Open source

Free, open and built in the open

Everything that runs on your device is free, for good. The code is open under the AGPL-3.0 licence, so anyone can check how it works and nobody can take it and close it.

The licence: AGPL-3.0

Zacess is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3. In plain words:

  • Anyone can read the code, run it, change it and share it.
  • Anyone who shares a changed version must share their changes under the same licence.
  • Anyone who runs a changed version as an online service must publish their changes too. This is what the "Affero" part adds.

Why we chose it

Accessibility tools are often expensive, tied to one platform or locked to dedicated hardware. We want Zacess to stay free and open for everyone who needs it. The AGPL means nobody can take the code, close it and sell it back to the students it was built for. It also means that anyone, including universities and disabled users, can check exactly what Zacess does with their files.

What stays free forever

Everything that runs on your device is free and will never sit behind a paywall:

  • reading in your profile
  • text recognition (OCR)
  • read aloud
  • lecture recording and transcription
  • the magnifier
  • every export
  • flashcards and study tools

An optional paid tier is planned for things that cost money to run on a server: cloud voices, cloud processing, storage for syncing across devices and, later, optional cloud AI helpers. Universities will be able to buy licences with lecturer mode and admin tools. The money funds development, along with open-source grants. You never need the paid tier to use Zacess.

Where the code is

The code is in the public repository zacesshq/zacess on GitHub. Issues and pull requests are open there.

The code themes are in zacesshq/themes under the MIT licence, so they can be used and shared anywhere. Read-only copies for Obsidian and Neovim are published from it on each release.

Questions, ideas and feedback go to Zacess Discussions on GitHub or to contact@zacess.com.

How to help now

You do not need to write code to help shape Zacess. The most useful thing right now is hearing from the people it is for.

  • Tell us what is hard to read

    Which slides, handouts, textbooks or web pages give you trouble and why. Examples of real material are the best way to test Zacess.

  • Share your reading setup

    The fonts, sizes, colours and tools you use today. Tell us what each one does well or badly. This shapes the reading profiles and presets.

  • Suggest ideas

    A feature that would change how you study or something in the roadmap you would put first.

  • Give feedback on this site

    If anything here is unclear or hard to use, tell us. An accessibility problem is a bug.

Join Zacess Discussions on GitHub

Code contributions

Code contributions are welcome. Open an issue or a pull request in zacesshq/zacess.