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The Palimpsest License

A palimpsest is a manuscript page that has been written on, scraped off, and written over - yet traces of the original remain visible beneath.

So too is all software: layers upon layers of human effort, each generation building atop the work of those who came before.

Preamble

This is not a legal license. It is a philosophical companion to whatever legal license you choose.

The Palimpsest License is a commitment - to yourself, to your collaborators, and to those who will inherit your code long after you have moved on.

The Principles

I. Acknowledge the Layers Beneath

Every line of code you write stands on the shoulders of giants:

  • The language designers who gave you syntax

  • The compiler writers who gave you execution

  • The library authors who gave you building blocks

  • The teachers who gave you understanding

  • The community who gave you support

Honor them. Credit them. Thank them when you can.

II. Write for the Reader You Will Never Meet

Your code will outlive your involvement with it. Write as if explaining to a future colleague who:

  • Has never seen this codebase before

  • Is debugging at 3 AM under deadline pressure

  • Speaks a different native language than you

  • Has different cultural assumptions than you

Clarity is kindness across time.

III. Leave It Better Than You Found It

When you touch code, improve it:

  • Fix the bug, but also the unclear variable name nearby

  • Add the feature, but also the missing test

  • Refactor the mess, but also document why it was messy

The campsite rule applies to codebases.

IV. Consider the Downstream Effects

Before you ship, ask:

  • Who will use this, and how might they misuse it?

  • What happens when this scales beyond my imagination?

  • Could this cause harm I haven’t considered?

  • Am I building something I would want to exist in the world?

Power demands responsibility.

V. Pass the Knowledge Forward

Teaching is not optional for those who have learned:

  • Document not just what, but why

  • Answer questions patiently, even the ones you’ve heard before

  • Create on-ramps for newcomers

  • Make your hard-won insights accessible

Knowledge hoarded is knowledge lost.

VI. Embrace Impermanence

Your code will be:

  • Rewritten when better patterns emerge

  • Deprecated when needs change

  • Deleted when it’s no longer useful

This is not failure. This is the natural life cycle of all things.

Build with care, but hold loosely.

Adoption

To adopt the Palimpsest License:

  1. Include it alongside your legal license

  2. Reference it in your README

  3. Live by its principles

  4. Encourage (never require) others to do the same

The Closing

We are all writing on a palimpsest.

The code beneath our code was written by others. The code above our code will be written by others.

We are merely one layer in an ongoing story.

Make your layer count.

The Palimpsest License is released to the public domain under CC0. Copy it, modify it, make it your own.