Last updated: July 27, 2026

NorthKeep Terms of Service

Not legal advice.

Provider: Silva Peak Labs, LLC d/b/a NorthKeep ("we," "us"), a Massachusetts limited liability company. Contact: [email protected] · Effective date: July 27, 2026

These Terms govern your use of the NorthKeep software and the optional hosted sync service (together, the "Service"). By installing the software or using the hosted service, you agree to these Terms.

1. The software is open source

The NorthKeep application is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0), and the memory schema specification under CC-BY-4.0. Your rights to use, run, study, modify, and redistribute the software are granted by those licenses, nothing in these Terms restricts them. You may run NorthKeep locally, and self-host the sync server, for free. If the AGPL's obligations (including its network-use source-sharing requirement) don't fit your organization, a separate commercial license is available, contact [email protected].

Corresponding source for our hosted service. When we operate a modified version of NorthKeep as a network service (our hosted sync and connector servers), AGPL-3.0 section 13 entitles users interacting with that service to the Corresponding Source of the exact version we run. We publish that source, including our modifications, at https://github.com/jay-silva/northkeep, and you may also request it at [email protected].

Contributions. Contributions to NorthKeep are accepted under the Developer Certificate of Origin and our contributor terms, under which contributors license their contributions to us on terms that permit both the AGPL release and the separate commercial license described above. If you contribute, you confirm you have the right to do so; if you have not agreed to those terms, please do not submit contributions.

2. The hosted sync service

We offer an optional hosted sync service so your encrypted vault can move between your devices.

• Price: $10.00 USD per month, billed through Stripe. Subscriptions renew automatically each month until cancelled.
• Your consent to automatic renewal. Before your first charge, we present the automatic-renewal terms (that your subscription continues and renews until you cancel, the recurring price, the billing frequency, and how to cancel) clearly and conspicuously at checkout, and we begin billing only after you give express affirmative consent to those terms. We keep a record of that consent.
• Renewal reminders. We send you a confirmation when you subscribe and, for any subscription that continues for a year or more, at least one renewal reminder per year. Each reminder states that the subscription auto-renews, the amount and frequency of the charge, and clear instructions for cancelling.
• Cancellation: cancel anytime, using the same online channel you used to subscribe, via northkeep sync billing (the Stripe billing portal) or by emailing [email protected]. Cancellation is effective without any retention step or fee. Access continues until the end of the paid period; we do not provide prorated refunds for partial periods except where required by law.
• Price changes. If we change the subscription price, we will give you advance notice by email to the address associated with your subscription before the new price takes effect. The new price applies only to renewals after that notice, and you may cancel before it takes effect.
• What it stores: an encrypted copy of your vault that we cannot decrypt, and a subscription record. See the Privacy Policy.
• Free alternative: you can self-host the sync server at no charge instead.

3. Shared scopes (optional connector)

We offer an optional connector that copies scopes you explicitly choose to share to a NorthKeep connector server so the AI apps you connect can reach them. It is part of the hosted subscription.

• Opt-in and reversible. Sharing is off by default and happens per scope, only after you confirm. You can unshare a scope at any time, which deletes its content from the connector server (this cannot recall copies an app already retrieved).
• Encrypted at rest, decrypted per request. The connector database stores your shared content as ciphertext, and NorthKeep keeps no key in that database that can read it; the key is rebuilt for each request from your connected app's own credential plus a secret held on our server. So a stolen database is only ciphertext, but the running server can read your shared content while it serves your app's request. This is not end-to-end encryption, and it is a guarantee about the stored data, not a promise that content is never decrypted in operation. Scope names, entry identifiers, counts, encrypted sizes, and timestamps remain visible to the server. See the Privacy Policy for the full description.
• Your responsibility for what you share. You are responsible for the content you choose to share and for having the right to share it. Do not share content you are not permitted to place on a third-party server, and do not use the connector to store or transmit unlawful content.
• We do not scan your shared content. We do not analyze, mine, index for advertising, train models on, or derive analytics from the memories you share. The server decrypts them only to serve them back to the apps you connect. This describes how the connector works today; if that ever changes, we will update these Terms and the Privacy Policy and tell you before the change takes effect.
• Takedown on notice. If we receive a valid legal notice, or a report that shared content is unlawful, we may remove or disable access to the specific content or suspend the connector for the affected account. We act on notice; we do not proactively monitor or scan shared content.
• Same exposure as connecting an app. Any AI provider you connect receives whatever it retrieves from your shared scopes, under its own terms. Private scopes are never sent.

