# RSL (Really Simple Licensing)

> An open standard for machine-readable content-licensing terms, referenced from robots.txt, that tells AI systems how content may be used and at what price.

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- **term:** RSL (Really Simple Licensing)
- **category:** commerce
- **short_def:** An open standard for machine-readable content-licensing terms, referenced from robots.txt, that tells AI systems how content may be used and at what price.
- **long_def:** Really Simple Licensing (RSL) launched on 10 September 2025, backed by Reddit, Yahoo, Medium and People Inc. among others. It defines license models — free, attribution, subscription, pay-per-crawl, pay-per-inference — in an XML file referenced from robots.txt, so AI crawlers can read the terms before using content.
- **see_also:** —
- **etymology_origin:** Launched 10 September 2025 by the RSL Collective.
- **related_to:** —
- **contrast_with:** RSL states the licensing TERMS; Cloudflare pay-per-crawl is one mechanism that ENFORCES payment — RSL can name pay-per-crawl as a license model.
- **example:** A publisher publishes an RSL file declaring pay-per-inference licensing for its archive.
- **source:** https://rslstandard.org/press/rsl-standard
- **status:** emerging
- **why_it_matters:** The emerging neutral standard for AI content licensing — the 'terms' layer of access economics.
- **sameAs:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Really_Simple_Licensing
- **bridge_entity:** /access-economics
- **last_verified:** 2026-06-15
- **md_twin:** /glossary/rsl.md