Terms of Service

These Terms of Service apply to the Alongside website and current free local application.

1. Provider

Alongside is the business name used by Giovanni Andrade, a sole trader in Ireland and the provider of the service. For questions or requests concerning these Terms of Service, contact [email protected].

2. Acceptance

By using the Alongside website, creating an account, or using the application, you agree to these Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.

If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not use the relevant service.

If you use Alongside on behalf of another person or organisation, you confirm that you have authority to accept these Terms on their behalf.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts rights that may not lawfully be excluded or restricted, including mandatory consumer and data-protection rights.

3. Current service

Alongside currently provides:

• A website containing information about Alongside.
• A free local application for collaborative work with AI.
• Account authentication through Clerk where an account is required.
• The ability to share a chat with authorised participants through Alongside's relay.

The current product is primarily local. Messages and content are stored locally within the user's preferred folder and a local SQLite instance. Alongside does not provide server-side message storage under the current free product tier.

When a user shares a chat, the chat is transmitted through Alongside's relay to make it available to its authorised participants. The contents of a shared chat, including messages, files, agent responses, and prior history, are encrypted on the originating participant's device before transmission. Only authorised participants can decrypt and access that content. Alongside is not capable of accessing the contents of a local or shared chat. Alongside processes limited routing information to transmit shared chats, as described in the Privacy Notice.

4. Accounts

Where an account is required:

• Authentication is provided by Clerk.
• You must provide accurate information.
• You must keep access credentials and devices secure.
• You must not share credentials or allow unauthorised use of your account.
• You must notify Alongside if you suspect unauthorised access.

Alongside may restrict or suspend access where reasonably necessary for security, legal compliance, abuse prevention, or protection of users and third parties.

5. User content

You retain ownership of your messages, chat content, workspace files, repository content, credentials, and other material you provide or create while using Alongside.

Alongside does not claim ownership of that content.

The local application stores content on your device. When you request an agent operation, relevant content may be transmitted to the AI provider that you select. The selected provider's terms and privacy notice apply to its processing of that content.

You are responsible for ensuring that you hold the rights and permissions necessary to provide content to Alongside and any selected AI provider.

In a shared chat, each participant's AI provider account processes only requests submitted by that participant. Alongside does not use one participant's provider account to respond to another participant's request. Content made available in a shared chat, including agent responses and files, may be accessed and retained by the authorised participants, including after a participant leaves or is removed from the chat.

6. Acceptable use

You must not use Alongside to:

• Violate applicable law.
• Access another person's data without authorisation.
• Upload malicious code or content intended to compromise systems.
• Abuse, disrupt, overload, or probe the application or its supporting services.
• Circumvent access controls or security measures.
• Infringe intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality, or other rights.
• Use the service to create or distribute harmful content where prohibited by law.

7. Software licences

The public frontend repository is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

The private backend and other private repositories remain proprietary unless a separate licence is provided.

The Alongside name, branding, and trademarks are not licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Third-party software and services remain subject to their own licence and service terms.

8. Third-party services

Alongside depends on third-party services, including authentication, hosting, infrastructure, abuse prevention, and email delivery providers.

Those providers operate under their own terms and privacy notices. Alongside is not responsible for the independent operation or availability of a third-party service. This provision does not exclude or restrict any right or remedy that may not lawfully be excluded or restricted.

9. Availability and changes

Alongside may update, suspend, or discontinue the website, application, or individual features.

The application may depend on your device, operating system, network, local configuration, and selected AI provider. Alongside does not guarantee that a provider, model, integration, or feature will remain available.

We will communicate material changes where required by law.

Encrypted files transmitted through a shared chat are retained by the relay only until all intended recipients have received them or, at the latest, for 24 hours after transmission. Files are deleted after that period regardless of whether all intended recipients have received them. Users are responsible for retaining their own copies. Use of shared chats under the free product tier is currently limited to 10 MB per file and 100 MB of files per account per day. These limits may change.

10. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by law, the service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

AI-generated output may be inaccurate, incomplete, or unsuitable. You are responsible for reviewing output and changes made to your workspace before relying on them.

Alongside is not a substitute for professional legal, security, financial, or software-engineering judgement.

11. Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that may not lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to mandatory law, Alongside is not responsible for loss caused by your device, local configuration, network, selected AI provider, third-party service, or failure to review AI-generated output before relying on it.

Any limitation of liability must be interpreted fairly and in accordance with applicable consumer law.

12. Ending use

You may stop using Alongside at any time.

You may request deletion of account information by contacting [email protected], subject to information that Alongside must retain by law or for legitimate security or dispute-resolution purposes.

Alongside may suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary for security, legal compliance, abuse prevention, or material breach of these Terms.

13. Privacy

The Privacy Notice explains how Alongside processes personal data. It forms part of the information provided to users but does not replace any data-protection rights or obligations imposed by law.

14. Governing law and complaints

These Terms are governed by the laws of Ireland, subject to any mandatory protections that apply in the country where a consumer lives.

If you have a complaint, contact [email protected] first to allow Alongside an opportunity to resolve it.

Nothing in these Terms prevents you from exercising a legal right or bringing a claim before a court with appropriate jurisdiction.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms when the service, legal requirements, or business model changes. The effective date at the top of this page indicates when the Terms were last updated.

Where required by law, we will provide notice of material changes and obtain any required agreement before the changes apply.