open-source

American  

[oh-puhn-sawrs, -sohrs] / ˈoʊ pənˈsɔrs, -ˈsoʊrs /

adjective

1. Computers. pertaining to or denoting software whose source code is available free of charge to the public to use, copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute.

2. pertaining to or denoting a product or system whose origins, formula, design, etc., are freely accessible to the public.

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open source British  

noun

1. 1. intellectual property, esp computer source code, that is made freely available to the general public by its creators

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare closed source

      open source software

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open-source Scientific  

1. Relating to source code that is available to the public without charge. Open-source code is often enhanced, improved, and adapted for specific purposes by interested programmers, with the revised versions of the code are made available to the public. For example, most of the code in the Linux operating system is open-source.

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Etymology

Origin of open-source

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Cisco’s Project CodeGuard is an open-source framework that embeds secure coding practices into workflows, guiding AI assistants to generate secure code.

From The Wall Street Journal

OpenClaw is free, open-source software that is difficult for the mass majority of people to use.

From Barron's

The advent of a popular open-source project that lets users create personal AI agents is lifting shares of a company making hobbyist computers.

From MarketWatch

Steinberger released OpenClaw as an open-source project in November, meaning it is freely distributed and anyone can help create and modify it.

From The Wall Street Journal

Some of the Chinese models are open-source, meaning they are free to download and use.

From The Wall Street Journal