Opinionated by default. Open if you want it.
The Sparkle macOS client is MIT licensed. Fork it, extend it, remove what you disagree with. Pull requests that improve the compiled defaults are always welcome.
For people who want to build
You just want software to get made. You’re not interested in modifying anything; you want Sparkle’s opinions because they make the thing work. Download the compiled app, pay the $99, get the $200 in credits, and start building.
That’s most people. That’s who Sparkle was designed for.
For people who want to modify
You’re a developer. You looked at the 16-rule opinionation list and thought “I’d do that differently.” Perfect. Clone the repo. Rip out what you disagree with. The PTY layer, the agent classifier, the git workflow enforcement, the composer: all of it is yours.
You bring your own Anthropic API key. The AI enhancement backend is not open source (it’s the private orchestration layer). Everything else is.
Open vs. private, line by line
| Component | Repo | License |
|---|---|---|
| macOS desktop client (apps/desktop) | try-sparkle/sparkle · public | MIT |
| Design system (packages/ui) | try-sparkle/sparkle · public | MIT |
| Core agent classifier (packages/core) | try-sparkle/sparkle · public | MIT |
| Orchestration backend (apps/orchestration) | private | Proprietary |
| AI enhancement services | Private | Proprietary |
| Web marketing site (apps/web) | private | Proprietary |
The public repo is an automated, scripted export of the client subset. Internal PRDs, backend URLs, and Anthropic API keys are scrubbed before publish. This happens automatically on every merge to main.
What kinds of pull requests do we want?
Pull requests we want
- Bug fixes in the terminal, composer, or agent status engine
- Performance improvements to the Rust PTY layer
- Improvements to the voice dictation quality or wake-word accuracy
- New actions in the terminal selection popup
- Accessibility improvements
- Windows or Linux port work
- Documentation improvements
What we don’t accept
- Changes that break the compiled defaults for paying users
- Backend integrations that require private keys not in the OSS client
- Removal of the opinionated guardrails without a strong architectural reason