---
title: The O'Saasy License
link: https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-o-saasy-license-336c5c8f
source: world-hey-com
published: 2025-12-16T19:59:04Z
updated: 2025-12-16T19:59:04Z
first_seen: 2026-10-19T01:26:53.998049939Z
authors:
- David Heinemeier Hansson
content: extracted
html: 2025-12-16-the-o-saasy-license.html
remote_preview:
  url: https://world.hey.com/dhh/336c5c8f/representations/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MjM4MjYzMTM0NCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ--ca8e8c2eaa291c28171287ab2f86d9dd48d1e098ce75cce24e3eef1507fccab7/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJyZXNpemVfdG9fZmlsbCI6WzEyMDAsNjMwXSwicXVhbGl0eSI6NDAsInN0cmlwIjp0cnVlfSwicHVyIjoidmFyaWF0aW9uIn19--850460abb6619f326eb585ef63fdb0b416ee8bffff0b16dfc60dcb6699d89ebd/osassy-license.png
---

[![](https://world.hey.com/dhh/avatar-e58d6b2d72626dd1d1901253507aa2ea75136c6c)](https://world.hey.com/dhh)

One of my favorite parts of the early web was how easy it was to see how the front-end was built. Before View Source was ruined by minification, transpiling, and bundling, you really could just right-click on any web page and learn how it was all done. It was glorious.

But even back then, this only ever applied to the front-end. At least with commercial applications, the back-end was always kept proprietary. So learning how to write great web applications still meant piecing together lessons from books, tutorials, and hello-world-style code examples, not from production-grade commercial software.

The O'Saasy License seeks to remedy that. It's basically the do-whatever-you-want MIT license, but with the commercial rights to run the software as a service (SaaS) reserved for the copyright holder, thus encouraging more code to be open source while allowing the original creators to see a return on their investment.

We need more production-grade code to teach juniors and LLMs alike. A view source that extends to the back-end along with the open source invitation to fix bugs, propose features, and run the system yourself for free (if your data requirements or interests maks that a sensible choice over SaaS).

This is what we're doing with [Fizzy](https://fizzy.do/), but now we've also given the O'Saasy License a home to call its own at [osaasy.dev](http://osaasy.dev/). The license is yours to download and apply to any project where it makes sense. I hope to read a lot more production-grade SaaS code as a result!

[![osassy-license.png](https://world.hey.com/dhh/336c5c8f/representations/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MjM4MjYzMTM0NCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ--ca8e8c2eaa291c28171287ab2f86d9dd48d1e098ce75cce24e3eef1507fccab7/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6eyJmb3JtYXQiOiJwbmciLCJyZXNpemVfdG9fbGltaXQiOlszODQwLDI1NjBdLCJxdWFsaXR5Ijo2MCwibG9hZGVyIjp7InBhZ2UiOm51bGx9LCJjb2FsZXNjZSI6dHJ1ZX0sInB1ciI6InZhcmlhdGlvbiJ9fQ--7edc7b21f6fad97fa22412618822c4d19725431f296c7ce47dc174b61535d27c/osassy-license.png)](https://world.hey.com/dhh/336c5c8f/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MjM4MjYzMTM0NCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ--ca8e8c2eaa291c28171287ab2f86d9dd48d1e098ce75cce24e3eef1507fccab7/osassy-license.png?disposition=attachment "Download osassy-license.png")

About David Heinemeier Hansson