Open Source Licenses
Nexus's own code is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license; the source for our first-party services (nexus-service, nexus-web, and related components) is published at github.com/hello-nexus. The app also bundles a number of open source and third-party components, and this page credits them; the table below covers everything else the app or the website ships.
Components are grouped by where they ship: the desktop app (the native binary and the processes it launches) and the website (hellonexus.com and my.hellonexus.com). Some components appear as separate processes rather than linked code; that distinction matters for license obligations and is called out where it applies.
Desktop app
Compiled into the native binary:
| Component | License | Upstream |
|---|---|---|
| LibreHardwareMonitorLib | MPL-2.0 | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.Diagnostics.Tracing.TraceEvent | MIT | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.Win32.SystemEvents | MIT | nuget.org |
| Vortice.DXGI | MIT | nuget.org |
| Vortice.Direct3D11 | MIT | nuget.org |
| Dubya.WindowsMediaController | MIT | nuget.org |
| Mono.Posix.NETStandard | MIT | nuget.org |
| Silk.NET.OpenGL | MIT | nuget.org |
| Silk.NET.Windowing | MIT | nuget.org |
| Silk.NET.Windowing.Glfw | MIT | nuget.org |
| OpenTK.redist.glfw | Zlib/libpng (GLFW) | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.Data.Sqlite | MIT | nuget.org |
| SQLitePCLRaw.bundle_e_sqlite3 | Apache-2.0 (SQLite itself is public domain) | nuget.org |
| System.IO.Ports | MIT | nuget.org |
| QRCoder | MIT | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.AspNetCore.OpenApi | MIT | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.OpenApi | MIT | nuget.org |
| SIPSorcery | BSD-3-Clause | nuget.org |
| System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData | MIT | nuget.org |
| AdvancedSharpAdbClient | Apache-2.0 | nuget.org |
| SixLabors.ImageSharp | Six Labors Split License v1.0 | nuget.org |
| SixLabors.ImageSharp.Drawing | Six Labors Split License v1.0 | nuget.org |
| SixLabors.Fonts | Six Labors Split License v1.0 | nuget.org |
| Microsoft.Web.WebView2 | Microsoft proprietary SDK license | nuget.org |
Shipped as separate processes or native libraries alongside the app, not linked into it:
| Component | License | Upstream |
|---|---|---|
| OpenRGB (headless fork) | GPL-2.0-or-later | github.com/hello-nexus/openrgb-headless |
| libusb | LGPL-2.1-or-later | github.com/libusb/libusb |
| hidapi | BSD-3-Clause | github.com/libusb/hidapi |
| Mbed TLS (macOS only) | Apache-2.0 | github.com/Mbed-TLS/mbedtls |
| FFmpeg (minimal custom build) | GPL-2.0-or-later | ffmpeg.org |
| x264 | GPL-2.0-or-later | videolan.org |
| adb (Android platform-tools) | Apache-2.0 | developer.android.com |
| libwinpthread (mingw-w64) | Zlib/MIT-style | mingw-w64.org |
| PawnIO | GPL-2.0, with a linking exception for in-process use | github.com/namazso/PawnIO |
| dfu-util | GPL-2.0 | dfu-util.sourceforge.net |
| DFU WinUSB co-installers | Microsoft Windows Driver Kit redistributable | - |
| primesieve (benchmark tool) | BSD-2-Clause | github.com/kimwalisch/primesieve |
| clpeak (benchmark tool) | Apache-2.0 | github.com/krrishnarraj/clpeak |
| vkpeak (benchmark tool) | MIT | github.com/nihui/vkpeak |
| diskspd (benchmark tool) | Microsoft Software License Terms | github.com/microsoft/diskspd |
| STREAM (benchmark tool) | McCalpin license (attribution required, no resale) | cs.virginia.edu/stream |
| Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable | Microsoft proprietary redistributable | learn.microsoft.com |
Development-only tooling used while building Nexus never ships in a release and is not itemized here.
Copyleft components and source offers
Several of the components above are copyleft (GPL or LGPL). None of them are statically linked into Nexus's own code: OpenRGB, FFmpeg, dfu-util, and PawnIO's kernel driver all run as separate processes launched by Nexus. That separation is mere aggregation, so each component keeps its own license rather than pulling Nexus's AGPL-3.0 code under the GPL. Where the GPL requires it, here is where to get the source:
- OpenRGB (headless fork): our fork's source is public and kept current with the shipped binary at github.com/hello-nexus/openrgb-headless, itself GPL-2.0-or-later.
- FFmpeg and x264: we ship an unmodified upstream FFmpeg 7.1 build with libx264 enabled; source is available from the upstream projects linked above.
- dfu-util: we ship an unmodified upstream release; source is available from the upstream project linked above.
- PawnIO: the in-process library is used under PawnIO's linking exception; the kernel driver component's source is available from the upstream project linked above.
- libusb and libwinpthread: LGPL components ship as dynamic libraries alongside the app (not statically linked), which satisfies the LGPL's relinking requirement; source is available from the upstream projects linked above.