License

CASSANDRA BETA LICENSE ====================== Copyright (c) 2026 Jake L'Ami. All rights reserved. This is a closed-beta release. You are reading this because you were invited, or because you found cass.tools while it was open. Either way, you are early — and being early comes with both privilege and responsibility. We INTEND to release Cassandra's source code publicly. This license is not a fortress, it is a holding pattern. The closed period exists so the core architecture can stabilize, the security model can be audited, and the brand can be protected from a flood of half-baked forks before there is anything worth forking. When the source opens, this license dissolves into something permissive (Apache-2.0 or MIT are the front-runners; final choice pending). Until that day, the rules below apply. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. WHAT YOU MAY DO -------------------------------------------------------------------- You may: * Download and install the Cassandra binary on machines you own or directly control. * Run Cassandra for personal evaluation, experimentation, and feedback to the author. * Take screenshots, record video, write posts, post threads, talk about it on streams, show it off at meetups. Marketing is good. Marketing IS the beta. Tag @infntyjake so we see it. * File bug reports, feature requests, and design feedback through whatever channels Cassandra exposes (GitHub issues, email, in-app commands). -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. WHAT YOU MAY NOT DO -------------------------------------------------------------------- You may not: * Redistribute the binary in any form. Don't upload it to other sites, don't bundle it, don't repackage it. If a friend wants to try it, point them at https://cass.tools/install — that is the one and only canonical install path during the beta. * Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, extract assets from, or otherwise attempt to reconstruct the source code. The visual identity (title screen, logo, color palette, nebula renders) is part of the protected work, not orphan files. * Use the Cassandra binary, or any output produced by it, to train a competing AI system or commercial product. * Use the name "Cassandra", "cass", "cass-term", or the Cassandra visual identity for any derivative work or competing project. * Remove or modify this license text, the in-binary notices, the embedded expiry timestamp, or the auto-update mechanism. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. EXPIRY AND AUTO-UPDATE -------------------------------------------------------------------- This binary is time-limited. It carries an embedded expiry timestamp and will refuse to run after that timestamp passes unless it can successfully fetch and install a newer release from cass.tools. On every launch, Cassandra contacts https://cass.tools/manifest.json to check for a newer release. If one exists, the new binary is downloaded, its SHA-256 is verified against the manifest, and the file is atomically swapped in place. The current process then re-execs into the new binary with the original argv preserved. This is the entire telemetry surface: one HTTP GET of a small JSON manifest. No identifying information is transmitted. No usage data, no crash reports, no user identifiers. If you want to verify this yourself, run cass with `--no-update` and packet-trace it. By installing and running Cassandra you consent to the auto-update behaviour described above. If the update mechanism is unavailable (offline, manifest unreachable, network blocked) the existing binary will continue to function until its expiry timestamp. Once expired, Cassandra prompts you in-place - `Build Expired. Update? [Y/n]` - and performs the update internally if you accept. There is no need to re-run the install one-liner; the binary updates itself. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. BETA STATUS, NO WARRANTY -------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. This is beta software. It WILL have bugs. It WILL have rough edges. It may eat your terminal session, your scrollback buffer, or in unusual cases your afternoon. Use accordingly. Do not run it on production infrastructure, on shared systems where other users depend on stability, or on data you cannot afford to lose. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. TERMINATION -------------------------------------------------------------------- This license may be revoked at any time, for any reason or no reason, by the author. Revocation is communicated by withdrawing the binary from cass.tools and refusing to publish a fresh manifest; existing binaries reach their embedded expiry and stop running. Conversely, this license terminates automatically if you violate any of its terms. On termination you must delete all copies of the Cassandra binary in your possession. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. GOVERNING LAW -------------------------------------------------------------------- This license is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. Any dispute arising from or relating to this license is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario, sitting in the City of Ottawa. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. THE OPENING -------------------------------------------------------------------- When the source opens, this license is dissolved and replaced with the chosen open-source license. Beta participants who shipped good feedback, found real bugs, or otherwise contributed to the closed period will be acknowledged in the public release. The earlier and the louder you push us to open it, the better. Until then: you are early, you are privileged, please do not be the person who screenshots the clause about not screenshotting things. (You CAN screenshot. We literally said you can. Read section 1.) -------------------------------------------------------------------- For questions, license clarifications, or to negotiate a use case not covered above: file an issue at https://cass.tools/issues or email jake@cass.tools (both addresses go live with the public landing page; until then, beta participants have a direct line via whatever channel they were invited through).