Terms of Use

Effective 15 June 2026 · Version 1.0

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Giraffe (the "Service"). The Service is operated by Dhanush Rakesh Parekh, an individual based in Bengaluru, India ("Operator", "we", "us", or "our"). The Service is an independent, non-incorporated project, offered free of charge.

By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

Definitions

• Service — the Giraffe trip-planning application and website, and the features provided through them.
• Operator ("we", "us", "our") — Dhanush Rakesh Parekh, who builds and operates the Service.
• User ("you", "your") — the individual who accesses or uses the Service.
• Content — the material a User creates, uploads, or shares through the Service. Material generated by the AI features is addressed separately in Section 8.
• Provider Key — the User's own third-party AI provider API key, connected to the Service under the bring-your-own-key model (Section 5).

1. The Service

The Service is a trip-planning tool. It helps a User research, organize, and present trips on a collaborative canvas, assisted by AI agents. The User connects a Provider Key (see Section 5), which the Service uses to generate suggestions, itineraries, and written drafts. The Service is currently free to use; the User pays their AI provider directly for AI usage incurred through the Provider Key.

2. Beta — experimental software

The Service is early, experimental software, provided as an independent project rather than a finished commercial product. Features may change, be suspended, or be removed; data formats may change; and the Service may be unavailable from time to time. Given this Beta status, the Operator does not warrant against loss or corruption of Content and is not liable for it. A User should treat the Service as a work in progress and retain independent copies of important Content (Content can currently be exported at any time). This Beta status reflects the Service's current stage and may be lifted as the project matures.

3. Eligibility (18+)

A User must be at least 18 years old. By using the Service, the User confirms that they are 18 or older. The Service is not directed to children, and the Operator does not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. To report use by a person under 18, contact support@giraffe.land.

4. Accounts

The User is responsible for their account, including for keeping login credentials and the Provider Key secure, for activity occurring under the account, and for providing accurate information at registration. The User must notify the Operator promptly at security@giraffe.land if the User suspects that the account has been compromised.

5. Bring your own key (BYOK)

The Service operates by connecting the User's own AI provider account (for example, Anthropic, OpenAI, or via OpenRouter). Accordingly:

• The User pays the AI provider directly for the tokens consumed. The Operator has no billing or payment relationship with the AI provider for that usage and does not mark up, resell, or take a share of it.
• The User is responsible for all usage and charges incurred on the Provider Key through the Service — including charges resulting from the User's prompts, from automated agent activity the User triggers, and from retries or errors. The Operator does not reimburse provider charges. The Operator will use reasonable measures (such as request limits) to reduce the risk of runaway usage but does not guarantee them, and the User is responsible for setting any spend limits the AI provider offers.
• The User remains bound by the AI provider's own terms and is responsible for using the Provider Key in accordance with the provider's policies.
• The Operator protects the Provider Key. It is encrypted (application-layer encryption with libsodium, in addition to encryption at rest) and used only to make the AI calls the User requests. It is not used for any other purpose.
• The Operator is not responsible for the AI provider, including its outputs, availability, pricing, billing, or decisions regarding the User's account with it.

6. Acceptable use

The Service allows a User to create and share Content, including via public share links. To keep the Service safe and lawful, the User agrees not to:

• use the Service for any unlawful purpose, or to infringe the rights of others (including intellectual-property or privacy rights);
• upload, generate, or share Content that is unlawful, abusive, harassing, hateful, deceptive, or that impersonates any person;
• scrape, overload, probe, or attempt to disrupt or gain unauthorized access to the Service or its systems;
• use the Service to build a competing dataset or to abuse the AI features (for example, automated bulk extraction).

The Operator may remove Content or suspend accounts that violate these rules. The Operator acts as an intermediary under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology Rules, 2021: it does not pre-screen, publish, or endorse User Content, and it responds to valid complaints and takedown notices under the Copyright & Takedown Policy and through the Grievance Officer (Section 14).

7. Content, sharing, and licence

The User retains ownership of the Content they create or upload (notes, plans, files, and trips). To operate the Service, the User grants the Operator a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, process, display, adapt, and transmit the Content solely as required to provide the Service to the User and to the people with whom the User shares a trip — for example, extracting text from an uploaded PDF, rendering a trip, or displaying it to collaborators or via a public link created by the User. This licence terminates when the User deletes the Content or the account, except for Content that others have already copied and for backups that expire on their ordinary cycle.

The User represents that they hold the necessary rights to the Content they upload and share, and that the Content does not violate these Terms.

Public links are public. A public share link can be viewed by anyone who has it, is not protected by login, and may be cached or copied by others. The User is responsible for any personal data of other people included in their Content and for having a lawful basis to share it, and should not include other people's sensitive personal data in publicly shared trips.

