Core8Bit Builder Agreement

Version 1.0 · effective 7 November 2026

This agreement is between you and Core8Bit (core8bit.com) ("we", "us"), the author of Core8Bit. It applies when you download the Core8Bit firmware or design files from core8bit.com. By ticking "I agree" and downloading, you accept it. If you do not agree, do not download the files.

In short: you may build Core8Bit consoles and sell them, assembled or as kits, and keep the profit. Make cosmetic mods and use compatible parts as you like. Keep the official firmware unchanged and the hardware compatible with it, say it is built on Core8Bit, and do not start serial production without our written licence.

1. What this agreement covers

• Firmware: the Core8Bit BIOS (console firmware) and the Core8Bit Wi-Fi module firmware, in any form we publish, and their updates.
• Design: the Core8Bit hardware design files: 3D models of the case and its parts, PCB and schematic files, wiring tables and drawings.
• Console: a device built from the Design that runs the Firmware.

The public documentation on core8bit.com can be read without this agreement. The Core8Bit SDK and the games and plugins you write with it are covered by their own licences, not by this agreement.

We own the Firmware and the Design. Everything not expressly granted here is reserved.

2. What you may do

Free of charge and worldwide, you may:

1. Build Consoles from the Design, for yourself or for other people.
2. Sell Consoles you build, assembled or as kits, and keep the profit, within the limits in section 4.
3. Flash the Firmware onto Consoles and pass on the Firmware files, unchanged, together with or for Consoles.
4. Make cosmetic mods: change anything that does not affect the electronics. For example: case colours, materials and finish, faceplates, button caps, labels and artwork, cases of a different shape that hold the same electronics.
5. Use compatible parts in your own builds: replace a module or component with an equivalent one (for example another boost converter, charger board, amplifier, speakers, buttons, sticks, battery size, or another board with the same chip), as long as the Console runs the official, unmodified Firmware.
6. Print, copy and share the Design files for these purposes.

Excluded territories and persons. This agreement grants no rights in the Russian Federation or in the territories it occupies, or to persons and companies under sanctions of Ukraine or the European Union.

3. Conditions

1. Firmware stays unchanged. Do not modify, patch, decompile, disassemble or repackage the Firmware, and do not install firmware of your own in place of it. Use only official releases from core8bit.com.
2. Hardware stays compatible with the official Firmware. Keep the hardware configuration of the published Design: the same microcontroller and Wi-Fi chip, the same display type, the same pin assignments and connections between them. Cosmetic mods (section 2.4) and compatible parts (section 2.5) are allowed. A build that needs firmware changes to work is not allowed.
3. Credit. Where you sell or show a Console, state "Built on Core8Bit" and link to core8bit.com.
4. Our name and logo. Do not present your Console as an official product or as made by us. Do not use "Core8Bit" or the Core8Bit logo as the name or brand of your product without our written permission. "Built on Core8Bit" is always allowed.
5. Your responsibility as a seller. You are responsible for the Consoles you build and sell: build quality, battery safety, your customers, and any legal requirements in the countries where you sell (for example product safety, CE marking, battery and electronic-waste rules). Tell your buyers that support comes from you.

4. Serial production is reserved

Serial production of Consoles is reserved to us. You need a separate written licence from us to:

1. build more than 100 Consoles in any calendar year, counting you together with any person or company you work with or control;
2. have Consoles, or boards or cases for them, manufactured or assembled for sale by a factory or a contract manufacturer (for example factory PCB assembly or injection-moulded cases);
3. sell Consoles through retail chains, marketplaces' own retail programmes or distributors, or under your own product brand.

Hand-building and selling Consoles below these limits is welcome and needs no permission. For a serial production licence, write to license@core8bit.com.

5. No warranty

The Firmware and the Design are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. Building a Console involves soldering and a lithium battery. You do it at your own risk. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for any damage that results from using the Firmware or the Design or from building, using or selling a Console.

6. Ending this agreement

If you break this agreement, your rights under it end automatically. Consoles you sold before that stay with their buyers.

7. Changes

We may publish new versions of this agreement. A new version applies to files you download after it is published. Files you downloaded earlier stay under the version you accepted.

8. Law

This agreement is governed by the laws of Ukraine.