Guardrails / docs

Repository states its licence

docs/license-present@v1

The repository has a licence file, so what people may do with the code is written down, not assumed.

Id	docs/license-present
Version	v1
Category	docs
Default severity	warning
Interpreter	python3
Timeout	30 seconds
Violations tolerated	0
Collects	files

Collectors

This guardrail doesn't gather anything itself. It relies on the collectors below, which the CLI runs once per build before any check, and reads what they found from GUARDRAIL_FACTS. If a collector collects nothing, this guardrail is skipped, not failed.

Collector	Gathers	Inputs it is given
files	Presence, size and line counts of the well known files a repository is expected to carry, plus any extra path the guardrail asks for.	paths

The inputs above are this guardrail's own inputs, passed straight through to the collector. Setting one in buildnote.json changes what is collected, and two guardrails configured the same way share a single collection.

Configuration

{
  "guardrails": {
      "failOn": "error",
      "checks": [
          {
              "use": "docs/license-present@v1",
              "severity": "warning",
              "with": {
                  "paths": "LICENSE,LICENSE.md,LICENSE.txt,COPYING"
              },
              "exemptions": []
          }
      ]
  }
}

Inputs

Input	Description	Default	Environment variable
paths	Comma separated paths, any one of which satisfies the guardrail.	LICENSE,LICENSE.md,LICENSE.txt,COPYING	GUARDRAIL_INPUT_PATHS

How to fix

Add a LICENSE at the repository root. For a private repository, state the terms explicitly instead of leaving the file out:

Copyright (c) 2026 Company Ltd. All rights reserved.
This source is confidential and may not be copied or distributed.

A missing licence doesn't make the code free to use. Without one, nobody except the copyright holder has the right to use the code, which is rarely what a repository with contributors intends. It is also the first thing an acquirer's due diligence asks for.

More in docs

• docs/agent-instructions. The repository has an instruction file for coding agents, long enough to say something and short enough to be read in full.
• docs/changelog. The repository has a changelog, so what changed between two releases is written down instead of pieced together from commits.
• docs/code-of-conduct. The repository has a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, so the standard contributors are held to, and who enforces it, is written down.
• docs/contributing. The repository has a CONTRIBUTING.md explaining how a change is proposed, built and reviewed.
• docs/readme. The repository has a README that says more than just its title.
• docs/security-policy. The repository has a SECURITY.md saying where to report a security problem.

All 7 docs guardrails