Open source

Free and open source.
Always.

Kova is licensed under GPLv3. That means you can read the code, modify it, and distribute it — as long as anything you build from it stays open too. It also means Kova will always be free. No one can change that.

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The licence

What GPLv3 means for you

GPLv3 is a copyleft licence. In plain terms:

  • You can use Kova for anything. Personal projects, commercial work, education — no restrictions on how you use it.
  • You can read and modify the source code. If something doesn't work the way you need, you can change it.
  • If you distribute a modified version, it must also be open source. You can't take Kova's code, make it proprietary, and sell it. This is the core of the copyleft guarantee.
  • Kova will always be free. The GPLv3 licence applies to all versions. No one can retroactively change that — not now, not ever.

The full licence text is at github.com/KovaMD/Kova/blob/main/LICENSE.

Trust

Security & integrity

Open source means anyone can read the code. We also take steps to make Kova verifiably trustworthy, not just auditable in theory:

  • Code signing. Kova has been accepted onto SignPath's free provision for open source projects, and Windows binaries are now signed with a production SignPath certificate.
  • Codebase attestation. Since v0.6.14, every release binary is linked back to the exact commit it was built from, with guidance to verify this independently.
  • Continuous scanning. The repository is monitored by Snyk for vulnerabilities and malicious code in dependencies and pull requests.

Read more in Development Update 1, or reach out directly with questions at opensource@kova.md.

Contribute

Get involved

Contributing guide

How to set up a local dev environment, coding conventions, and the PR process.

Read the guide →

Report a bug

Found something broken? Open an issue on GitHub. Include your OS, Kova version, and steps to reproduce.

Open an issue →

Request a feature

Have an idea? Open a feature request on GitHub. Describe the use case and what you'd like Kova to do.

Open a request →

Status

Early access

Kova is in active development. Core features — the editor, presenter view, themes, Mermaid diagrams, syntax highlighting, and export — are stable. Some features documented in the wiki are still in progress.

Feedback directly shapes what gets built next. If something is broken or missing, open an issue. If something works well for you, that's worth saying too.

Download the latest release View open issues