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 on secure cloud infrastructure designed for reliability and data integrity.

2 User Accounts & Security

• 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 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 decrypt or recover a lost security PIN for you, and we are not liable for any content rendered inaccessible due to a forgotten PIN.

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 your designated payment method on a recurring basis until canceled. You may cancel your subscription at any time via the account billing portal. If you cancel your subscription, you retain full access to the website and all features until the end of your current billing period.
• Cozy Soft-Downgrade ("Ember State"): Once a paid subscription period ends without renewal (including following a cancellation), or if the 7-day trial ends without upgrading to a paid tier, the account enters a read-only state known as 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.
• Refunds: Except where required by applicable consumer law, subscription payments are non-refundable for partial monthly or annual billing periods.

4 Acceptable Use Policy

You agree not to misuse the Service. Specifically, you agree not to store, process, or transmit any content or engage in activity that:

• Is illegal, infringing, harmful, threatening, or violates the intellectual property or privacy rights of others.
• Contains malicious code, viruses, trojans, or exploits designed to disrupt, compromise, or bypass the security of the Service.
• Involves automated scraping, crawl scripts, spamming, or excessive network requests that impair server performance or availability for other users.

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 intellectual property or commercial rights over your content.
• Our Platform: Sparktrail and its licensors retain all ownership, copyright, trademarks, and intellectual property rights in the application design, codebase, architecture, logos, and user interface.

6 Data Portability, Backups & Deletion

• 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 structured Markdown document ("AI-Native Hearth Book").
• User Responsibility: While Sparktrail performs regular automated database backups for disaster recovery, the Service is not a permanent data escrow or archiver. You are strongly encouraged to keep your own local backups using our export tools.
• Account Deletion: You may permanently delete your account and associated workspace data at any time via the application settings.

7 Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and access to the Service immediately, without prior notice or liability, if you violate these Terms or engage in conduct that threatens the security or operational stability of the platform.

8 Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. 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.

9 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, USE, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SERVICE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SPARKTRAIL’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL FEES PAID BY YOU TO SPARKTRAIL IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, OR (B) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00).

10 Governing Law & Changes

• Governing Law: These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Queensland, Australia, without regard to its conflict of law principles.
• Modifications: We may modify these Terms from time to time. If changes are material, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of Sparktrail after changes become effective constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.