Licence Checker
Verifies the licence of a public repo (or a specific file within it) before you fork, republish or include content from it.
Entry verified April 21, 2026
The short answer
Before republishing anything from a public repo, run this skill. It fetches the repo's LICENSE file plus the README licence statement and reports compatibility with MIT, Apache and general commercial reuse. Saves you from accidentally building on CC BY-NC-ND or an unlicenced repo.
When to use it
Every time you're about to curate, fork or quote a public repo. Before building any catalogue page that aggregates third-party work.
Setup
- 1
Save the file as ~/.claude/commands/licence-checker.md.
- 2
Skill fetches the LICENSE file and the README licence statement — some repos bury the licence in the README rather than a dedicated file.
- 3
Invoke: /licence-checker <repo-url>.
- 4
Output is a verdict — republish / link-only / do-not-use — against MIT, Apache and commercial compatibility.
Example
You: /licence-checker github.com/hesreallyhim/awesome-claude-code Claude: Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Verdict: DO NOT REPUBLISH. Link-to only; no derivatives, no commercial reuse.
Source & attribution
- Author
- Bryan Collins (pattern from feedback_attribution memory, 2026-04-20)
- Licence
- MIT
- Type
- Original
Original pattern published under MIT — attribution preserved by convention, not licence requirement.
Caveats
Some repos bury licence in the README instead of a LICENSE file — skill needs to check both.
56 skills across 10 categories, all licence-verified.