License and distribution boundaries
State whether the release is open source, source-available, or private; document use, modification, redistribution, commercial rights, attribution, trademarks, contributions, and release authority.
Open and self-hosted software people can operate and own.
Publishing source or asking customers to run software changes what delivery means. The license, brand boundary, installation path, release artifacts, upgrades, backups, restoration, security reporting, support, and contribution model all become part of the product.
We help teams choose the right distribution boundary and build the packaging, documentation, recovery paths, and ownership model around it—whether the result is open source, source-available, or private software with a self-hosted option.
Packaging, deployment, and upgrades
Design versioned artifacts, pinned installation paths, configuration and secret handling, persistent data, compatibility, migrations, release notes, update guidance, and rollback.
Recovery, security, and support
Define backup scope, restoration checks, recovery ownership, private security reporting, support channels, deprecation, maintainer responsibilities, and contribution boundaries.
What the engagement leaves behind.
The exact artifacts follow the distribution model, but the release should tell users and operators what they may do, how to run it, how to change it, and who owns each decision.
- A license and distribution decision record covering use, modification, redistribution, commercial rights, attribution, trademarks, contributions, and ownership.
- A repeatable installation and deployment path with prerequisites, configuration, secrets, persistent storage, dependencies, health checks, and operator responsibilities.
- Versioned packages or images, release notes, compatibility and migration guidance, upgrade verification, deprecation rules, and a rollback path.
- A backup and restoration plan that names protected data, cadence, retention, encryption and key responsibility, restore verification, replacement scope, and recovery ownership.
- Task-oriented setup, configuration, operation, troubleshooting, update, recovery, API or integration, security-reporting, support, and contribution documentation where each applies.
- An ownership map for maintenance, releases, dependency updates, vulnerability response, support, contribution review, documentation, and long-term project decisions.
Two products with different source and ownership models.
The license language matters. Logister is MIT-licensed open source. FinanceTracking.app is source-available under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 and is not open source.
Logister
MIT-licensed open sourceSelf-hosted error monitoring and bug triage with one dashboard for grouped errors, investigation, assignment, integrations, and operator-controlled deployment.
- The MIT License covers the source; the Logister name, logo, wordmark, visual identity, and brand assets remain outside the license, so public forks replace the branding.
- Versioned releases and container images are published through GitHub Releases, GitHub Container Registry, and Docker Hub.
- The documented self-hosted stack uses Rails, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Sidekiq, with optional S3-compatible archive storage and ClickHouse.
- Public documentation covers installation, configuration, use, deployment, APIs, integrations, infrastructure options, and troubleshooting, with packages for familiar application ecosystems.
FinanceTracking.app
Source-available · PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0A self-hosted monthly financial workspace for deliberate plans, confirmed activity, account evidence, source-backed reports, explicit period close, and recoverable backups without automatic bank sync.
- The PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 permits noncommercial use, modification, and redistribution. Commercial use requires separate written permission.
- Docker Compose and PostgreSQL are the documented deployment path on infrastructure controlled by the operator.
- Confirmed-activity imports and Backup v2 exports and restores run as durable background work with saved progress and a dedicated production worker.
- Backup v2 previews replacement scope and creates a seven-day encrypted restore checkpoint before replacement; the docs and trust center explain recovery and operator responsibilities.
Shape the software and its operating boundaries together.
Open or self-hosted distribution often depends on architecture, application, and integration decisions made before the release is packaged.