License & Funding
Lombok is built as a public good, committed to open source principles and user freedom. This page explains our license, how the project is funded, and how you can help sustain its development.
License
Section titled “License”Lombok is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0).
What This Means for You
Section titled “What This Means for You”The AGPL license gives you the freedom to:
- Use Lombok for any purpose, personal or commercial
- Modify the source code to fit your needs
- Distribute copies of Lombok to others
There’s one key requirement: If you modify Lombok and provide it as a service over a network, you must share your modifications. This ensures that Lombok remains open source and that improvements benefit the entire community.
For the complete license text, see the LICENSE file on GitHub.
Why AGPL?
Section titled “Why AGPL?”We chose AGPL to protect user freedom and ensure Lombok stays open:
- Protects your freedom - No one can take Lombok private and lock you out of your own data
- Prevents closed-source forks - Companies can’t build competing services on Lombok without contributing back
- Standard for self-hosted software - Projects like GitLab, Mastodon, and other self-hosted platforms use AGPL for the same reasons
AGPL is designed specifically for software that runs as a service. It guarantees that users always have access to the source code of the software they’re using.
Funding
Section titled “Funding”Lombok is developed and maintained through community support. We’re funded by:
- GitHub Sponsors - Individual and company sponsorships that directly support development
- Community contributions - Code, documentation, translations, and other volunteer work
Why Funding Matters
Section titled “Why Funding Matters”Sustainable funding enables:
- Consistent development - Regular updates, new features, and timely bug fixes
- Independence - No venture capital means no pressure to monetize user data or restrict features
- User focus - We build what users need, not what investors demand
Lombok is infrastructure for digital sovereignty. By funding it through community sponsorship rather than advertising or data collection, we keep it aligned with user interests.
Support Lombok
Section titled “Support Lombok”There are several ways you can support Lombok’s development:
Sponsor on GitHub
Section titled “Sponsor on GitHub”Direct financial support helps sustain development. Consider sponsoring on GitHub:
Every contribution, whether $5/month or $500/month, makes a difference in keeping the project active and well-maintained.
Contribute Code
Section titled “Contribute Code”Help build features, fix bugs, or improve performance:
- Visit our GitHub repository
- Check the issues for good first contributions
- Submit pull requests with improvements
Improve Documentation
Section titled “Improve Documentation”Found something unclear or missing in these docs?
- Click the “Edit this page” link at the top of any page
- Submit corrections or additions via GitHub pull requests
- Help make these docs clearer for the next person
Join the Community
Section titled “Join the Community”Connect with other users and contributors:
- Join our Discord - Ask questions, share your setup, discuss features
- Share your experience using Lombok
- Help answer questions from new users
Philosophy
Section titled “Philosophy”Lombok exists to give you control over your digital life. It’s infrastructure for digital sovereignty - your data, your servers, your rules.
We believe that critical software infrastructure should be open source and owned by the community, not by corporations seeking profit. AGPL licensing and community funding keeps Lombok aligned with these values.
When you use Lombok, you’re not a product being monetized. You’re part of a community building better tools for personal computing.
Thank you for being part of the Lombok community. Whether you use it, contribute to it, or sponsor its development, you’re helping build a more open and user-controlled internet.