Scribegrove

Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-05-19. Version 2026-05-19. Draft — pending final legal review before public launch.

1. Acceptance

By creating an account or using Scribegrove (the "Service"), you agree to these Terms of Service. If you don't agree, don't use the Service. Account creation requires an explicit acknowledgment of these Terms; this acknowledgment, with the version of these Terms current at that time, is logged on your account.

2. Your content is yours

You retain 100% copyright and ownership of all content you create using Scribegrove — manuscripts, character profiles, world notes, outlines, generated text you accept and edit, generated images you commission and save. We claim no ownership of your work, ever.

To provide the Service, you grant us a limited license to process your content as needed for storage, sync, AI inference (subscription tiers only), and publishing artifact generation. This license is purely operational — we do not use your content to train AI models, sell it to third parties, or share it with anyone except as you direct.

3. Account responsibility

You're responsible for keeping your account credentials secure. If you lose your password, use the standard email-based password reset — no recovery code required. Your local data on the desktop app remains unaffected by a password reset.

4. Subscription & trial

Subscription tiers (Author Studio, Author Studio Pro, Author Studio Max, Publishing add-on) bill monthly or annually in advance, with a 7-day free trial at the start of each new subscription account. The trial requires a valid credit card; we do not charge until day 8 unless you cancel before then. Cancellation before day 7 results in no charge.

During the trial, you have full studio access including manuscript upload and light AI use. Heavy whole-book actions (full-manuscript story doctor, blueprint review on uploads of significant size) require an active paid subscription. Cancel at any time — cancellation ends the current billing cycle.

5. Export policy

Author Studio (subscription) tiers: Export of your manuscripts via Publishing Studio (EPUB / PDF / ONIX) or the encrypted-archive ZIP requires an active paid subscription with at least one completed billing cycle. Trial users do not have access to export; export unlocks at the start of your first paid month.

Author Offline (lifetime $249) tier: Export is fully available locally on your desktop with no time gate. The lifetime license has no recurring trial dynamic.

Every manuscript export is logged on your account server-side, with a timestamp, export type, and source surface (desktop or web). This log is the source of truth for refund eligibility (see Section 6). You can review your own export history at any time from your account dashboard.

6. Refund policy

  • 30-day money-back guarantee on subscription tiers: if you cancel within 30 days of your first paid charge AND you have not exported any manuscripts via Publishing Studio or the encrypted-archive ZIP, you receive a full refund.
  • Exporting your work ends the refund window. Once a manuscript export event has been logged on your account (any of: EPUB, PDF, ONIX, encrypted-archive ZIP, manuscript DOCX), the subscription value has been delivered and the subscription is non-refundable. This is a hard rule with no case-by-case exceptions for exports. The server-side export log is the source of truth.
  • Author Offline ($249 one-time): 30-day money-back guarantee. Email hello@scribegrove.com from your purchase email; we'll refund and revoke the license. Author Offline is purely local and is not subject to the export-revokes-refund rule above.
  • Top-up packs: refundable within 7 days IF unused. Tokens consumed are non-refundable. Purchased token packs do not expire — unused tokens stay in your account indefinitely.

7. AI cost meter (subscription tiers)

Subscription tiers include a weekly token cap calibrated per tier. Exceeding the cap pauses AI features until reset (Monday 00:00 UTC) or until you purchase a top-up pack. A daily hard cost ceiling protects you from runaway loops.

8. Acceptable use

Don't use Scribegrove to generate or distribute illegal content. Don't use our cloud AI for content that violates upstream provider policies — we route Spice 4-5 explicit content to your local AI automatically because cloud providers refuse it. Attempts to circumvent the export gate (for example, by routing chargebacks through third-party channels after exporting your work) constitute a violation of these Terms.

9. Service availability

We target 99.5% uptime for the cloud services (AI proxy, sync, web portal). The desktop app works fully offline; uptime SLA applies only to cloud-dependent features.

10. Termination

You can cancel anytime. We may terminate accounts that violate these Terms after notice. On termination, your local data on the desktop app continues to exist unchanged.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Scribegrove is provided "as is" without warranty. We're not liable for indirect damages, lost profits, or data loss beyond the subscription cost paid in the past 12 months.

12. Changes

We may update these Terms with 30 days' notice via email and the changelog page. The version date at the top of this document is the effective version; continued use after that date constitutes acceptance.

13. Contact

Questions: hello@scribegrove.com