Getting started

Licensing.

Aestheria is licensed based on how your team wants to use the design context layer: through MCP access, as a self-hosted source of truth, or through the upcoming cloud workspace.

License models

Aestheria supports three licensing models, plus customization and consulting for teams that need deeper adaptation:

MCP access license

The MCP access license gives your team access to Aestheria’s base design context through MCP.

This is the fastest way to let AI coding agents query Aestheria’s tokens, components, patterns, and usage guidance. Instead of relying on screenshots, incomplete prompts, or one-off instructions, your agents can retrieve structured design context as they build.

MCP access is best for teams that want to improve AI-generated UI immediately without hosting or maintaining the full Studio.

What you can do

With MCP access, your team can:

• Connect supported AI coding tools to Aestheria through MCP
• Let agents query Aestheria’s base themes, components, patterns, and rules
• Use the returned context to generate product interfaces
• Build internal product UI using Aestheria’s design guidance
• Evaluate how Aestheria fits into your AI development workflow

What this license is not for

MCP access does not give your team ownership of the full Aestheria source system.

It is not intended for:

• Redistributing Aestheria as a standalone design system
• Reselling Aestheria components, templates, or patterns
• Repackaging Aestheria as part of another design system product
• Hosting your own modified version of the Studio
• Claiming Aestheria’s system assets as your proprietary design system

Use MCP access when you want agents to build with Aestheria’s design context, not when you want to own and customize the entire system.

Self-hosted license

The self-hosted license is for teams that want to own Aestheria as an internal source of truth.

With this option, your organization can host the Studio in your own environment, customize the system to match your product language, and use it as shared infrastructure across design, engineering, product, and AI agent workflows.

This is the strongest option for teams that want Aestheria to become part of their internal product development system.

What you can do

With a self-hosted license, your team can:

• Host the Aestheria Studio in your own environment
• Customize tokens, themes, components, patterns, and templates
• Maintain Aestheria as your internal design context layer
• Use the system across your design, engineering, and product teams
• Connect AI agents to your hosted source through MCP
• Adapt the system to your product, brand, and workflow needs
• Use Aestheria as the source of truth for internal product development

Who this is for

Self-hosted is best for:

• Enterprise SaaS teams
• AI-native product teams
• Teams with existing design systems
• Teams building dense, data-heavy products
• Organizations that need internal control over their design infrastructure
• Teams that want agents to query their own customized system instead of a shared base layer

What this license is not for

A self-hosted license is for internal use within your organization.

It does not allow you to:

• Resell Aestheria as a commercial design system
• Offer Aestheria as a competing product
• Redistribute the source system outside your organization
• Package Aestheria templates, components, or patterns for third-party resale
• Remove Aestheria ownership or attribution where required by your agreement

The self-hosted license gives your team control over implementation and customization. It does not transfer ownership of the underlying Aestheria product.

Cloud license

The cloud license will support the upcoming hosted Aestheria workspace.

Cloud is designed for teams that want the benefits of a shared design context layer without managing their own hosting environment. The cloud workspace will provide a managed place for teams to browse, maintain, and connect their design context to AI agent workflows.

Cloud will be best for teams that want to:

• Use Aestheria without self-hosting
• Give design, engineering, and product teams a shared workspace
• Keep the design context layer accessible and up to date
• Connect agents to a managed source of truth
• Scale usage across a broader organization over time

Planned cloud capabilities

The cloud version is expected to support:

• Hosted Studio access
• Team workspace features
• Managed updates
• Agent-readable design context
• MCP-based agent access
• Collaboration across design, engineering, and product workflows
• Workspace-level customization options

Cloud is planned next. Teams can begin today with MCP access or self-hosted deployment, then move to cloud when the hosted workspace becomes available.

Bespoke

Aestheria can be used as a base system, but many teams need it adapted to their product, brand, workflows, or existing design system.

A bespoke engagement is available for teams that want help turning Aestheria into a product-specific source of truth.

Consulting can include:

• Custom theme creation
• Token system adaptation
• Component customization
• Product-specific pattern design
• Existing design system migration
• AI-native interaction pattern design
• Agent workflow design
• Enterprise SaaS template customization
• MCP setup and integration
• Governance and adoption support
• Design, engineering, and product workflow alignment

When to choose consulting

A bespoke engagement is recommended when:

• Your product has a mature or complex design language
• You already have an internal design system
• You want Aestheria mapped to your brand and product patterns
• You need support integrating Aestheria into engineering workflows
• You want AI agents to build against your own customized design context
• You are rolling Aestheria out across multiple teams or business units

Consulting helps bridge the gap between a powerful base system and a deeply adopted internal product infrastructure.

Internal use

Aestheria licenses are intended for internal product development unless otherwise specified in your agreement.

Internal use generally means your team may use Aestheria to design, build, and maintain your own software products, internal tools, customer-facing applications, and AI-assisted product workflows.

It does not mean you can redistribute Aestheria itself as a standalone product, template library, design system, or commercial asset.

Use with AI agents

Aestheria is designed to be used by both people and AI agents.

Depending on your license, your team may allow AI agents to query Aestheria’s design context through MCP, use returned guidance during code generation, and generate interfaces that follow the system. This is expected usage.

The important distinction is that agents may use Aestheria to help build your product, but Aestheria itself may not be extracted, repackaged, or redistributed as a competing system.

Source ownership

Aestheria remains the underlying product and intellectual property of its creator.

Your license gives your team the right to use Aestheria according to the selected model. The level of control depends on the license:

• MCP access gives agents access to Aestheria’s base design context.
• Self-hosted gives your team control over hosting and internal customization.
• Cloud will provide managed access through a hosted workspace.
• Consulting can extend or adapt the system for your specific product needs.

Customization does not automatically transfer ownership of the underlying Aestheria platform unless explicitly stated in a signed agreement.

Which license should I choose?

Choose MCP access if:

You want the fastest way to help AI coding agents build with better design context. This is the best starting point for lightweight adoption, evaluation, and early AI codegen workflows.

Choose self-hosted if:

You want Aestheria to become your internal source of truth. This is the best path for teams that want control, customization, and deeper integration across design, engineering, product, and agent workflows.

Choose cloud if:

You want a managed workspace without maintaining your own hosted environment. Cloud is planned next and will be the best fit for teams that want Aestheria as a shared collaborative service.

Choose Bespoke if:

You want Aestheria adapted to your product, brand, existing system, or organization. This is the best fit when Aestheria needs to become more than a base layer and operate as product-specific infrastructure.

Summary

Aestheria licensing is designed around how much control and customization your team needs.

• Use MCP access to give agents structured design context quickly.
• Use self-hosted to own and customize the design context layer inside your organization.
• Use cloud when you want a managed team workspace.
• Use Bespoke when you want Aestheria shaped around your product, workflow, and AI-native development process.

Across every model, the goal is the same: one design context layer that people can browse, teams can maintain, and AI agents can query whenever they build.