Terms and policies

Chainguard Source Available License Agreement v1.0

Last Update: April 22, 2026

Acceptance

This Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions on which the Licensor makes available the Software. By installing, downloading, accessing, using, or distributing any of the Software, You agree to all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

If You are receiving the Software on behalf of Your Company, You represent and warrant that You have the authority to agree to this Agreement on behalf of such entity.

The Licensor reserves the right to update this Agreement from time to time by posting revised terms at a URL available at: https://www.chainguard.dev/legal/. Updated terms become effective immediately upon posting. Your continued Use of the Software after any such update constitutes Your acceptance of the revised terms.

The terms below have the meanings set forth below for purposes of this Agreement:

Definitions

Agreement: this Chainguard Source Available License v1.0 Agreement.

Continuous Integration or Continuous Delivery (CI/CD): any system, platform, or service used to implement continuous integration, continuous delivery, or continuous deployment practices, including automated pipelines for building, testing, packaging, and deploying software. 

Control: ownership, directly or indirectly, of substantially all the assets of an entity, or the power to direct its management and policies by vote, contract, or otherwise.

License: the license as set forth in the “License” paragraph below.

Licensor: Chainguard, Inc., on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide.

Modify or Modification: copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion requiring copyright permission other than making an exact copy. The resulting work is deemed a Modified version of the earlier work.

Software: the Chainguard-authored software components, including software referred to by Licensor as “Actions” or “Chainguard Actions,” and any workflow configurations, and associated code, made available by the Licensor under this Agreement. "Software" does not include third-party components governed by separate open-source or other third party licenses as identified in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file distributed with the Software.

Trademark: the trademarks, service marks, and any other similar rights.

Use: anything You do with the Software requiring one of Your Licenses.

You: the recipient of the Software, the individual or entity on whose behalf  you are agreeing to this Agreement.

Your Company: any legal entity, sole proprietorship, or other kind of organization that You work for, plus all organizations that have control over, are under the control of, or are under common control with that organization.

Your Licenses: all the Licenses granted to You for the Software under this Agreement.

License

The Licensor grants You a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to use, copy, distribute, make available, and prepare derivative works of the Software, in each case subject to the limitations and conditions below.

Limitations

Except for  the rights expressly granted in the Permitted Uses section of this Agreement, You may not sell, rent, sublicense, transfer, or distribute the Software or a Modified version of the Software to any third party, or make the functionality of the Software or any Modified version available to others.  

Without limiting the foregoing, making the functionality of the Software or Modified version available to third parties includes offering a product or service the value of which entirely or primarily derives from the value of the Software or Modified version, or offering a product or service that accomplishes for users the primary purpose of the Software or Modified version in a public or private repository, registry, or marketplace for use by third parties.

You may not use the Software, or any Modified version of the Software to develop, provide, sell, offer, or distribute a product or service that competes with, or serves as a substitute for, any product or service offered by the Licensor. For the purposes of this Agreement, a competing product of the Licensor means any product or service that scans, validates, monitors, builds, enforces, secures, verifies, manages, distributes, signs, attests, or hardens software artifacts, container images, open source packages, or CI/CD workflow components; that is substantially similar to or serves as a substitute for any product or service offered; or is publicly announced by the Licensor, whether or not such product or service incorporates or is derived from the Software.

You may not alter, remove, or obscure any licensing, copyright, or other notices of the Licensor in the Software. Any use of the Licensor’s Trademarks is subject to applicable law.

Permitted Uses

Subject to the terms of this Agreement, You may modify the Software for Your own internal use and use the Software in Your own internal CI/CD pipelines, workflows, and development environments, without restriction. This includes sharing the Software within Your Company, including through internal repositories, registries, or marketplace tools, for use by Your Company’s authorized users. 

You may permit Your contractors, agents, and service providers to access and use the Software solely on Your behalf, for Your benefit, and within Your infrastructure and CI/CD environments provided that (a) such use is limited to performing work for You under Your direction and control, and (b) each such contractor, agent, or service provider agrees to be bound by terms at least as restrictive as this Agreement before accessing the Software. You remain responsible for any acts or omissions of Your contractors, agents, and service providers in connection with the Software. 

You may copy, fork, and redistribute verbatim copies of the Software for non-commercial purposes provided that You do not modify the Software in any way, and provided that You include a complete copy of this Agreement with any such redistribution. This permission does not extend to any commercial use, commercial redistribution, or use in connection with a competing product or service. 

Information Requests

If the Licensor has a reasonable, good-faith basis to believe You are using the Software in violation of this Agreement, You shall, upon written request, provide the Licensor with a written description of Your use of the Software sufficient to allow the Licensor to assess compliance. Failure to respond within thirty (30) days of such request shall constitute a material breach of this Agreement. 

Notices

You must ensure that anyone who receives from You (or anyone under your control) a copy of the Software, or any part thereof, gets a copy of the terms and conditions in this Agreement.

If You Modify the Software, You must include in any Modified copies of the Software prominent notices therein stating that You have Modified Software.

Third-Party Components

The Software may include components licensed by third parties under separate licenses, including without limitation, open sources licenses. Those components remain governed by their respective licenses, which are identified in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file distributed with the Software. Nothing in this Agreement restricts Your rights under those separate licenses with respect to those components.

No Other Rights

The terms and conditions of this Agreement do not imply any Licenses other than those expressly granted in this Agreement.

Termination

If You Use the Software in violation of this Agreement, such Use is expressly not Licensed, and Your Licenses hereunder will automatically terminate. Your Licenses may be reinstated retroactively at the Licensor’s sole and absolute discretion. You acknowledge that any breach of the Limitations section of this Agreement may cause irreparable harm to the Licensor for which monetary damages would be inadequate. The Licensor shall be entitled to seek injunctive or other equitable relief without the requirement of posting a bond or proving actual damages, in addition to any other remedies available at law or in equity. 

Upon termination, You shall immediately cease all Use of the Software and destroy all copies, including Modified versions, in Your possession or control. The Limitations, No Liability, Indemnification, Information Requests, Governing Law and Jurisdictions, and this Termination section shall survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement.

No Liability

As far as the law allows, the Software comes as is, without any warranty or condition, and the Licensor will not be liable to You for any damages arising out of this Agreement or the Use or nature of the Software, regardless of the type, nature or circumstance of the resulting legal claim.

In no event shall the Licensor be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of profits, revenue, data, or business opportunity, regardless of the theory of liability, even if the Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The Licensor’s total aggregate liability under this Agreement shall not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars (USD $100). 

If any part of the warranty disclaimer or limitation of liability in this section is found to be unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the License granted under this Agreement shall be void in its entirety, effective as of the date of such finding.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Agreement will be construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, U.S.A., without reference to its choice of law rules. The federal and state courts located in the State of Delaware have exclusive jurisdiction for all purposes relating to this Agreement. The parties consent to personal jurisdiction and venue therein.