# Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)

Version 1.1

Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation. All rights reserved.

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
    have the right to submit it under the open source license
    indicated in the file; or

(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
    of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
    license and I have the right under that license to submit that
    work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
    by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
    permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
    in the file; or

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
    person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
    it.

(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
    are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
    personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
    maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
    this project or the open source license(s) involved.

---

## How to sign off

Every commit MUST be signed off. Use `git commit -s` (or `git commit --signoff`)
to add the attestation line automatically:

```
$ git commit -s -m "feat: add barge-in reflex"

commit 0123456789abcdef...
Author: A.D. Lee <alee@example.com>
Date:   Wed Jul 2 10:00:00 2026 +0000

    feat: add barge-in reflex

    Signed-off-by: A.D. Lee <alee@example.com>
```

The `Signed-off-by: Name <email>` line is the canonical DCO attestation. The
name and email MUST match the git author identity.

## Why DCO (not a CLA)

The DCO is a per-commit attestation (lightweight, no registration), not a
Contributor License Agreement (which would require a one-time grant + tracking).
The DCO preserves the copyright-holder's option to dual-license the project
later — every contributor retains their own copyright but attests they have the
right to contribute under GPL-3.0-or-later (the project's license, ADR-0004).
See [ADR-0004](docs/adr/0004-license.md) for the license decision and the
dual-license rationale.

## For agents committing on behalf of a human

An AI agent that commits code on behalf of a human operator MUST sign off with
the **human's** name + email, not the agent's own identity. The human is the
contributor of record; the agent is the instrument. The DCO attestation
certifies the human's right to contribute, not the agent's.

```
# Correct — the human (alee) is the contributor of record
Signed-off-by: A.D. Lee <alee@example.com>

# WRONG — the agent is not a legal entity that can hold copyright
Signed-off-by: opencode-agent <agent@example.com>
```

CI (planned) will reject commits missing a valid `Signed-off-by` line matching
the author identity.
