Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern use of the Etch hosted services operated by Informal Content Agency, a Nevada C corporation (“Informal”, “we”) — including the sync service at sync.etchstudios.ai, this website, accounts, workspaces, real-time collaboration, billing, and related APIs (the “Service”).

The Etch desktop application is additionally governed by its End User License Agreement (EULA). By creating an account, clicking to accept, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you act for an organization, you represent that you can bind it, and “you” includes it.

Accounts

You may sign up with Google sign-in or an email address and password. Email accounts must be verified before full use. Passwords are stored only as salted Argon2 hashes, and sessions use short-lived access tokens with rotating refresh tokens.

The Service is currently in a limited-access phase: account creation and sign-in may be restricted to approved email domains configured by Informal. We may expand, restrict, or waitlist availability at our discretion.

You are responsible for safeguarding your credentials and for activity under your account; notify us promptly of unauthorized use. You must be at least 16 years old and able to form a binding contract.

Workspaces

Workspaces are administered by their owners and admins, who control invites, invite links, member roles, and removal. Workspace admins may access workspace content contributed by members and the workspace audit trail. Joining a workspace makes your profile (name, email, avatar) and in-workspace activity visible to its members.

If a workspace is administered by your employer or another organization, that organization controls the workspace and its content, including after you leave it.

Trial & billing

The Service offers Free, Pro, Studio, Studio+, and Enterprise plans. Each workspace is attached to a billing account with a plan and a seat limit; growing past the seat limit requires an upgrade. Current pricing appears on the pricing page and at checkout. Enterprise plans are sold under separate written terms.

Free trial. Self-serve paid plans begin with a 10-day free trial. A valid payment method is required to start the trial; checkout is hosted by Stripe and collects your card when the trial starts. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, the subscription automatically converts to a paid subscription on day 10 and your card is charged at the then-current price. Cancel during the trial from the billing portal and you pay nothing. If no valid payment method is on file at trial end, the subscription is cancelled rather than converted.

Automatic renewal. Paid subscriptions renew automatically each billing period at the then-current price until you cancel, and you authorize those recurring charges. Price changes take effect at your next renewal with prior notice. Taxes may apply.

Payments are processed by Stripe through Stripe-hosted Checkout and the Stripe-hosted billing portal. Your full card details are collected and stored by Stripe, not by Informal; we receive only plan, seat, invoice, and subscription metadata plus a Stripe customer id.

Cancellation. Cancel any time from the billing portal (Settings → Billing → Manage). Cancellation stops future renewals; your plan stays active until the end of the paid period. When you begin cancelling an eligible plan we may show an optional retention offer (currently a limited-time discount on Studio and Studio+); accepting it keeps the subscription active on the discounted terms shown, after which normal renewal resumes. Refunds — including the 14-day first-purchase guarantee and billing-error refunds — are governed by the Etch Refund Policy shown at checkout. [TODO: counsel — confirm the trial and auto-renewal disclosures satisfy applicable automatic-renewal laws.]

Your content

You retain all rights to content you sync through the Service — projects, boards, planner entries, messages, media uploads, and canvas documents (“Your Content”). You grant Informal a limited license to host, store, reproduce, transmit, and display Your Content solely to operate, provide, secure, and support the Service, including backups and serving Your Content to your workspace members.

We do not use Your Content to train AI models, and we do not sell it. You are responsible for Your Content and must have the rights needed to upload and share it. Feedback you send us may be used without restriction and is not Your Content.

Workspace-level provider API keys are stored encrypted at rest (AEAD) and decrypted only to serve authorized workspace requests. Personal bring-your-own-key credentials entered in the desktop app stay on your device and are never transmitted to Etch servers.

Fair use

You must not:

break the law or infringe others’ rights;
upload malware or attempt to breach, probe, or overload the Service (rate limits apply and are enforced);
resell or offer the Service to third parties as your own service;
attempt to access other tenants’ or workspaces’ data;
circumvent authentication, seat, plan, or metering enforcement;
use the Service to develop a competing product.

We may investigate violations and remove content or suspend accounts as described under Termination.

Third parties

The Service uses Stripe for payments and Amplitude for product analytics (opt-out available in the desktop app). Crash reporting runs on a self-hosted GlitchTip instance and real-time multiplayer on a self-hosted y-sweet server, both operated by Informal — neither sends your data to a third-party vendor. The full sub-processor list is in the Privacy Policy.

The desktop app can call AI and render providers using API keys you supply. Those providers have their own terms; their output, availability, and charges are your responsibility, and Informal is not responsible for them.

Changes

The Service is provided without an uptime guarantee unless your order form includes an SLA. Features identified as beta or early access may change or be removed without notice. We may change, suspend, or discontinue features with reasonable notice for material changes; if we discontinue the hosted Service entirely we will give at least 90 days’ notice and a data-export window.

You may export workspace data at any time via the app or API. On verified request, or after account deletion, we delete Your Content from live systems within a commercially reasonable period, except backups (which rotate on a fixed schedule) and records we must keep by law.

We may update these Terms; for material changes we will give notice in-app or by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance.

Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts or workspaces that materially breach these Terms or create security, legal, or operational risk — with notice where practicable and, where reasonable and lawful, an opportunity to export Your Content.

Your ownership of Your Content, the disclaimer and liability sections, and the dispute provisions survive termination.

Liability

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, INFORMAL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. AI-GENERATED OUTPUT PRODUCED VIA THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS MAY BE INACCURATE; REVIEW IT BEFORE RELYING ON IT.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, INFORMAL WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, OR REVENUE, AND INFORMAL’S TOTAL LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM (OR USD $50 IF YOU PAID NOTHING). THESE LIMITS DO NOT APPLY WHERE THEY CANNOT LAWFULLY BE LIMITED. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN DISCLAIMERS OR LIMITS, SO PARTS OF THIS SECTION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, that organization will indemnify Informal against third-party claims arising from Your Content or your breach of these Terms.

Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Nevada, USA, excluding conflict-of-law rules, with venue in the state and federal courts located in Nevada. [TODO: counsel — decide the dispute-resolution approach: courts vs binding arbitration, class-action waiver, and any opt-out mechanics.]

You may not use the Service in violation of U.S. export-control or sanctions laws. Copyright complaints under the DMCA may be sent to the contact below with the information required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3); we may remove content and may terminate repeat infringers’ accounts in appropriate circumstances.

Notices

We may provide notices in-app or to the email address on your account, and you consent to receiving contractual notices electronically. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. These Terms, the EULA, the Privacy Policy, the Refund Policy, and any order form are the entire agreement about the Service.

Contact: gerald@weareinformal.com.