Licensing
What is settled about licensing, activation and project files, and what is not.
DNA is in active development. The commercial licence and the activation flow are not settled.
Project files
Projects are plain .dna files on your own disk. A .dna file saved today opens on any DNA build of the same age or newer.
Opening a project saved by an earlier build upgrades it to the current file shape as it loads. A file saved by a newer build than the one you are running does not open. Update DNA first.
Before sending a project to someone else, bundle it with its media. See Package & collect.
Trust
Every project you open is restricted, including one you saved yourself. Trust is granted to a file path, not to an author, so a project stays restricted until you click Trust this project for that path, and a Save As to a new location is restricted again. Only a fresh unsaved graph runs unrestricted.
A restricted project opens and plays. What does not run is any node that reaches outside the app: the scripting nodes, file reading and writing, the network, plugin loading, network cameras, NDI, OSC, WebSocket, and serial and DMX output. Everything computed in the app keeps cooking, GPU work, 2D and 3D rendering, physics and simulation among it.
Reading a file counts, so a restricted project has no imported media. The Image and Video nodes read paths off your disk and refuse until you trust the file, which is usually why an unfamiliar project opens looking half empty. Inspect the project, then trust it. The rules are in Trust & Permissions.
Trust is per project, not per plugin. Trusting a project grants every plugin it uses. See Capabilities & trust.
Activation and commercial terms
The licence model is still being finalised: free and paid tiers, activation, seats and any offline grace period. It will be documented here closer to release. Nothing on this page is a commercial commitment.
The DNA Player, the desktop app that runs a finished bundle, and each export target have their own distribution terms, documented alongside the licence. For what ships today, see The player.
Security reports
Report a suspected security problem through the project's security channel rather than publicly. This covers a project escaping its sandbox, or a plugin doing something it should not. Reports are triaged on a best-effort basis, usually within a week.