Editions and Licensing

RTK ships as three downloads. Which one you want depends on what you need and which licence your organisation accepts.

Download	Binary	Licence	Contents
`rtk-<target>`	`rtk`	Apache-2.0 + BUSL-1.1	Hook core, every command filter, and the compression engine
`rtk-oss-<target>`	`rtk`	Apache-2.0 only	Hook core and every command filter. No engine.
`rtk-proxy-<target>`	`rtk-proxy`	BUSL-1.1	The RTK Proxy daemon. Never bundled with either `rtk`.

The two rtk downloads install a binary with the same name, so hooks, scripts and agent configuration work unchanged across editions. They cannot be installed side by side.

Which one should I install?

Most people want the default rtk. It is the complete tool and free for production use — see the grant below.

Install the Apache-2.0 edition if your organisation requires that every binary it runs carry an OSI-approved licence, or if you intend to redistribute RTK as part of a commercial offering.

Add rtk-proxy only if you want the RTK Proxy. It is independent of both rtk editions.

What the Apache-2.0 edition leaves out

It is the same binary minus the compression engine. What that removes:

Absent	What you lose
`rtk pipeline`	Inspecting, validating, explaining and benchmarking pipelines
`rtk methods`	Listing registered compression methods
`rtk tasks`	Listing and running delegation tasks
PostToolUse compression	Compressing the output of an agent’s own `Read` and MCP tools
Pipeline files	A `pipeline.toml` on disk is inert, exactly as in a build predating the engine

What stays is the part you use all day. The PreToolUse rewrite hook — the mechanism that turns your agent’s git status into rtk git status — is Apache-2.0 and behaves identically. So does every command filter, rtk init, rtk gain, rtk discover, rtk session, rtk recall, and rtk llm-proxy.

The practical difference: bash output is filtered exactly as in the full edition; output your agent reads through its own file and MCP tools is not.

Installing the Apache-2.0 edition

Set RTK_EDITION=oss for the install script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | RTK_EDITION=oss sh

Homebrew ships it as a separate formula:

brew install rtk-ai/tap/rtk-oss

Debian and RPM packages are published as rtk-oss.

The two editions cannot coexist — both install /usr/bin/rtk. Homebrew declares this explicitly (conflicts_with), so brew refuses the second install with a clear message. The deb and rpm packages carry no declared Conflicts:, so dpkg/rpm stop on the file collision instead. Uninstall one edition before installing the other.

From a source checkout:

cargo build --release --no-default-features

--no-default-features removes rtk-engine from the dependency graph entirely — no BUSL-licensed code is compiled into the binary.

Licence terms

Apache-2.0 covers the rtk CLI and its filters.
BUSL-1.1 covers the compression engine and the rtk-proxy daemon.

The BUSL Additional Use Grant permits free production use, including running the daemon. What it does not permit is offering RTK — or a derivative — to third parties as a commercial product or service.

For resale, embedding in a commercial offering, or any use the grant does not cover, contact contact@rtk-ai.app.

Licence files travel with every download: the rtk archive carries LICENSE and LICENSE-ENGINE, the Apache-2.0 archive carries LICENSE alone, and the daemon archive carries its own LICENSE.