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License

Volvelle's code is licensed under the GNU AGPL-3.0, with a commercial license available for use outside its terms. The source repository is private during the soft-launch period and opens publicly at full launch. Game content for each system is licensed separately under its own terms. Here's exactly what that means for you.

Code licenseAGPL-3.0-onlyGame contentLicensed per systemCopyright© 2026 Marta StrzelecUpdated2026-06-07
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01How Volvelle is licensed#

Volvelle's source code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 (AGPL-3.0-only). Copyright © 2026 Marta Strzelec.

Plain English
The source repository is private during the soft-launch period and opens publicly at full launch, once the pre-launch security pass is complete. The AGPL-3.0 license applies to the code from day one.

The full license text ships with the project as the LICENSE file in the repository. If anything on this page conflicts with that text, the text of the AGPL governs.

Plain English
You can use, read, modify, share, and self-host Volvelle for free. The catch (the part that keeps it open) is that if you give other people access to a modified version, you have to share your changes back under the same license. A separate commercial license is available if that doesn't work for you.

02What you can do#

Under the AGPL, you are free to:

  • Use Volvelle for any purpose, including in a business, at no cost.
  • Study how it works: the complete source opens publicly at full launch.
  • Modify it and run your modified version.
  • Share it: redistribute copies, modified or not, as long as you pass on these same freedoms (the AGPL goes with it) and keep the copyright and license notices intact.

You never need to ask permission or pay anything to do these things. The AGPL grants them to everyone, automatically.

03If you change Volvelle and pass it on#

Volvelle's copyleft is about how you give a modified version to other people, in any form. It is not limited to web apps. Whether you ship your changes as a website, a desktop or standalone app, a packaged download, or a hosted service, the same deal applies: share your modified source under the AGPL, and it stays free.

Two distinct situations trigger that duty:

  • You distribute it. If you hand other people a modified Volvelle in any form (a web build, a desktop or standalone app, an installer, a server others download), you must license your version under the AGPL and make its complete source available to the people you give it to. This is the core copyleft, and it has nothing to do with the web.
  • You run it as a network service. Even if you never hand out a copy, you only host a modified version and let people use it over a network: AGPL §13 still requires you to offer those users the complete source of the version you're running. §13 is an addition that closes the "just run it as a service" gap; it is not the whole of the copyleft.

Either way, the one thing the AGPL does not allow is keeping your modified version closed (proprietary, source not shared). That applies equally to a web app, a desktop app, a packaged download, or anything else, and it's exactly what the commercial license below is for.

Volvelle holds itself to the same rule. The source opens at full launch. Once public, the deployed version will link directly to the running commit.

Plain English
Using, hosting, or distributing an unmodified copy is no problem. There's nothing extra to do beyond keeping the copyright and license notices intact. The source-sharing duty attaches to changes you make, the moment you pass the result to other people in any form.

04Self-hosting is free, for everyone#

You can run your own copy of Volvelle on your own infrastructure, for yourself or your group, at no cost, forever. This right is guaranteed by the AGPL and isn't something we can take away or charge for. The full game works without Volvelle's servers.

Setup instructions will live in the project README. Issues and pull requests open at launch. Contributions are covered by a small relicensing agreement so the commercial option below stays possible (see CONTRIBUTING).

05Commercial license (the exception)#

Volvelle is dual-licensed. The AGPL above is the default, and it's all most people ever need, including for commercial use. You can run Volvelle commercially, on your own infrastructure, even with your own branding, for free, as long as you follow the AGPL: if you modify it and let others use your version over a network, you share those modifications under the AGPL.

A separate commercial license is available for the cases where that doesn't work for you, where you want to use Volvelle's code outside the AGPL's terms. For example:

  • building Volvelle's code into a proprietary, closed-source product (a web app, or a desktop or standalone app such as a paid, closed download in the style of a packaged virtual tabletop), or distributing or running a modified version without sharing your changes; or
  • having us run and host Volvelle for you under a service agreement, rather than standing it up yourself.

Concretely: an event or company that wants to host their own branded copy and keep their modifications private, or that wants us to operate it for them, talks to us first. Everyone else just uses Volvelle under the AGPL. The commercial license is a way to step outside the AGPL by agreement with the copyright holder; it does not make the public version any less free.

Plain English
You only need a commercial license if you want to do something the AGPL doesn't allow. Playing on Volvelle, self-hosting it (even commercially), and building open-source things with it are all free. Commercial & hosting inquiries: licensing@volvelle.net.

06Game content is licensed separately#

The AGPL covers Volvelle's code. It does not cover the game content for any system: rules text, stat blocks, spell and monster descriptions, and the like. Each system's content is provided under its own license, set by that content's source, independent of the AGPL.

At launch, Volvelle ships D&D 5e content from the SRD under CC-BY-4.0. As more systems are added, each carries its own open license (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, ORC, and others). The full, current list, with the exact attribution each one requires, lives on the Content Licenses page, so it can grow with the catalog without changing this license.

Plain English
Two separate domains: code follows the AGPL; game content follows whatever open license its source uses. Reusing Volvelle's engine is an AGPL question; reusing a system's content is a question for that system's license.

07No warranty#

As is standard for free software, and as stated in sections 15 and 16 of the AGPL, Volvelle is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, to the extent permitted by law. The people who make and distribute Volvelle are not liable for damages arising from its use. Running your own copy is at your own risk.