Licensing & Usage

TrailMQ is distributed under a proprietary evaluation license. The public package is free for local, non-production technical evaluation within the binding license terms.

Last updated: August 2026

This page is a plain-English summary, not the binding license. Review the TrailMQ Proprietary Evaluation License in the public repository before use.

Usage overview

Usage type License
Personal learning and local demos Permitted under the evaluation license
Local, non-production technical evaluation Permitted under the evaluation license
Internal demonstrations Permitted under the evaluation license
Production, commercial or customer-facing use Separate written agreement required
Managed hosting or offering TrailMQ as a service Separate written agreement required
Redistribution, sale or sublicensing Not permitted without a separate agreement

The backend and frontend are delivered as proprietary Docker images. Their source is not included in the public distribution.

What is included in the evaluation

The TrailMQ 3.1.0 public distribution provides a self-hosted evaluation stack:

Backend

  • MQTT broker with TLS (port 8883) and WebSocket transport
  • Two-gate role plus namespace/topic policy enforcement
  • Attributed MQTT decision records for allowed operations and refusals
  • A separate hash-linked system/action chain with an explicit validation scope
  • Authenticated evaluation users and roles
  • Connected client visibility
  • Queue state and dead-letter visibility
  • REST API at /api/v1 for the functions documented by the public recipe

Frontend

  • Review-first React Preview served at /trailmq/
  • Overview, Access, Clients and Activity surfaces
  • REST API and configuration workflow for operational changes

Deployment

  • Docker Compose setup via GitHub deployment repository
  • ./trailmq quickstart with local certificate and evaluation credential generation
  • Self-hosted — no cloud dependency, no telemetry

The system/action integrity check does not cover the separate MQTT message-evidence store, including publish and subscribe refusals. The Preview is not a payload browser, and counters alone are not subscriber-delivery proof.

The evaluation package is intended for local, non-production technical evaluation. Demo certificates and generated users are not deployment-ready. Production, commercial, managed-hosting, redistribution and customer-facing use require a separate written agreement.

Production and commercial licensing

TrailMQ Pro and production/commercial terms are available on request. The exact edition, permitted use, support, validation assistance and service commitments depend on a separate written agreement.

Contact contact@trailmq.com to discuss the intended use. No SLA, support package, validation deliverable or production right is granted by the public evaluation license or by this website summary.

Why commercial licensing?

The public package answers technical-fit questions locally while preserving clear boundaries around production, commercial, hosted and redistributed use. A separate agreement defines the rights and commitments required outside evaluation.

Getting started

GitHub repository (deployment)github.com/RainerGewalt/TrailMQ

Binding licenseTrailMQ Proprietary Evaluation License

Docker Hub images

Licensing inquiries

For licensing questions or enterprise discussions, get in touch.