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Stop Copying LICENSE Files from GitHub — Build a Generator CLI Instead

Stop Copying LICENSE Files from GitHub — Build a Generator CLI Instead

via Dev.to JavaScriptWilson Xu

Every open-source project needs a LICENSE file. Yet most developers either forget to add one, copy-paste from another repo, or click through GitHub's template picker without thinking twice. The problem? A project without a license isn't "free to use" — it's actually all rights reserved by default. Let's fix that by building a CLI tool that generates LICENSE files automatically using GitHub's public Licenses API. Why Every Project Needs a LICENSE Here's something that surprises many developers: publishing code on GitHub does not make it open source. Without an explicit license, copyright law applies by default. That means: No one can legally copy your code. Even if your repo is public, others cannot fork it, modify it, or include it in their projects without your permission. No one can distribute your code. Companies that audit their dependencies will flag unlicensed packages and remove them. Contributors have no protection. Without a license, there's no contributor agreement. If someon

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