I built the most comprehensive source-visible license ever written — 276 clauses, free to use

BMBOMICH — Thu, 14 May 2026 09:16:00 +0000

The Problem

I needed maximum legal protection for my project but couldn't find a license that did what I wanted.

I wanted something that:

Let people see the code for transparency and security auditing
Let people contribute improvements via Pull Requests
Blocked cloning, AI training, commercial use, and exploitation
Transferred IP from contributors to me automatically

Nothing like that existed.

The Solution

I built PSVL — the Proprietary Source-Visible License.

276 clauses. 9 sections. Free to use as a template.

What It Covers

Permitted Uses (129 clauses)

Personal non-commercial evaluation
Security vulnerability research (sandboxed)
Performance benchmarking
Accessibility testing
Community contributions via Pull Requests
Educational and academic research

Prohibited Uses (147+ clauses)

Commercial use, resale, or monetization
AI/ML training on code or user data
Reverse engineering or decompilation
Government, military, or intelligence use
Data scraping, harvesting, or selling
All known attack vectors

The Attack Vector Coverage

This is where it gets interesting. Most licenses say "don't hack us." PSVL bans specific techniques by name:

Power, timing, acoustic, thermal, electromagnetic side-channel analysis
Rowhammer bit-flipping attacks
Spectre and Meltdown CPU exploitation
Cold boot attacks
JTAG and SWD hardware debug port access
Photon emission and electron microscope analysis

The Exotic Prohibitions

And then there's Section 4.14. These sound absurd but serve a real legal purpose:

DNA biological encoding — Microsoft has been researching DNA data storage since 2019. Real technology.
Quantum cryptanalysis — Active threat within 10-15 years. Governments are already preparing.
Silicon chip embedding — Custom ASICs exist. Companies burn logic into silicon.

The purpose isn't just future-proofing. When an arbitrator sees you banned DNA encoding and quantum attacks, the message is clear: there is no loophole you didn't think of.

Legal Infrastructure

Contributor IP assignment (every PR permanently transfers ownership to you)
Binding arbitration with class action waiver
48-hour data breach notification
5-year confidentiality obligations post-termination
Severability (one bad clause cannot void the rest)
Enterprise insurance requirement ($1M minimum for commercial licensees)

How to Use It

Download PSVL-1.0.txt from the repo
Replace the placeholders with your name and jurisdiction
Save as LICENSE in your project root
Add one line to your README

That's it.

GitHub

https://github.com/BMBOMICH/PSVL

Happy to answer questions about any clause or the reasoning behind the structure.

DEV Community: BMBOMICH

A free license template for developers who want code transparency without losing IP control. Covers AI training bans, side-channel attacks, and even DNA encoding prohibitions.