Badges
Put the instrument you applied on your README.
One SVG per instrument, served from openroots.org and free to hotlink. It states which instrument and which version governs your work, and it links back to the deed so a reader can check the terms in one click. No account, no registration, and nothing to install.
- Instruments
- 4
- Tier badges
- 3
- Cost
- Free
- Tracking
- None
Instruments
Pick the one you actually applied.
Version-pinned is the right default. It says exactly which text governs, and it keeps saying that after a later version is published.
OpenRoots License
ORL 2.2
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses/orl/2.2)HTML
<a href="https://openroots.org/licenses/orl/2.2"><img alt="ORL 2.2" src="https://openroots.org/badge/orl-2.2.svg"></a>Tracking the current version instead of pinning one, use /badge/orl.svg. It follows whatever is current, which is convenient and slightly less precise about what governs your release.
OpenRoots Data License
ORD 2.2
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses/ord/2.2)HTML
<a href="https://openroots.org/licenses/ord/2.2"><img alt="ORD 2.2" src="https://openroots.org/badge/ord-2.2.svg"></a>Tracking the current version instead of pinning one, use /badge/ord.svg. It follows whatever is current, which is convenient and slightly less precise about what governs your release.
OpenRoots Model License
ORM 2.2
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses/orm/2.2)HTML
<a href="https://openroots.org/licenses/orm/2.2"><img alt="ORM 2.2" src="https://openroots.org/badge/orm-2.2.svg"></a>Tracking the current version instead of pinning one, use /badge/orm.svg. It follows whatever is current, which is convenient and slightly less precise about what governs your release.
OpenRoots Agent License
ORA 2.2
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses/ora/2.2)HTML
<a href="https://openroots.org/licenses/ora/2.2"><img alt="ORA 2.2" src="https://openroots.org/badge/ora-2.2.svg"></a>Tracking the current version instead of pinning one, use /badge/ora.svg. It follows whatever is current, which is convenient and slightly less precise about what governs your release.
Tier and training
Optional, and only if the claim is true of you.
These say something about your situation rather than about the work. Nobody verifies them, which is exactly why an inaccurate one costs you more than it gains.
Root tier
You are at or below the threshold, so the grant is royalty-free.
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses)Canopy tier
You are above the threshold and reporting under Section 5.
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses)Compute licence
You hold a separate Compute licence for AI Training Use.
Markdown
[](https://openroots.org/licenses)The mark
One mark, and why it is not four.
An earlier version drew a different glyph for each instrument and each tier. It failed for a reason worth stating: a README badge renders the mark at fourteen pixels, and fourteen pixels cannot carry the difference between a corpus and a set of model weights. Seven glyphs that all dissolve into the same smudge is worse than one that stays sharp.
/badge/mark.svg
/badge/mark-mint.svg for dark grounds
An o and an r fused into one glyph, knocked out of a disc that echoes the medallion in the wordmark. Derived from the prefix every instrument shares, and joined rather than set as a word, because a lowercase or is a valid SPDX operator and a licence badge is the worst place to be ambiguous about it. One mark rather than a family, because a badge renders it at fourteen pixels and the instrument is already printed beside it in words.
Why it changed
The shape this replaced was a vertical stave carrying two pairs of downward-angled arms, which is the construction of an inverted Algiz, the rune the SS used to mark a death date. A letterform does not remove the category of risk, because monograms are insignia too. It removes that specific resemblance, which is the one that was actually there.
The seven older mark URLs still resolve, and now serve this mark, so a snippet copied before this change does not turn into a broken image.
Before you paste it
Three things worth knowing.
Short, because there is not much to it.
The badge is a claim, so make it a true one
AccuracyIt says this work is under that instrument. Put it up once the licence text is actually in your repository, not before. Nothing checks, and that is precisely why an inaccurate badge is worse than none.
It does not track anyone
PrivacyThe SVG is static, carries no script, and sets no cookie. GitHub serves it through its own image proxy in any case, so OpenRoots never sees your readers. Adoption is counted from public code search instead, and that method is published.
The name travels with the text, not apart from it
TrademarkThe badge carries the OpenRoots name, so it belongs on work that carries the unmodified instrument. Adapt the text freely under a different name, and drop the badge if you do.
Not applied an instrument yet? The four steps take a few minutes, and how adoption gets counted is on adopters.