Usage Policy

Effective Date: 11/25/2025
Last Updated: 11/25/2025

Code Licensing and Intellectual Property

Automatic License Assignment

All code snippets submitted to GistHive are automatically assigned a license based on the workspace visibility setting at the time of submission:

Private and Team Workspaces

Code snippets submitted to private or team workspaces are automatically assigned an internal-use proprietary license per workspace. This means:

  • The code remains the intellectual property of the workspace owner/team
  • Code is not publicly accessible or searchable
  • Usage rights are restricted to authorized members of the workspace
  • No license is granted to third parties
  • The code may not be reproduced, distributed, or used outside the workspace without explicit permission from the workspace owner
Public Workspaces

Code snippets submitted to public workspaces are automatically licensed under the MIT License. This means:

  • The code is freely available for anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute
  • Attribution to the original author is required
  • The code is provided “as is” without warranty
  • The full MIT License terms apply (see Appendix A)

Changing Workspace Visibility

When you change a snippet workspace from private/team to public, or vice versa:

  • Private/Team to Public: Existing code snippets will adopt the MIT License from the point of publication
  • Public to Private/Team: Code that was previously public under MIT License remains under that license for any copies already distributed; the workspace copy reverts to proprietary internal-use license

User Responsibilities

By submitting code to GistHive, you represent and warrant that:

  • You own the code or have the right to license it under the applicable terms
  • The code does not infringe on any third-party intellectual property rights
  • You have the authority to apply the automatic license based on workspace visibility

Third-Party Code

If you include third-party code in your snippets:

  • Ensure you comply with the original license terms
  • Include appropriate attribution and license notices
  • Do not submit code that conflicts with the automatic license assignment

Appendix A: MIT License

MIT License Copyright (c) [year] [workspace owner/author name] Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Contact

For questions about this usage policy or licensing matters, please contact:
[email protected]