Terms of Use

Last updated: [DATE]

Template notice: this document was drafted to reflect DNanoVault's actual architecture as a starting point — it is not legal advice. Replace every bracketed placeholder and have it reviewed by a lawyer before relying on it, particularly the liability, arbitration, and governing-law sections, which are genuinely jurisdiction-specific.

1. What you're agreeing to

By creating an account or using DNanoVault, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't create an account — you can still use Guest/preview mode, which stores nothing.

2. The nature of this service — read this part carefully

DNanoVault encrypts your data using a key derived from a passphrase that only you know. This means:

We cannot reset or recover your passphrase. There is no "forgot password" flow for your vault, because there is nothing on our side that could reconstruct your key.
If you lose your passphrase, your vault contents are permanently and irreversibly inaccessible — to you, and to us. This is a deliberate security property, not a bug, and it is the primary risk you accept by using this service.
We are not liable for data loss resulting from a forgotten or lost passphrase, since recovery is cryptographically impossible by design.

3. Your account

You're responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your passphrase and for all activity under your account. Sign-in identity (via Google or GitHub) is separate from your vault passphrase — someone gaining access to your Google or GitHub account could reach the sign-in screen, but not your vault contents, without your passphrase too.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to use DNanoVault to store or transmit content that is illegal in your jurisdiction, to attempt to circumvent rate limits or abuse-prevention measures, to reverse-engineer the service for the purpose of attacking other users' vaults, or to use automated means to create accounts at scale (this is also why we use bot-detection scoring at sign-up).

5. Third-party connections

Connecting GitHub, Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, or Slack is optional and grants DNanoVault limited, revocable access to those services on your behalf, governed by the scopes you approve during that provider's own consent screen. Your use of those providers remains subject to their own terms of service. We are not responsible for the availability, content, or practices of third-party services.

6. Service availability

DNanoVault is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, DNanoVault and its operators are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data — including data rendered permanently inaccessible due to a lost passphrase, which is an inherent and disclosed property of the service, not a failure of it. [Add jurisdiction-specific liability caps or carve-outs here as required.]

8. Termination

You may delete your account at any time from Settings, which permanently removes your data as described in the Privacy Policy. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate Section 4 (Acceptable Use).

9. Changes to these terms

We'll update the date at the top of this page when these terms change, and provide more prominent notice for material changes.

10. Governing law

[GOVERNING LAW / JURISDICTION / DISPUTE RESOLUTION — this section needs to be written for your actual entity and the jurisdictions your users are in; a generic placeholder here would do more harm than good.]

Contact

[CONTACT EMAIL OR ADDRESS]