Astron Agent Enterprise Reproduction & Redistribution Compliance Guide

[FenjuFu]

Astron Agent uses the Apache License 2.0, which is a very business-friendly and permissive open-source license. It allows companies to use, modify, and distribute the code for free, and even use it in closed-source commercial products, provided that a few obligations are met.

Below is a detailed guide and scenario examples on how companies can compliantly follow the Apache 2.0 license when developing with Astron Agent.

Core Principles (One Sentence Summary)

You are free to make money with it, modify it, and even release it as closed source, but you must retain the original author's copyright notice and license copy, and you cannot use the original author's name for advertising.

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✅ The Must-Dos

Regardless of the distribution scenario, you must follow these 4 points:

1. Retain the License: Include a copy of the Apache 2.0 license in your software.
2. Retain Copyright Notices: Do not remove the original copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the source files.
3. State Changes: If you modify a file, you must prominently note in that file that "this file has been modified".
4. Pass on the NOTICE File: If the original project contains a NOTICE file (which Astron Agent does), you must include the attribution information from the NOTICE file in your derivative work.

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🏢 Scenario 1: Internal Enterprise Use or SaaS Service (No Distribution)

Scenario Description:
A company downloads the Astron Agent source code, performs deep customization, and deploys it on its own private servers as an internal AI platform, or provides services to customers via a web interface (SaaS), but does not provide software installation packages or source code to customers.

Compliance Requirements:

• No need to open source: You do not need to publish your modified code.
• No need to declare: Since no "Distribution" has occurred, you do not need to show the license or copyright information to your end users (although it is generally recommended to keep "Powered by Astron Agent" at the bottom of the website as a courtesy, it is not mandatory).

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📦 Scenario 2: Distributing Unmodified Source Code (Integration/Mirroring)

Scenario Description:
A company directly includes the Astron Agent source code in its own open-source project or SDK and distributes it as a submodule to customers.

Compliance Examples:

1. Keep files as is: Do not delete the LICENSE and NOTICE files in the root directory of the Astron Agent source code.
2. Keep source headers as is: Do not delete the Copyright declaration at the top of each source code file (e.g., Copyright 2025 iFlytek Co., Ltd.).

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🛠️ Scenario 3: Distributing Modified Source Code (Secondary Development Delivery)

Scenario Description:
A software outsourcing company develops an Agent system for a client, modifies the Astron Agent source code (e.g., modifies the UI, adds new RPA scheduling logic), and delivers the entire source code to the client.

Compliance Examples:

1. Modification Declaration: Add a comment line at the top of the files you modified.
   • Example (Java/TS/Python):

     // Copyright 2025 iFlytek Co., Ltd.
     // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0...
     //
     // Modified by [Your Company Name] on 2026-01-12: Added custom RPA scheduling logic.

2. Include Original License and NOTICE: Ensure that the delivered source code package contains the original LICENSE and NOTICE files.
3. Append Your Copyright: You can append your own copyright information to the end of the NOTICE file, or create a new NOTICE.txt.
   • NOTICE File Content Example:

     Astron Agent
     Copyright 2025 iFlytek Co., Ltd.
     
     This product includes software developed at iFlytek Co., Ltd.
     
     ---------------------------------------------------------
     This derivative work includes modifications by [Your Company Name].
     Copyright 2026 [Your Company Name].
     

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🔒 Scenario 4: Distributing Closed Source Binary Products (Commercial Software Sales)

Scenario Description:
A company compiles and packages Astron Agent into an executable file (.exe), Docker image, or APK installation package, and sells it as commercial software to customers. Customers cannot see the source code.

This is the scenario companies care about most. Apache 2.0 allows this, but legal information must be displayed via documentation or UI.

Compliance Examples:
You need to ensure that the following content is included in the product's documentation, "About" page, or text files within the installation package:

1. Apache License 2.0 Full Text: Include a copy of the license.
2. Astron Agent's NOTICE Content: Must include the text from the original project's NOTICE file.
3. Copyright Notice: Declare that the software uses Astron Agent.

Specific Practices:

• If it's a Web Console: Display in "Settings" -> "About" or "Legal Information" page:

  This software is developed based on Astron Agent (https://github.com/iflytek/astron-agent).
  Astron Agent Copyright © 2025 iFlytek Co., Ltd.
  Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
  [Click to view full license text]

• If it's a Docker Image/Installation Package: Place a THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.txt or LEGAL.txt in the root directory of the release package with the following content:

  This product contains software based on Astron Agent (https://github.com/iflytek/astron-agent).
  
  Portions Copyright 2025 iFlytek Co., Ltd.
  
  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  You may obtain a copy of the License at
  
      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
  
  [...Paste content of NOTICE file here...]
  

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🌐 Scenario 5: Open Source After Secondary Development (Fork & Open Source)

Scenario Description:
A developer or company thinks Astron Agent is great but wants to deeply transform it for a specific vertical field (such as medical or legal) and release the transformed project as a new open-source project (Fork).

Compliance Examples:
Apache 2.0 allows you to release derivative works under the same or a different license, but it is generally recommended to keep Apache 2.0 to maintain ecosystem compatibility.

1. License Compatibility: You can choose to continue using Apache 2.0 or choose other compatible licenses (such as GPLv3, MIT), but you must ensure that you do not violate the requirements of the original protocol.
2. Retain Original Author's Copyright: Retain the original Astron Agent copyright notice at the top of all source files.
3. Add Your Copyright: Add your own copyright notice below the original copyright notice.
4. Modify NOTICE File: Retain the attribution information of Astron Agent in the project's NOTICE file and append your attribution information.
5. Explicit Changes: Clearly state in the README or documentation that the project is developed based on Astron Agent and list the main modification points.

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⚠️ Avoid Pitfalls (Don'ts)

1. Do not claim it as your own by removing the original author's copyright: You can declare copyright on your own code parts, but you must never remove the copyright notice of iFlytek Co., Ltd..
2. Do not use the original author's trademark for marketing: Unless you have written permission, you cannot imply in your product promotion that the product is endorsed or produced by iFlytek or Astron Agent officially. For example, you cannot call it "Astron Agent Official Enterprise Edition", but you can say "Enterprise Edition built on Astron Agent".
3. Pay attention to dependency library licenses: Astron Agent itself introduces other open-source dependencies (such as Python/Node.js dependencies). When distributing commercially, you also need to check the licenses of these third-party dependencies (usually Astron Agent officials will screen for business-friendly dependencies, but companies need to be careful not to introduce viral licenses like GPL when introducing new libraries during secondary development).

Summary

For companies that want to perform secondary development based on Astron Agent and commercialize it, Apache 2.0 is a green light. As long as you retain the original copyright notice files (LICENSE & NOTICE) and make simple footnotes in the modified files, you can safely proceed with commercial sales or closed-source distribution.

About Modifying the Logo

Can I modify the logo?

Yes, you can (and in some cases, it is recommended to) change the Logo to your own brand Logo.

Apache License 2.0 (Section 6) does not grant trademark rights. This means you cannot use the original author's trademarks (Logo, name, etc.) for commercial promotion that might cause user confusion without authorization.

Therefore, if you perform secondary development and release a product (especially a commercial product), it is recommended to replace it with your own Logo. This not only complies with the trademark protection provisions of the license but also helps establish your own brand image.

Note: Whether you modify the Logo or not, you must retain the original project's copyright notice and a copy of the license in the software as required by the guidelines (e.g., displaying "Powered by Astron Agent" and copyright information on the "About" page).