The repository is licensed per component. SolidLSP (src/solidlsp,
test/solidlsp, test/resources) remains MIT-licensed and independently
reusable; the Serena application (src/serena, src/interprompt, scripts,
test/serena, docs) is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later starting with the v2
licensing transition. The change is not retroactive: all releases and
commits up to v1.7.0 / 74c38a65 (tag mit-final) remain available under MIT.
Since MIT is GPL-compatible, a distribution combining both (such as the
serena-agent package) is as a whole subject to GPL-3.0-or-later, while the
SolidLSP files themselves stay MIT and can be extracted and used separately
under MIT terms. The distribution metadata therefore declares
GPL-3.0-or-later, with both license texts shipped alongside it.
Serena originally began under the GPL (v2) and was switched to MIT in
May 2025 following community requests. We consider that change a mistake;
the substantial changes in v2 make this the appropriate time to revert it.
We want the best version of Serena to remain free.
Changes:
* LICENSE is now the licensing overview; canonical license texts live in
LICENSES/ (MIT.txt is the previous LICENSE verbatim, GPL-3.0-or-later.txt
is the unmodified FSF text)
* pyproject.toml declares the PEP 639 license expression
"GPL-3.0-or-later" and bundles LICENSE and LICENSES/* as license files;
the deprecated MIT classifier is dropped and flake.nix declares gpl3Plus;
README has per-component license badges and a License section
* SPDX-License-Identifier headers in all Python sources under src/ and
scripts/, added by the new idempotent scripts/add_spdx_headers.py, which
gen_prompt_factory.py also uses to keep the header on the generated
module; existing third-party notices are preserved
* CLA.md: Contributor License Agreement (contributor retains copyright;
grants a perpetual, irrevocable license including relicensing under any
terms, incl. proprietary/commercial; patent grant; authority
representations), to be enforced repository-wide via cla-assistant.io
* CONTRIBUTING.md, PR template and a new docs page explain the licensing
boundary and the CLA workflow
Adds first-class support for xAI's Grok Build CLI, following the
existing client-integration pattern (Claude Code, CodeBuddy, Codex):
- grok context: single-project, shaped like claude-code.yml, with the
file-tool exclusions appropriate for a CLI agent that has its own
read/edit/shell tools. structured_tool_output is left at the auto
default (as in the codex and codebuddy contexts); claude-code's
explicit false is a Claude-Code-specific bug workaround that is not
carried over.
- serena setup grok: registers Serena as a user-scoped MCP server via
"grok mcp add" after detecting a compatible grok CLI.
- serena-hooks --client=grok: Grok-native PreToolUse output
({decision, reason}) instead of the Claude-style hookSpecificOutput
envelope; grep/read detection extended to Grok's tool names and
shell payloads (target_file/targetFile path keys, non-string command
values handled defensively). The payload-parsing refinements live in
the remind hook's client-agnostic parsing and apply to all hook
clients: a non-string command value previously raised, and
target_file/targetFile paths were not recognized.
- Docs (030_clients.md #grok), unit tests for setup/hooks/context, and
scripts/live_test_grok.py - a zero-inference, state-preserving live
smoke test against a real grok installation (documented in
CONTRIBUTING.md). Its M5 check verifies the structured-output wire
shape: the grok context (auto default) serves an output schema and
structuredContent for string-returning tools, while the claude-code
context (explicit false workaround) serves plain text only.
Dominik Jain