Terms of Service

1 Description of Service

Sparktrail is a hybrid thought-storage, note-taking, and task-tracking application. It allows users to register an account, create and manage "Sparks" (units of thought/tasks with Markdown notes), organize entries using custom categories and tags, and track progress using localized tools. The Service is hosted across regional cloud networks and utilizes caching to optimize performance.

2 User Accounts & Registration

• Account Creation: To access the Service, you must register using a valid email address and password. You agree to provide accurate and complete registration information.
• Account Security: You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials (including your password and 4-digit security PIN). Any activity occurring under your account is your sole responsibility.
• Security PIN System: Sparktrail offers an optional local security PIN challenge system. The PIN is cryptographically salted and hashed using PBKDF2. You acknowledge that if you enable this system, you must remember your PIN; Sparktrail cannot recover a lost security PIN for you.

3 Subscription Billing, Trials, and "Ember State"

• 7-Day Trial: New accounts receive a complimentary 7-day trial of active write access beginning on their date of registration.
• Stripe Subscriptions: Paid subscriptions (Monthly or Yearly plans) are processed securely through Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize Sparktrail to charge the designated payment method on a recurring basis.
• Cozy Soft-Downgrade ("Ember State"): If a subscription is canceled, expires, or if the 7-day trial ends without upgrading to a paid tier, the account enters a read-only state known as Ember State:
  • Under Ember State, you retain full read-only access to view, search, and export your Sparks, notes, categories, and tags.
  • Mutating actions (creating, editing, or deleting Sparks, categories, or tags) are disabled until write access is restored via an active subscription.

4 Acceptable Use Policy

You agree not to use the Service to store, process, or transmit any content that:

• Is illegal, infringing, harmful, or violates the intellectual property or privacy rights of others.
• Contains malicious code, viruses, or exploits designed to disrupt or compromise the Service.
• Involves automated scraping, spamming, or excessive API abuse that degrades server performance.

5 Intellectual Property & Content Ownership

• Your Content: You retain 100% ownership of all data, thoughts, text, and media you enter into Sparktrail (your "Sparks"). Sparktrail claims no ownership rights over your content.
• Our Platform: Sparktrail retains all ownership, copyright, and intellectual property rights in the application design, logos, codebase, and user interface.

6 Data Backups & Export

• User Backups: While Sparktrail performs regular automated database backups for disaster recovery, you are encouraged to periodically export your data.
• Data Portability: Sparktrail provides built-in tools allowing you to self-serve export your entire workspace at any time as either a tabular CSV spreadsheet or a single, structured Markdown document ("AI-Native Hearth Book").
• Service Limits: Sparktrail is not a permanent data escrow or archiver. We are not liable for any loss of user-generated content.

7 Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. SPARKTRAIL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ACCURATE, OR ERROR-FREE, NOR DO WE GUARANTEE THAT PORTIONS OF YOUR DATA WILL NEVER BE LOST OR CORRUPTED.

8 Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, SPARKTRAIL AND ITS DEVELOPERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR USE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.