Feedback. If a User sends suggestions or feedback, the Operator may use them without restriction or any obligation to the User.

8. AI output — ownership and reliability

Ownership. As between the User and the Operator, output generated through the Provider Key belongs to the User, subject to the AI provider's terms and to any third-party rights. The Operator makes no representation that AI output is original, non-infringing, or eligible for copyright protection, and the User is responsible for reviewing AI output before relying on or publishing it.

Not professional advice. AI output is a starting point, not professional advice. It may be incorrect, outdated, or incomplete, and citations are best-effort and may become stale. The User must independently verify any material information directly with the source — in particular visa and entry requirements, health and vaccination guidance, safety and legal matters, prices, and bookings. The Service does not provide travel, legal, medical, financial, or immigration advice. The User must confirm all bookings directly with the airline, hotel, or vendor, and is responsible for decisions made using the Service.

9. Availability, changes, and discontinuation

The Service is provided on a best-effort basis with no service-level guarantee. The Operator may change, suspend, limit, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, including for maintenance, and is not liable for downtime, data delays, or interruptions.

The Service is currently free. The Operator may introduce paid features in the future; any charges will be optional or notified in advance under Section 13, and will not apply retroactively. If the Operator discontinues the Service, it will give reasonable advance notice where possible and a period to export Content before deletion.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, whether express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement, to the maximum extent permitted by law.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Operator's total liability to a User for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service is limited to the amount the User paid to use the Service — which, because the Service is free, is zero (₹0). The Operator is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profits, or goodwill.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law — including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for gross negligence or willful misconduct, or any other liability or mandatory statutory right (including consumer and data-protection rights) that cannot be excluded or limited under the law of the User's country of residence. Where any limitation in this Section is unenforceable as to a particular User, it applies to the fullest extent permitted by law instead of being treated as void.

11. Indemnification

The User agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Operator from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable expenses (including legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) the User's use of the Service; (b) the Content the User uploads, generates, or shares; (c) the User's breach of these Terms; or (d) the User's violation of any law or of the rights of any third party. The Operator will notify the User of any such claim, and the User will not settle it in a way that imposes any obligation on the Operator without the Operator's prior written consent.

12. Termination

A User may stop using the Service and delete their account at any time (see Privacy for how deletion operates). The Operator may suspend or terminate access if the User breaches these Terms or where otherwise necessary, with notice where reasonably possible. The User may export their data before deleting the account.

Survival. Sections 7 (residual licence), 8, 10, 11, 14, and 15 survive termination of these Terms or deletion of an account.

13. Changes to these Terms

The Operator may update these Terms. For material changes, the Operator will provide at least 30 days' notice before they take effect, through an in-app notice and an email, and will keep prior versions available for reference. Continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance. A User who does not agree may stop using the Service and delete their account.

14. Governing law, disputes, and Grievance Officer

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, and the courts at Bengaluru, Karnataka have jurisdiction. If a User is a consumer resident in the EU, UK, or another jurisdiction whose law guarantees the protection of local mandatory consumer rules or the jurisdiction of local courts, nothing in this Section deprives the User of those rights; this choice of law and forum applies to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Before commencing proceedings, a User must first contact the Operator at grievance@giraffe.land and allow 30 days to resolve the matter. Except where a longer period is mandatory under applicable law, any claim arising out of or relating to the Service must be brought within one year of the event giving rise to it.

For Indian users, in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the Information Technology Rules, 2021, the Grievance Officer is:

Dhanush Rakesh Parekh — Grievance Officer grievance@giraffe.land · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (full postal address available on request)

The Operator aims to acknowledge grievances within 24 hours and to resolve them within the timelines required by law.

15. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Copyright & Takedown Policy, are the entire agreement between the User and the Operator regarding the Service, and supersede any prior or contemporaneous statements, including marketing materials.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, it will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions remain in full force.
• No waiver. The Operator's failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of its right to enforce it later.
• Assignment. A User may not assign or transfer these Terms. The Operator may assign or transfer these Terms, and the rights and obligations under them, to a successor (including on incorporation, reorganization, or transfer of the Service), with notice to the User — relevant because the Service is currently operated by an individual and may move to a company as it matures.
• Force majeure. The Operator is not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including outages of third-party infrastructure or AI providers, network or hosting failures, acts of government, or the incapacity of the individual operator. The Operator may need to pause the Service in such events and will restore or wind it down responsibly, with notice where possible.
• Third-party services. The Service may link to or incorporate third-party services and content (for example, maps, place data, and images). These are provided by their respective owners and governed by their own terms; the Operator is not responsible for them.

16. Contact

General help: support@giraffe.land · Legal / takedowns: legal@giraffe.land · Security: security@giraffe.land · Privacy / grievances: grievance@giraffe.land