The terms that govern use of ScribeFoundry.

01Acceptance of terms

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and ScribeFoundry (“ScribeFoundry,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), the operator of the ScribeFoundry platform at scribefoundry.com and associated subdomains (the “Platform”). By creating an account, using the Platform, or otherwise accessing ScribeFoundry services, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Platform.

02Account roles

The Platform supports three account types, each with distinct responsibilities:

Custodian accounts

A Custodian is an adult responsible for one or more students on the Platform. Custodians include homeschool parents, co-op directors, micro school operators, and any institutional administrator who manages student profiles on the Platform. The Custodian is the billing party and is responsible for all activity under their account, including activity by any student profiles they create.

Student accounts

A Student account is created by a Custodian on behalf of a minor, or created directly by an adult who manages their own account as a standalone user. Students log in independently and control their own profile customization, published work, and coach interactions within the limits set by their Custodian, if applicable.

Standalone student accounts

A Standalone student account is a Student account with no Custodian above it. Standalone accounts are available only to users who are 18 years of age or older. The Standalone account holder is both the billing party and the user.

Administrator accounts

Administrators are ScribeFoundry personnel with Platform-level content moderation and account management responsibilities. Administrators do not have visibility into private draft content except when investigating a reported content policy violation.

03Eligibility and age

To create a Custodian account, you must be at least 18 years of age and legally capable of forming a binding contract under the law of your jurisdiction.

To create a Standalone student account, you must be at least 18 years of age. Students under 18 must be enrolled through a Custodian account.

For any student under 13 years of age, the Custodian represents that they are the parent or legal guardian of the student, or that they have received verifiable parental consent from the student's parent or legal guardian, in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). Our COPPA practices are described in detail in the Privacy Policy.

04Billing, trials, and refunds

Free trial

New accounts receive a 30-day free trial with full access to the Platform and one student profile. No payment information is required to start the trial. At the end of the trial, continued use of the Platform requires a paid subscription.

Subscription plans

Subscription pricing and plan details are available on the Pricing page. Prices are in United States dollars and are subject to applicable taxes. By starting a paid subscription you authorize us and our payment processor to charge the payment method on file for the applicable subscription fees until cancellation.

Billing cycles

Monthly subscriptions renew on the monthly anniversary of the first paid charge. Annual subscriptions renew on the annual anniversary of the first paid charge. Institutional accounts may use a September 1st academic-year cycle, confirmed at signup.

Adding and removing students

Students may be added to a Custodian account at any time. Stripe prorates the additional subscription cost against the current billing cycle. Students may be removed at any time; removal prorates the remaining cost as a credit toward the next invoice.

Cancellation and refunds

You may cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings. Annual subscriptions receive a prorated refund for the unused portion of the current term. Monthly subscriptions are not refunded for the current billing month but will not auto-renew for the following month. For unusual circumstances, contact us and we will work it out in good faith.

05Acceptable use

You agree to use the Platform only for lawful educational purposes. You will not:

• Upload, publish, or transmit content that advocates or describes violence toward any person or group, harasses or targets named individuals, is sexually explicit, or is otherwise illegal under applicable law
• Use the Platform to generate content intended for commercial resale, spam, or mass distribution unrelated to the student's educational work
• Attempt to circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security, authentication, or content moderation feature of the Platform
• Reverse engineer, scrape at scale, or build derivative services using ScribeFoundry data or infrastructure without our written permission
• Attempt to extract, replicate, or circumvent the Socratic constraints of the AI coach
• Impersonate another person, misrepresent a student's age, or falsify Custodian status

We may remove content, suspend accounts, or terminate access for violations of this section. Repeated violations will result in permanent account termination.

06Student content and ownership

Content authored by a student on the Platform belongs to that student. ScribeFoundry claims no ownership of essays, speeches, drafts, profile text, or any other material a student creates. This principle applies regardless of whether the account is Custodian-managed or Standalone, and regardless of whether a billing relationship is currently active.

