) the Customer becomes insolvent; or (iii) the Licensor discontinues the service on thirty (30) days' notice.
Upon termination, the Customer may export Customer Data for thirty (30) days. Thereafter, the Licensor may delete it per its retention policy.
The Enterprise License permits deployment of the full Nixopus stack on the Customer's own infrastructure. Terms are individually negotiated in a separately executed ELA. This Part sets out mandatory baseline terms that apply to every ELA.
Subject to execution of an ELA and payment of the agreed fee, the Licensor grants the Customer a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable right to install and use the full Nixopus stack on the Customer's designated infrastructure, solely for the Customer's own internal business operations, for the territory and term specified in the ELA.
The Enterprise License does not include the right to: (i) redistribute, resell, sublicense, or white-label the Software; (ii) reverse-engineer the proprietary model or commercial layers; (iii) use the Software to build a competing product without an OEM addendum; or (iv) transfer the license without the Licensor's prior written consent.
Every ELA must include:
- IP ownership: All IP in the Software vests exclusively in the Licensor.
- No redistribution or sublicensing.
- Data protection: A DPA compliant with applicable law if personal data is processed.
- Export compliance.
- Audit rights: On fourteen (14) days' written notice, at the Licensor's cost.
- Support & updates: As agreed in the ELA.
- Dispute resolution: Section 18 applies without modification.
The Customer shall indemnify the Licensor from claims arising out of: (i) the Customer's modification of the Software; (ii) integration with third-party systems; or (iii) use in breach of the ELA or applicable law.
In the event of conflict: (1) mandatory Indian law; (2) the ELA; (3) Part C; (4) Part B; (5) Part A.
The CLA is executed separately and incorporated by reference. Mandatory elements:
- Copyright License: Each Contributor grants the Licensor an exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, sublicense, and distribute the Contribution for any purpose, including commercial exploitation under any license.
- Patent License: A perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, exclusive patent license under any patent claims necessarily infringed by the Contribution.
- Representations: The Contribution is original work; the Contributor has the right to grant these licenses; the Contribution does not violate third-party rights.
- Moral Rights: Waived to the fullest extent permitted by law.
- Dual-License Consent: The Contributor consents to dual-licensing under this Agreement and any Commercial License.
- Governing Law: Laws of India; Section 18 dispute resolution applies.
The Licensor owns all right, title, and interest in the Software, Proprietary Components, Marks, documentation, model weights, and related IP. Nothing in this Agreement transfers ownership.
You may state truthfully that Your product "uses" or "is built on" Nixopus. You must not use any Mark in a manner implying endorsement or affiliation without prior written consent, or use any Mark as part of Your product or company name.
The Licensor does not claim ownership of Customer Data. You grant the Licensor a limited license to process Customer Data solely to provide the Managed Service or support Enterprise deployments.
The Software may incorporate third-party open-source components (MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD, etc.) as disclosed in the NOTICES file. Those components are governed by their own licenses.
AI outputs may not attract copyright protection in all jurisdictions. The Licensor makes no representation regarding IP status of AI outputs. You assume full responsibility for vetting AI outputs.
The following are Proprietary Components, NOT released under the AGPLv3:
- Autonomous Self-Healing Agent Logic: The proprietary decision engine, model-routing layer, and agentic orchestration logic.
- Managed Cloud Infrastructure Layer: Machine provisioning, network orchestration, credit-billing, and multi-tenancy isolation.
- Enterprise Multi-Machine Orchestration: Load balancing, automated scaling, and cross-machine deployment scheduling.
- Commercial AI Model Integrations: Proprietary third-party AI model provider integrations for the Managed Service.
- Editor Extension Enterprise Mode: SSO, audit logging, and enterprise workspace management features.
- Nixopus Marks and Visual Identity.
- Proprietary Documentation and Training Materials.
Nothing in the AGPLv3 or this Agreement grants any right to Proprietary Components without a valid Commercial License. Unauthorised use constitutes infringement.
Communication with Proprietary Components through documented APIs does not create a Derivative Work, provided the Proprietary Component is operated by the Licensor and interaction is through designated API endpoints.
Beta, experimental, preview, or early-access features are provided without warranty, subject to change without notice, and at the Licensee's risk. The Licensor is not liable for any loss arising from use of Beta Features.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE LICENSOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION, ACCURACY OF AI OUTPUTS, AND THIRD-PARTY SERVICE AVAILABILITY.
The Licensor shall not be liable for loss of profits, data, goodwill, or any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, even if advised of the possibility.
| Tier | Cap |
|---|---|
| Open-source | The greater of INR 10,000 or USD 120 |
| Managed Cloud | Total fees paid in the preceding 12 months |
| Enterprise | The greater of total fees paid in the preceding 12 months or INR 5,00,000 |
These limitations reflect a reasonable allocation of risk. They apply notwithstanding any failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy.
You shall indemnify the Licensor from claims arising from: Your use or misuse of the Software; violation of this Agreement or applicable law; third-party claims from Your applications; use of AI Features without adequate review; and IP infringement by Your Derivative Works.
