Use inside your own company is allowed, including changes. Passing the software on to anyone outside it is not. This is not open source.
On this page
What it does
The PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0 permits one purpose: the internal business operations of you and your company. Inside that purpose you may do what copyright would otherwise stop you doing, and a separate clause grants you the right to make changes and new works. What the license does not grant is distribution. Nothing may leave the company, in a product, in a service you sell or on its own. The definition of your company reaches every organization that controls it, is controlled by it, or sits under the same control.
Details
The line that matters is internal against outward facing. A tool your own people run is inside the grant. A library that ends up in the product your customers install is not, and nor is a copy handed to a contractor outside the company group. A hosted service is the case to think about twice: running the software to operate your own business is internal, while offering the software itself to your customers is not internal operations any more. After a first written notice you keep your licenses if you put things right within 32 days.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Internal business use
Use for the internal business operations of you and your company is a permitted purpose.
Modify
You may make changes and new works, for the same internal purpose.
Patent use
The grant covers the patent claims the licensor can license that your use would infringe.
Limits
Distribute
You may not distribute the software. Nothing leaves the company, in a product or on its own.
Customer facing use
Only internal operations are permitted. Offering the software, or something built on it, to others is outside the grant.
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Obligations
Keep it inside
Copies and changes stay inside the company group as the license defines it.
Fix within 32 days
After a first written notice you keep your licenses if you put things right within 32 days.
What PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 requires when you ship
PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 is readable source with use limits. The work is to match your use to the written grant, then keep the text on the record so procurement can read it. Do not treat a source-available identifier as OSI-style open source because the code is on GitHub.
The software is used for the internal business operations of your company, and nothing more.
You do not distribute it. It is not inside anything your customers install, download or receive from you.
Changes you make stay inside the company too. The grant for changes and new works runs on the same internal purpose.
You have checked whether a hosted product counts as internal operations, if you run one. Offering the software itself to customers does not.
Copies stay inside the company group as the license defines it, which is the organizations under common control with yours.
The duties named in PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0
The written grant is the source of the limits. These rows are the usual conditions teams have to match against their actual use, then keep on the record.
Keep it inside
Copies and changes stay inside the company group as the license defines it.
Fix within 32 days
After a first written notice you keep your licenses if you put things right within 32 days.
Things to be aware of
- Teams read internal as everything that is not a public download. A tool your customers reach over the internet is usually not internal operations.
- Teams pass a copy to an agency or a contractor. That is distribution outside the company, and the license does not cover it.
- Teams put an internal-use package in a shared library that later ships with a product. The license question moves with the code.
What the PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0 does not do
Search results often flatten PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0 into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- PolyForm Internal Use is not an open source license. A grant limited to internal business operations is a limit on the field of use.
- It does not allow distribution of any kind. Shipping it inside your product, or handing a copy to a customer, is outside the grant.
How PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0
- Use inside your own company is allowed, including changes. Passing the software on to anyone outside it is not. This is not open source.
- PolyForm-Free-Trial-1.0.0
- A trial license. You may evaluate the software for less than 32 days in a row. Keeping it after that needs a license from the publisher.
- PolyForm-Strict-1.0.0
- The narrowest PolyForm grant. Noncommercial use only, no changes and no passing it on. A company at work needs another license.
- source-available
- You can read the code. That is not the same as permission to use it any way you like. Source available is not open source.
Common questions about PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0
Answers to common questions about what PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0 requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0?
The PolyForm Internal Use License 1.0.0 permits one purpose: the internal business operations of you and your company. Inside that purpose you may do what copyright would otherwise stop you doing, and a separate clause grants you the right to make changes and new works. What the license does not grant is distribution. Nothing may leave the company, in a product, in a service you sell or on its own. The definition of your company reaches every organization that controls it, is controlled by it, or sits under the same control.
What does PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 require when you ship a product?
The software is used for the internal business operations of your company, and nothing more. You do not distribute it. It is not inside anything your customers install, download or receive from you. Changes you make stay inside the company too. The grant for changes and new works runs on the same internal purpose. You have checked whether a hosted product counts as internal operations, if you run one. Offering the software itself to customers does not. Copies stay inside the company group as the license defines it, which is the organizations under common control with yours.
Is PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 open source?
Not in the OSI sense. PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 is source-available: you can read the code, but the grant restricts how you may use it. Read the actual text.
How is PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 different from PolyForm Free Trial License 1.0.0?
PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 asks this: Use inside your own company is allowed, including changes. Passing the software on to anyone outside it is not. This is not open source. PolyForm Free Trial License 1.0.0 asks this: A trial license. You may evaluate the software for less than 32 days in a row. Keeping it after that needs a license from the publisher. Open the PolyForm Free Trial License 1.0.0 page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 for a buyer?
The catalog records PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 as source available, and as a license a network deployment does not clear. A network distribution review item therefore appears on the checklist for SaaS and mixed projects, and publishing stays blocked until a person confirms it. The identifier is a templated one, so the fetch never lands it on confirmed. SourceTrust cannot see whether a package ends up in what you ship, so the internal question is one a person answers on the component.
Where do I record PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 for a buyer?
The catalog records PolyForm-Internal-Use-1.0.0 as source available, and as a license a network deployment does not clear. A network distribution review item therefore appears on the checklist for SaaS and mixed projects, and publishing stays blocked until a person confirms it.
The identifier is a templated one, so the fetch never lands it on confirmed. SourceTrust cannot see whether a package ends up in what you ship, so the internal question is one a person answers on the component.
Related licenses
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.