License granted to ScribeFoundry

By creating or publishing content on the Platform, you grant ScribeFoundry a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, and transmit that content solely for the purpose of operating the Platform. This license does not extend to marketing, advertising, or promotional use. We will not use a student's published work in marketing materials without explicit per-piece consent from the student and, if the student is a minor, the Custodian.

License granted by you

You represent that you have the right to post any content you upload or publish, including quoted material, referenced sources, and any images or media used in profile customization. You agree not to upload content that infringes any third party's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights.

Portability and export

At any time, a student or their Custodian may request an export of all content authored by the student. This right survives cancellation or termination of the account, subject to verification of the requester's identity.

07The AI coach

The Socratic writing coach is an artificial intelligence feature powered by Anthropic's Claude API. The coach is designed to respond to student input exclusively with questions and guidance. It does not write, rewrite, rephrase, or complete student work.

No guarantee of output accuracy

The coach may occasionally produce responses that are unexpected, incomplete, or less useful than intended. AI systems have inherent limitations. ScribeFoundry does not guarantee that every coach response will be ideal for every student or every piece.

Data transmitted to Anthropic

When a student interacts with the coach, their question, their current draft, and related context are transmitted to Anthropic's Claude API as our subprocessor. Anthropic processes this data under their Commercial Terms, which prohibit the use of customer data to train their AI models. Full disclosure is provided in the Privacy Policy.

Abuse of the coach

Attempts to extract, replicate, or systematically probe the coach for purposes other than legitimate student writing may result in account suspension.

08Publication and portfolios

The Platform provides each student a personal subdomain at studentname.scribefoundry.com where they may publish pieces to a public portfolio. Publication is a deliberate act initiated by the student.

Public visibility

Published content on a student portfolio is publicly accessible on the internet. Anyone with the URL may read it. By publishing, the student and, if applicable, the Custodian acknowledge that the content is no longer private.

Immutability of publication

Published work is frozen. To change a published piece, the student must unpublish, edit, and republish. Each republication is stamped on the public record as a revision. This design is intentional.

Content moderation

Any visitor to a public portfolio may report published content for review. Reports enter an administrative moderation queue. We reserve the right to unpublish, lock, or permanently remove any content that violates the Acceptable Use section, the content policy described above, or applicable law. If a piece is unpublished by an administrator for policy reasons, the Custodian is notified with the reason.

Safety protocol

If published content suggests that a student may be in immediate physical danger, we may contact the guardian email on the student's profile directly, independent of the normal moderation review process. This is described further in the Privacy Policy.

09Termination

Termination by you

You may terminate your account at any time by canceling your subscription and requesting account closure from your account settings or by contacting us.

Termination by ScribeFoundry

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Platform if you violate these Terms, if your account becomes delinquent and payment cannot be collected, or if we are required to do so by law. For terminations not based on a violation, we will provide reasonable notice and an opportunity to export your content.

Effect of termination on data

Upon termination, accounts enter a dormant state. Pieces, coach history, and process logs are preserved. Student subdomains display an inactive notice. A Custodian or guardian may reactivate the account or claim the student data under a new billing arrangement. Data is not deleted on termination alone.

Data is deleted only in the following circumstances: (a) by explicit request from the account holder or guardian; (b) under the COPPA re-consent deletion process described in the Privacy Policy; or (c) where required by law.

10Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The Platform is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the maximum extent permitted by law, ScribeFoundry disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

ScribeFoundry does not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, that defects will be corrected, or that the AI coach will produce any particular outcome in a student's writing ability.

Limitation of liability.To the maximum extent permitted by law, ScribeFoundry's total liability for any claims arising out of or related to these Terms or the Platform is limited to the greater of (a) one hundred United States dollars ($100) or (b) the amount you paid to ScribeFoundry in the twelve months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

ScribeFoundry is not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost data, or educational outcomes, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations on liability. If you reside in such a jurisdiction, some of the above may not apply to you.

11Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify account holders by email or through the Platform at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you may terminate your account before they take effect.

The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent version.

12Governing law and contact

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. You agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Platform will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Arkansas, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

For legal notices, contact us at:

For questions about these Terms, use the contact form on the About page.