Subject to Section 14, the Licensor shall indemnify a Commercial or Enterprise Licensee from: (a) third-party claims that the unmodified Software infringes a patent or copyright; and (b) data breaches of the Managed Service caused solely by the Licensor's failure to implement reasonable security measures — provided the Licensee promptly notifies the Licensor and grants sole control of defence.
Your rights terminate if You fail to comply with this Agreement. Consistent with AGPLv3 Section 8, Your license is reinstated if You cure within thirty (30) days. Otherwise, all rights terminate automatically and You must cease use and destroy all copies.
The Licensor may terminate immediately upon written notice if the Licensee: (a) materially breaches and fails to cure within thirty (30) days; (b) becomes insolvent; (c) challenges the Licensor's IP rights; or (d) uses the Software to build a competing product without the requisite OEM addendum.
Upon termination: all rights cease; You must destroy all copies; provisions that survive by nature continue (Sections 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, and this Section).
If Your open-source license was terminated and You cure within sixty (60) days, Your license may be reinstated per AGPLv3 Section 8. Reinstatement does not prejudice the Licensor's right to seek remedies for the period of non-compliance.
Where the Software processes personal data, each party shall comply with applicable law. See the Privacy Policy.
You are responsible for: lawful basis for processing; notices to data subjects; honouring data-subject rights; data-processing agreements with sub-processors; and appropriate security measures.
If You transfer personal data from a jurisdiction with transfer restrictions, You must ensure an adequate legal mechanism is in place.
You are responsible for the security of Your credentials, API keys, and configurations. Notify support@nixopus.com of any suspected security incident affecting the Managed Service.
This Agreement is governed by the laws of India, excluding conflict-of-law provisions. The UN CISG is excluded.
Before arbitration, the parties must:
- Written Notice of Dispute — the respondent has fifteen (15) business days to respond.
- Senior Management Negotiation — within twenty (20) business days, senior representatives meet in good faith. The negotiation period shall not exceed thirty (30) days.
- Arbitration — if unresolved, either party may proceed under Section 18.3.
| Governing Statute | Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (India) |
| Seat and Venue | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Language | English |
| Arbitrators | One (1) sole arbitrator |
| Appointment | By mutual agreement within twenty-one (21) days; failing which, by court under Section 11 of the Act |
| Confidentiality | All proceedings, submissions, evidence, and awards are strictly confidential |
Either party may seek interim relief from a competent court without waiving the right to arbitration.
Disputes must be brought individually. Each party waives any right to class, collective, or representative actions.
Awards are final, binding, and enforceable under the New York Convention (1958).
Entire Agreement. This Agreement (with any Order Form or ELA) is the entire agreement, superseding all prior understandings.
Amendments. The Licensor may update this Agreement by publishing a revised version here with a new effective date, with thirty (30) days' notice to registered users. Continued use after the notice period constitutes acceptance.
Severability. Invalid provisions are modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed; the remainder continues in effect.
Waiver. No failure to exercise a right constitutes a waiver.
Assignment. You may not assign without the Licensor's written consent. The Licensor may assign in connection with a merger, acquisition, or asset sale.
Force Majeure. Neither party is liable for failure caused by circumstances beyond reasonable control (acts of God, pandemic, government acts, war, cyberattacks, internet failures, third-party AI provider outages, etc.).
Relationship. The parties are independent contractors.
Notices. Written notices by email (with delivery confirmation) to support@nixopus.com or the registered Licensee email, or by courier.
Language. English text prevails over translations.
Electronic Execution. This Agreement may be executed electronically, with the same legal effect as handwritten signatures under applicable law.
Precedence. In the event of conflict: (1) mandatory Indian law; (2) ELA; (3) Order Form / Commercial License Agreement; (4) Part C; (5) Part B; (6) Part D; (7) Part A; (8) Section 19.
| Use Case | Open-Source (AGPLv3) | Managed Cloud | Enterprise (ELA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal / hobby projects | Permitted | Optional | Not required |
| Internal use (single entity) | Permitted | Optional | Not required |
| Non-commercial self-hosting | Permitted | N/A | Not required |
| Research & education | Permitted | Not required | Not required |
| Open-source product (source disclosed) | Permitted (copyleft applies) | Optional | Optional |
| SaaS / commercial (source closed) | Requires AGPLv3 compliance or Commercial License | Permitted | Permitted |
| Proprietary embedded product | Must open-source or obtain Commercial License | Permitted | Permitted |
| Multi-server orchestration | Proprietary Component — Commercial License required | Permitted | Permitted |
| Access to Proprietary Components | Not included | Permitted (per scope) | Permitted (per ELA) |
| White-labelling / sublicensing | Not permitted | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| Reselling the Software | Not permitted | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| Bring your own LLM | Yes | No | Yes (per ELA) |
| CLA required for contributions | Yes | N/A | N/A |
Nixopus — Autonomous Cloud Platform Copyright © 2025–2026 Nixopus (Raghavendra Bhat).
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see gnu.org/licenses.