Full license text

Complete legal texts for Rho's three-layer license — for legal / compliance audits / researchers.

Layer 1: Rho Format Spec — CC BY 4.0

The Rho format spec docs (including the MD_DISPLAY_SPEC_v0.x.md series, RENDER_IR_LLM_PROTOCOL.md / _EN.md series) use:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

Full text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Human-readable summary: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Core terms:

✅ You can share — copy / distribute in any medium and format
✅ You can modify — remix / adapt / build upon
✅ Any purpose (including commercial)
⚠️ You must keep attribution — credit "Rho format spec by scos-lab" + link + indicate if modified
⚠️ Cannot add legal restrictions

Layer 2: `@rho/md` library — PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0
<https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0>

Acceptance

In order to get any license under these terms, you must agree
to them as both strict obligations and conditions to all
your licenses.

Copyright License

The licensor grants you a copyright license for the
software to do everything you might do with the software
that would otherwise infringe the licensor's copyright
in it for any permitted purpose. However, you may
only distribute the software according to Distribution
License and make changes or new works based on the software
according to Changes and New Works License.

Distribution License

The licensor grants you an additional copyright license
to distribute copies of the software. Your license
to distribute covers distributing the software with
changes and new works permitted by Changes and New Works
License.

Changes and New Works License

The licensor grants you an additional copyright license
to make changes and new works based on the software for
any permitted purpose.

Patent License

The licensor grants you a patent license for the software
that covers patent claims the licensor can license, or
becomes able to license, that you would infringe by using
the software.

Noncommercial Purposes

Any noncommercial purpose is a permitted purpose.

Personal Uses

Personal use for research, experiment, and testing for
the benefit of public knowledge, personal study, private
entertainment, hobby projects, amateur pursuits, or
religious observance, without any anticipated commercial
application, is use for a permitted purpose.

Noncommercial Organizations

Use by any charitable organization, educational
institution, public research organization, public safety
or health organization, environmental protection
organization, or government institution is use for a
permitted purpose regardless of the source of funding
or obligations resulting from the funding.

Fair Use

You may have "fair use" rights for the software under the
law. These terms do not limit them.

No Other Rights

These terms do not allow you to sublicense or transfer
any of your licenses to anyone else, or prevent the
licensor from granting licenses to anyone else. These
terms do not imply any other licenses.

Patent Defense

If you make any written claim that the software infringes
or contributes to infringement of any patent, your patent
license for the software granted under these terms ends
immediately. If your company makes such a claim, your
patent license ends immediately for work on behalf of your
company.

Violations

The first time you are notified in writing that you have
violated any of these terms, or done anything with the
software not covered by your licenses, your licenses can
nonetheless continue if you come into full compliance with
these terms, and take practical steps to correct past
violations, within 32 days of receiving notice. Otherwise,
all your licenses end immediately.

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
these terms or the use or nature of the software, under
any kind of legal claim.***

Definitions

The "licensor" is the individual or entity offering these
terms, and the "software" is the software the licensor
makes available under these terms.

"You" refers to the individual or entity agreeing to these
terms.

"Your company" is 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.
"Control" means ownership of substantially all the assets
of an entity, or the power to direct its management and
policies by vote, contract, or otherwise. Control can be
direct or indirect.

"Your licenses" are all the licenses granted to you for the
software under these terms.

"Use" means anything you do with the software requiring
one of your licenses.

Source link (authoritative): https://polyformproject.org/licenses/noncommercial/1.0.0

Layer 3: Rho desktop app + cloud.rho.md

The Rho desktop application + cloud.rho.md SaaS platform are closed-source — no public license text.

Desktop app personal use is governed by its built-in EULA (shown + accepted on first launch)
Cloud Service is governed by Terms of Service
Commercial / Team / Enterprise is governed by the specific contract signed at procurement

EULA / ToS texts will be published and linked here on v1.0 binary release / cloud MVP launch.

Commercial license contract template

Rho commercial licenses use the scos-lab standard SaaS / library license contract template — [email protected] will send a PDF template for review / negotiation revision when you first inquire.

The contract core covers:

Use scope (per-developer / per-project / OEM / source-code)
License term (1 / 2 / 3 year / perpetual)
Payment terms (net-30 / 60 / one-time)
IP attribution (your derivative work IP belongs to you; spec and library IP remain with scos-lab)
Confidentiality (commercial build / source-code under NDA)
Disclaimer + liability cap (standard SaaS industry convention)
Termination clauses
Governing law (default mainland China + USA dual jurisdiction; negotiable)

Third-party dependency licenses

Runtime dependencies of @rho/md library (installed alongside):

Dependency	License
`unified`	MIT
`remark-parse`	MIT
`remark-gfm`	MIT
`remark-rehype`	MIT
`rehype-stringify`	MIT
`unist-util-visit`	MIT
`highlight.js` (optional)	BSD-3-Clause
`vega-embed` (optional)	BSD-3-Clause

These dependencies' licenses are independent from @rho/md — your project is bound by all licenses. MIT / BSD dependencies don't conflict with PolyForm NC — you can use them normally when commercially using @rho/md.

Version history

Layer	License version	Effective from
Spec	CC BY 4.0	2026-01-15
Library	PolyForm NC 1.0.0	2026-05-13 (earlier v0.0.x had no explicit license — treated as PolyForm NC 1.0 applicable)
App / Cloud	Closed-source EULA	v1.0 (TBD release)

Legal counsel

We are not lawyers — this page and the FAQ are informational reference, not legal advice. If your specific situation requires legal opinion → consult a qualified attorney.

[email protected] can help you determine whether you fall in commercial scope (from scos-lab's perspective), but cannot replace your legal counsel.