Community licensing FAQ¶

The licensing model for OpsFactor Community adopts the Sustainable Use License, Version 1.0, created and published by n8n. The license body reproduces the n8n Sustainable Use License 1.0 without substantive changes and follows its short-license-plus-FAQ model. n8n publicly encourages other projects to use the license. n8n is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, OpsFactor or OpsFactor Community.

Read the license reference for the applicable English text. This FAQ explains how the license applies to planning and optimization scenarios.

Is OpsFactor Community open source?¶

No. It is source-available. Its source can be inspected and, within the license, used and modified, but commercial-use restrictions mean it is not an Open Source Initiative approved license.

What does the license allow?¶

It allows you to:

• use and modify OpsFactor Community for your company's internal business purposes;
• use it personally or for non-commercial purposes;
• create derivative works for those permitted purposes;
• share original or modified copies free of charge for non-commercial purposes.

You must preserve licensing, copyright, and other legal notices and provide a copy of the license to anyone who receives any part of the software.

Can my company use it with its own data and run its own plans?¶

Yes. A company may use its own installation to register materials, locations, network, demand, inventory, capacity, and parameters and to run forecasts, Demand Plans, Supply Plans, Planning Books, and scenarios for its own operation.

The company may operate it through the standard interface, internal scripts, documented APIs, or an internal portal.

Does data from suppliers, customers, or other companies make the use external?¶

Not by itself. Planning an organization's own supply chain commonly involves data about suppliers, carriers, distributors, stores, and customers. This remains internal business use when the organization uses those data to plan its own operation.

Organizations under common control are included in the license definition of “your company.” A holding company may therefore use an installation to plan controlled companies within the same corporate group.

Can consultants charge for implementation and support?¶

Yes. Consultants may charge for professional services such as implementation, configuration, data migration, integration, customization, training, support, and maintenance.

The fee is for professional work, not for an OpsFactor Community license. The customer's use must itself comply with the Community license.

Can a consultant reuse a customization for several customers?¶

Yes. A consultant may reuse knowledge and customizations and charge for the work required to adapt, deploy, integrate, and support them for each customer.

The consultant may not charge a license or distribution fee for OpsFactor Community or for copied or derived OpsFactor code. Every customer receiving a copy must also receive the Community license and the required notices.

Can I build an internal portal or wrapper?¶

Yes. A company may create an internal portal, application, script, or wrapper through which its own employees and contractors register its data, configure its parameters, run its plans, and inspect its results.

The license does not require an internal portal to preserve the OpsFactor logo or the original screen layout. Licensing, copyright, and other legal notices must remain, and trademark use remains subject to applicable law.

Can an external user receive a limited result from our internal installation?¶

Usually yes. A business may expose a limited result generated from its own data and internal planning process, such as an availability indication, expected delivery date, or replenishment status.

The external user must not receive substantial access to configure or operate OpsFactor Community for that user's own planning operation.

Can I offer planning to several independent customer companies?¶

Not under the Community license when the offering is substantially powered by OpsFactor Community.

A provider may not sell a platform or automated service in which unrelated customer companies submit their own planning data, maintain their own models, run their own forecasts or Supply Plans, or receive their own OpsFactor-backed workspaces.

Using data from several companies is not the deciding factor. The deciding question is whether OpsFactor supports the licensee's own operation or is being offered as planning functionality for paying third parties.

Can a consulting firm use OpsFactor while delivering an advisory project?¶

Yes when OpsFactor supports genuine professional consulting in which the main value comes from the consultant's expertise, modeling, analysis, and recommendations.

A separate commercial agreement is required when the service is essentially an automated offering where customers submit data and receive forecasts, plans, optimization, or platform access whose value derives entirely or substantially from OpsFactor functionality.

Can I offer OpsFactor Community as SaaS, white-label, or an embedded product?¶

No. You may not host OpsFactor Community and charge customers for access, white-label it as your own commercial tool, or expose substantial planning functionality to customers as part of a paid product.

An external user substantially operates the platform when that user can, for the user's own organization:

• upload or maintain planning data;
• configure models, parameters, or network;
• run forecasts, Demand Plans, Supply Plans, or scenarios;
• administer users, workspaces, or planning versions;
• access substantial Planning Book or configuration functionality.

Those uses require a separate commercial agreement with OpsFactor.

Can a paid product integrate with OpsFactor through APIs?¶

Yes. An independently developed ERP, connector, integration, or other product may communicate with a customer's OpsFactor installation through documented interfaces.

The independent product may use its own commercial license when it does not copy OpsFactor source code and is not a wrapper that sells access to OpsFactor functionality. Using an API does not turn a prohibited OpsFactor-backed SaaS offering into a permitted integration.

Can I develop and sell a connector?¶

Yes. A connector independently written to exchange data with OpsFactor may be sold or licensed separately. Professional services for deploying and maintaining that connector may also be charged.

If the connector copies or derives from OpsFactor source code, the copied or derived portion remains subject to the Community license.

What happens if a plugin copies an OpsFactor class or component?¶

The license defines the software as including any portion of it. A copied class, component, user-interface implementation, or other source fragment therefore remains part of the licensed software.

It may only be used, modified, and distributed within the Community license limitations. A paid plugin may not commercially distribute copied or derived OpsFactor code.

Can I use AWS, Azure, or another paid infrastructure provider?¶

Yes. Paying for general-purpose compute, storage, network, database, backup, or similar infrastructure to operate your own internal installation is allowed.

A consultant may set up or maintain the customer's internal instance. A provider that hosts and manages planning data and functionality for its own customers, however, is offering OpsFactor as a service and requires a commercial agreement.

Marketplace images, managed hosting offerings, and other cases where OpsFactor is part of a commercial listing should be discussed with OpsFactor before publication.

Can I redistribute a modified version?¶

Yes, only free of charge and for non-commercial purposes. The recipient must receive the license, all required notices, and a prominent statement that the software was modified.

You may not sell a fork, module, plugin, or other derivative that contains OpsFactor source code.

Can my company use plans and reports in its commercial operation?¶

Yes. Internal business use includes using forecasts, plans, analyses, reports, and decisions in the company's ordinary commercial operation.

This does not allow selling platform access or an automated third-party service whose value derives entirely or substantially from OpsFactor functionality.

When do I need a separate commercial agreement?¶

Contact OpsFactor before offering hosted access, SaaS, white-label, customer-operated embedding, multi-customer planning workspaces, marketplace products, or another commercial service substantially powered by OpsFactor.

Return to the Community overview or read Community architecture and boundary for the product split.