Adding a license to a repository - GitHub Docs Skip to main content GitHub Docs Version: Free, Pro, & Team Search or ask Copilot Search or ask Copilot Select language: current language is English Search or ask Copilot Search or ask Copilot Open menu Collapse sidebar Expand sidebar Scroll breadcrumbs left * Home * Building communities * Healthy contributions * Add a license to a repo Scroll breadcrumbs right Building communities * * * Healthy contributions * Management & moderation * Community profiles * Access community profiles * Add a code of conduct * Contributor guidelines * Add a license to a repo * Add support resources * Community health file * Encourage contributions * Issue & PR templates * About templates * Configure * Syntax for issue forms * Syntax for GitHub's form schema * Create a PR template * Common validation errors when creating issue forms * Moderation * Manage comments * Locking conversations * Archive pull requests * Limit interactions in repo * Limit interactions in account * Limit interactions in org * Track comment changes * Manage abuse in your org * Manage reported content * Maintaining safety * Block from your account * View blocked users in account * Unblock from your account * Block from your org * View blocked users in org * Unblock from your org * Reporting abuse or spam * Using wikis * About wikis * Manage wiki pages * Create footer or sidebar * Editing wiki content * View a history of changes * Change access permissions * Disabling wikis Adding a license to a repository You can include an open source license in your repository to make it easier for other people to contribute. Copy as Markdown In this article * Including an open source license in your repository * Further reading If you include a detectable license in your repository, people who visit your repository will see it at the top of the repository page. To read the entire license file, click the license name (for example: github-linguist/linguist ). Open source licenses enable others to freely use, change, and distribute the project in your repository. For more information on repository licenses, see Licensing a repository . Including an open source license in your repository * On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository. * Above the list of files, select the Add file dropdown menu, then click Create new file . Alternatively, you can click in the file tree view on the left. * In the file name field, type LICENSE or LICENSE.md (with all caps). * Under the file name, click Choose a license template . * On the left side of the page, under "Add a license to your project," review the available licenses, then select a license from the list. * Click Review and submit . * Click Commit changes... * In the "Commit message" field, type a short, meaningful commit message that describes the change you made to the file. You can attribute the commit to more than one author in the commit message. For more information, see Creating a commit with multiple authors or on behalf of an organization . * Below the commit message fields, decide whether to add your commit to the current branch or to a new branch. If your current branch is the default branch, you should choose to create a new branch for your commit and then create a pull request. For more information, see Creating a pull request . * If you have more than one email address associated with your account on GitHub, click the email address drop-down menu and select the email address to use as the Git author email address. Only verified email addresses appear in this drop-down menu. If you enabled email address privacy, then a no-reply will be the default commit author email address. For more information about the exact form the no-reply email address can take, see Setting your commit email address . * Click Commit changes or Propose changes . Further reading * Setting guidelines for repository contributors Back to top Help and support Was this Doc helpful? Yes No Help us make GitHub Docs great! All Docs are open source. See something that's wrong or unclear? Submit a pull request. Make a contribution Still need help? Ask the GitHub community Contact support Expert services Blog GitHub Inc. © 2026 Terms Privacy Status Pricing