We ship two binaries now. stockyard-proxy is the open-source proxy core (Apache 2.0). stockyard is the full platform with dashboards, audit trails, prompt management, and 150 tools (BSL 1.1).
Most people should start with the full binary on the free tier. Here is why, and when the proxy-only binary makes more sense.
The proxy-only binary includes about 24 middleware modules: routing, caching, failover, rate limiting, model aliasing, spend tracking, request logging, and the MCP server for editor integration.
It does not include: the admin dashboard, Lookout (observability dashboards), Brand (audit ledger), Tack Room (prompt management), Forge (workflows), Trading Post (config packs), or any of the 29 platform products.
What you get is a real, production-ready LLM proxy. Route requests, cache responses, track costs, fail over between providers. All through a JSON API.
The full binary adds the visual layer. Instead of checking costs via GET /api/traces/spend, you open a dashboard that shows per-model breakdowns with sparklines. Instead of managing prompts via API calls, you use Tack Room's version control UI with diffs and A/B experiments.
The audit trail (Brand) is a significant differentiator. It creates a SHA-256 hash-chained ledger of every LLM request. For compliance-sensitive teams, this is not optional. The proxy-only binary logs requests to SQLite, but it does not create the cryptographic chain.
Red-team testing (Feral), request replay (Lasso), prompt versioning (Tack Room), and automatic cost routing (Drover) are all platform-only. These are the features that justify paid tiers.
Use the proxy-only binary when:
You want Apache 2.0 licensing with no BSL. The proxy binary is fully Apache 2.0. No restrictions on how you use it.
You are embedding the proxy inside another product. Apache 2.0 means you can ship it as part of your own tool.
You want the absolute minimum footprint. The proxy-only binary does not register the dashboard, the site, or the product mount system. It is leaner at the route level, though the compiled binary size is currently similar.
Use the full binary when:
You want a visual dashboard. Most developers prefer seeing costs in a chart over querying a JSON API.
You need compliance features. The hash-chained audit trail, evidence packs, and policy engine are platform-only.
You plan to use team isolation. Per-team API keys with RBAC work best with the dashboard.
You want the upgrade path. Start free, unlock products as you need them. The proxy-only binary does not have the product mount system.
Start with the full binary on the free tier. You get everything the proxy gives you plus the dashboard, Lookout, Brand, and the ability to unlock products later. The free tier has no request limit and no time limit.
Switch to proxy-only if you specifically need Apache 2.0 licensing or if you are embedding the proxy in your own product.
Both binaries build from the same repo: go build ./cmd/stockyard-proxy/ or go build ./cmd/stockyard/. Same codebase, same providers, same middleware quality. The difference is what gets wired up at boot time.