I feel deeply aligned with the goals of this project, but unfortunately (for me) I think a given solution is not really hackable unless it's open source.

Depending on a given indivudual's opinions, availability, etc tends to be at odds with hackability.

At the same time I respect the author's desire to be rewarded for his work. Perhaps Patreon or the like could be a sustainable model. It's what the iTerm author uses (and quite a few other people who I do support).