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Open surfaces

“Open source” and “open surface” are not the same claim. AxisVela uses both, and the difference matters when you evaluate a project.

Three levels

Fully open

The repository contains the implementation under an open license.

Open surface

The repository publishes the integration surface — contracts, SDKs, examples, and sometimes binaries — under an open license. The runtime core or enterprise edition may be developed separately.

Most *-open repositories in the ecosystem are this kind of surface. They are designed to let you evaluate, integrate, and build without a commercial commitment, but they are not a promise that the entire runtime is open source.

Commercial or private

Some cores and enterprise editions are developed in private repositories. They may add multi-tenancy, high availability, compliance packs, managed deployment, or other operational features.

How to evaluate an open surface

  1. Read the LICENSE in the specific repository. It is authoritative.
  2. Check what the repository actually contains: contracts, SDK, examples, binaries, or a runnable runtime.
  3. Run the examples before assuming production readiness.
  4. Check the release and support posture in the repository, not in a summary.
  5. Ask what happens at the boundary: can you replace the implementation while keeping the contract?

Why this model

A clean open surface lets a solo maintainer publish useful, testable interfaces without pretending that every operational feature is free. It also keeps the licensing boundary honest: the MIT framework and Apache-2.0 surfaces are explicit, and the commercial editions are separate.

See the licenses page for the current map. When in doubt, the repository wins.