diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..699ceba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 12vectors
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1d897f0..9d6aa39 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,3 +45,7 @@ Core knows about tasks, worktrees, PRs and events. It knows nothing about
 any particular app (drivers do: `local/driver/start`), agent vendor
 (adapters do: `core/adapters/`), or project (`local/` does). Full docs in
 AGENTS.md; the adapter contract in `manager/core/adapters/README.md`.
+
+## License
+
+[MIT](LICENSE).
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 44d66a1..2a2d427 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ fi
 rsync -a --delete "$tmp/dist/manager/core/" "$TM/manager/core/"
 # AGENTS.md is the workflow brief; CLAUDE.md its compatibility pointer —
 # copying both means an old full CLAUDE.md is replaced, never resurrected.
-for f in AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md README.md install.py start.sh stop.sh update.sh; do
+for f in AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md README.md LICENSE install.py start.sh stop.sh update.sh; do
   [ -f "$tmp/dist/$f" ] && cp "$tmp/dist/$f" "$TM/$f"
 done
 chmod +x "$TM"/start.sh "$TM"/stop.sh "$TM"/update.sh 2>/dev/null || true