Attribution, Ownership, And Licensing

This page is the public family-level summary for DiscussionBridge ownership, attribution, and component licensing. Each component repository’s LICENSE file is the authority for that component and overrides any inconsistent summary.

Public Summary

DiscussionBridge is an independent product brand owned and operated within the WebSynergetics umbrella. It is made by CodeWorksLabs, the WebSynergetics maker/studio, and maintained by Phil Henry.

DiscussionBridge for Discourse is the Discourse plugin and receiver. Focused platform components connect Astro, Ghost, Hugo, Statamic, and WordPress through the DiscussionBridge Adapter Protocol. The Bridge is only the name of the dedicated public demonstration at bridge.demo.discussionbridge.dev.

Recommended short public attribution:

DiscussionBridge is made by CodeWorksLabs, a WebSynergetics property.

Ownership

WebSynergetics is the current owner and operating umbrella unless a later controlling agreement or repository record says otherwise. CodeWorksLabs is the maker/studio; that role does not replace the owner or the distinct DiscussionBridge product identity.

Phil Henry is the current human maintainer/operator. AI tools, including Codex, may assist with development and documentation, but they are not listed as copyright owners, legal authors, maintainers, or inventors.

The human operator and organization remain responsible for review, testing, security, licensing, publication, and maintenance.

Component Licenses

DiscussionBridge components use the MIT License except where a component explicitly states otherwise. DiscussionBridge for Discourse is the GPL-2.0-or-later exception.

Component	License	Authoritative record
DiscussionBridge Adapter Protocol	MIT	The Alpha.21 working candidate contains the license; the public repository LICENSE becomes authoritative when that candidate is published
DiscussionBridge for Discourse	GPL-2.0-or-later	Repository license
DiscussionBridge for Astro	MIT	Package license
DiscussionBridge for Ghost	MIT	Repository license
DiscussionBridge for Hugo	MIT	Repository license
DiscussionBridge for Statamic	MIT	Repository license
DiscussionBridge for WordPress	MIT	Repository license
DiscussionBridge documentation	MIT	Documentation repository license

The Adapter Protocol must not be described as a downloadable MIT-licensed Alpha.21 release until its coherent tag, artifact, and authoritative public LICENSE are published.

See also the public third-party provenance inventory.

Copyable Attribution Templates

Use the exact component license in repository and package metadata. Do not copy a family-wide “MIT except…” statement into a component that should name one license precisely.

MIT Components

Copyright (c) 2026 WebSynergetics
License: MIT
SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
Maintainer: Phil Henry
Development: Human-directed, AI-assisted development using Codex and related tools.

DiscussionBridge For Discourse

Copyright (c) 2026 WebSynergetics
License: GPL-2.0-or-later
SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
Maintainer: Phil Henry
Development: Human-directed, AI-assisted development using Codex and related tools.

These templates supplement rather than replace the complete license text that must ship with the component.

Why MIT Is The Default

MIT is a practical fit for integration components intended to be installed, audited, modified, and combined with independently licensed publishing platforms. Its enduring conditions are deliberately small: copies or substantial portions must retain the copyright notice and permission text, and the software is supplied without warranty.

MIT does not transfer ownership of DiscussionBridge, grant rights to its name or branding, require publication of modifications, or promise support, fitness, security, or compatibility.

Why DiscussionBridge For Discourse Is GPL

DiscussionBridge for Discourse is distributed under GPL-2.0-or-later, so its source and redistribution obligations follow that repository’s license. That component license does not silently relicense separately distributed adapters or the public Adapter Protocol merely because they communicate through the shared contract.

DiscussionBridge for WordPress remains MIT. The official WordPress.org Detailed Plugin Guidelines require directory-hosted plugins and included material to use a GPL-compatible license and strongly recommend GPLv2-or-later. MIT is GPL-compatible. Changing the WordPress component to GPL would therefore be a deliberate licensing decision, not a correction required for compatibility with that policy. Policy wording was checked September 24, 2026; recheck it before a future WordPress.org submission.

Copyright Notice

The current ownership record supports:

Copyright (c) 2026 WebSynergetics

The name does not by itself assert a particular corporate form. If the legal owner name, trade-name form, or ownership agreement changes, update the controlling governance record, repository licenses, package metadata, and public attribution together.

AI-Assisted Development

DiscussionBridge uses human-directed, AI-assisted development. The public transparency convention does not change copyright ownership or license terms. Code, documentation, dependencies, generated material, and release artifacts still require ordinary human review and verification.

Never place secrets, credentials, private account values, personal data, or protected operational details in public attribution or provenance records.

Third-Party Names And Non-Affiliation

Astro, Starlight, Discourse, Ghost, Hugo, Statamic, and WordPress belong to their respective owners. DiscussionBridge is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or officially connected to those projects unless a future written agreement says otherwise.

When referencing a third-party project or example:

• link to the source;
• describe it as a reference rather than an endorsement;
• avoid copying substantial text, imagery, branding, or proprietary material; and
• prefer original DiscussionBridge examples.

Demo And Media Provenance

Demo content is original project material unless its source says otherwise. For new examples and media:

• do not use customer, private, or personal content;
• cite specifically adapted public sources;
• confirm rights before distributing logos, screenshots, fonts, images, data, or other non-code assets;
• record public, non-sensitive provenance in docs/THIRD_PARTY_PROVENANCE.json; and
• retain any confidential purchase receipt, permission, or legal evidence in the protected governance record referenced by the public inventory.

The public inventory should identify what ships and its usable provenance without exposing private agreements, credentials, or personal data.