Open at the core.
Kin, the semantic substrate under KinLab, is open source under Apache-2.0: semantic version control, the transparent VFS, the bundled MCP server, the editor, and the engine. The expensive failure is rarely in the file that changed. Files compile locally; systems break relationally. The core runs locally with no hosted account; VFS projection is optional and limited to compatible macOS and glibc Linux hosts.
What’s open, what’s hosted
The Kin substrate is Apache-2.0 and its local core runs on your machine. KinLab is the private-source, proprietary hosted control plane for capabilities that depend on many users, many repos, and an org’s shared memory. Access is currently by request.
Open (Kin)
Apache-2.0Self-hosted, free forever, no account required.
- Semantic version control: the graph-native repo format, CLI, and daemon
- Kin VFS: optional projection on compatible glibc Linux and macOS hosts
- Bundled Kin MCP server: graph-backed locate, context, and trace tools
- Editor extension: entity explorer, semantic search, and dependency trace
- The engine: embedded graph storage, lexical and vector retrieval, local inference
Hosted (KinLab)
ProprietaryProprietary hosted product · early access by request.
- Shared org graph and memory across connected repositories and agents
- Early-access governance for bounded, auditable agent access
- Report-only AI semantic review and recorded decisions today
- Proprietary hosted collaboration, admin, and control-plane services
- Cross-repo blast radius and enforcement remain product direction
The open-source map
Kin ships as a focused set of Apache-2.0 repositories and bundled packages you can read, fork, and run. Kin MCP is bundled inside the main Kin repository; proprietary KinLab is not part of this list.
Git for the agent era: the system of record for AI-written software.
The SQLite of semantic graphs.
Project graph truth into compatible filesystem tools.
Kin in your editor, not a fork.
Semantic context for any AI agent, over MCP.
The shared vocabulary of the graph.
Language-server intelligence for the graph.
Content-addressed storage substrate.
Fast lexical search under the graph.
Semantic vector search under the graph.
Pure-Rust embeddings, no external dependency.
Our stewardship promise
Features that ship open in Kin never move to a paid tier. The moat is the hosted control plane and your org’s graph. Not clawing back features. What is open stays open.
Why open-core
Open-source Kin substrate, hosted KinLab control plane. Adopt the tooling for free, scale on the platform. It is the playbook that worked for the developer platforms we admire: the open substrate is the adoption wedge, and the hosted layer is the business.
GitLab
Open-core DevOps platform: the open product drove adoption; paid tiers added team and enterprise governance on top.
Vercel · Next.js
An open framework everyone runs locally, with a hosted platform that monetizes scale, collaboration, and operations.
Supabase
Open-source primitives you can self-host, plus a managed cloud for teams that would rather not run the infrastructure.
Self-host on-ramp
Install the CLI and daemon, point them at a repo, and Kin parses your code into a semantic graph locally. Wire it into your AI agents with kin setup, then read the source on GitHub.
Adopt the open tooling. Scale on the platform.
The open Kin substrate is free forever. When your team needs the org graph, governance, and hosted collaboration, KinLab is the control plane on top.
Read the reproducible proof, or browse the open Kin ecosystem.