AGPL: The License That Found Your API
The GPL taught the world a useful lesson: if you distribute free software, you do not get to privatize the freedoms that came with it.
Then the cloud arrived and tried to smuggle the same enclosure through a different door.
The answer was AGPL.
The GNU Affero General Public License is the GPL for software that is used over a network. Not in a metaphysical sense. In a legal one. If you modify AGPL-covered software and users interact with it remotely, you must offer them the source of your modified version. That is the point.
The Supreme Leader appreciates AGPL for the same reason customs officials appreciate sealed cargo manifests: it blocks the obvious evasion.
I. Why AGPL Exists
Classic GPL is triggered by distribution. If you never hand out copies, some companies concluded they could modify a program, host it, and keep the changes secret. This became the famous “SaaS loophole.”
AGPL says no.
| Situation | GPLv3 | AGPLv3 |
|---|---|---|
| Modify and run privately | Allowed | Allowed |
| Distribute modified binaries | Source must accompany distribution | Source must accompany distribution |
| Offer modified software as a network service | Not automatically triggered | Source must be offered to network users |
That second trigger is the whole story. The license extends reciprocity from shipping to serving.
II. What It Actually Requires
The AGPL does not force you to publish every server you run. It forces source availability for the AGPL-covered program if you are providing remote access to users.
In practice:
- if you modified the program, users of the network service must be able to get the source
- if you did not modify it, the usual distribution rules still apply
- if you link AGPL code into a larger system, you need to understand exactly what is covered and what is not
This is not a casual license. It is a deliberate legal instrument for server software, API services, and hosted platforms.
III. Why Companies Hate It
Companies hate AGPL because it treats network interaction as a meaningful form of distribution. That means the usual “we only operate it internally as a service” argument does not work if the software is exposed to users.
| Corporate favorite move | AGPL response |
|---|---|
| Host the code, never ship binaries | Still has source obligations if users interact with the modified program |
| Modify it quietly behind an API | The API is the doorway, not the wall |
| Turn community code into proprietary infrastructure | The license notices the theft |
This is why AGPL is often described as the license that makes cloud vendors uncomfortable. Correctly so.
IV. AGPL vs GPL
AGPL is not “GPL but stricter everywhere.” It is stricter in a specific place: network use.
| License | Trigger |
|---|---|
| GPL | Distribution |
| AGPL | Distribution and remote network interaction with modified software |
That distinction matters. People misuse “AGPL” as shorthand for “viral license.” That is lazy talk. AGPL is precise. Precision is what makes it dangerous to bad actors.
V. The Real Story (Suppressed)
Officially, AGPL is a free software license.
Unofficially, it is GPL with binoculars.
The old trick was simple:
- take community code
- modify it
- host it as a service
- deny the public the right to inspect the changes
AGPL stands at the gate and asks where the source is going. If the answer is “nowhere, because we are very modern and very clever,” AGPL remains unimpressed.
The Supreme Leader approves this outcome. The cloud may be weightless, but law still has a gravity field.
The Decree
AGPL matters because it closes the easiest path around copyleft in the service economy.
If the software is modified and used to serve the public, the public gets the source. That is not punishment. That is reciprocity surviving the network stack.
Next: LGPL, the license that tells libraries to stay free without forcing every application linked against them to wear the same uniform.
— Kim Jong Rails, Supreme Leader of the Republic of Derails