diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11f1392
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Cee (cee.wtf)
+
+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 6118dee..5755186 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -159,7 +159,9 @@ The same pattern (per-bucket files, 4 reusable test helpers, parallel-agent-frie
 
 ## License
 
-The simulator code is mine to share. The game DLLs it loads at runtime are MegaCrit's — you need a legal copy of Slay the Spire 2 installed.
+[MIT](LICENSE) — fork it, modify it, ship it commercially, just keep the copyright line in the source.
+
+The game DLLs it loads at runtime are MegaCrit's — you need a legal copy of Slay the Spire 2 installed. StS2Sim doesn't redistribute any game assets.
 
 ```
    the engine wants a stage