Markdown README skeleton for an npm package with install, usage, API, contributing and license sections.
Open Source License Picker
Runs locally
Use Open Source License Picker
What it does
Choose between five common open-source licenses by their one-line summaries and copy a short starter text. The texts are abridged, so put the full official license text in your LICENSE file.
It runs entirely in your browser: nothing you enter is uploaded.
Example
Apache License 2.0
Choose "Apache-2.0 — Permissive + patent grant" in the License menu and press Generate.MIT License
Copyright (c) 2026 [Your Name]
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.A shortened Apache-2.0 copyright notice with the current year and a [Your Name] placeholder, not the full license.
FAQ
Is the generated text the complete license?
No. The MIT and ISC texts stop partway through the warranty disclaimer and leave out the liability clause, the Unlicense has only its first two paragraphs, and Apache-2.0 and GPL-3.0 are shortened versions of the notice for source files. Copy the full text from opensource.org or the SPDX License List into your LICENSE file.
How do the five licenses differ?
MIT and ISC are short permissive licenses, Apache-2.0 is permissive with an explicit patent grant, GPL-3.0 is copyleft so distributed derivatives must stay under the GPL, and the Unlicense places the work in the public domain. The picker shows only these summaries and is not legal advice.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. The texts are part of the page and the year is filled in by your browser; nothing is uploaded.