4. Third-party tools you connect

NorthKeep can optionally use third-party services you enable or connect: web search (Brave Search), web fetch (any site you allow a fetch to), and MCP servers (local programs you install, or remote HTTPS services you sign in to with OAuth). What each of these transmits, and to whom, is described in the Privacy Policy. This section covers your responsibilities, and the limits of ours, when you use them.

• They are third-party services, not ours. Brave Search, a site you allow a fetch to, an MCP server you install, and any remote MCP provider you sign in to are operated by parties other than us, under their own terms and privacy policies. Once we transmit your approved, masked request to one of them, we do not control what they do with it. Review their terms before connecting them, particularly a remote MCP provider: signing in creates a standing authorization at your own account there, described further below and in the Privacy Policy.
• You are responsible for what you connect and approve. You choose which sites to allow a fetch to, which MCP servers to install or sign in to, and which calls to approve. You are responsible for having the right to send the data those calls contain, and for complying with the applicable third party's own terms (including, where applicable, Brave's terms and the API terms of any service you connect through an MCP server).
• A local MCP server runs with your own privileges. It is software you chose to install. What it does after receiving arguments from NorthKeep, including forwarding them to a service of its own, is that program's conduct, not something we control, monitor, or are responsible for.
• Your OAuth grants are yours to manage. Signing in to a remote MCP server creates a standing, scoped authorization at that provider, to your own account there. We cannot revoke it; you revoke it directly at the provider. We store the resulting tokens, and any client credentials you create for that connection, only in the macOS Keychain, and never receive them.
• Acceptable use extends to these tools. Section 6 (Acceptable Use) applies to your use of these tools as it does to the rest of the Service: do not use them for unlawful purposes, to store or transmit unlawful content, or to infringe others' rights.
• No warranty as to third-party services. We make no representation about the availability, accuracy, security, or data practices of Brave Search, any site you fetch, or any MCP server you connect. Section 8 (Disclaimers) applies to your use of them.

5. Personal vs. business use

A standard subscription is for an individual's personal use. Use by a company, team, or organization, including multi-user or multi-seat deployment, requires a business/team plan or a commercial license. Contact [email protected] to arrange one. (This section concerns our hosted service and commercial licensing; it does not limit any rights the AGPL grants you in the software itself.)

6. Your account, your keys, no recovery

NorthKeep secures your vault with two secrets: a passphrase you choose and a device secret file stored on your machine. You are solely responsible for safeguarding both, and for backing up your device.secret file.

There is no recovery. If you lose your passphrase or device secret, your vault is permanently inaccessible, and we cannot recover it, reset it, or access your data for you. This is a deliberate security property, not a limitation we can waive. The hosted sync service is not a backup service and does not protect you against a lost passphrase or device secret: keep your own backups of your device secret and, if you wish, your vault file. We remind you of this when you subscribe and in the app so that the choice to rely on it is an informed one.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to: use the Service for unlawful purposes or to store or transmit unlawful content; attempt to breach, overload, probe, or circumvent the Service's security, rate limits, or size limits; resell or provide the hosted service to third parties without our authorization; or use the Service to infringe others' rights. We may suspend or terminate access that violates these Terms.

8. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, except for those warranties that cannot be disclaimed under applicable law. NorthKeep is privacy-focused software that reduces exposure of sensitive data; it does not guarantee anonymity, and its on-device redaction is not perfect (see KNOWN-LIMITS.md). NorthKeep is a tool, not professional advice, it does not provide legal, medical, financial, or other professional advice, and you are responsible for your own compliance obligations.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost data, profits, or goodwill. Our total liability arising out of or relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or $100 USD.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud, and any non-waivable rights or remedies you have under consumer-protection statutes (such as the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 93A, where it applies). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

10. Changes and termination

We may modify these Terms or the Service. For material changes, we will give reasonable advance notice before they take effect: for hosted-service subscribers, by email to the address associated with your subscription or through an in-app notice; for others, by posting the updated Terms at northkeep.ai with a new effective date. Continued use of the Service after the effective date means acceptance; if you do not agree to a material change, you may stop using the Service, and hosted subscribers may cancel, before it takes effect. We may suspend or terminate the hosted service for violations of these Terms or to comply with law; you keep your local vault regardless, since it lives on your device.

11. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

Talk to us first. Before starting a lawsuit, you agree to contact us at [email protected] with a brief description of the dispute and to give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally. Most issues can be resolved this way, and this step is a condition to filing suit (it does not shorten any deadline the law gives you, and does not apply where advance notice would forfeit a legal right).

If the dispute is not resolved, it will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Massachusetts, and you consent to their jurisdiction. We have not required arbitration or waived your right to participate in a class action; you keep those rights.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms, or to arrange a business or commercial license: [email protected].