Clarifying Organizational Use of the Chocolatey Community Repository

To ensure the continued reliability, performance, and availability of the Chocolatey Community Repository (CCR), Chocolatey Software has updated its Terms of Use to clarify acceptable usage, particularly in organizational environments. These changes formalize expected usage patterns and are intended to ensure that the CCR remains a sustainable, community-focused resource.

Section 8 – Prohibited Activities has been updated to clarify acceptable organizational use of the Chocolatey Community Repository (CCR). The revised language will specify that organizations may not use the CCR directly to manage organizational computers and should instead use internal repository solutions.

The section also clarifies the following exceptions:

These changes will take effect on January 1, 2027.

Organizations and vendors currently relying on direct use of the Chocolatey Community Repository for organizational scenarios must transition to compliant configurations before this date.

To help clarify how these Terms apply, the following general distinctions are used throughout this policy:

Use of the Chocolatey Community Repository (CCR) for personal use remains permitted. Organizational and vendor use cases must utilize compliant repository practices, such as internal repositories or repository management solutions that support the NuGet package format.

To comply with the updated Terms of Use, organizations must:

Failure to adopt these practices may result in service limitations or other actions as outlined in the Terms of Use. For any questions, please Contact Us.

The following use cases remain permitted under the updated policy:

Organizations may utilize repository solutions that cache or proxy the Chocolatey Community Repository as an upstream source, provided that packages are stored and served to client computers from an internal repository after initial retrieval.

This approach is recommended for organizations that require access to community packages while maintaining compliance.

Use of the Chocolatey Community Repository for managing individual, personal workstations remains allowed.

This exception does not extend to centralized or large-scale organizational management.

Organizations and vendors that provide tools or services using Chocolatey products should ensure their implementations comply with the updated Terms of Use and the permitted exceptions described above.

Direct use of the Chocolatey Community Repository as the primary source for managing or distributing packages across organizational environments—whether directly or through third-party tooling—is prohibited under Section 8 of the Terms of Use.

Permitted implementations include the approved scenarios outlined in the Permitted Exceptions section above, including:

Vendor products or services will be considered non-compliant if they:

Vendors are responsible for ensuring that their products and services comply with the Terms of Use.

Once these changes take effect, Chocolatey may more actively enforce violations of these terms, including service limitations or other enforcement actions where necessary.

The Chocolatey Community Repository is a shared, community-supported service. Unrestricted organizational use at scale introduces:

These changes ensure equitable access while encouraging architectures that are more reliable, secure, and appropriate for organizational use.

Organizations and vendors should take the following actions before January 1, 2027:

Organizations already using internalized or proxied repositories are aligned with this policy, which has been guidance and best practices for many years now.

The following resources are available to help organizations comply with the new Terms and Conditions after the effective date:

These updates are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability and availability of the Chocolatey Community Repository as a community resource maintained by volunteers for the benefit of the Chocolatey community. The CCR was created to support the community as a whole, and these changes are intended to help ensure it remains accessible, reliable, and sustainable for the many individuals and organizations who comply with the Terms of Use.

Chocolatey Software remains deeply committed to the community and greatly appreciates the contributions of maintainers, package authors, and users who continue to support and strengthen the Chocolatey packaging ecosystem. These updates are intended to reinforce established best practices for organizational package management while preserving the CCR as a shared community resource.

Organizations and vendors are expected to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance by the effective date. For guidance on compliant implementations, please contact Chocolatey Software or refer to the official documentation.

Stephen is the Director of Marketing for Chocolatey Software focusing efforts on lead generation, and product evangelism. He enjoys teaching people all that Chocolatey products can do for their organization.