THE LAGOM LICENSE

    "Not too much, not too little — just the right amount of freedom."

This license has no version number. Numbering it would imply it
could be improved, which would be immodest, or that it needed
improving, which would be rude.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
OF THIS SOFTWARE, OR WHATEVER THIS IS, HONESTLY

PREAMBLE

Most licenses are either too restrictive or too permissive.
The MIT License wants you to keep a copyright notice around like
a receipt you'll never need. The GPL wants you to share everything
like it's kindergarten. The UNLICENSE pretends law doesn't exist.
The WTFPL tells you to do what the fuck you want, which, while
admirable in spirit, lacks a certain Scandinavian restraint.

This license is lagom — just the right amount.

DEFINITIONS

"The Software" refers to whatever you found this license attached
to. Code, configs, a scraper for something niche — we don't judge.

"You" refers to the person reading this. Yes, you.

"The Author" refers to whoever was producing this code instead
of going outside. Bless them.

"Lagom" (Swedish, adj., adv.; pronounced LAH-gom, not LAY-gum,
please) — not too much, not too little; sufficient; adequate;
appropriate; just right. Possibly derived from "laget om", "around
the team", from a legend in which Vikings passed a horn of mead
around the circle and each took exactly enough that everyone got
some. Etymologists consider this legend unlikely. Swedes consider
it beside the point. Lagom is the amount of milk in your coffee
that does not need to be discussed. It is the volume of a
conversation on a commuter train, which is none. It is a salary
that is fine, a summer house that is red, a political opinion
held quietly, an applause that ends at the same time for
everyone. It is the second cinnamon bun, but never the third.
It is the Goldilocks zone, but with better furniture and
meatballs. It cannot be measured, only felt, and it is felt
most strongly when someone else is not being it. To ask "how
much is lagom?" is itself slightly un-lagom. The Author
acknowledges that this definition is now far too long, and
therefore in breach of itself, and has decided to live with that.

GRANT OF RIGHTS

Subject to the two small conditions in clauses 3 and 5 — just
the two, more would be excessive — the Author grants you the
following:

1. USAGE: You may use this software for any purpose, commercial
   or otherwise. The Author trusts you to be reasonable about
   it, but that trust is a hope, not a condition. Be unreasonable
   if you must.

2. DISTRIBUTION: You may copy, merge, publish, distribute,
   sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, in original
   or modified form. Don't make a big deal out of it in either
   direction. Just put it there.

3. ATTRIBUTION: Retain the original copyright notice in source
   files and documentation. One line is enough. Don't strip it
   out, don't put it in 40pt bold font. It's lagom.

4. MODIFICATIONS: You may modify the Software. If you improve
   the code, good. You could even rewrite it entirely and call
   it a fork just to avoid credit — nothing in this license
   stops you. That is between you and your conscience. Your
   conscience knows what lagom means.

5. LICENSE INCLUSION: Include this license or a clear reference
   to it in copies of the software. It's just polite.

THINGS THAT ARE NOT REQUIRED BUT WOULD BE NICE

6. You are NOT required to:
   a) Share your modifications
      (but hoarding is not lagom)
   b) Feel guilty about anything
      (guilt is never lagom)

7. You ARE encouraged to:
   a) Be a decent human being
   b) Take a walk sometimes
   c) Drink water
   d) Push to main on Fridays only if it feels lagom
   e) Not power a galactic empire with it. A modest regional
      empire, at most.
   f) Not modify it so much that the Author feels inadequate.
      Some is fine. The Author is sensitive.

ALLEMANSRÄTTEN (THE RIGHT TO ROAM)

You may roam freely through the codebase, as through any Swedish
forest. You may pick berries (snippets) and mushrooms (helper
functions), though the Author makes no warranty that the
mushrooms are not poisonous. Leave no trace. Do not camp in one
file for more than one night. Close the gate behind you.

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

The Software ships flat-packed. Some assembly required. The
instructions are wordless and feature a small cartoon person who
seems calmer than you. On completion you will have one leftover
screw. Do not ask where it goes. It goes nowhere. It has always
gone nowhere.

JANTELAGEN

You shall not think you are better than this Software.
The Software does not think it is better than you.
Nobody here thinks they are anything special. That is the point.

RELEASES AND SUPPORT

Breaking changes are permitted on Saturdays, in moderation, like
lördagsgodis (Saturday candy). A small bag. Not the big bag.

Issues are handled in order of their queue ticket number.
Cutting the queue is the only truly unforgivable act under this
license, and the Author will not say anything about it, but will
think about it, at length, for years.

No support is available in July. All of July. Issues filed in
July will be read in August, by an Author with a tan and no
memory of having written this code.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

Certain legacy files are like surströmming. Open them outdoors,
downwind, with a friend, and never on a plane.

FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT

Only clauses 3 and 5 are actual requirements. Everything else
in this license that sounds like advice is advice, including
anything about moose, queues, July, candy, or the laundry room.
The Author cannot legally compel you to drink water.
The Author can only hope.

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

If the code breaks, that is unfortunate but expected. Don't sue
the author; they did a reasonable job. If it works perfectly,
don't over-praise them either. It's just code.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WHICH IS A LEGAL WAY OF
SAYING "GOOD LUCK". THE AUTHOR MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR THAT
THE CODE ACTUALLY WORKS.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR 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.

IF THIS CODE DELETES YOUR DATABASE, BURNS YOUR TOAST, CAUSES
AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT, OR COLLIDES WITH A MOOSE, THAT IS
BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR BACKUP STRATEGY. YOU HAVE A BACKUP
STRATEGY. THE AUTHOR HAS NO CONTROL OVER MOOSE. NOBODY DOES.

THE LAGOM CLAUSE

If at any point you feel that your use of this software has
become excessive, obsessive, or otherwise un-lagom, you are
encouraged to step away, have a fika, and return when balance
has been restored.

Similarly, if you feel you are under-using this software, use
it a little more. Not too much. Just lagom.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Any disputes arising from this license shall be governed by
the laws of Sweden. Ideally, the involved parties sit down over
coffee and a cinnamon bun and reach a lagom resolution.

If that fails, the aggrieved party is encouraged to escalate in
the traditional manner: a passive-aggressive note taped to the
laundry room door ("To whoever keeps leaving lint in the filter.
Some of us have to live here too. /A neighbour"). No names. No
eye contact. Ever.

If that also fails, Stockholm District Court has jurisdiction.
Litigation is never lagom, but it is available.

SEVERABILITY

If any provision of this license is found to be unenforceable,
the remaining provisions continue in full effect. The license
does not collapse dramatically over one bad clause. That would
not be lagom.

TERMINATION

This license is perpetual and irrevocable, because termination
is too dramatic. It simply exists, quietly, in the background,
like a well-designed piece of Swedish furniture.

One exception: if you strip the attribution or the license
itself (clauses 3 and 5), your rights under this license pause
until you put them back. Not revoked — paused, like a coffee
break you did not choose. Restore the notice and all is
forgiven. Grudges are not lagom.

FINAL WORDS

This software is free. Free as in speech, free as in beer,
free as in that IKEA pencil you definitely did not steal but
somehow ended up in your pocket.

Do what is sensible. Don't be a hero, and don't be a nuisance.
Keep it lagom.

Copyright (c) 2026 klppl (https://github.com/klppl)